Session 17

My final game in February was a winning one. Not quite as large as my two previous games, but still a win.
I played for a little more than four hours and for about three of those hours I didn't go anywhere. I was actually down to $50 at one point and was considering adding on another $100 when I doubled up with pocket kings. I then felted the same guy about three or four hands later with pocket kings again.
Finally the two table bullies left and everybody was allowed to play a little poker. The only big pot I played was with pocket fours. I called a raise of $7 with my fours and one other player called behind me. The pot was at approximately $20.
The flop came 8-3-2. The original raiser bet $15 and I immediately raised to $45. This raise was partly to see how strong the original raiser/bettor was and to thin the field by getting the other guy out. This plan half worked because it did get the third guy out of the hand, but the original raiser/bettor called my bet. Not what I really wanted... until the turn. The pot now had $110.
The turn was a beautiful four. It was checked to me and I thought about how much to bet. I had another $120 in front of me and wanted to lure the guy in. I needed to bet something that wasn't going to leave me with so little that it was suspicious but enough that the bet wasn't suspicious. Not too little, but not too big. I settled on $50. The guy didn't take too long to call so we now had a $210 pot and I only had $70 left.
The river was a king and the guy checked again. By this point I put him on a pocket pair higher than eights. That means he has five hands that lose to me and one hand that now has me crushed. I'll take my chances. I took a long time to think about it, as if I was trying to figure out how to win the hand, and finally moved my remaining $70 into the pot. He thought for about 20 seconds and called. I showed my hand and he folded. Some guy at the end of the table asked the player if he had aces and he nodded. I don't know if that truly is what he had, but it makes sense.
I cashed out with $387. This moves my yearly profit up to $2,752. The most amazing part about all of this is that I met my goal of making $1,000 each month after starting $1,200 in the hole in my first three sessions.