back from holiday

I've been on holiday, and then just generally busy, recently so yesterday was the first time in a while I've actually played. We're having a poker night among our friends this weekend so I figured I'd get a little practice in.
So, I had what was in the end a fairly uninspiring session, ending about $1 down. Again my main problems were playing too long and loosening up too much especially towards the last few hands.
There were some positives to take away from it though, because for the most part I think I played pretty well. I'm definitely getting better at reading the play and putting in good bluffs to take down pots, usually without having to resort to overly large pushes. I'm also not gettin sucked into quite so many hands that I have no business being in!

I never hit that many killer hands, but still was able make a reasonable profit of around $3 for the first part of the session. Unfortunately then I wiped it out in one big hand.

#Game No : 6283286914
***** Hand History for Game 6283286914 *****
$5 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, August 30, 16:13:37 ET 2007
Table Table 130477 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 7: mpanos ( $11.47 USD )
Seat 2: e_r_c ( $8.54 USD )
Seat 5: daRee222 ( $2.68 USD )
Seat 9: crjhawkins ( $8.27 USD )
Seat 8: tentei333 ( $3.28 USD )
Seat 6: dimapp ( $5.05 USD )
Seat 4: Ehtna ( $4.88 USD )
Seat 3: Uzeeka ( $4.60 USD )
Uzeeka posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Ehtna posts big blind [$0.04 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to e_r_c [ 4c 4s ]
daRee222 raises [$0.20 USD]
dimapp folds
mpanos folds
tentei333 folds
crjhawkins calls [$0.20 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.20 USD]
Uzeeka could not respond in time.(disconnected)
Ehtna calls [$0.16 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2s, 7s, 4d ]
Ehtna checks
daRee222 checks
crjhawkins checks
e_r_c bets [$0.60 USD]
Ehtna folds
daRee222 calls [$0.60 USD]
crjhawkins calls [$0.60 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8h ]
daRee222 checks
crjhawkins checks
e_r_c bets [$1 USD]
daRee222 calls [$1 USD]
crjhawkins folds
** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]
Maulimaker has joined the table.
daRee222 is all-In [$0.88 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.88 USD]
daRee222 shows [ Ks, As ]a flush, Ace high.
e_r_c shows [ 4c, 4s ]three of a kind, Fours.
Uzeeka doesn't show [ Qs, 9s ]a flush, Queen high.
daRee222 wins $5.97 USD from side pot #1 with a flush, Ace high.
daRee222 wins $0.10 USD from the main pot with a flush, Ace high.


I'd been dealt pocket 4s, daRee222 raised preflop and got a good number of callers, and decided to take a chance and call and the flop came in with a 4 in it. I put in some good sized bets on flop and turn, and got called all the way to the river, where a third Spade came out and rewarded the caller his tenacity. I checked and he put in a bet of $0.88, which with the pot at around $5 at that point I felt I had to call even though I knew he'd hit the flush.
I didn't feel too bad about the loss at the time, since I felt like I'd made him pay a decent amount to see the river, and since the draw was his only out (he had AKs) I'd have taken it 76% if the time. Looking back, I think my bet on the turn was a little weak. I have a tendency when there's more than one caller to underbet the next round because I forget to take into account the fact the pot will have swelled more than usual. Maybe if I'd bet heavier I would have scared daRee222 off, but maybe not.

back to the action

After some very sloppy play, where I'd repeatedly pledged to stop playing past a time when I was enjoying it and then repeatedly failed to do so, I'd taken a little break from poker. Steve was on holiday too so I didn't have chatting to him while he was playing or reading his blog to prompt me to play.

With him being back, I've had a couple more sessions and so far things are going pretty well. In fact I've just come off my best single session so far! I've just left the table with $11.00, a $6 profit.
The majority of my winnings came in two consecutive hands, both of which turned in full houses for me.

