Thursday and Friday were uneventful. I gave up my $0.25/0.50 experiment for the time being while boosted my bankroll up to $960+. A couple of unlucky Sit-N-Gos dropped it down $13.

A Sunday morning session was profitable. I finally cracked the $1k mark. It was a horrendous start but I came back strong as I caught some nice hands and got paid off.

Interesting hands from Thursday.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?700998
I made most of my money with sets these 2 days. This is a set with TT against AA for ~>half a buy-in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701032
Another set. This time I called 2 raises preflop with 44. It turned out to be a good call as I ended up getting full value vs. KK.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701038
Loose preflop call from SB worked out well. Trips in raised pots are so valuable. Questionable moves by opponents didn't hurt, either.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701062
Another set, this time with 66. The board grew scary in a hurry, but I called the huge bluff anyways. 1) He cold-called 2 raises on the flop, usually a sign of drawing. 2) With a 7 in his hand opponent might have raised turn.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701081
A successful straight draw, and my hand was paid off by trips.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701089
Certainly not a hand that make myself proud. I couldn't lay down TPTK + gutshot vs. a flopped straight.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701095
Nice looking flop, extra outs on turn, semibluffed twice, couldn't hit at the end. Doesn't matter. My 3rd bullet was successful in driving away my opponent, who raised preflop but showed weakness thereafter.

Hands from Friday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701760
It was another miserable start to Friday. Until this hand. Raised and called a reraise with 99 against a respectable opponent. Flopped a set, opponent bet and 3-bet all-in. Did he have KK and I have an underset? No. Turns out he only had AK. Whew.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701762
A check-raise semibluff all-in with a straight draw. Got called by QQ. Luckily I hit on the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701763
Calling a preflop raise with T9s and flopping a straight. How good is my monster-stacked opponent? Apparently not good enough to lay down KK on that board against my betting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701764
Everything turned out great with this KK hand......until the river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701766
Another KK hand that went wrong. This time I couldn't get away with it. I swear I'll never play pot limit again otherwise we would be all-in much sooner.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?701767
A horribly-played AA hand. I don't know what I was scared off......trip 2s maybe? I don't know why I didn't bet much harder, especially on the turn. The extra $5 should go into the pot on the turn not the river when I was already outdrawn.

Some Sunday hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704940
My biggest pot ever in terms of BBs. A big stacked opponent fully paid off my set. Wow!

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704941
Catching my straight on the river. My river shove probably looked like a bluff to my opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704942
A set with 99, destacking an opponent with TP weak kicker.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704944
2nd hand at the table. AA vs. KK preflop all-in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704946
Destacking a donk who got involved with middle pair. I am willing to tangle with TPTK + gutshot royal flush draw most of the time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704947
I can't do anything right with pair+draw situations. What was I thinking on the river?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704948
AQ, flopped TPTK. Looked good for a while, but my flop bet was called by two people. The King on the turn seemed ugly, but it was actually a blessing in disguise. It let me get away easily from the hand. Not only is it an overcard, it also completed a straight with JT, which was what I was concerned about the most. Turns out one opponent had me soundly beaten with a set--the same opponent who later paid of my set of 2s with his TT overpair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704950
I can't win anything with Aces when they are spade-heart. Another example here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704951
Another hand that won't make me proud. Please tell me what I was thinking.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?704971
KK on a sub-optimal flop. The betting was already raised before it was my turn to act. I wasn't concerned about the original bettor who was a weak player, but I was certainly worried about the raise, which was made by a reasonable opponent. As a result I decided to get away, which proved to be a wise decision.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?705730
Flopped house with 33. I played this vulnerable hand aggressively and milked some money from a weak opponent who limped UTG with Q7 and flopped trip 7s which were unimproved.

In conclusion, despite hands like 704947 and 704951 I still managed to finish at $1070+.

