One Win Does Not A Poker Player Make...

But it feels good to win at least something. And not just win, but totally dominate. I started off playing an $11 1-table 7 card stud game and took first. It helps when you get hands like this:

Seat 1: GdBdUgly ( $950 )
Seat 2: martin286 ( $730 )
Seat 3: gtech73 ( $3560 )
Seat 4: theseamonkey ( $2110 )
Seat 6: onil8 ( $2755 )
Seat 7: Randone1 ( $2625 )
Seat 8: mclarich ( $3270 )
Stakes-Antes(150/300-25)
GdBdUgly posts ante [25].
martin286 posts ante [25].
gtech73 posts ante [25].
theseamonkey posts ante [25].
onil8 posts ante [25].
Randone1 posts ante [25].
mclarich posts ante [25].
** Dealing **
Dealt to mclarich [ 6c Ac Ad ]
martin286 opens.
martin286 bring-ins [50].
gtech73 calls [50].
theseamonkey folds.
onil8 completes [150].
Randone1 folds.
mclarich raises [300].
GdBdUgly folds.
martin286 folds.
gtech73 calls [250].
onil8 calls [150].
** Dealing Fourth street **
Dealt to mclarich [ Qd ]
mclarich bets [150].
gtech73 calls [150].
onil8 calls [150].
** Dealing Fifth street **
Dealt to mclarich [ 7h ]
gtech73 checks.
onil8 checks.
mclarich checks.
** Dealing Sixth street **
Dealt to mclarich [ 6s ]
gtech73 checks.
onil8 bets [300].
mclarich calls [300].
gtech73 calls [300].
** Dealing River **
Dealt to mclarich [ Ah ]
gtech73 checks.
onil8 bets [300].
mclarich raises [600].
gtech73 calls [600].
onil8 raises [600].
mclarich raises [600].
gtech73 folds.
onil8 calls [300].
mclarich shows [ 6c, Ac, Ad, Qd, 7h, 6s, Ah ] a full house, Aces full of sixes.
onil8 doesn't show [ Jc, 8s, 8d, 3c, 4s, Jd, 8h ] a full house, Eights full of jacks.
mclarich wins 5475 chips from the main pot with a full house, Aces full of sixes.

Although the results worked out the best for me, I'm wondering if my play from 4th-6th street was the best way to play this hand:

4th St: I led out with a continuation bet: I have to do this if I've raised the completion bet before 4th.

5th St: I'm still only on AA; I could be up against 2 pair or a set perhaps, so I decide to check just in case, to avoid a possible reraise. I'm happy with the checks all around.

6th St: My hand improves; although I can't beat trips or straights\flushes, I'm not laying this hand down yet.

7th St: There's no doubt I've got the best hand right now, and luckily onil8 thinks his full house is good enough to reraise me at the end, allowing me to cap the betting and maximizing this hand.

I feel like a decent stud player, but I know that I'm still a little weak on strategy. However, I feel that I played this game relatively as well as I could. I played a NL tourney later, and during that, I checked my stats for the day using PartyPoker's quick stat menu. At the time, it said that I had won 93% of hands that saw 4th street. I looked back on the hand history and I calculated only winning 75%, but either way, I didn't realize that I dominated the game like that. My reads were sharp during that game, and I was even able to get in TWO, not one, but TWO river bluffs. Both times I knew that the other guy was just chasing, and I capitalized by taking the pots with only A high and K high because I played the hands aggressively.

I also played two 2-table $22 NL SnGs, finishing 4th in one of them. I busted out of the first one on this hand:

Seat 2: worldsports ( $8076 )
Seat 3: mclarich ( $3520 )
Seat 5: DrCigar111 ( $4031 )
Seat 6: TI_BUCK ( $2545 )
Seat 8: tupumpchump ( $4220 )
Seat 1: Too777Kool ( $4110 )
Seat 4: Zerberus999 ( $700 )
Seat 7: Toledolurch ( $2097 )
Seat 9: JD0101JD ( $8471 )
Seat 10: tw69ig2 ( $2230 )
Trny:28341765 Level:4
Blinds(100/200)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mclarich [ Ah Qs ]
tw69ig2 folds.
Too777Kool calls [200].
worldsports raises [1000].
mclarich is all-In [3520]
Zerberus999 folds.
DrCigar111 folds.
TI_BUCK folds.
Toledolurch folds.
tupumpchump folds.
JD0101JD folds.
Too777Kool folds.
worldsports calls [2520].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6c, 8h, Jh ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
** Dealing River ** [ 4d ]
worldsports shows [ Kd, Jd ] two pairs, jacks and fours.
mclarich shows [ Ah, Qs ] a pair of fours.
worldsports wins 7540 chips from the main pot with two pairs, jacks and fours.
Player mclarich finished in 10 place.

Normally, I'm not going to come over the top this early, with a medium stack comparatively, but I had a feeling that I had the better hand and was willing to gamble. I put him on a A with a weaker kicker or a small pair. I felt that with a small pair he would be willing to fold and that he would call with an A with a weaker kicker. Up until this point, this is what I saw he had done:

-Holding a set of 8s, he was min raised on the river and only called, especially considering the guy showed weakness
-Overbet the pot by going all in preflop for 6900 on a pot of 700, then showing his AA when everyone folded
-Calling a 5x preflop reraise in middle position then folding to an all in, only to say he folded what would have been the best hand on a 6s4h6dAc7h board (what was he holding that would have been the best hand but only good enough to call a EP preflop raise?)

Given all that, I made the move thinking at the best, I had him dominated, at the worst it was a coinflip. More often than not I'm going to fold this hand in this position given the circumstances, but considering the opponent, I felt I had the best hand. I'm content with the fact that my suspicion that I had the better hand was correct, but I know that I could have layed the hand down and waited to make a move later (I still had over 17BB at that point).

All in all I felt like my play was much better than some of my previous efforts. I played with confidence, which I wasn't really doing before. And although I made some -EV moves, they were either calculated moves that paid off beautifully (like raising preflop with 5c8c and flopping a boat) or were moves where I at least had the best hand going in, which is more than I can say for some of my other recent games.