The $45 hand

I'd been playing for about 90 minutes at a $1/$2 table on PokerStars, and was down about $25. I'm one off the button, and I'm dealt K&diams Q♥. I chose the table because it's super tight, and sure enough, it's folded around to me. I raise to $2, and OhBoyGolf, who is on the button and who hasn't let me steal a blind all day, calls me. Small blind folds, big blind calls, and three of us see the flop:

K♥ T♠ 5♥

I've got top pair with a great kicker, and when the big blind checks, I know that if I bet, OhBoyGolf is going to call me with anything -- he may even raise me back, thinking that I'm trying to steal the pot for the fifth time this afternoon. I do, he does, the blind folds, and I re-raise him, as if to say "hey, I've really got it this time." He doesn't buy it, and caps it at $4.00. I call. At this point, I think he's got a king with a weaker kicker, and I'm in great shape to take down the pot.

Two players, $14.50 in the pot and the turn is K♠. I've turned trips, and I'm thinking he's got trips as well, but with a lower kicker. I bet $2.00, and we go back and forth, capping it.

The river is 8♥. There's a flush possibility, but if he was going for the flush, he wouldn't have been raising. I bet, we cap the pot, and he turns over 5&diams 5♠, making a full house. He'd had me beat from the start. I lost $22 on that one hand, because I couldn't slow down and think about what he might be beating me with.

Sometimes, I'm quite the donkey.

I won another hand a few minutes later, only losing $40 for the session. I also hit the play requirements to collect my $37.50 bonus, so in the end, I was only down $2.50 for the day.