A Monday morning session also ended well. I added another ~$50 to my bankroll which now sits at $1124. Not many memorable hands though. Here they are, just 3 of them:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?706278
Flopped set with 44. Opponent was an absolute mouse and I was surprised he check-raised me. I can't believe he actually got interested in betting so I pushed all-in. Brutal river. ~puke~

http://www.pokerhand.org/?706281
Raising preflop with 77. Turn gave me a set but also brought 3 hearts to the table. Fortunately for me opponent just called. Opponent's calls didn't smell right. I was ready to check behind or call a reasonable bet on the river if my set didn't improve. But the last card was sweet--it completed running quads for me, allowing me to destacking my opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?706285
Bluffing a weak opponent with a busted straight draw, and the "Antinuts".

Thursday was a total wash. I started at 810 and ended up with the same amount, plus or minus less than 1 dollar. I continued my experiment with 0.25/0.50. I couldn't keep up my success the previous day. I was noticeably much more gun-shy in making moves, and my big pots couldn't overcome my numerous small losses.

I played 2 $6 Turbo Sit-N-Goes and lost both. I made it back to the break-even mark with some decent play at my bread-and-butter 0.10/0.25 tables.

On Friday I played a bit 0.25/0.50 in the morning, but exclusively at 0.10/0.25 tables in the afternoon. I kept my flop seen percentage at non-blind positions at a reasonably tight 20-22%, and I made some steady money while avoiding major mistakes. I also played 4 Turbo Sit-N-Gos and had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finish.

Highlights and lowlights from Thursday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?685634
This hand happened shortly after the quad-2 hand (See next hand). Needless to say I was way too giddy after that hand. The way I bet this I have pretty much placed my cards face-up on the table. Only better hands will call while worse hands will fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?685639
Quad 2s were fully paid off by pocket Queens. Super fun.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?685641
Flopped 6s full of 4s. Opponent stayed in, caught his 5 on the turn and paid me off fully. Fun stuff.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?685900
I flopped a straight and opponent kept feeding me money with his TPTK.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?686125
Flopped a nut flush draw on a pair board. I wisely laid it down without a fight. The poor soul who can't lay down his pretty-looking straight flush draw hit his spade on the river and fully paid off a flopped house.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?686129
A suckout by me. My set was too pretty to lay down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?686131
KK over 99 on a Jack-high flop. Opponent certainly didn't need to call my check-raise even though he's short-stacked. But I'm glad he did.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?686136
A semibluff all-in with a straight flush draw. I was successful in making my opponent fold.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?686138
A pair + flush draw situation. I can't say I misplayed that, but the result wasn't there.

Highlights from Friday. Mostly 0.10/0.25 hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688103
Preflop AA all-in, got called by some big-stack who obviously regarded me too lightly. !#$*%^*@#&%* Oh well, I can't win every time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688105
Flopped flush with preflop-raised T8 diamonds at a pot-limit table. I bet close to max twice against someone who chased with the King of diamond. He caught a running straight instead and paid me off in full.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688106
Top-2 vs. bottom-2, all-in on flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688107
AA, set over set. Since I started playing poker I find myself usually being the unlucky soul who goes broke with the underset. Fortunately not here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688108
Another AA hand. I was worried about opponent calling my 3-bet on the flop. But I was too pot committed to give up. Fortunately he only had top pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688111
Some retarded passive opponent played his KK the worst possible way as he fully paid off my set of 5s.

A couple of 0.25/0.50 hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688114
Top set on flop with 99 against QQ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?688115
A good laydown of AA. With both opponents calling me all the way I was quite sure at least one of them had me beat.

By the end of the day my bankroll is a satisfying 887. My near-future goal is to keep easing myself slowly into 0.25/0.50 games while continuing to play solid poker at the 0.10/0.25 level which I'm more comfortable at.

It has been a down-and-up few days. My winnings peaked at ~860 before I inevitably settled into a comfort zone where I started to play too loose spewing chips again. Raising too much with suited connectors and gappers, limping suited crap and connected crap in bad positions, thinking my opponent was always bluffing, disregarding my opponent running through my blocking bets, and bad luck in multiple-out situations, and trying to bluff my opponents off overpairs, have all contributed to a significant dent in my bankroll.

I also moved up to the $15+1 Turbo Sit-N-Gos, played 5 of them, and only finished in the money (2nd place) once. My bankroll dipped to ~590.

And then things changed when I decided to give .25/.50 a go. I thought I would played a more straight forward, controlled game just because of the increase in stake size -- the money actually mean much more to me. Sure enough I played much better. A few donks helped me out as well. The results were encouraging -- at the end of Wednesday my winnings went back up to ~805.

