Quick story from yesterday in the $1/$3 NL game.

I'd run up to about $200 and pick up KK in EP, making it $10 to go. I got one caller in the CO, and the BB shoved for about $80 total. Folded back to me, and I shove, as the CO is crazy enough to call behind me if I flat. The BB ended up having AJ and hitting an Ace. Ouch. Back to $120.

A few hands later I limp in MP after some limpers with , and it gets limped about 5 ways. Flop comes , and it is checked to me. I bet $10, the button goes all-in for $20, and then a regular who checked UTG re-raises to $40, leaving him about $70 behind. Now, I have probably no fold equity in a shove, and my only outs are likely hearts. Folding is the correct play here, as I do not have pot odds to draw one to a flush, since I know $70 is going in on the turn, and I do not have much implied odds since he has only that $70 behind. Nevertheless, I was probably slightly tilted from the KK hand, and seeing so much money in the pot already, I decided to gamble and shoved in, and the regular insta-called me with ; the other player showed . Fortunately, I got lucky to hit the on the turn, and the river did not pair the board, so I got very lucky and now ended up with more than I had from the KK hand. But still, I played it very poorly, and tried not to be overly excited since I'd sucked out royally. I guess between the money I should have won in the KK hand and the money I should have lost in the KJ hand, my "Sklansky bucks" ($EV) are about even there.

I ended up playing only another round or two before cashing out, as I was worried I might make another bad, gambling-type decision (probably the best thing to come out of that is that one or two regulars may not think I'm a complete nit anymore and might gamble with me later). Still, I did win another small pot with AK, and another pot with KJs again against the same regular I hit the flush on.

That hand, I think I played badly as well. The regular was in MP and just limped. Everyone folded to me in the SB and I completed with the (popular hand yesterday). The BB checked, and the flop came , pretty good for me. I checked, the BB checked, and the regular bet $10. Now, I am not overly worried about his range, as he does not usually OPEN a pot for a limp with a small pair unless he is in EP, nor would he limp with a hand like AJ after a few folds before him. His most likely holding in my mind was either something like 65, A7, two clubs, or QJ/JT/J9 (two pair is unlikely, as he is a little more solid than this). I elected to just call, keeping the pot small, and the BB folded. The pot was now $26 after the drop, and the regular had about $80 behind. The turn brought a blank, something like a . Now, here is where I made a mistake. I didn't want him to get a free card if he had clubs, but I didn't want to take him off betting a 7 or a weak Jack if he put ME on clubs either. I elected to just check, and he bet $25. Now, with $51 in the pot and him just having $55 left, my play here should have been to check-raise him all-in if I think my hand is good. I cannot just call and let him draw for free (I am committed to call the river if I call here anyway), and I believe I am well ahead of his range AND I might get called by a hand like QJ, JT, or J9 since he may think I'm semi-bluffing with a draw again. However, I made a bad play, which was to quickly call. The river brought a gross . I checked, but he quickly checked behind. I turned my cards, he scrunched up his mouth, flashed a Jack, and mucked. Just calling the turn was a major mistake on my part. The turn was a critical juncture given his stack size. If I believe I am good, I am committed to the hand and should just push to protect my hand; if I believe I'm beat, I should fold, since I'm likely to be tied to the pot my calling. There is a situation where stack size makes a MAJOR difference in how I play the hand (if we had been deeper stacked, I would probably not contemplate a check-raise with top pair... I would likely check-call the turn or just lead).

Anyhow, I cashed out up about $220 yesterday, pretty good for a few hours work. However, I was very unsatisfied with my play with in both instances, so I wanted to record it before I forgot. Hopefully today I will play better AND still run as good.