Emotional commotion, and a hand

Today I cashed in 2 out of 16 MTTs and 0 out of 1 satellites. I was able to make one final table but went out pretty early when I lost a race. For the day I pretty mush broke even but used up  four tickets. As far as how my day went I will tell you I have had better.

My day got off to a rocky start when someone started an argument with me and wouldn't let it die. I am sure several of y'all have been here before and all we can do is try to gather ourselves and soldier on. Our argument was silly and could have waited. I tried several times to get them to stop arguing but sometimes reason don't come into play. Truly I was a bit distraught for about an hour and a half after, but luckily this was at the very beginning of my session and I was able to play tight and get through it with only a few casualties.

I am sure most of y'all realize the importance of keeping emotion out of the game of poker. To me that means don't let ourselves get emotional about the results of a hand, good or bad. It also means we shouldn't let anyone at any poker table get under our skin and cause an emotional decision. And lastly, it means don't let emotions about life cloud our judgement while playing.

Today for me it was the last part as the argument had my mind racing about ways to fix the problem. I was trying to figure out ways to salvage the relationship that all the recent arguing and apparent lack of mutual respect has ruined. And on top of it all, after getting in the argument and getting so upset with the feeling of losing a friend, I couldn't stop thinking about my sister. It was just a brutal start to the day.  I will say that I tried hard to be strong and get through what had happened. I am still messed up about it all but I was able to put that all to the side and have a decent grind and make a final table. And truly, if I don't lose to a couple two-outers I would have cashed the $215 70k and might have had a good close to a rough day.

Tomorrow I will be getting up earlier than normal to drive to Arkansas for my sister's funeral. So brutal, I can't believe she is gone. May she rest in peace and hopefully tomorrow lots of people that loved her will get to say goodbye.

Even though I only got one comment on the hand I posted yesterday, I was thinking about adding a hand a day to the blog. I will tell y'all that if this is something you think you would enjoy, leaving a comment would help make sure I keep it up.

In the hand below I am in the BB with 37bb and T8cc. UTG with 19bb limps, it folds to the cut-off 110bb who also limps, the BU and SB fold and I check. The flop comes 922 and UTG bets the minimum 2k and the CO folds. IMO the limper should not be hitting a 922 flop often and I saw an opportunity for a 3b/f that would put a lot of pressure on the UTG players 17bb they have left. I also felt they might imagine me having a 2 some being from the BB. I think is just a standard spot where so many players just fold and move on to the next hand. But I felt as if I could 3b/f and my 3b would work a huge percentage of the time and awarding me 8600 from a 4835 bet. Anytime he comes over the top I fold because one of the only hands that could possibly make sense is limping with AA and then min bet leading trying to induce a raise. I just felt this was not very likely and thought my play would work plenty enough to be +EV.
I hope this example might show a few to try and be aware of every situation they are and to not be afraid to follow your instincts.

T1,000/T2,000
Stacks:
UTG - UTG (T37,104)---------------limp 2k
UTG+1 - UTG+1 (T164,020)------fold
MP - MP (T39,235)-------------------fold
MP2 - MP2 (T26,140)---------------fold
CO - CO (T220,286)-----------------limp 2k
BTN - BTN (T20,594)---------------fold
SB - SB (T43,496)-------------------fold
BB - Hero (T74,453)----------------checks

Preflop: (T4,600, 8 players) Hero is BB with T♣ 8♣
UTG calls T2,000, 3 folds, CO calls T2,000, 2 folds, Hero checks

Flop: 9♠ 2♦ 2♣ (T8,600, 3 players - CO: T218,086, Hero: T72,253, UTG: T34,904)
Hero checks, UTG bets T2,000, 1 fold, Hero raises to T4,835, 1 fold

Total Pot: T15,435

Hero wins T12,600
Hero wins T2,835 

Good luck to all the grinders tomorrow, get your focus up and your emotion out of the picture.

If you are interested in taking poker lessons or would like any information, contact me at variance101@gmail.com and/or visit http://variance101.com/# and http://variance101.blogspot.com.