Here are the highlights and lowlights from previous days.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?681495
Completing a double-gutshot straight draw with KJ. The Queen on the river actually gave opponent TPTK and he went ape-shit with it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?681496
An example of me calling my opponent even though he ran through my blocking bet. Bad bad bad.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?681500
A pair plus flush draw that failed to improve. The post-flop play wasn't too disputable, maybe not against this unbluffable opponent (See 2 hands later). But the more important thing was that I probably didn't need to get involved preflop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?681501
Completing another double-gutshot straight on the river, this time with QT. My opponent had no idea what I had.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?681506
I flopped a house and my opponent tried to bluff me off it.

My experience with .25/.50 was a pleasant one:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683894
Set vs. TPTK rivering trips, meaning I hit full house. Huge pot! Maybe I haven't gotten used to the typical .25/.50 big pot sizes yet.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683897
Turning a gutshot with KJ. Opponent was slow-playing AQ flopping 2-pairs and let me double up through him.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683898
Flopping a straight. Some opponent offered me his stack with bottom-pair + straight draw.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683902
I knew this donk would pay me off, and so I chased my straight with bad odds. When I hit it on the river I was successful in making a value raise that he called.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683907
This was a real blemish in my session. The "He must be bluffing" syndrome reared its ugly head.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683911
I again called some opponent on the flop purely out of disbelief. Fortunately I caught more outs that I needed to, and I milked some money off my opponent's top pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683925
Laying down QQ preflop. Certainly an excellent fold at the time. We shouldn't be result-oriented should we?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683939
The guy must have put me on an overpair like 99. Fortunately he checked the turn. Had he pushed there I'm not sure if I could get away from my trip 5s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?683941
Opponent has not been out of line at all, and hence my eyes totally opened up when he massively pushed after I raised with AA. The Queen on the turn was a bit scary but the river let me firmly believe that I was going to win. Biggest pot ever for me (online).

I had a good night with Sit-N-Go tournaments. I played two $6+0.5 9-player turbos simultaneously, and I actually won both!

"Tournament 1"

86 hands played and saw flop:
- 8 times out of 18 while in small blind (44%)
- 9 times out of 20 while in big blind (45%)
- 5 times out of 48 in other positions (10%)
- a total of 22 times out of 86 (25%)

Pots won at showdown - 9 out of 10 (90%)
Pots won without showdown - 12

This one wasn't too difficult. When I decided to raise preflop I got nice flops like TPTK on dry boards. The closest that I ever got to being in danger was I considering my options after my 2.5x UTG raise was countered by a large-stack BB all-in. After consulting with Bright over the phone we concluded that I should fold my AQ and conserve my own big stack for the time being. To my assurance BB showed AA, and Bright and I congratulated each other for an excellent fold.

I had a healthy stack until I was in the money. I managed to stay afloat with a couple of blind steals before the tide actually changed. Between hands 77 to 86 I doubled up through the big stack 3 times to win the thing: 77 vs. A4, KQ vs. K9 and finally KT vs. QT (Katie vs. Cutie), all of them preflop all-ins and my hands held up as the favourites.

The second tournament involved more grinding:

84 hands played and saw flop:
- 5 times out of 23 while in small blind (21%)
- 8 times out of 24 while in big blind (33%)
- 5 times out of 37 in other positions (13%)
- a total of 18 times out of 84 (21%)

Pots won at showdown - 8 out of 8 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 15

I also started out well, but soon the cards went kind of dry. During the middle stage of the tournament when 4 to 6 players were left I found myself with like 2k chips and blinds 200-400. But I got myself much breathing room when it got 4-handed and I doubled up through someone with just ~400 more chips than I had. My AA held up against his KJs, with him drawing dead after the turn. When it was heads-up I was trailing most of the time. I was down to 1882 vs his 11+k stack when I doubled up with Q5o unimproved vs. his 82 hearts unimproved. Soon I became the chip leader when I doubled up again with AK diamonds against his 65 clubs on a K5xxx board. Afterwards I got dealt a few Ax hands and succeed in pushing opponent off each time. The final hand was me busting him with AQ against his A9.

