After my first losing session at the $1/2 NLH game on board, I enjoyed a solid recovery in the subsequent games.

Not all the players were bad. Some of them were clearly quite experienced, in fact. Norman Gold was one of those. I don’t know him, but he apparently plays regularly at The Vic. A couple of other players knew him from there, so they likewise must be assumed to know their way around the game.

Still, I didn’t need to win any money off that section of the table. There was plenty to be had from the other groups: (a) the short-stacked timid players, (b) the predictable players and especially (c) the roulette players.

The roulette guys more or less knew how to play poker (mechanically speaking), but on roulette they were experts. For example, they knew when Red was hot and when Red was favoured one of them had a good plan: bet on every red number. His equivalent strategy in poker was to play every hand for any raise pre-flop.

By the end of the 2nd week, I had amassed a useful 4-figure profit from my starting $200buy-in without ever being down overall. I paid off the room bill (just the extras: sadly not enough to pay for the cruise: if it had been a $5/10 game then maybe ....) and set aside some profit. I left myself just $160 in my wallet “in case” I wanted to have one just go on the last night.

I came into the game at about 11:30pm with a quick spin-up in mind. I pulled up just $60 – the average stack was about $250.

After winning one small pot, I had $71 when I picked up Aces on the button. Alan made it $17 to go from early position. He was a regular all week and had picked up on my very loose play, no doubt. I felt very sure that I could get it all in now, and indeed he fairly quickly called my shove with pocket 5s. First double up accomplished.

I made another good step forward with 43s – flopping two pair vs Alan again, who virtually doubled me up as I bet it all the way to the river vs his top pair.

Finally, with an early start and long drive ahead of us in the morning, I reluctantly announced I would play around to my button.

My button hand duly arrived. Scottish Colin elected to limp and re-evaluate after my assumed raise. I looked down at KTo and decided to just call the straddle and await developments. To my surprise, no one raised.

5-way to the flop: Q-J-3. OK, I have an open-ender but I really do not want to get too busy on the last hand of the night. Someone bets $15, which I called, and now Colin check-raises to $50. I decide I can continue here.

Turn – an offsuit 9. Colin moves in with his pocket Aces and is drawing dead when I call with the nuts !

I decide, for once, to end on a high and I call it a night having turned $60 into nearly $500 in about an hour.