The losing continues, some hands from last night

[Shargaas]

I was playing 2 0.05/0.10 tables at PokerStars last night. I won a hand early putting me up 10 BB, and then in the next 140 hands, I won 2 very small pots inserspersed with losing hand after losing hand. Here are some examples of hands bleeding away my money.

Hand #1: AQo on the CO, 2 limpers to me, I raise, button and SB folds, BB calls as well as 2 limpers.

Flop: 762r, checked to me, I bet, one fold, 2 calls
Turn: T, checked to me, I bet, 2 calls
River: 2 no flush, checked to me, I check, player in EP with 44 takes it down

Hand #2: KK (black) in EMP, 1 call to me, I raise, 3 callers behind me, blinds all call as well as EP limper

Flop: AT4, 2 hearts , checked to EP who bets, I raise to see what happens, everyone calls.
Turn: 6 no heart, now SB bets out, one call to me, I fold
At showdown, SB had AQo

Hand #3: AKo LP, 3 limpers to me, I raise, button cold calls, blinds and limpers call

Flop: QJ8, 2 spades (neither of my cards are spades), there is a bet and raise in front of me, I fold. Q8o from EP takes it down.

Hand #4: K3o in BB, 2 calls to SB who folds and I check, 3 to the flop

Flop: KQ9r, I bet and get 2 calls
Turn: 8, I bet and get 2 calls
River: 2 no flush, I bet, the next player now raises, LP player cold calls, I know I should fold but I call, and see Q8 from the raiser taking the pot

Hand #5: 87o in SB, the table is now just 3-handed. button calls, I call, BB checks

Flop: T86, 2 diamonds, I bet out, BB calls, button raises. Again I should fold but call, BB calls

Turn: 5, I check hoping to see the river for 1 bet. No way, BB now bets, button raises, I fold BB calls.

River: 4, I would have got my str8, but as it turns out I would have chopped with BB who had 73o

Hand #6: Final hand of the night, UTG with AQo, table is now 4-handed, I raise, everyone calls.

Flop: 744, the 20th flop in a row I have missed, SB bets, BB calls, I fold, button raises, all call. Next 2 cards are irrelevant and button with Q4o wins the pot.

After being up 10 BB, I end up down 17 BB and thoroughly frustrated. I looked back at my records and over the last 2 weeks I have lost 52 BB and over the last month about 70 BB. When I first started I was about even over the first while then started winning consistently at 0.02/0.04. I moved up to 0.05/0.10 and again won consistently, then hit a 80 BB slide. So I moved back down to 0.02/0.04 and over a few weeks won back what I lost at 0.05/0.10. I then went back to 0.05/0.10 and won about 100 BB over 6 weeks or so. From then on (which was about 4 weeks ago), I have consistently lost with 1 or 2 winning sessions in there. My frustration level has grown exponentially and frankly of the last 10 sessions, I have had no fun at all. I look at my records and overall I am up a bit, but I was up far more than that and I have come crashing down. I have tried to blame bad beats and cold cards, but I think I am making a lot of mistakes and that is the most frustrating part. After this month, I feel like a losing player, and that is the worst feeling of all.

Well I have ranted, I am taking a break from poker, at least until the New Year. I have no plan after that but perhaps I will have an epiphany. As this is unlikely, I'll just enjoy the holidays with my family and forget about poker for a while /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Rico Suave]

Hey Shargass:

Hand 1: The flop missed you completely and You are up against 3 opponents. I would probably check behind on the flop, but since you have position, I guess it is ok, but when the turn misses you, I think your bet in not good.

Hand 2: Looks fine.

Hand 3: Looks fine.

Hand 4: flop and turn are fine. I might be inclined to check/call the river here--any other K beats you, busted draws will not call you, board is fairly coordinated. It is close though -- Q or J might call you down.

Hand 5: I will leave this one up to the shorthanded experts--I suck at shorthanded play /images/graemlins/tongue.gif.

Hand 6: Looks fine.

I feel your pain here--I go through periods where I never connect with the flop, while the guy next to me hits 5 monster hands in 10 minutes (which never seems happens to me /images/graemlins/frown.gif). We all have these run of cold cards, but if, as you say, playing poker is no longer fun, then I agree with you that a break is in order.

--Rico

[bunky9590]

Sorry to tell you but these hands happen during everyones everyday sessions. AQ is great and all but you need to hit a flop to win in LL.

AK same way unless the table is seriously weak.

Remember the saying: It's all one long session.

[Lost Wages]

Hand 1)
I bet the flop here. Two reasons: 1) maybe you thin the field a bit. 2) a good chance you can see the river for just 1 SB. On the turn, you got your freecard so you should take it.

Hand 2)
Good.

Hand 3)
Good fold. Odds are there to take one off for your gutshot if the conditions are right which they aren't in this case. The board is 2-flush and if the bettor and raiser have both flopped good hands (a good chance on this flop) you could be on the installment plan and it could cost you 4 SB to see the turn.

Hand 4)
You can safely fold the river but calling isn't a huge mistake since you are closing the action.

Hand 5)
No way can you fold the flop, you have a pair + gutshot.

Hand 6)
Looks like a good spot to laydown overcards.

Lost Wages