Now I have a nice-looking $830 in my account and another $130+ in Bright's. Making money is fun!

The past few days I made some money. I am now up to ~785. However I am anything but pleased by the way I was playing.....selective aggression with too little selectivity and too much aggression. I caught some cards and got some fish to pay me off. However I made my share of rookie mistakes, like chasing bad draws, making unnecessary preflop raises crying calls and trying untimely bluffs......all resulting in sizable losses. Or I could be trying to stick around and playing loose on a non-fishy table for too long trying to avenge my losses.

Here are my self evaluations:
1) Play fewer tables. 3 should be max at this stage.
2) Find another table and don't try to avenge losses to respectable players.
3) Don't let emotions get the better of myself. Don't overbet, even vs. a calling station only because he sucked me out before.
4) Play more tightly preflop. Don't always raise with suited connectors.
5) Remember. "Avarice leads to poverty". Don't get involved in marginal situations. Don't reraise or call if I am very possibly beat.

Here are some of the highlights (and lowlights) and self-comments:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?669180
What a suckout by me. However on the flop I already told myself that I'm going all the way with this hand no matter what. Had he reraised preflop I might be aware that I am behind.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?672527
Fortunately for me my opponent was a fish and fed me all his money as my JJ was good on this 9-high board.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?672529
My 1st big hand at the A254 computer......flopping a set with 33 and getting 3 others to go all-in. Scary turn and ugly river, but thank God no one had a 9 or 7, which was wierd judging from the flop actions.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?672733
Another JJ hand. This time I flopped a set on a drawy board. Some donk overbet-pushed the turn. I was fearing T9, but I called anyways. Fortunately for me he had 2 pairs instead.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675572
Flopped set with 33 again. Got 2 people to call my all-in with questionable hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675573
Flopped trips with 62s after calling a minimum preflop raise in the blinds. Perfect card on the turn......giving opponent straight and me a full house.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675586
Loose preflop call worked out great. My nitty opponent actually can't lay down AA on this board against my betting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675587
Opponent slow-played his set of queens, gave me a free turn card which completed my gutshot straight draw, before decided to go all-in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675600
Calling a bluff with Ace-high. I could read that guy like a book.

Here comes the horror show:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675590
Chasing a King-high flush, hit it, and paid off the Ace-high flush. I was expecting the Ace-high flush draw to raise the flop. Oh well, he didn't. But I should know better; people are allowed to play draws passively or aggressively.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675591
Flopped a good 12-draw, apparently extra outs on turn, I check-raised opponent all-in, damn, couldn't get him fold, rivered 2-pairs but not good enough. Bye bye money.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675592
Don't semibluff a mediocre opponent. Rather, try to have him pay me off even after I hit. Or simply call preflop and fold flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?675606
Mistake 1: Why not 3-bet preflop to isolate? If I decide to get fancy with my big pairs I should also prepare to lay them down against resistance. Mistake 2. Fold flop. Too much action around......wait for a better spot. Mistake 3. Fold turn. Why would he cold call such a big raise and then push turn? Because he's got trip 10s (at least). I was absolutely fucking retarded. I have no one to blame but myself.

Now go out there and play better.

The Tuesday evening session was a profitable one. I followed my latest common trend of losing a bit early, about 2/3 of a buy-in overall before coming on strong.

The tables weren't overly strong, and I had luck on my side when I'm in a coin-toss situation.

I didn't win any monster pots. Here are the 4 biggest hands that I'm involved in:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?666960
Opponent was respectable and not out of line (just look at his stack). I just can't put him on a 6 in this hand. He told me afterwards that he had KJ, which was believable. Could I have extracted a bit more money from him?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?666961
Opponent played his trips too slowly and allowed me to catch a miracle 4 on the river, where he paid me in full.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?666964
This happened before last hand, with the same opponent. A race situation, with my TPTK against his 14-out pair+draw hand. I am relieved that my hand held up, and I gave opponent kudos for a hand well played.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?666965
Some dude decided to slow-play his trips until the river. Little did he know that I have already flopped a house with 33.

My moderate wins more than offset my minor losses. The end result is that I have erased the effect of the stinker Monday night. I was back up to 643.

