When does bad luck become legendary?

[Azazoth]

I have this friend. Not me. I'll get to me in a minute. Anyway, this friend always seems to get drawn out on against all conceivable odds. 3 examples, in chronologicalorder, all from large multi-table tournaments where he was a moderately large stack.

He has KK, flops is KKA, he shoves, AQ calls, catches runner-runner Aces to beat him.

He has 99, pushes all in against 55 preflop, flop hits his 9, runner-runner 5s to beat him.

He has QQ, flop is TJQ spades. He bets, is raised, and shoves. Opponent shows K9 spade to beat him. Rephrase: my friend flopped TOP SET and was DRAWING DEAD.


After this last one, he finally gave up no-limit hold'em. He avoids tournaments, and only plays limit in B&M or online. In short, three horrendous (and i consider 1,000-1 horrendous) beats in a row in 3 consecutive tournaments over the course of about 11 months have pushed him out of no-limit contention. His ability to be drawing dead, his ability to be 99.9%-.1% favorite and lose, has made an otherwise solid player *afraid* to put his chips in the middle of the table.

What does this illustrate? It illustrates that some people actually have worse luck than me. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to make me feel any better.

I have been playing poker fairly regularly for the past year. I play limit in Atlantic City (3-6 or 6-12), as well as live no-limit, and frequently play $10 and $20 SnGs on PokerStars.

I turned 21 almost a year ago, and immediately hit the Taj, Borgata, and wherever else i could find poker. And i did well. Really well. Speculative hands came together, difficult laydowns were made with confidence, weakness was sniffed out like the pot in Paul McCartney's duffel bag. I was at the top of my game. Now, I'm not saying I was anything great, but I was doing very well, destroying low limit games and frankly doing well in midlimit (5-10, 6-12...college students such as myself are hard-pressed to sit in bigger games). I built up a bankroll and began playing in tournaments. And I was doing well. Several money finishes in 100+ player tournaments, including a final table, along with consistent money finishes in SnGs and the abillity to dominate home games left me feeling pretty damn good about how I played poker. I read everything I could get my hands on... including, of course, Theory of Poker and several other 2+2 books. I could feel myself improving, doing better every day, every tournament, becoming more confident in my reads, my plays.

Then it all came crashing down. And I don't even remember exactly where or when.

All I know is that now, I can't seem to win. For the past few months I haven't posted a single winning session, limit or nolimit, ring or tournament, B&M or online. My bankroll has been decimated, my confidence is shot. Opponents draw out on me consistently, I can't get away from hands, draws never materialize, KK into AA, cats and dogs lying together... anarchy. My poker world is in shambles. And I can't seem to put it back together.

I try to play my best game. I try to tell myself 'next hand', that probability resets, that there is no 'luck' or 'unluck'. But the world around me seems to disagree.

I'm not sure what I hope to achieve by posting this. Maybe reassurance, maybe support, or maybe to be told to stop bloody whining, suck it up, and play some poker. But from the perspective of a young player just setting out into the world of poker, a string of cracked sets, and about 50 hours of poker since my last AA, KK, QQ, or AK has become unbearable.
Any veterans out there willing to spare some wisdom?