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.