'Insane'ly good hand

I hadn't been able to get anything going the past day or so and the doubts had started creeping in when this hand came to me this morning. I rarely raise KJs out of position but here I made a minimum raise from 3rd position. I was just mixing it up and sometimes a small bet from there can take down the blinds. There is a bit of a reverse psychology to it.... at least that's how I see it. This hand fell absolutely perfectly though as in this case as the small blind decided to take a look with a non premium hand looking to catch. And catch he did. The hand history speaks for itself as he hit his lower straight at the same time I hit the nut straight. Surely he must have put me on a set as I push him allin. His response to this shocker was 'Insane'

PokerStars Game #7352736891: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2006/12/08 - 12:40:47 (ET)Table 'Vaticana' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: Minotaoro ($194 in chips)
Seat 2: Omistaja ($258 in chips)
Seat 3: gurgeh ($309.35 in chips)
Seat 4: mayhem920 ($244.45 in chips)
Seat 5: TheEarl22 ($308.35 in chips)
Seat 6: guardian46 ($87.75 in chips)
Seat 7: treysfull21 ($303.40 in chips)
Seat 8: Mandeezy ($95.70 in chips)
Seat 9: DonJ ($215.25 in chips) TheEarl22: posts small blind $1
guardian46: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***Dealt to DonJ [Kd Jd]
treysfull21: folds
Mandeezy: folds
DonJ: raises $2 to $4
Minotaoro: folds
Omistaja: folds
gurgeh: folds
mayhem920: folds
TheEarl22: calls $3
guardian46: folds
*** FLOP *** [9s Qh 3c]
TheEarl22: checks
DonJ: bets $6
TheEarl22: calls $6
*** TURN *** [9s Qh 3c] [Ts]
TheEarl22: checks
DonJ: bets $14
TheEarl22: calls $14
*** RIVER *** [9s Qh 3c Ts] [4d]
TheEarl22: bets $40
DonJ: raises $151.25 to $191.25 and is all-in
TheEarl22: calls $151.25
*** SHOW DOWN ***DonJ: shows [Kd Jd] (a straight, Nine to King)
TheEarl22: shows [Jh 8h] (a straight, Eight to Queen)
DonJ collected $429.50 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***Total pot $432.50 Rake $3 Board [9s Qh 3c Ts 4d]
Seat 1: Minotaoro folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 2: Omistaja folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 3: gurgeh folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 4: mayhem920 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 5: TheEarl22 (small blind) showed [Jh 8h] and lost with a straight, Eight to QueenSeat 6: guardian46 (big blind) folded before FlopSeat 7: treysfull21 folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 8: Mandeezy folded before Flop (didn't bet)Seat 9: DonJ showed [Kd Jd] and won ($429.50) with a straight, Nine to King

Snowed in and Moving up 1/2NLH

My house is covered in about 2 feet of snow still. We had a storm last week and it is still on the ground. We are about two hundred feet above the surrounding area and apparently right above the freezing level! As it is pretty much gone in most of the valley. Put out some seed and stuff this week for the birds and its like an episode of Lorne Greene's New Wilderness in the backyard. Pretty cool. The storm hit when we were in the interior. Crazy driving hundreds of miles in blizzard conditions in a rented Toyota Matrix. It handled awesome though.

Back home now and playing tons of poker on my days off. I've built my bankroll up enough now where I am just feeling comfortable enough to play $1/2NLH 4 or 5 tables at a time now. It's still early but I'm doing ok. Up a few hundred over the past few days. So far so good. As long as I can playwell enough to break even I will do ok in the long run. The plan is to get Platinum VIP status at Stars in December and then eventually Supernova in mid 2007. I should have enough fpp's by mid January to get a $1000 gift certificate to get new monitors from Future Shop. That will allow me to multi table more easily. As long as I can see all the tables there is no reason why I cannot play 6-8 tables or more at a time as long as my bankroll permits. I can play 5 now on a 17" CRT so it shouldn't be a problem as long as it doesnt hurt my game too much. Anyway that's the plan for now. It seems my plans seem to change monthly though. So we shall see.

The major change I have made this year as compared to the past is how I manage my bankroll. In the past I would cash out a percentage of the bankroll as I moved up. Of course this was a major error and led to all kinds of problems. The biggest being that I could'nt move UP!! Not without suddenly putting my entire bankroll in jeopardy even though I had been winning recently. I have taken some big lessons there but I am determined not to jeopardize my bankroll again. I wouldn't say it is big now by any stretch considering I can have a 40% of it spread among multi tables at any one time but at least I can back out if I take a couple of big hits in a row without going broke. I do think I am being a bit too passive right now because of the recent move up to 1/2 but if I can get up another grand or two that should change. Looking to go bigger. And thats a good way to finish the year. Hopefully I can stay on track.
Cheers everyone.