I'm ahead, finally

On December 20, I bought in at Empire Poker, and ended the night down $30. Bad, loose play at the $2/$4 tables dropped me down to less than 50% of my buy-in. I dropped down to the $0.50/$1.00 tables, and tried to improve my game. Problem is, there's so many maniacal players at that level, you can lose a perfectly good hand to someone who hit his 27o on the turn and river, because there's always four or five people trying to do just that.

I've continued to play solid, conservative, tight games, and eked out a few winning nights. The frustration of the play at the cheap tables was taking its toll on my nerves, so I hopped up to the $3/$6 table last week. There's still a maniac or two, but they can be quickly identified, and played strongly against when you've got a decent hand.

Finally, a month later, I'm at 103% of my buy-in. Yay!