The Bully and The Beast

[zman]

I have come to appreciate the importance of game selection as a determining factor of winning or losing. But being the novice i am, i still have trouble assesing wether the game is good or bad (for me). I mostly play online since there arent any live games in my area, and when there are several tables to choose from, its really difficult picking the best. I would appreciate some tips on how you guys go about it, in general, and specifically if anyone has any tips on PokerStars where i have started playing recently. There are often several tables at the limits i play, which is usually $25 PLHE and sometimes $50 PLHE, if i evaluate the game to be in my favor. My evaluations arent always that good, so thats why im asking. (ie. time of day, day of week etc. for a newbie to have any chance.) I mean PokerStars attract all kinds of player, theres the usual bunch of regular rounders, which im learning to recognize and try to stay clear of, and the total suckers, which im trying to spot, so any tips are wellcome.

I also recently tried the $25 and $50 NLHE, and i enjoy it a lot, but id like to know how you handle big pocket pairs (AA or KK), one way would be to go all in preflop to eliminate 99 and such, another to make smaller raises to suck in TT and better. As i see it there are perils any which way.

Refering to the subject title, heres a story of a game i was in last nite, that made my day. PokerStars $25 NLHE, id fared OK at the other tables previously and just sat down, only to see that the table was full of "rounders", especially this one guy i didnt want to play, not that he was better than the rest, but id played him at some of the other tables earlier and this guy was a bully if i ever saw one. Not so much in the hands, but in-between hands. FE, it happened twice that he flopped a small set against my Big Pair, and thats the chit that happens in this game, but i dont appreciate when the guy LAUGHS OUT and mocks me after the pot. Now, im an advocate of keeping the same face, whether i win or lose, my feelings on the other hand are obviously not the same, but i like to keep them to myself, and i like when the other players do the same. There wasnt any foolish play of me, i just played my AA fast. But this guy was mocking me, so i didnt want to play with him no more.
Well, i took the BB as i sat down and planned to leave as fast as i came.
In the BB im dealt K5o, and im just waiting to fold it so i can leave. There are 3 folds, 4 calls of which one is my favorite bully, and SB fold to me. So the flop comes KKQ. Whoa, thats pretty, but what about the QQ, any of those guys could of limped with QQ, KQs theyd probably raise, AK as well. I figure i got the best hand so far anyway (which i, by the way always do with theese guys, and its cost me some. So, i thinks how to make some money out of this hand. Dang, i dont have a better position. Wisest thing to check i figure. Checked around. Comes turn card, and guess what, yup, theres the beast: K #4. Im almost falling backwards, not that i havent had quads before, but this was soooo purty. Geez, i think, the board is wrecked, ill never make any money out of this! Just check and see what happens, river T. OK, i figure time for action, so i make a dollar bet. Call, fold, fold, bully RAISE!!! Of course he called my all-in reraise, and wisely i had made a full buy-in. He was holding QT, and he was calling me NAMES afterwards. UUH, horrid man! Unfortunately, i couldnt stop myself from using his own laughter back, in CAPITALS. (I regret that one)

So, whats the lesson to be drawn from this? Dont let the blinds see the flop for free?

Thank you for your time, pokerlovers