Happy days

I had one of my best days on the felt yesterday in months.
I was feeling slightly the worse for wear after two nights of the tiles on Friday and Saturday, plus a round of golf in the rain on Sunday.
But it made no difference as I managed to kill two tables.
I played for about two hours on two tables (25c NL) before supper. On one I hovered on or below my $25 buy-in the whole time, but the second was a dream.
I won a $25 pot with jks and the turned nut flush. About two hands later I held 5s and the flop came 5,7,2 rainbow and I picked up about $20 without showing.
A few more wins and I left with around $75 for a tidy $50 profit.
Then, later in the night I found the BIGGEST fish I've ever come across.
He played every single hand, bet big, bluffed lots and seemed to have no idea of pot odds.
The best news of all was that he had more than $100 (4x the maximum buy-in) and seemed more than happy spread his winnings around.
It was very obvious after just a few hands that he was playing any two cards and would bluff at pots if he smelt any weakness from a player.
Yet people kept folding to his bets which was keeping his stack intact.
One example of his play was to call a $10 all-in pre flop raise (thats 40x the BB!) with 84s.
I was up to around $31 when I called his $3 river bet and raised turn with 2nd pr to win a tidy pot and move to $40.
I can't remember the hand I busted him the first time but I think I slow-played the nuts and he fell for it.
He reloaded $10.52 suggesting this was the last of his deposit and quickly doubled up with flopped 2pr (94o) v. Js.
The last hand was though I remember and it was sweet.
I had 54o in the small blind.
Flop came 575 with 2 diamonds. I checked, a new player - who deposited just $5 and had already doubled up against the FISH - bet $1, the FISH called and I called.
The turn was a 6 (not diamond), I checked, the new player checked, FISH bet $4 and we both called.
The river was a magic 4! I checked - basically I was 99% sure he would bet. He did, betting $20 (out of his $24.92 left), I put him in and he showed 83o for the rivered str8.
So, the 4 really was the money card.
I've been racking my brains to remember the first big hand but can't.
Anyway when I sat down he had over $100, when he left I had over $85, another player had about $60 and there 12 people on the waiting list, clamouring for a go at him.

In about four hours play my stack grew from around $250 to $370.
And this time I'm NOT going to lose it all by playing Limit Hold'em or Blackjack, honest!
Typing this at work so must dash.

The fall and rise of a bankroll

Poker is a strange beast. When you're running hot, it seems the easiest way to make money. But then the bad beats start and you wonder why you bother.
My roll on Party has reached a high of $450 and a low of $138, from a starting point of $295.
Over the course of the month I've learnt a valuable lesson: I'm rubbish at limit poker.
When I play low-level NL, I'm a winning player. Ditto for SNG and MTTs.
But the odd win on limit doesn't disguise the fact that I suck at the game.
The low point came a couple of weeks back after some serious tilting on $2/$4 Limit badbeat jackpot tables. And I shouldn't even be playing such high limits with my current bankroll.
Anyway, I've eeked it back up over the next few sessions and stand at around $250 again.
I honestly think part of my problem is that once I'm up I start relaxing, and end up losing pots I should never have been in in the first place.

Workwise, I have seven days left to go before I leave regional journalism for ever.
It will also mean I won't be playing as much poker, as moving to London means more hours at work and a longer commute.
But in the meantime, I still plan to play as much as poss until then.

Bye for now