Thursday and Friday were reasonably productive. Thursday I played a short little 1-hour session in the evening. I think I played well -- solid and reasonably tight, and I was able to make ~30 with a couple of moderate pots.

Friday I started earlier than usual, maybe during mid-afternoon. Things started horribly, but soon I was able to get into a groove and pulled off some aggressive plays, such as making strong continue-bets and bluffs. On this day everything worked out great. I made about $100, and my bankroll now sits at ~$1280.

A Saturday evening session followed a rare trend. I started out great by winning 2 enormous pots with AA preflop all-ins, before I started spewing chips all over the place, like making bluffs against opponents who had the goods. The net was +$25, which was real bad coz I once peaked at +$100 for the night.

Sunday evening was more productive than the previous night. A strong start was negated by some cold cards near the end, but I maintained a solid level of play throughout, and ended up keeping most of what I made earlier in the night. I started at ~$1310, peaked at ~$1470 and wound up with ~$1420 so it was a satisfactory session.

3 hands from Thursday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?715149
A successful straight draw, and my hand was fully paid off by opponent who had TP on flop and 2 pairs on river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?715151
Trips in a raised pot. I was able to get my opponent, who was less than stellar, to call my mild raise on the flop. When she hit top pair on turn I was able to destack her.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?715152
A good, perhaps even trivial fold of AK. Flopped TP + gutshot royal flush draw, yet EP bet out aggressively twice. Looks like he's trying to protect something and is afraid of a 4th club. When I didn't improve I threw my hand away. A weak opponent in LP paid off a flopped straight when she rivered a smaller straight.

Hands from Friday:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717595
I had 2 big hands with successful gutshot straight draws. This is one of them. Opponent probably played his 2-pair hand too slow, and I was able to destack him after I caught my miracle 8.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717596
Flopped straight. Good check on the flop, allowing my opponents to catch up. The river King also allowed me to extract more from my opponents.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717597
I flopped top set with KK against opponent's JJ -- I was a 95:5 favorite -- and I still lost. Fortunately the pot wasn't overly big.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717603
A small pot with a bluff. I was putting opponent on a Queen, which meant that the river Ace was a good card for me to bluff at. Opponent claimed afterwards that he had the same hand (JT)......how believable was that?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717654
Laying down QQ. First, opponent cold-called 2 raises preflop. Second, I have displayed strength throughout the hand and yet he still came over the top. I put my opponent on Kings, and judging from the chat afterwards I was probably right, because he first asked me whether I laid down AA. When I said no he then asked whether I laid down QQ.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?717655
This is my other dream gutshot catch. I raised preflop with KQs on the button and made a continue-bet after I missed the flop. A weak player called. I caught a miracle J on the turn, and he donk-bet led into me. Was he flush-drawing? I shoved and he called. I didn't like the final heart, but he soon showed a set instead. Sweet pot.

Just 2 hands from Saturday night. I choose not to post any of my losing hands because, well, they were just too ugly.

Both of these hands are AA preflop all-ins:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?720717
This one I was against AK and KK. Imagine how I reacted after I saw the flop.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?720718
This one I was against AK and JJ. This one involved more nail-biting. The JJ villain was a big donk and he could have called with a variety of hands. My biggest pot ever in terms of net amount gained.

Sunday evening hands:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?722984
Another miracle catch. I probably won't win much if a T, 9 or 6 appears on the board, but I got the perfect river card.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722985
Semi-bluffing my good 12-out draw twice. For a change I actually hit it on the river, and I was able to destack some MP player who played his flopped 2-pairs rather poorly.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722986
I had 99 -- an overpair on the flop. I raised for information, but didn't get any. Opponent was too short, however, and I decided to shove the turn. I thought I was toast when EP called all-in. But he only had overcards and not an overpair. How could he call that flop raise?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722987
Flopped trips, but was outdrawn. The end result would have been the same, but shoving the turn was definitely a better play coz opponent had so little behind.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?722994
Set, turned full house against an absolute donk. He actually had a real hand here. But not surprisingly he could not lay it down.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?723047
Laying down AK TPTK on flop. VCCI was quite unpredictable, and I decided to check ahead on the flop to see what the everyone would do. After the 3-bet by IM_Amazed and 4-bet by VCCI it was an obvious laydown. While it's possible they both have AK, it was more likely that at least one of them had AA or JJ (or maybe even KK).

With the holidays coming to an end I'll probably be playing less in the near future. I have truly enjoyed the game the past month. I hope to get my schoolwork back on track while working on a solid game and a steady win rate when I get to chance to play again.