Why Oh Why

Since doing, and posting, about my review of first quarter play I haven't had a positive session. A down turn is still occurring and on the first session I quit with a -4BB loss. On the second session I finished down with a -2BB loss. Considering the recent past I wasn't upset about these results at all. I looked at them as break even sessions and I was happy to be showing some progress. Then last night all hell broke lose. I finished down 40BB's playing 447 hands.

Why did this happen?

Let's take a look.

The hand I lost the most money with last night was 99. I saw this hand 3 times and lost 7BB without a single win. On two of these hands I folded when it was obvious I was beat and minimized my loss. On the other hand I dropped 4.5BB. I raised this particular hand under the gun which I'm thinking may have been a mistake, I'm still not sure on this though. The only caller I got was the player to my immediate left and he rated out as a slightly loose neutral player. The flop came down Q 5 3 rainbow. Since I represented big preflop I felt I had to bet out at this or loose control of the hand. He called and another Q hit the turn. I strongly felt that if my opponent had a queen on the flop he would have raised me. This was the read I had so I bet out again. At this point he raised and I called. The river brought a 10 and I check called to see him show pocket 3's for the full house.

My initial read was correct about him not having a Q but I refused to lay down when he represented a strong hand on the turn. I was convinced he didn't have a Q and I didn't consider his hitting trips on the flop. My only thought was that he held an A5 suited and was trying to push me off my hand. Even with my feelings about his holdings, when he bet at the river I should have finally conceded. He can't expect me to fold the Q I was representing, so his proper play would have been to check the river with me. By his final bet he was telling me I was beat, I just wasn't listening.

Next up is KT suited. Out of 4 times I had this I lost 5BB. Again I didn't connect for a win with any of these either. The two hands I took past the flop were both big blind hands. One was checked down past the flop and the other was when I tried to push around a fish. I had a flush draw so I was betting into him and it never materialized. I had to let this go on the river so I don't know what he held.

KQo represented another 5BB. Held this twice and 4BB was invested in one hand. I lost when I flopped top pair with the K and my opponent hit two pair on the river. I called his turn raise and his bet on the river.

I'm seeing a pattern here.

As I continue through the hands they all appear to be valid preflop plays, I just got married to them and couldn't let go to the turn raises. Sadly even if I had folded them I still would have ended up down for the night. Certainly I would have saved myself about 15-20BB.

I'm running cold and getting married to hands on occasion. I'm sure this is the result of some type of tilting on my part so I'll watch out for this tonight. I'm hoping to post a few wins in a row soon because this is getting a little discouraging. My limit play used to support my tournament play. Now it's the other way around. This just doesn't feel normal to me.