#Game No : 6228451009
***** Hand History for Game 6228451009 *****
$5 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 11, 11:39:04 ET 2007
Table Table 126410 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Doesy21 ( $1.32 USD )
Seat 2: emjeys ( $3.86 USD )
Seat 3: Daricus ( $4.86 USD )
Seat 4: lieberengel ( $1.53 USD )
Seat 5: x__Ronald__x ( $4.94 USD )
Seat 6: lapota ( $2.02 USD )
Seat 7: larryperkins ( $3.19 USD )
Seat 9: Yoland888 ( $4.47 USD )
Seat 10: PartyChris81 ( $7.25 USD )
Seat 8: e_r_c ( $4.30 USD )
lieberengel posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
x__Ronald__x posts big blind [$0.04 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to e_r_c [ 6h 6s ]
lapota folds
larryperkins folds
e_r_c calls [$0.04 USD]
Yoland888 folds
PartyChris81 folds
Doesy21 folds
emjeys raises [$0.08 USD]
Daricus folds
lieberengel folds
x__Ronald__x folds
e_r_c calls [$0.04 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kd, 6c, 4h ]
e_r_c checks
emjeys bets [$0.20 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.20 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
e_r_c checks
emjeys bets [$0.20 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.20 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Kh ]
e_r_c checks
emjeys bets [$0.12 USD]
e_r_c raises [$0.97 USD]
emjeys calls [$0.85 USD]
e_r_c shows [ 6h, 6s ]a full house, Sixes full of Kings.
emjeys doesn't show [ Jh, Js ]two pairs, Kings and Jacks.
e_r_c wins $2.82 USD from the main pot with a full house, Sixes full of Kings.

#Game No : 6228455750
***** Hand History for Game 6228455750 *****
$5 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Saturday, August 11, 11:41:04 ET 2007
Table Table 126410 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Doesy21 ( $1.38 USD )
Seat 2: emjeys ( $2.41 USD )
Seat 3: Daricus ( $4.86 USD )
Seat 4: lieberengel ( $1.51 USD )
Seat 5: x__Ronald__x ( $4.88 USD )
Seat 6: lapota ( $1.98 USD )
Seat 7: larryperkins ( $3.19 USD )
Seat 9: Yoland888 ( $4.47 USD )
Seat 10: PartyChris81 ( $7.25 USD )
Seat 8: e_r_c ( $5.67 USD )
lapota posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
larryperkins posts big blind [$0.04 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to e_r_c [ Jh Js ]
e_r_c calls [$0.04 USD]
Yoland888 calls [$0.04 USD]
PartyChris81 folds
Doesy21 calls [$0.04 USD]
Daricus folds
lieberengel calls [$0.04 USD]
x__Ronald__x folds
lapota folds
larryperkins checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9d, 7c, Jc ]
larryperkins bets [$0.20 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.20 USD]
Yoland888 folds
Doesy21 folds
lieberengel calls [$0.20 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ]
larryperkins bets [$0.60 USD]
e_r_c raises [$1.20 USD]
lieberengel is all-In [$1.27 USD]
larryperkins calls [$0.67 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.07 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 7h ]
larryperkins bets [$0.40 USD]
e_r_c is all-In [$4.16 USD]
larryperkins is all-In [$1.28 USD]
larryperkins shows [ Th, 6s ]a straight Seven to Jack.
e_r_c shows [ Jh, Js ]a full house, Jacks full of Sevens.
lieberengel doesn't show [ Ac, Tc ]a straight Seven to Jack.
e_r_c wins $2.48 USD from side pot #2 with a full house, Jacks full of Sevens.
e_r_c wins $3.20 USD from side pot #1 with a full house, Jacks full of Sevens.
e_r_c wins $4.40 USD from the main pot with a full house, Jacks full of Sevens.
Game #6228460479 starts.

Looking back, I'm not sure whether I undersold the first one. My thought at the time was to let the other guy think I didn't have too much and let him do the betting for me so I could nail him at the river. I bet the pot, but perhaps I should have put in even more.
As for the second hand, revisiting it I've just realised I pretty much fluked my way through it. The raise on the turn was maybe a very silly move given that at that point I was behind to anyone with a ten, I think I was just lucky that lieberengel was short stacked, and that one of my 10 outs hit on the river.

So, anyone like to voice an opinion on my play, feel free.