As you know, I've been playing at Ultimate Bet for several months now. I started out at the $0.25/$0.50 tables, and did fairly okay. But the grind was horrible; it was a good night if I was up $5.

So, after a month or so of playing the $.50/$1 tables, I built my bankroll up to $150, and decided to take the plunge into the higher limits. My first night at $1/$2 was fairly successful. Its pretty fun to see a nice $25 chip come your way after winning a big pot. Overall I was up about $17.

The strangest thing is, the poker is essentially the same. There are still some serious fish at these "higher" levels. I witnessed one guy burn through $100 in an hour, much of that heading my way, or to a pretty good player named honeycutt. The easiest way to make money in those situations is to just get into a pot with those characters with any decent hand and just hang on for the ride. Its very difficult to bluff them out of anything, and you have no idea when they're just hanging on for that inside straight draw.

So it was a good night. I almost doubled up (my usual stopping point) several times, but in the end, I count myself lucky to come back from a fairly big deficit. However, I told Laura I'd be in bed over half an hour ago, so I guess more money making will have to wait for another night.