Grinding it up at Bodog

More grinding at the low levels for me with Bodog. I had about $25 in the account to start the evening so decided to play $10 max and see what we can do. I couldn't believe the donkness.

I called a 4x preflop raise with 88, hit my set on the flop that 3 of us saw. 1st out bets into me 1/2 the pot, I call and other player calls. Next card is an Ace. 1st player bets 1/4 of the pot. Again I call and the other player calls. Next card is a nothing, and first player bets out 1/6th of the pot. I think for awhile (for show- no straight or flush possibilities) and then go all in for a little more than twice the size of the pot (overbet). Player behind me thinks briefly and calls, 1st player folds. He shows a pair of Aces with his STRONG 6 kicker and I flip over my set of snowmen and double up my stack.

A few hands later, I get A10, raise preflop and get two callers. Flop comes QJ7. 1st player checks, I check and it checks around. Next card is a K filling in my straight with no flush available yet. 1st player raises, I reraise all in and get all his chips when he shows his slow played set of Queens.

I continued to run the table as I would control the pot sizes when I didn't have the nuts, and maximized my winnings when I did. And it helped that at the .05/.10 level, Acerag was considered the nuts by my opponents. I took plenty of hands with AK and/or two pair when an Ace was on the board.

My point is if you play patient, wait for the right hands and bet them hard, you can make money at these levels. I think the biggest thing that kept me winning was that I tried to keep small pots when I was playing TPWeak Kicker or just a pair and a flush or straight filled in. Not losing all your chips to the calling station who hits his 1 outer on the river is key. You don't go all in with AK and A high flop. But you do push and watch what your opponent does.

Fortunately for me, I left the table with my 3 1/2 buy in profit. Unfortunately, this all started late (son's Christmas Recital was last night), so I didn't get to play in $mokkee's BODONKEY tourney. Sorry I missed it last night -sounds like it would have been fun, especially with Buddydank on. The only reason I got on Bodog was to play in $mokkee's tourney and I haven't made one yet. Oh well, keep trying.

Stay patient...