Current balance $295.50

And currently in 25th place in a 1459 - man $5.50 tourney. . . . check that, 22nd

Anyways, I look at the hands that started this blog and I honestly wasn't as good as I am now. So . . . I might, at some point in the future, go back and re-critique those hands. But, today, I'll go ahead and talk a bit about what changes I made to my game that got me on this winning streak.

17th place.

In essence, I've vastly simplified my game. Hands fall into two categories now - big bets, and limps. There's no subtlety, no choices. Just quickly classifying a hand, and playing accordingly.

Now, if you will indulge me for a second, I'll note that there is a *vast* amount of experience I've gained - about table position, stack sizes, flop textures, card values, pot odds, size of blinds, time of day, time in the tourney - that are taken into account here. And, furthermore, I'm a conservative aggressive player, so this style suits my natural playstyle.

Ouch - 10's vs A's - lost - down to 129th

So, what I've done is simple - If a hand is a power hand, and no one else has opened the betting, I bet 5 times the big blind. Unless the flop is disastrous, I bet the pot.

This pretty much represents pocket Aces, and I take down lots of hands before the flop, and on the flop with it (Since the flop will miss others most of the time) . And, since I'm betting with big hands most of the time, I get more than my fair share of monster pots with a monster hand.

In practice, the money I make with middling hands here will make up for the few times I'm cut off at the pass on one of my bets.

And then the other situation is if my cards are good enough to limp in - I do it, and if I hit a monster, I again bet the pot. Otherwise, I throw it away.

-W