A Chilly Kind of Session

It was a cooler kind of day, or should I say night, out here in the desert for yesterday. I'm in a rush and will briefly describe the two pivotal hands that made me a loser on the night. In a straddled pot by the table bully, UTG raises to $15. Another early position players and it's folded around to me in later middle position. I look down at wired 4's and really want to see a flop since if I spike my set I could be in for a big payday. It's folded around to straddle man and he calls the additional $11 and four of us take a flop of 3-4-7 with two diamonds. The straddler checks, the original raiser bets out $25 and the player between us folds. I flopped middle set and a not very scary board and decide to raise it to $75 which is 3x his bet and $50 back to him. I assume the straddler will fold and we will play the pot heads up. To my surprise the straddler check raises all in and the early player mucks. I call as he is capable of making this play with any pocket pair higher than 7's, any two pair, along with hands that beat me. Plus he could be pushing his draw hard if he has something like a flush draw and straight draw combined. However, I did ask him to show me his 56 for the made straight as I called and sure enough he obliged my request. With no improvement on the turn and river I was down a buy in.

A couple hours later after grinding my 2nd buy in up to about $300 I pick up pocket kings in the big blind. It's limped in almost every spot and I make it $17 to go. I only get one caller, an older gentleman who recently sat down that I didn't have much of a read on. I got the sense that he felt I was just trying to pick up all the limps with my raise. He seemed like the kind of guy that disliked younger, aggressive players. The flop came down 2-5-9 rainbow and I bet out $30. He proceeded to min raise me to $60. The min raise can mean one of two things. It's either a weak attempt to get a bluffer to muck his hand or it means a very strong hand that wants action. I went with my gut feeling that he was trying to take the pot away from me. I already had it planned out that if he made a play at me on the flop I was going to push over him. When he insta-called I asked him whether his set was 5's or 9's; he showed me the deuces. Again, I have no luck when it comes to sucking out and most of my stack was wiped out.

So, as we can see, when the pivotal hands go against you it can make for a rough session. Still, I was proud of myself for keeping my head and not letting the coolers get to me. I will give the older gentleman credit, he played his hand much the same way I would have if the roles were reversed. I wonder if he would have been able to not get all in if the shoe was on the other foot. My inclination is no using Tommy Angelo's idea of reciprocal money, this one was a wash. If you're unfamiliar with Tommy's writings I suggest you check out his website at http://www.tommyangelo.com. The dude is a funny, witty genius.

9/9
Hours Played This Session: 4.66 hours
Gave: -$292
$ Per Hour: -$62.66

Earn:
Month to Date: -$171
Year to Date: $672
Hourly Rate Year to Date: $7.03
Total Hours Played Year to Date: 95.56
Sessions Played Year to Date: 22
Win/Loss Record by Session:13/9 6.00% win rate