Yesterday:

(This is off by $100 due to OnGame HH problems. I was only down $300 on the day)

Today:

Well things have been going terribly. This is easily the worst downswing I've ever had, both in depth and duration. The good news is that I haven't quit poker. If I had experienced this 6 months ago I would have cashed out and figured myself done with the game. There was a point today where I actually considered doing that but instead I just took a little break and then got back to the tables without thinking about it too much.

Yesterday was the worse so I was hoping things would turn around today. But I started off the day losing a stack to set over set and a stack to a 2-outter. Except for those two losses, the majority of my losses have been medium-sized pots. It just seems that no matter what I have I run into something just a little better. Every time, day after day.

I realized that I've been losing a lot of pots to short stacks and that this is probably something I need to work on. So instead of posting bad beat hands I'm going to post a few hands vs. shortstacks to see how they could be better played. My basic problem with them is that I'm always pot-committed after the flop, so it just seems to be a contest of who can outflop who. Against full stacks I think I do a very good job of sniffing out sets and minimizing my losses, but against shorties I feel like I have no other move but to put them all in on the turn. I'm still not sure if I'm doing something wrong or just getting unlucky.

Any advice, as to whether and how these hands can be played differently would be greatly appreciated...

All 100nl FR

Hand #1:
I raise KK to $5 Utg. Unknown player to my left with $60 calls.
Flop ($11.50) . I bet $10, Villain calls.
Turn ($31.50) . I bet $30 planning to call if his pushes. He pushes and I call the remaining $17.
River is blank, Villain had 66.

I don't know how to else to play it, except to bet a little less on the turn and still call his raise.

Hand #2
UTG limps, Villain with $35 raises to $3. 2 callers and I call in CO w .
Flop ($14) . Check, Villain bets $5, limper folds, I raise to $15, limper folds, Villain calls.
Turn ($44) . Villain goes all in for $17. I call. Villain has QQ.

Fold preflop? Fold the flop?


I'll post some more, hopefully more interesting ones soon...

It's gotten to the point where if I only lose $50 or $100 on a session I feel pretty psyched. It's been 2 weeks of consistent losing. I had a -$600 day last week, and yesterday I lost $500 at Full Tilt playing 100nl 6-max. Over the past week I played over 3k hands at Full Tilt, got dealt a ton of pocket pairs and flopped, literally, ONE set. And on that one set someone else flopped a higher one. I don't know what it is , but everytime I play at Full Tilt I lose. I really hope it doesn't end up being the only place left we can play.

So until my bankroll recovers my plan is to only play 100nl FR, always clearing an OnGame bonus. The one thing keeping me going is the fact that over 50k hands at 100nl I am a 6 ptbb/100 winner, which is not necessarily great, but I think it is some sort of "proof" that I am capable of beating the game.

If I just grind it out and put in the hours, hopefully I'll get back to where I was fairly soon. Before this downswing my Bankroll was at about $4500. After withdrawing $500 for some expenses, and losing $1500 over the last 2 weeks, I'm back down to $2500, which really sucks. Still sufficiently rolled for 100nl, but not that comfortably. And now my progression to 200nl has started all over again.

I'm going to start posting after each session and see if that does anything to help keep my spirits up. I try to keep from posting bad beat hands as they are usually not very interesting, but I'll start posting them to see if I'm making mistakes (Very possible at this point considering my lack of confidence is starting to hurt my game).

2 hands:

100nl FR

Pre-flop: (10 players) Pozzo is Button with
UTG calls, 3 folds, MP2 calls, MP3 raises to $3, CO folds, Pozzo raises to $13, 4 folds, MP3 calls.

Flop: ($29.5, 2 players)
MP3 bets $15, Pozzo raises to $40, MP3 raises to $65, Pozzo calls all-in $48.6, MP3 calls all-in $6.
Uncalled bets: $17.6 returned to Pozzo.

Turn: ($171.5, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $171.5)

River: ($171.5, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $171.5)

Results:
Final pot: $171.5
Pozzo shows
MP3 shows

______

Villain is an agressive idiot. 64% vpip. He insta-called prefIop.I figured him for KQ, AQ, AJ, maybe 99-JJ. On the turn it seemed my only bet was to push and I didn't think he could call that with much, but I was pretty sure he'd bet if I checked, which he did. In hindsight I should have re-raised more preflop. I think I just used the "raise pot" button.

Ultimate Bet
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50./$1.
10 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $99.25
UTG+1: $165.05
UTG+2: $134.05
Pozzo: $87.85
MP2: $184.35
MP3: $33.45
CO: $98.50
Button: $122.50
SB: $29.05
BB: $100

Pre-flop: (10 players) Pozzo is MP1 with
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to $3.5, Pozzo raises to $9, 3 folds, Button calls, 3 folds.

