Can't understand why I don't do well online (long)

[mike4bmp]

I normally play live 3/6 and 4/8 at local cardrooms in the Seattle area. But about 6 or 7 months ago I gave some serious thought about playing online....so I loaded a few sites and started playing at the micro-level. At first I didn't notice anything unusual while playing except that there are a number of players that play 3 or 4 games at the same time. I played at the .25/.5 level at first and then moved up to the .5/1 after I ground up about $400.

Then I started losing...nothing unusual at first. I thought I might just be in a losing streak...but after about a month of losing (little by little I might add) I began to notice that nothing I did was allowing me to win.

At first I tried to apply SSHE textbook style plays...assuming that everyone that played online were super weak...but then I noticed that there were some micro players that were quite sophisticated. So I tried adjusting my play especially when there were more than one player at the table that I had spent a considerable amount of time playing against in the past. I have played quite a bit in live games...and although I may not be the best I feel that I play decently and do not think that I have any major leaks in my game.

Also,I began to realize that I suffer a higher percentage of beats online than I do playing live. The bad players don't seem to play any better than bad players at the B&M...but I can literally suffer heartbreak after agonizing heartbreak from the same players for days....even after jumping from table to table trying to find a profitable situation....and it never fails that when I do find a table that seems good and I do win a little I will invariably get into a hand where I am a big favorite and will lose and go under...and then remain under for the rest of the session.
I am not whining about beats here...I am actually making the observation that it seems that the beats occur way too often online...it really makes is seem like the strength of quality hands are relative...

I can't seem to figure it out.....
Does the random card generator actually shuffle the cards in a realistic manner? I know this might sound like a stooopid question...but for instance I have never seen as many people flopping quads in live games as I have seen online...It seems like at least one or two people get quads in a 6 hour session online...but I can go months without seeing quads being hit in a B&M....
Flopping the nut flush is another one...frequency seems quite high....occurrences of multiple players holding big pairs...it seems like everytime someone has KK One person will have QQ and another will have AA...I mean this happens ALOT!...With all of this said...I am not implying that the cards never work out for me because they do....its just that all of this just doesn't seem very realistic.

Other things that seem to make the games harder:
1. Hit and run players...people that come in and win a couple of huge pots and then get out...its like they take all the money and run

2. Games can be extremely tight...I always find it amusing to see a .5/1 game where the average number of players to the flop is 2 to 3...whereas in a local live 4/8 game I am accustom to seeing 5 to 6 players per flop.

3. Games can break extremely quickly...it has happened frequently where I will finally find a profitable table/situation...and then one person will leave...then two more...and then before I know it there is three people left at the table with one sitting out.

4. You tend to tilt or get angry more when playing online...I have pretty good control of my temper while playing poker...especially when I am playing live...but I can get extremely upset when being sucked out on online....nothing really different with the beat that I would experience in live play otherwise...but maybe the lack of something physical...something other than a blinking screen name to react to that drives me crazy.

Finally, tournaments are much harder to beat online...it goes without saying that yes the tournament fields are much much larger online than at a local cardroom or casino...but the number of bad NL players online makes me scratch my head and wonder why it is that GOOD players can't win very often...or even win at all online. I refuse to believe that most online tournament players play well...I will never accept this notion...I have seen too many players calling someone's all in bet preflop that has close to the same chip stack as their opponent only to flip over K7o...to catch a 7 on the turn eliminating their opponent who held an AKs....but it is these types of players that build huge chip stacks and go the final table and will quite often win...its so frustrating to invest $50 to play for a $20K prize pool and find yourself at a table where you have to gamble more than use skill...

Is collusion a big factor in the limit games online?...pokerbots?...compromising software hacking programs? Do I suck so bad that I can't beat .5/1 holdem even though I devote an enormous amount of time studying and analyzing the game?
All of this has been bugging the [censored] out of me....last week I pulled money out of all my accounts...I can't seem to handle it...not emotionally but psychologically...it starting to make me feel like I am an inferior player...criticizing your own game I believe is good...but so is having a little confidence...but since starting online play my confidence has been taxed...and I can see it in my live play now as well...I'm more hesitant...more willing to give credit for hands...I'm easier to bluff now I suppose...

So here's my rant...my observations of online poker...I just wanted to see what you guys think.
Thanks for reading through this...
-Mike [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]