Back to Poker

So, I'm part Evil, part Angel - isn't a combination of the two perfect? Half of me will help the old lady across the road, the other half will steal your money in a flash at a poker table :-)

Well, the last bit has proven to be true so far this year, and my good run that started in December has continued into January. I played for a week at Laddies and despite a good % of my premium hands getting screwed, I hit two memorable hands that paid off nicely (quads v full house and str8 flush v A high flush), and cashed out 110$ in the positive.

After a bit of research, I decided upon Paradise Poker for my next spot of bonus whoring and cashed in $177 to my account. The bonus seems quite easy to reach at the 50$ buy in tables, and in 5 days I've cleared 80$ of the 100$ I can win. Add to this my 300$ winnings so far, and I sit at a very tidy profit for the month.
It's a frustrating place to play poker in many ways, is Paradise. The standard at the 50$ buy in tables is very mixed, but overall incredibly fishy. Pocket pairs are highly valued here pre and post flop and even if the board is full of overcards, I've regularly seen calls to the river with under-pairs. A good example of not wanting to let go, is this hand:

I'm on the button with AQs, and raise to 4 x bb, all fold to the player before me, who raises double my raise. He just called a few moments earlier, rather than raised, so I put him on a mid-pair, thinking he fancies this hand if he's put me on AK/AQ. So I just call, and we see a flop of Q 2 3. I think my hand is good here, and raise his half-pot bet. He immediately calls. Turn is another 2 and he moves all in, about 3/4 of the pot.
I still think I'm good here, and my read on the player, I feel, is good - so I call and he turns over pocket 10's. The river didn't help him and I profited over 40$ on the hand. Bizarrely, about 10 hands later, the almost identical hand with the same player took place, and my AQ again took down his 10's, but he kept calling on a Q high board.

My biggest focus this month is to get my '% seen flop' down, Poker Office shows this as far too high - though it seems my style of play suits this approach and the profit surely speaks volumes.
The main reason for the above, is that I wish to move up the levels and try out, consistently, higher buy ins. I played at 100$ level last night and came out well from my first 2 hours, but I know I will be more heavily punished if I maintain this high % of flops seen.
I also need to build a bigger bankroll, and am aiming to move up as soon as I have built my bankroll to double what I made in December. If I can hold my own there, I want to keep moving up, and see how high I can comfortably play, but all in good time.
Finally, one last thing I wish to do this year, is play live more often, so my first trip to a casino may be on the cards (no pun intended).

Enough from me, good luck at the tables.