Overcoming January so far

I'm at work on one hour of sleep going strong so far. Last night I was on a heavy grind session that shouldn't have been so difficult. I played 10 hours on an action-packed table (serious action) with three donkeys and finished the session up only $320. It all boiled down to one huge hand ($1700 pot) that I lost on the river. Here's the action:

I have AcJc in the big blind. A (poker buddy) of mine raises to $35 in middle position. There are two callers to me: the big donkey on the button and the tight player in the small blind. I call and one other calls.

The flop comes AK5 with two spades. The small blind comes out and bets $125 into a $250 pot. I call. Original raiser folds and button donkey calls. The turn is a blank and the small blind quickly checks to me. At this point I don't have him on a strong ace and I bet $200. The button donkey thinks and goes all-in. I don't have him on anything, maybe a weak ace or some straight or flush draw. At this point the small blind says "It's now or never," and goes all-in. The button donkey has me covered for $250 more and the small blind has only $100 more that he puts in the middle. I'm worried about the small blind having AK but ultimately decide that I'm at least 50/50 to be good here and the pot is giving me great odds to call, plus if I have the donk beat, I get a side pot rebate of $300. The river is a spade and the small blind hits his king high nut flush and the button donkey shows KQ for one pair. I get $300 back and the small blind scoops the $1400 main pot.

The action was great though and I really hope to see the action like that in the future. The button donkey reminded me that a couple of weeks ago I called him "the worst player in the casino," and I had forgotten all about it but he was right.

Basically a tight player was on tilt and gambled on a gut shot when I had flopped a set. He missed his straight but ended up making a one-card flush for a huge pot and it slightly tilted me only because of the player that made the play. It's one of those players that always begs everyone to fold and not suck out, then he calls me with a gut shot and hits a one card straight. A few hands later I try to steal a pot on the river and the donkey calls me, then tells the table "It just didn't make sense, why would he bet when the deuce hits the river?" He was actually right in his logic, but I still said "Great, now I'm getting critiqued by the worst player in the casino."

He had no hard feelings and neither did I. The guy didn't even know what a straddle was, but he was winning so I can't knock him.

So far I'm doing alright, especially considering that my last two January's have been horrible. December 08 was my best month ever so I can't hope to match that, I just need to try and reach my goal. I'm just really grinding except for Sunday, when I hit for $1500 in two hours. If I want to hit my goal of $85k, I need to make an average of $7k/month and I'm pretty much on target right now.

1.1.09, Hollywood Park, 0.25, 3/5,-43
1.1.09, Hollywood Park, 4.25, 5/10,+540
1.2.09, Hollywood Park, 2.0, Tournament, -130
1.2.09, Hollywood Park, 1.0, 3/5, -220
1.2.09, Hollywood Park, 6.25, 5/10, +605
1.3.09, Hollywood Park, 2.75, 3/5, -76
1.5.09, Hollywood Park, 3.0, 5/10, -1500
1.7.09, Hollywood Park, 1.0, 3/5, -200
1.7.09, Hollywood Park, 5.25, 5/10, +1680
1.9.09, Hollywood Park, 6.0, 5/10, +170
1.10.09, Hollywood Park, 1.0, 3/5, +335
1.10.09, Hollywood Park, 6.0, 5/10, +240
1.11.09, Commerce Casino, 2.5, 3/5, -200
1.11.09, Hollywood Park, 0.5, 3/5, -60
1.11.09, Hollywood Park, 1.0, 5/10, +1600
1.13.09, Hollywood Park, 10.0, 5/10, +320

3/5: 9.0 hours, -464
5/10: 40.75 hours, +3655
Tournaments: (1) -130

Total: 51.75, +3061