11:55pm: It pays to hold your composure. Two nights ago, when I lost $845 in a 2-5 session, it would have been very easy to panic and to get discouraged. The last two nights (+$700, +$1005) serve to show that patience and keeping things in perspective pays off — as I am now up nearly $900 this week, including the fact that I had a terrible session on Thursday night, and not including anything I have made playing heads up sngs online this week.

So how did it happen tonight? My profit came on two hands, with the same victim on each hand. I noticed the middle aged Asian man to my right was having a hard time believing anyone, and nearly refused to lay a single hand down. If he had top pair, he would cling on for dear life.

That being said, I had Jc7c in the big blind. Five people limped for $5. The flop was: 3d 5d 7s. The small blind (the man to my right) checked, and I led out for $25 to see where I was at. Everyone folded around to the small blind, who called. The pot is now $75. The turn was Jh. I led out for $75, and the man once again called. As fate would have it, the river card was a 6 — and once again, I am faced with another four-to-a-straight on the board situation. The man led out for $50. I took a little time, thought about it, and decided to just call. I turned over top two pair, and he quietly mucked his hand.

The next significant hand was about 3 hours into the session. I picked up 10c7c in the big blind, and there were 6 limpers for $5. Action was on me, so I decided to check. The flop was 4d 6s 9c. The Asian man to my right was first to act, since he was in the small blind. He led out for $5 (which doesn’t happen very often). Had there been another club out there, I would have probably raised, but since there wasn’t I decided to just call and see what happened. 3 more people called, and we go into the turn with a $55 pot. At this point, I was hoping for an 8 obviously, but would have been happy with any club as well.

Much to my delight, the 8c pops up on the turn. The man to my right led out for $25. I decided that I wanted to build the pot at this point, because I wasn’t trying to win only $100 on the hand. I decided to make it $60 to go. Everyone folded to the man to my right, and he decided to call. Of course, I’m hoping for the board not to pair, but I didn’t put the man on a set or two pair, so really there’s no card that would prevent me from betting the river. I liked my hand where it was, and it was possible he could have had a higher flush draw, so I really didn’t want to see a club. However, all things considered, the only card I was NOT hoping for was a 10, because I didn’t want to chop this pot.

The river was more beautiful than I could have imagined. That being: 5h. The board now reads: 4d 6s 9c 8c 5h . The man decides to check.

Now I have the stone cold nuts, and if the man has a 7, then he just completed a lower straight. I had to bet something that the man could check raise, if he did indeed have a 7 - but not low enough that if he just decided to call I would have been kicking myself for not getting more value out of the hand. I decided to bet $100. The man looks upset when I bet, so my first thought was that he was going to fold, and I was just going to drag this small/medium sized pot without a contest. He goes into the tank for about a minute, and then pulls out another $100, and says, “make it $200″.

This is music to my ears, of course. So then I pretend to go into the tank. I check my hand about 3-4 times to make sure I had what I thought I had (straight to the ten), and that’s indeed what I had. Well, remember how I told you the man had trouble folding earlier? This bit of information led me to believe that if I went all in, he would call thinking we were going to chop the pot. After 3 minutes of deliberation, I told the dealer was all in, and pushed my remaining $550 in the middle. This made it another $450 for him to call, which would only leave him with $8 should he decide to make the call.

The man takes nearly 5 minutes to make up his mind, but eventually acts on his impulse to never lay hand down, and pushes his remaining chips in the middle. Needless to say, he had the 7 for the straight. When he saw my hand, he was visibly upset and started cursing.

So to all those who have ever started a night, or even a week off with a catastrophic loss: whatever doesn’t kill you or your bankroll, makes you a stronger player. When you lose, brush yourself off and try again the next day. There’s plenty of poker still left to be played.