Interesting weekend. Played well Saturday. Up nearly 3 BI's. And I played even better yesterday but was down 1.5 BI's. I think I read hands and put villains on ranges better yesterday than I ever have.

I nearly titled, tho', and not my typical "I'm exhausted but I'm gonna play an hour oh wtf I'm all-in" kinda tilt. I tied for 5 pots in a half an hour, 4 of them for stacks. Three times with AK TPTK hands, once with an A8o steal that got called and flopped top two pair (yes, flatted from the BB w/ A8o). The one that really tilted me was another steal, this time with QJ (flatted by BB). The flop is Q98, so I value bet two streets. The river is a T, and KJ has me beat, so I bet small and call a small raise. Villain shows AJ. He called two streets of value w/ a GUTSHOT DAMMIT OMG THIS IS THE 5TH TIME IN 20 FREAKIN' MINUTES I'VE TIED FOR A POT AND I'M TILTING!!!!

To help unhinge me further, I stack off AA < 42s and KK < AA, so I'm down 3 BI's and closing in on wrist slitting. Interesting to have "real" tilt. Not normal for me to experience real anger - frustration, yes, but not "see red" anger.

Took a break, finished down only 1.5 BI (with two more tied pots, AK and AQ, each for half a stack).

And seriously, I played as well as I've played lately. I was putting people on ranges (correctly), bet-sizing properly, and just reading the game and hands extremely well. Even the 42s didn't shock me - I had 4x in his range. I just didn't really guess x = deuce.

That was the fun part, I think, was never being surprised by a showdown. By the river, I had 3 - 5 combos in my mind and nearly always was right. I'd be thinking "TT, 99 or KQs that just missed the FD," call with a JJ, and villain would muck the 99.

I also thought a lot about 3betting and nutshino's essay contest, and here are some things I learned this weekend and while playing:

1. We don't have pot odds to 3bet nits light - EVER. Even if a 10% PFR folds 75% to 3bets, 3betting him with a weak hand is still barely +EV. Since most nits won't fold anywhere near that amount, we need to look for other places to 3bet.

2. Based on #1, I turned it around: villains aren't ++EV 3betting light into me, either, even if I fold a lot. I hate folding to a 3bet, but I do it a lot. Looking at the numbers made me feel better.

3. Flatting in position can really disguise the strength of your hand.

4. If you're playing a nit, and quit 3betting them so much, and if they really are weak-tight postflop, you can raise them off their missed hands on the turn. The "cost" is less than 3betting, and the payoff is more likely to +EV.

5. I used not to like flatting in LP, and folded what were some playable hands. But when you can accurately put villains on ranges, it's not tricky at all to start the hand passively and then get some big value out of big hands.