Poker break time! Sit down at Full Tilt Poker, open up two .50/1 $100 NL Hold’Em tables and play for about 30 hands on each.

Straight 1, Table 1:

Kd Qc on the button. Serial raiser raises it from MP right after I noted he raised Q9 in LP. I call and so does the SB. Flop comes 8h Td Jh. It’s checked to me, so I bet $8 at the $10 pot on a semi-bluff. SB min-raises to $16. Preflop raiser folds. I’m getting 4:1 to call, but probably more than the requisite 5:1 in implied odds if I get my straight. I call. The turn brings the Ac, making my straight. I’m wondering how much I should raise when the SB bets all in. I call. The river is the Js. No flush, but possible boat. He shows Jd Kh for trips, and I take down $162.50.

Straight 1, Table 2:

Td 8d in the BB. 3 limpers including the SB. Flop comes 3s 6c Qd. Checks all around. Turn is 9d. Ooh… flush and straight possibilities… and straight flush! But I can’t call a huge bet here. Checks all around. River Jd. Straight flush! SB checks, I bet $2 into the $3.80 pot and take it down when everyone folds. I show and no one says a goddamn thing. Ingrates.

Straight 2, Table 1:

5c 6s in the CO. 3 limpers ahead of me, SB completes, and BB checks. Flop comes 3h 7s 4h. Woah. SB bets $2 into the $5 pot. The BB and one of the limpers calls. Well, this just won’t do at all. I raise another $5. SB calls. Turn comes Js. I bet the pot ($23) and SB calls. SB must have something more than a flush draw. Maybe something very strong. River comes 9d, eliminating flushes and boats, and I don’t fear a higher straight (I even check to make sure the flop didn’t have any promising higher draws). I just pot it again for $69 and get called once again. I show my 7 high straight and the SB shows a flopped set. I take down the $204 pot.

Straight 2, Table 2:

Well, I’m up quite a bit… better call it a day soon. 6c 3s in the BB. 3 limpers, 1 poster, and the SB completes to make it a 6-way flop. The flop comes 4s 5s 2d. Wow. Again?! I decide to come out strong and bet the pot ($6).

First limper raises to $12. Everyone else folds.
Glyphic raises to $25
First limper raises to $38
Glyphic raises to $92.40, and is all in
First limper calls $54.40

I’m getting paid! I show my straight and he shows his set of deuces. Turn is the 2h and all of a sudden I’m broke. The river is the As and I look around the table to see the 2s safely tucked away in his hole cards. First limper takes down $187.80 and I type in the note that he’ll risk his entire stack with bottom set. Not the worst mistake in the world, but… ask the SB from Straight 2, Table 1 if his set was worth 95% of his stack.

…

All of this is too much for me. I close my tables, note the bankroll status in my spreadsheet, and decide to get back to work. After blogging it, of course.

Questions:

Doesn’t some of the play above seem to indicate that the FTP $100 NL games can be quite juicy?

Isn’t getting four straights in the course of 30min / 60hands a bit unusual?

Should we be worried that the difference between a losing session, a winning session, and an amazing session is one hand? Isn’t that why my roulette junkie self plays these games?

Shouldn’t I get back to work?