Whew! It's been an exhausting week. I started my new job as an ad copywriter on Wednesday, and I haven't had time for much else. That includes poker, and this blog, obviously.

The job is interesting. It's been several years since I've felt anything but completely confident in the workplace, seeing how I worked in the same field for so long. This is a related field, of course, but I still feel like a noob compared to everyone else. Oh well, I'm sure I'll catch on quickly.

I have been able to play a bit of poker, enough to creep back close to even in the $0.25/$0.50 limit game I've been exploring. I was down 18 big bets after 400 hands; after an additional 220, I'm down less than 4.

Some of these players think they're so frigging cute, with their bluffing and slowplaying. I'll have their money soon. Check out this hand I played tonight:

I've got AKo in late position. One player limps, I raise, the button, small blind, big blind and original limper all call.

The flop is Ks, Tc, 6c. UTG checks, next guy bets, limper calls, I raise, button folds, UTG folds, the other two both call.

Turn is Ts. Now I'm worried that someone had paired the T on the flop and now has a set. Still, when it's checked to me, I decide to bet. If it was raised, I would have considered folding, or just calling down the rest of the hand if the pot was large enough. But the first guy just calls, and the next guy folds. It's now heads-up.

On the river, a third club comes out, the Queen. The guy checks to me, and here's where I made a nice read. Something about the way he had played this hand made me think he had a monster. A flush was the obvious concern, but for some reason I didn't think he had that.

So I check rather than bet, and he turns over a pair of Queens! I'm not sure what I think of his check-raise here. Obviously, it didn't work out for him, since I didn't bet. However, it probably would have worked if the third club wasn't on board. Of course, I think he made a mistake when he just cold-called me before the flop rather than raising, and again when he called my raise after the K flopped. I don't care if you're holding QQ, when an overcard flops and you are raised after betting, you usually have to fold. Especially if you cold-called before the flop.

Of course, I don't mind that he was throwing his money into the pot the whole way through this hand ... I'm just not thrilled he caught one of his two outs!

That's enough for now--I've got to keep an earlier schedule these days. Don't forget, if you're thinking about buying into Party Poker, you can get $25 for free by using the code FOZ! Thanks!