Session 3

Made my third trip to Choctaw last night, and I am happy to say I made another mark in the win column.
I peaked at $500, after buying in for $200 into the $1-2 no-limit game, but walked out with $416. I lost a big hand a little more than two hours into my session but was able to get a lot of it back on a full house about three hands before I left.
With A-Q offsuit I raised it from middle position to $8, which was a standard raise (I love Choctaw for that). The person on my immediate left raised it to $16. It folded around to me and I called the extra bet. The flop came down A-6-4. I immediately led out with $25 into the $35 pot. My opponent raised the minimum, making it $50 to go. I didn’t hesitate to call the $25. The reason for no hesitation was a lot of players will raise the minimum to get a free card on the turn when they are on a draw of some sorts or have something they think might be second best and are trying to get a free card on the turn.
The turn was a 2 and I obliged to try and give him a free card because I wasn’t certain where I was in the hand. He led out for $50. Without hesitation I called.
This is where I faltered in my opinion. At this point I should feel pretty good that I am beat by either A-K or better. He had shown aggression throughout and was representing a good hand. If I had thought the hand through a little more I most likely would have realized that I was drawing to one of the three Queens. At that point I should either fold (which is the best option in this situation) or raise thinking I might get him to lay his hand down if it is just A-K. However, this player was a guy who would not lay down hands, as you will find out soon enough.
The river was a Jack and we both checked. I flipped over my hand and he showed his A-K. I think I lost an extra $50 more than I should have. My calls up to the turn were okay, but that last call on my part was a mistake.
I doubled up at the end of the night when I called a pre-flop raise with A-10 after another person called the raise. The raise was from the same gentleman who re-raised with the A-K from the hand I described earlier and my call was a little bit revenge, a little bit calculated, only because he was playing a lot of hands and he could very likely have two face cards or a middle pair. The flop came down 10-5-10. I checked. He led out for $20. The limper in late position called. I raised it to $50. The original raiser called. The limper folded. This then left me with $134 left.
The turn was a 7. I thought long and hard about how to get all my money in the pot. At this point there was approximately $150 in the pot. I didn’t want to push everything I had on the turn and get him out of the hand. I was willing to gamble if he was on some kind of straight draw or had a pair that he just wouldn’t let go of. I decided $70 was the right price. He called the bet.
The river was another 7. This card actually hurts me because if he did have a 10 then I am splitting the pot and if he has anything else other than a pair higher than 10 he most likely isn’t calling my all in. I showed my disgust with the last card, which was actually genuine anger and not acting, and pushed my remaining $64 in. He thought for a few seconds and called. I showed and he looked at his hand and mucked. It just happened I saw what he had and it was Q-Q. Go me.
A significant loss in a $20 tournament and some bad sessions online this weekend cost me about $60, but with this $216 profit from last night my bankroll is steadily growing. It now sits at $1,372.75.