I also played a brief morning session Wednesday. It was a grinding session, as there weren't any loose donks spewing chips. There were no big memorable hands. I made 2 bluffs that failed; perhaps I should just give up this play altogether when I am 3-tabling. I was bobbling between -15 and 15 for most of the session until towards the end when I hit two straights that were paid off modestly. I left with 663.

I wasn't able to follow up Sunday's night success. Monday night I was down two buy-ins.

The result was a combination of bad play and bad luck. First I lost a massive pot when I had K7s unimproved and tried to bluff a big stack off what I think is a big pair on a J-high board, but he got all-in before I could. I also got really bad-beat twice. Once I called an EP min. raise with AQs on button, flop was AQJ, and we got all-in on the flop with him and a MP being aggressors. He had QJ and rivered a J on me. Does pokerstars punish passive play? Maybe. The other bad beat I went all-in preflop with AA against a 8BB shortie with AK and a 30BB shortie with 42 who called the 1st reraise from AK!? The board was K6474. I was fucked.

Now my bankroll is down to 588, which isn't pretty but isn't too discouraging either. I'm ready to resume my surge soon.

Sunday night was extremely productive. I was fairly focused. Soft tables didn't hurt, either. There were loose callers, predictable bettors and mice here and there. I also had good hands and played well enough for them to be paid off. I played 25% of my hands in other position, which was tight enough to be profitable on this night.

Things were a bit rocky to begin with. The 1st big hand I had AQo on a PL table, reraised an EP min. raise to 5x, and was check-raised max on a flop of JT6 all spades, I had the Ace of the suit. I decided to push and EP, who was kind of short, called. Running 3s completed my flush but also gave EP a house with JJ.

Then there were some connection problems, when I was dealt AA and facing a 4x raise. I simply pushed preflop for 72+x. It worked out perfectly because 1) opponent called and 2) I was disconnected for like 2 min shortly afterwards. When I was reconnected I noticed my stack having doubled, as my opponent called with QJo!?

Things went uphill quite quickly afterwards. The only blemish was me going all-in on the flop with AA against some loose shortie who had K9 on a K98 flop for maybe 1/3 of a buy-in. Otherwise I kept raking in the chips:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662984
How is this for fast-playing? 1st hand at the table, newbie blind, AA UTG, open push.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662985
Set with 77, turned house, doubling up through position 4 who limped with J5s and turned trip 5s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662986
This is actually a bit of a suckout -- calling a raise and then a big reraise before flopping trip 6s and turning quads.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662987
This is the aforementioned AA vs. QJ preflop all-in.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662988
Dealing with some absurd maniac's bluff. The 6 on the turn makes calling easier.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662990
Flopped a nut house (8s full of 7s) and destacking some mouse who paid to draw (successfully) to a dead straight.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662991
Turned flush against a clueless opponent pushing with trip As.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?662993
Flopped 7s full of 8s and destacking an opponent who limped preflop with AKc and drew to a dead nut flush.

Those hands pretty much summed up my night: flush over trips, house over straight and flush. I started with 488 and left with 644. So sweet.

My climb back to respectability went well. I reverted back to a passive style......limp more hand, chase cheap draws and rely on implied odds. Running into bad opponents certainly doesn't hurt me either.

I had a good session yesterday evening. At the tables were numerous mice who like to minibet and miniraise. Somebody min-bet with a set of 3s on all 3 street. Another player flopped quads with 33 in BB and the action went check through, check-call min-bet and finally check through, board was 33AQJ. Curiously UTG was mousing around with AK, while I had QT on the button and lost (of course). My big hand of the session was 55, calling a 4x PFR, flopped set on a 57T board, 2 spades (http://www.pokerhand.org/?656646). I bet half pot and UTG check-called. Turn was a queen, and UTG min. check-raised my 18x bet. I shoved and he called. He had KQ of spades, and didn't catch his flush on the river. I win another modest pot with a good read, as I called a small PFR with A5s, flopped a 5 and turn an Ace which gave me 2 pairs. I milked some money from UTG who can't let go AQ. The entire session I didn't get outdrawn or bad-beat much. At the end I was back up to 440+.

