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I've had some positive few sessions since my last post, with a particularly profitable session tonight. Over the weekend through to Monday I had a lot of fun, very swingy play where I doubled up a good few times but busted out almost as much! Some of it was horrible suck-outs and some of it was just my own foolishness but I turned a small profit and enjoyed myself while doing it.
The last two sessions I've played a lot tighter and so suffered a lot less in the way of swing. Wednesday I had a terrible run of hands, never really hitting a big hand throughout. In a way though, it was very good for me, because I still ended up in profit. I think I'm finally getting towards the point where I've got the confidence to go out and grab the small pots, but with the discipline to drop more troublesome hands. Well, mostly...

Anyway, the nice profit margin I have couldn't have happened without a few guys who decided to throw their money at me. So here's a few special mentions:
Firstly Dragoonee, who was a big contributor to tonight's $7.25 profit. Maybe it's just me, but when there's 3 of a suit on the board I slow right down. Just after this pot he said 'fuck you' and fled the table, and I felt a twinge of pity for him, thinking he must have been unlucky with a lower-card flush like Jack/Queen-high. Then I saw what he actually had and all pity disappeared.

#Game No : 6424315032
***** Hand History for Game 6424315032 *****
$5 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Thursday, October 18, 16:09:34 ET 2007
Table Table 129355 (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 2: SteveWarris ( $6.44 USD )
Seat 7: Ryoken86 ( $5.81 USD )
Seat 8: Michel1804 ( $3.24 USD )
Seat 9: BigBobbel ( $4.98 USD )
Seat 10: jam27222 ( $1.91 USD )
Seat 1: e_r_c ( $6.63 USD )
Seat 3: GibMir23 ( $4.96 USD )
Seat 6: amber2007111 ( $2.42 USD )
Seat 5: jonez113 ( $1.68 USD )
Seat 4: Dragoonee ( $4.96 USD )
GibMir23 posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Dragoonee posts big blind [$0.04 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to e_r_c [ Ac 5c ]
jonez113 calls [$0.04 USD]
amber2007111 folds
Ryoken86 folds
Michel1804 folds
BigBobbel folds
jam27222 folds
e_r_c calls [$0.04 USD]
SteveWarris folds
GibMir23 calls [$0.02 USD]
Dragoonee checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2c, 3d, Kc ]
GibMir23 checks
Dragoonee bets [$0.16 USD]
jonez113 calls [$0.16 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.16 USD]
GibMir23 folds
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6c ]
Dragoonee bets [$0.72 USD]
jonez113 calls [$0.72 USD]
e_r_c calls [$0.72 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Qd ]
Dragoonee bets [$1.60 USD]
jonez113 folds
e_r_c raises [$3.20 USD]
Dragoonee calls [$1.60 USD]
e_r_c shows [ Ac, 5c ]a flush, Ace high.
Dragoonee doesn't show [ Ks, 3s ]two pairs, Kings and Threes.
e_r_c wins $8.74 USD from the main pot with a flush, Ace high.

But my 1st prize goes to Suisse444! Let's look at quite possibly to worst ever example of a time to get your money in:

***** Hand History for Game 6411081455 *****
$5 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, October 14, 09:28:10 ET 2007
Table Table 129296 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: allende5 ( $6.93 USD )
Seat 2: e_r_c ( $5.42 USD )
Seat 6: AlKuhl ( $5 USD )
Seat 8: Nightmare508 ( $2.06 USD )
Seat 10: Europa180g ( $4.96 USD )
Seat 5: kingelvo ( $2.51 USD )
Seat 3: Suisse444 ( $3.89 USD )
Seat 7: coccinella82 ( $4.92 USD )
Seat 9: PartyMaus20 ( $2.36 USD )
Seat 4: henri2912 ( $1.76 USD )
Europa180g posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
allende5 posts big blind [$0.04 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to e_r_c [ Kh Kc ]
e_r_c calls [$0.04 USD]
Suisse444 calls [$0.04 USD]
henri2912 folds
kingelvo raises [$0.20 USD]
AlKuhl folds
coccinella82 folds
Nightmare508 calls [$0.20 USD]
PartyMaus20 folds
Europa180g calls [$0.18 USD]
allende5 folds
e_r_c raises [$0.68 USD]
Suisse444 calls [$0.68 USD]
kingelvo is all-In [$2.31 USD]
Nightmare508 folds
Europa180g folds
e_r_c calls [$1.79 USD]
Suisse444 is all-In [$3.17 USD]
e_r_c calls [$1.38 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3d, 2h, Td ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5d ]
e_r_c shows [ Kh, Kc ]a pair of Kings.
Suisse444 doesn't show [ Ks, 4c ]high card King.
kingelvo shows [ Qh, Qd ]a flush, Queen high.
e_r_c wins $2.62 USD from side pot #1 with a pair of Kings.
kingelvo wins $7.58 USD from the main pot with a flush, Queen high.

Now, as you can see, I get horribly sucked out on in this pot. But, luckily for me, I had Suisse444 to make sure I didn't leave empty-handed. Let's look - I'm UTG so I call and hope to get raised, which kingelvo obliges. With another couple of callers I know I can raise fairly large, and do so. Now, Suisse444 has a double raise to face, and he calls. I don't know what he's thinking at this point, since he has a trash hand. A big re-raise might have made sense as an audacious steal attempt, but a call? Things just get worse, as kingelvo moves all-in. I'm pretty sure I've got the best hand so it's an easy call from my point of view. But then Suisse444 pushes all-in too.
Now, what can he really gain from this? If I fold, there's no extra sidepot past what kingevol's put in, and you can't shove someone who's already all-in. He's a huge dog to pretty much any hand.
Of course with the way that board went, if he'd held the other King he'd have walked away with the whole pot, in one of the greatest suckouts in poker history!
So, thank you Suisse444 for my $2.62 donation, I really hope to see you again sometime!

This week: $10.04
Total: $51.48