General strategy help - I am a player slightly in the red

[nihil]

I've been playing since april and have played several thousand hands (not much, I know) and ever so slowly watched my initial investment get eaten away initially, played a huge rush one evening after two months, and then watched that ever so slowly whittle away.

I've noticed a few things about my playing and was wondering if I could get some advice:

- I notice that a large portion of my losses are to straights. Some were to straights I simply didn't see and have become better about noticing them. More recently I get burned a lot by people making straights on garbage hands. People that will make their straight and then still play passively through the hand. How can I approach this problem I have?

- One area of play that I have never seemed to figure out is what to do when I have called pre-flop and then there is a raise behind me. If it's a hand I would only want to call with and would not cold call a raise, should I not be calling the raise after having called one bet?

- Finally, my biggest question is playing pot odds. Basically, can someone be a profitable player without playing the pot odds down to the number? When I'm playing a draw I usually call a bet when I feel that there are probably sufficient odds. I realize that I will need to be somewhat precise on this if I want to be a good player, but can a player be profitable without being precise on these odds? Namely, I'm wondering if a large hole in my game is not being precise and keeping track of the odds.

I realize that probably the best thing is to play more hands. Lots more hands. But I would greatly appreciate any advice to help me along as I go.

Thanks