Finally some Poker!

I am well short of my goal of 40 hours for the week. I have excuses (St.Patty's day, NCAA tourney, still battling cold) but ultimately, I have to commit time more regularly.

I played for 7 hours live on Monday. Some of this stuff will be about poker hands, and if you're unfamiliar with the game, just skip right over it. I sat down with $300, and on the fourth hand of the session, was dealt KcQc in middle position. I raised to $12, and was called by the button, who had about $400 in front of him. The flop came Kh9c7c. Huge flop for me as it gave me top pair with a Flush draw. I bet $15, and he quickly raised to $45. I was pretty sure that he had AK. With $84 in the pot, and only $30 to call, I make the easy call and hope for a Q or a Club. The turn is the 2c, giving me the flush. I bet $60 into this pot, thinking that if he has the Ac, I need to make it expensive to beat me with a bigger flush. He calls, and the river is a blank (meaning a card that doesn't seem to help anyone.) I bet $75, which I think is a bet he may call with just AK (a pair of aces). To my surprise he moves all in. At this point, I'm pretty sure that he has a bigger flush, but with only about $120 left, and the pot at $480, I cannot fold. I call and he turns over AcJC...5 minutes in I'm down $300. There's really nothing I can do here. Sometimes the cards make you go broke.

I'm proud of how I handled it. I took a walk, sat back down, and tried to pretend that I was just getting there. I was able to control my emotions, and not try to get it all back at once. For the next 7 hours, I played solid poker without any remarkable hands. I won my $300 back, plus $37. What could have been a terrible day turned out to be a little better than break even.

There are days like this in poker. In fact, there will be much, much worse days. One of the keys to my success will be the ability to handle losing money without getting emotional, and having it affect my decisions.

I did play a fair amount online this week. I logged 17 hours, and made a net profit of $317. I am going to play 3 hours right now, and 3 hours tonight. That will give me 30 hours of play for the week - my first missed goal. Next week I am comitting to 40 hours, with at least 20 hrs of live play(much more profitable for me). I have to if this is going to work.