I also dragged myself out of bed at 7am for an early morning session. Another profitable session. There were some feeble players around. But it was a rocky start. At one table I called an all-in from a late position shortie for 30+x, me holding red unsuited AK, board A94 all clubs. He had 33 with a club and rivered a set on me. Looked like a very bad beat, but he actually had 11 outs. Next on the same table I had QJ in MP and bet out weakly--4x and 5x, on a board of Q7372. I checked the river, LP fish bet 12x!? I called, he had 22 and rivered a house on me. I rebought $10 twice and finally caught a break, as I semibluffed 3x to 8x on the flop and turned a 2nd nut flush w/ QTs and beat button's 3rd nut flush w/ J4s. I played it feebly, though. Button raised me on the turn and river. He had only $3 behind and I didn't bother putting him all-in. Later I had KK and sagely averted disaster when a respectable EP limp-called my raise and checked ahead on all 3 streets. I bet 5x and 8x before checking behind on a board of 3985A. He flopped a set with 33. I would have checked behind even without the Ace anyways. I won a lot of moderate-sized pots by value-betting some feeble top pair hands like Q9 on a 963 board or T9 on a T53 board, as fishy players called me with middle pair. Near the end I won another hand feebly, and I had black queens in SB and raised 4x. Flop 642 all hearts. I bet like 10x, 2 callers. Yikes. Turn 4. I slowed down and bet 15x into a 40x pot and was called. River was the queen of diamonds giving me a house. I bet 20x, MP folded. In retrospect I should've bet much bigger on the turn. If he had the Ace of hearts he actually had 12 outs on me making it correct for him to call. At the end of the session I was up at 490. Morning sessions don't come much nicer than this.

It was a lot of suffering as I watched my bankroll dwindled from an all-time high of 700+ to 344 at the beginning of last evening. My confidence was not there. I gave up pots when a bluff would probably work and bluffed into what looked like scare cards but actually cards that helped my opponents.

I decide to play less aggressively, contrary to what Phil Gordon preached in his little green book. I limped with more speculative hands in poor positions with the hope of hitting obscure draws and getting paid. Things did not go smoothly to begin with. I lost $20 when my set of 4s lost to a set of Js that rivered quads. My bankroll dropped to ~310 when I dealt who I initially regarded as a solid player a bad beat. Out of position I limp-called a PFR and a flop bet with 76 offsuit and pot-size-pushed a flimsy pair+GSFD...... on a board of 56T9, board had 3 hearts and I had the heart 7, against his QQ that also contained a heart. But I sucked out an 8 on the river to collect the $40+ pot. (http://www.pokerhand.org/?652538)It wasn't pretty but at this stage I'll take it any way I could.

From that on things turned brighter. I started to hit some flops. I won some medium-sized pots with TPGK and flushes, and I became more active in raise-stealing preflop as I stayed on the same tables for longer. I next flopped another set of 4s and this time some dude called my turn overbet all-in with QQ. (http://www.pokerhand.org/?652537) There was actually a King on the board. Did I look like I was bluffing? My final big pot of the day was when I raised with Q3s in late position and called a 4x to 13x reraise by a big-stack SB. SB curiously checked on a 237 flop (http://www.pokerhand.org/?652540). Did he have AK and miss? Anyways I took my free card and the turn was golden. It was a queen, which gave me 2 pairs. Unless he had the dreaded QQ I am definitely ahead. SB led out a smallish 8x, and I massively overbet all-in for more than a buy-in. He called. River was another Q. Great. I had 2nd nuts. He had AA. Pot was $70+. I also made some what I thought were good folds. Flopped nut straight with JT, turn paired board, A 3rd club appeared on river, someone pushed for $12+, fold. J9 in SB, board JT9, BB bet aggressively, I bet out , called minraise on flop and folded turn. BB had KQ. I did lost another 5+ when my KT lost to KQ on a board of KQJK9.

I ended up with >2 buy-ins at each of my 3 tables, thereby pushing my bankroll back up over $380. I won another $3 later in the evening. I hope I have made my way pass the bottom of my latest "Newbie circle of death". It seems that I can't totally avoid the cycle. Maybe it's a matter of controlling how low you get.