All by myself.

With everyone in foreign climes I have finally decided it is time to step up a level. Checked my stats for the last 3,000 hands at 10NL and at 28 Poker Tracker Big Bets per 100 hands(28PTBB/100) I feel confident that I have this level thoroughly beat. With a big bet(BB) = 2 x the big blinds that works out at a winning rate of US$5.6 for every 100 hands I play and with me three tabling I'm pretty close to 200 hands an hour. Better than the pay for frying burgers. Just.

At the table I sit down at the guy on my left in particular is pretty aggressive. I start off with a run of good but not great cards and end up with a raising % of 28. I think he picks up on this and starts 3 betting me liberally in position. He catches me three times without cards I can play back with and then another opponent does the same. US$4 down. When I do catch any hands that could stand a 3-bet I take down the pot unchallenged. With a short stack to my left I make a standard raise on the button with 66. Flop 854 rainbow. He checks I bet 3/4 pot and he check raises all-in which is less than pot. I call but thinking I'm likely behind or in at best a race and he indeed shows an 8 to take the pot. Not great best sizing by me and not a good start

I also come up against a lot of my raises being called followed up with 1/3 size pot bets on the flop working on the principle I miss most flops. I give up on a few I miss initially but then when a particularly unscary board shows after raising KJs on the button I opt to fire a second bullet on the turn. It is again called but I hit my jack on the river. He checks and I think about raising but just check behind. The river jack meant he hit 2 pairs with J6. Not sure if I would have faced a check raise or not. If he is calling raises with J6o out of position though. I'll make my money back.

I've been continuation betting 90%+ of flops at 10NL. Maybe this is one thing I need to think about looking at when stepping up levels. Seems I will meet a higher percentages of floaters so I need to pay attention to flop texture, sometimes check behind and be willing to double-barrel on occasion.

Anyway I decided to find an easier table and cut my losses. At the new table I lay AA down early to someone who is playing their first hand on the table who calls my pre-flop raise and flop continuation bet and then bets aggressively on the turn with no draws on the board. I'm worried he has hit trips and won't slow down on the river so reluctantly fold. Feel I may have been weak tight here so I'll try and post this hand later for comment.

Now I am US$23 down but keep buying in to the max buy-in. Gradually I begin to dominate the table and end up playing with a bunch of guys playing with 10-12$ stacks. I now feel I am outplaying them and my stack climbs to US$40+ and my opponents gradually disappear leaving me as the only person left on the table.

I end up US$7 down on the night. I'm pretty confident I will beat this level but will start to meet some decent players in amongst the usual medley of donkeys and fish. Key lesson today has to be table selection. Need to work out if I can pull stats from a few tables before I sit down.