Wow... 400NL is brutalizing me. I as the title states, I played another 1100 hands last night for a big winner of -$800. Some of the beats I'm taking are really rough... Here was my favorite of the night. This guy got put on my buddy list after < 5 mins of playing with him. He managed to beat me in several medium-big pots.

Effective Stacks: $400.

Villain was an uber maniac/calling station combo. If he had a draw, he was calling...if he had overcards, he was calling. Sometimes he'd throw in a raise. Other times he'd just call call call.

I pick up Q Q in the SB. Folds to villain on the button who calls, I raise to $18 in the SB, loose/bad BB calls, Villain calls.

Flop ($54) 9 J 3

I lead for $45, BB calls, Villain calls.

Turn ($189) Q

I lead for $100, BB folds, Villain raises to $300, I push my final $233 into the pot, Villain calls and flips over K T for the turned 2 outer gutshot that gives me top set. Lovely.

Ok, there are more bad beat stories I'd love to type out (including another 2 outer from the same villain) but I'll spare you. I very much don't want my blog to turn into a bad beat whine session.

So here's a hand I screwed up this past weeekend. I really should have played this hand better. Constructive self criticism. Here we go.

Villain in this hand is a 20/6 weak tightie...I've never seen him get out of line.

Effective stacks are $322

I'm in the BB with A 2.

Folds to loosie on the button who limps. Villain complets in the SB, I check.

Flop ($12) A 5 3

Villain leads for $10. I just call (some will disagree and say this is a must raise...I feel like in this spot with a very marginal hand, I'll call and keep the pot small to see what the donk behind me does and hopefully play a small pot in position against someone who is not leading into 2 people without a decent hand very often. A strong case could be made for folding here), donk folds.

Turn ($32) 4

So I hit my straight. Cool. He could have led the flop with any 2 pair, set, top pair, and some % of the time club draw. He leads for $20, I raise to $55 straight. He calls. This should have set off some major warning bells in my head. I must have memory lapsed to how tight this guy is. He's not calling this with a club draw, so he's either got the straight already or a set or maayyyyyyybe 2pair...but that's unlikely since I've got one of the Aces.

River ($142) A

Villain leads for $116 and I go into the tank. Doh... is he trying to knock me off a split? Would he really bet out on the flop with a hand that hit the straight on the turn? If he had A2 probably, but that's a stretch considering I've got an A and a 2... would he complete the SB with 52, 42, 32? Unlikely. He could perhaps have A5/A4/A3, but that's still unlikely since there's only 1 A unseen... It's much more reasonable that he's got 55 and 33 and he's betting to get value out of a straight holding donk like myself.

I pull out a lighter and burn $116 as I call. Villain shows me the obvious 33.

Really horrible. I beat nothing here. He's not betting something like AT in this spot for value. He's not getting crazy with busted clubs. He's not trying to knock me off a split here (even if he was, that's a poor reason for me to call on this board). Basically what it boils down to is I make a hugely donkified play and give him an undeserved $116 on the river. This is a really easy fold against this opponent, but I managed to mess it up. I must hate money.

I'll play some more tonight and see how I fare...