Big stacks (of windows)

I've had five consecutive bad tourney finishes (i.e., out of the money, most by losing 45%/55% races), so it's temporarily back to the 2¢/4¢ limit games. They're obviously looser than, well, her, so the strategy, as always, is to play tight tight tight.

This leads to a generally boring game, so I spiced it up tonight by playing three tables at once. This worked well, and I ended up ahead on all three tables when the night was done. A few times, I had to act on two tables at the same time, and accidentally called once when I should have folded, but I think it really kept me more disciplined. Heck, I folded pocket kings when faced with a re-raise following an Ace on the turn. And pocket jacks when the flop came AQx. Those have always been hard hands for me to get away from.

But... on to the hand of the night:

Eight players, and I'm dealt QJo; I'm one off the button. Pre-flop, all but one player are in, so I call too, and the big blind raises 2¢. Everyone, including myself, calls. Two more cents to win 28¢? I'm liking those odds.

The flop is 3TQ rainbow. The question in my mind: pair of queens... is my J kicker good enough? I think so. BB checks, UTG bets 2¢, two callers and a folder later, I raise to 4¢. The button and SB folds, and the three remaining players call. At this point, I figure an overpair, AQ, or KQ would have re-raised, so I'm feeling good.

The turn's a 7. It's checked to me (my read: nobody's got a queen), and I bet 4¢. Two callers and a fold. Vey nice.

The rivers a 2. No straight possibilities, no flushies, it's checked to me, and I bet 4¢. BB calls, the last player folds, and BB shows TK for a pair of tens. I collect the 66¢ pot, net +50¢ for the hand, and net +96¢ for the night.

It's about time I won one of those. If this was last night, the river would have been a K.