Donkeys are People Too

I read a variety of poker blogs regularly (see links to the right). Some of these bloggers I have the utmost respect for, know they're right. Wes, as an example, is quite solid, and has given the correct view (at least I would say it is correct) that I don't have an adequate bankroll to play at the stakes I have played at. I've written about evaporating my bankroll through donkified tilt play, as well as moving up to $30/60 after being possessed by some sort of alien spirit or hypnosis (just had to spellcheck possessed--that seems like way to many s's). By the way, should our kids even have to learn spelling or cursive? I mean, you don't need to know how to spell anymore, and no one needs to write in cursive. I quite when I was a sophomore in college--had to buy a semester's worth of notes from someone because I couldn't read mine (may have also been the slobber and sleep-induced scribble as well).

But I digress. So, of course, understanding the counsel of Wes fully, I head back to Party's $15/30 afternoon scarce group of tables, mainly with so many sharks jumping in and out of the table that my fingers started cramping trying to keep up with them in PokerTracker. My logic for this? First, long wait at the $5/10 tables. My overall bankroll (cash, online, and various IRA's I guess if it came right down to it) seems OK for $15/30. So the verdict: 90 minutes, 100 hands, +$382. Played fairly tight, folded big slick a couple times, lost with AJ vs. AK, watched some fool scream about everyone else's horrible play after catching a runner-runner straight with nothing on the board and a TJo. The crucial hand, though, was one of my favorite things to see (at least when it's mine): the pretending-to-have-a-monster play with a bad hand that gets caught, only to flop a monster.

I'm in sb shortstacked ($149), button raises, I decide to re-raise with 9h7h. Why you ask? Well, you have to defend your blinds, and what better time than when you're spiraling downward? Anyways, bb calls, button caps it, and the blinds call. Flop comes Td8cJh. I've got like $94 left and decide to bet, which the bb calls and the button raises, I call, bb re-raises, button caps it, I call. So, I've got $29 left. Qs hits the turn, which is a horrible card for me, giving AK a bigger straight, but I shrug and bet my last $29 chips. It looks like alot since it is a huge stack of chips, bb calls me and button raises to make a side-pot with bb. River is another bad card, 8h, which puts a boat out there for TT or JJ. Button bets and bb folds, with button flipping his KK over. Button I'm pretty sure had JT as she let some vitriole after mucking about the luck of said button. So I go from felt to above buy-in with the $444 pot. Also one a nice pot defending bb with 560, flopping open-end straight and catching the 9 on turn (showdown had called raise with 78s and flopped two-pair).

Online bankroll: $1,136, so a nice move toward getting back to +$1,000 from my low point. Donkified play on my part helping me get there (maybe a bit of luck; I mean, I'm not chasing gutshots or catching runner-runner's), but a decent enough base now to give me a bit of wiggle room from the bottom.