The title seems redundant but I feel it is a point worth making.

Some nights you're hot and others you're left wondering what happened. Remember that every night is different and is a beast in and of itself; it's what I love about this game, it doesn't matter if you had the best or worst night before this outing, all that matters if that you give your best and learn from the experience. I find that each area is different, smaller towns or villages are much harder for typical pickup to work, because everyone knows everyone and either they don't know you or reinventing yourself can be extremely difficult. Whereas in a bigger city, you can walk in and no one knows a thing about you and there are significantly more options available. I'm heading to a small town/vacation location very soon, if anyone has advice for areas like this, I would greatly appreciate it.

As a side note, what's the best way to deal with competition? If you're in a bar and you view someone that's running game but you believe you're better, what's the best way to get in there?

I try to be an asshole with that but I'm too nice, sometimes the best way is the direct way and just walking up and showing intention by introducing yourself. Even cutting the guy off by maneuvering yourself between him and the target. This is a very conflict oriented method, can work for me because I'm a big and strong man which leads to less conflict starting, but with smaller guys might make bigger guys start something; or even worse talk over you if they have a big enough height difference.

I'm just curious as to how others deal with competition.