I'm at a loss. Or maybe I'm just lost. My poker endeavours of late, have left me feeling VERY weak. I've been feeling lately that I did better at poker when I first started and didn't have clue about what I was doing. Poker was thrilling and occasionally I won. Now that I kinda know what I'm doing and have increased my skills, poker's not so thrilling and I'm winning less frequently. Let's take for instance yesterday (and no, I'm not basing this whole train of thought on that one day.) I played for quite a while on CarbonPoker. Playing at two .10/.25 NLHE tables is where I started. I successfully "gave away" half of each of the initial $25 buy ins. I hit one score that was noteworthy. From the BB, I was unraised, with my 5-8os. I flopped the boat! I had to slow play it through the flop and turn, since I wasn't going to get any action. Luckily the board filled in flush and straight possibilities for the one lonely player still in the hand, despite my checking. I finally bet out "small" on the river, and he raised me. I mashed the All-In button and got called. But with somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 or less, what was I really gaining. It put me up only slightly in total, like maybe $3. Oh what a PayDay!!! I proceeded to give the rest of the money away at the other table. Just in blinds... and second best hands, getting big preflop hands, which never connected, but were worth seeing the flops and raising with from time-to-time. So I was losing cash on big starting hands. So, mimicking the style of those around me, I decide to broaden my starting hands a bit, and look for opportunities to blind side my opponents. It just didn't work for me. My attempts at being an aggressor (despite a very tight table image) were just being slapped down. WTF! I mean I'm watching the practice work for everyone else who's winning at the table. I try the same tactics and get my ass handed to me. I leave both of these tables when I get busted on the one. Now I'm down...and pissed. Still a bit calm. I decide to try my hand at a Sit N Go. About the only action on CarbonPoker was on a $22 buy in SNG. Higher than my norm...but I decide to give it a shot, ordering myself to play it smart, and not stupid. I also fire up a $2.20 SNG. That one of course I take down 2nd banana. The $22 on the other hand, I get knocked out in 5th place. Here's that hand. I have A-K suited, from middle/late position, and push in my 2,400-ish chips and get called down by one of the blinds, who only "just had me covered." I believe he was the BB with $400 in. He has a pair of SEVENS. Now, was he right to make the call? I don't know. I don't know that I would have. Of course not only did his 7's hold but he also hit a SET to boot. He immediately typed YES!!! His "buddies" at the table all applauded "NICE CALL." "GREAT HAND." I would likely have said "Lucky Call, " or "Whew, they held up!" Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong though. Maybe I know less about the game than I think I do. Maybe I just suck at it. Still I keep donating to the cause. I guess someone's got to make a living, right? I cleared my next $10 in bonus cash, during this session. So I "should" be at $240 is I was only playing break even poker. But at the time I found myself sitting at $188! : ( Then, I wandered in to that "dark" territory. Yeah, JJ I did it again...blackjack. Shudder, now in fear, but actually, I allowed me to climb back out to like $201. I decided to walk away, being up a buck from my initial buy in a few months back. This is not winning poker. This is not winning, it's losing...and it sucks. I don't seem to be able to turn it around. I need to figure out if I'm underplaying...or overplaying. I need to become more aggressive in live games, but maybe "less-so" online. Which, shucks I might as well limit my starting hands to AA or KK, and just get wait to be called and sucked out on...and just give it all away, or I never get called at all, and get blinded out.
I'll keep trying to strike a happy balance, and let you know if any of this turns around for me. I'm just tired of getting spanked.
Regards,
cheer_dad
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