Astonishingly bad play. Just astonishing

I've been working from two basic assumptions for over a year now.
1) The higher up in stakes you go, the better the players
2) Players generally are getting better.

I've just busted from a tournament where I've seen some of the most bone-headedly stupid plays imagineable. I've seen a player call off 300 chips on the flop and turn leaving himself 80 only to fold on the river. I've seen a player call a preflop-raise, a flop and river bet on a board of AJxxx with 4 hearts holding 22(no heart). I've seen people call all-ins for about the pot with 10-high (and a gutshot straight draw!).

I was adding notes to the players and they all consisted of criticisms of their play

"Calling station *** don't bluff ***"
"raised 4x UTG+1 wT5s"

Amazing. And the buy-in? $55!!

If I'd have hit some hands I'd be tournament leader by now. I was chuffed that my table didn't break for ages as the shorties kept hitting cards and doubling up.

I ended up having my AA losing to a rivered straight, but I didn't actually play it that well. I called a fair number of chips on the river with 4-cards to the straight down. The trouble was the player (and several others) had been so bad they could have held almost anything.

It really was like playing in a $1 tourny - only with fewer pre-flop all-ins, but still an equivalently stupid number of post-flop calls with weak draws or made hands.

Astonishing.

Lunacy on the bubble

I normally play the bubble aggressively - but not stupidly.
Last night, I practised being a maniac and, dear reader, I was that bubble boy. 21st out of 130 in the 10:30 $22. I was quite short-stacked after taking quite a hit with my chips, but so too were all the stacks on my left, so I pushed twice in a row with decent hands (AQ and TT IIRC) and it was folded around to me holding 9To. I'd read a couple of the people I had to get through as very tight, and the other couple had a stack size very similar to mine. I normally fold some decent hands if I've raised the previous 2 hands, but this time I continued pushing, and got looked up by the SB holding 99.

I again played pretty well though, so I'm not too displeased, even if the last push was a bit optimistic. I've recently won this tournament twice, and been the bubble boy twice. Probably in the last 15 times I've entered. I'm quite happy with that.

Good run continues

This is getting daft.

For a while I've been playing in the Crypto $20, GTD2000 at 10:30. The fields are usually quite small ~110-130 and I've done alright but never cashed, my best being the bubble position - 21st. I've now won it twice in the last fortnight.

Its an extraordinary run I'm on now. I've cashed 5 times in the last 6 weeks - and every one has been a victory (ker-ching!). I can't remember too much about the first one now, but the victory a couple of days ago stays fresh in my mind.

I started off luckily, with QQ besting AA. After that I played quite well, attacking a number of weak players, and my raises getting a surprising amount of respect from the rest of the table.

I laid down one big hand. A short stack from UTG pushed his chips in and the button called. I'm in the BB and have to call with the pot odds with 78o. Flop 782, rainbow. I check-raise him for a bit less than the pot, and he insta-pushes. I don't normally let this go, but the passive way he had played this pre-flop led me to think he had a set (222 being post likely). I folded, and he showed A8. Do'h.

On the final table I also laid down a full-house. I had 44, and saw a flop of JT4 in a multi-way. I'd been making quite large bets post-flop, so put out a small one which was called by the BB only.

The turn was a T so I put another small bet out (this was my mistake) which again he flat called, and the river was the worst card in the deck - a Jack. He pushed and I laid it down. Horrible really.

Heads up was fun. I had about a 2:1 chip lead at the start and my opponent started terribly. I raised by SB 4 times in a row and he folded each time - whilst folding his SB too! Soon I had a 10:1 chip lead and was dealt AKo. I pushed (natch) and he doubled up with 55. He came back well from that though, and had the chip lead at one stage, but I managed to see it out. Immensely enjoyable (I won about $750). I've now got a bankroll of >$2k. I really feel like playing the Sunday warm-up one day soon. I've got the cash to give it a couple of shots and see what the opposition is like.