Flop: ($23, 2 players)
Pozzo bets $18, Button calls.

Turn: ($59, 2 players)
Pozzo checks, Button bets $20, Pozzo raises all-in $60.85, Button calls.

River: ($180.7, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $180.7)

Results:
Final pot: $180.7
Pozzo shows
Button shows

Played a quick one-hour session, 5 tables. Some things went my way and it looked like I was about to have my first winning session in a long time. Then I lost a few, including the hand below, and I think ended up down about $20 on the session.

Going to get outside for bit and enjoy the weather..

The villain only had a 1/2 stack, but these losses to short stacks have really been adding up.

100nl FR

Stack sizes:
UTG: $83.10
UTG+1: $218.80
UTG+2: $99
MP1: $118.40
Pozzo: $99.20
MP3: $56
CO: $20
Button: $101.10
SB: $77.10
BB: $135.90

Pre-flop: (10 players) Pozzo is MP2 with
UTG calls, 3 folds, Pozzo raises to $8, MP3 calls, 5 folds.

Flop: ($18.5, 2 players)
Pozzo bets $20, MP3 raises all-in $48, Pozzo calls $28 (pot was $86.5).

Turn: ($114.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $114.5)

River: ($114.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $114.5)

Results:
Final pot: $114.5
MP3 shows
Pozzo shows

Another session, actually up for most of it, had some hands holding up and then back to the usual:

Villain is 25/12, very aggressive post flop. Obviously when he min re-raises me it's looking like I'm beat, but I think if I folded I would feel like I was just folding because I've been running so bad.

100nl FR

Stack sizes:
UTG: $109.10
UTG+1: $54.50
MP1: $100.90
Pozzo: $90.90
Button: $172.90
SB: $23.40
BB: $100

Pre-flop: (7 players) Pozzo is CO with
2 folds, MP1 raises to $3, Pozzo calls $3 (pot was $4.5), 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: ($9.5, 3 players)
BB checks, MP1 bets $3, Pozzo raises to $14, BB folds, MP1 raises to $28, Pozzo raises all-in $73.9, MP1 calls.

Turn: ($157.3, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $157.3)

River: ($157.3, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $157.3)

Results:
Final pot: $157.3
Pozzo shows
MP1 shows

____


Also this little one:

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
9 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $99.10
UTG+1: $95.80
MP1: $76.90
MP2: $40
MP3: $105.50
CO: $31.50
Button: $124.60
SB: $99
Pozzo: $98.90

Pre-flop: (9 players) Pozzo is BB with
5 folds, CO calls, Button raises to $5, SB folds, Pozzo calls $4 (pot was $7.5), CO calls.

Flop: ($15.5, 3 players)
Pozzo checks, CO checks, Button bets $6, Pozzo raises to $20, CO raises all-in $26.5, Button folds, Pozzo calls $6.5 (pot was $68).

Turn: ($74.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $74.5)

River: ($74.5, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $74.5)

Results:
Final pot: $74.5
CO shows
Pozzo shows

Played a short session late tonight, just 2 tables. Was actually up $50! Getting ready to call it a night and then this hand:

100nl FR

Stack sizes:
UTG: $154.90
UTG+1: $109.60
MP1: $93
MP2: $62
Pozzo: $141.60
Button: $107.60
SB: $97
BB: $6

Pre-flop: (8 players) Pozzo is CO with
UTG calls, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 folds, Pozzo calls, Button folds, SB raises to $6, BB calls all-in $5, UTG folds, MP1 calls, Pozzo calls.

Flop: ($25, 3 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $25)
SB bets $9, MP1 raises to $25, Pozzo raises all-in $135.1, SB folds, MP1 calls all-in $61.5.
Uncalled bets: $48.6 returned to Pozzo.

Turn: ($129.5, 0 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: $25, Sidepot 1: $182)

River: ($129.5, 0 player + 3 all-in - Main pot: $25, Sidepot 1: $182)

Results:
Final pot: $129.5
Pozzo shows
BB shows
MP1 shows

____

So to recap the day:

Got set over setted twice on the flop. -2 stacks.
Lost AA to a bad beat KQ. -1 stack.
Lost KK to AA allin preflop. -1/2 stack.
Top set with KK on flop busted by 99. -1/2 stack.

Amazingly only down about $100 on the day, which feels pretty good.

Yesterday's fun.

Morning Session: 2.5hrs. -$75

Flopped 2 pair against a moron, did a good job of keeping the pot small but moron flopped str8. Lost AQ, Top 2 pair to a turned flush, only about a $45 pot but damn those pots add up. I won one hand for $40 but that was pretty much it. I realized that I have not had more than $150 at a table in over a week.

This hand converter has to be hosted on the worst fcking server on the planet. Like a cardboard box with some hard disks duct-taped to it, and a slowly dying mouse running the wheel to keep the whole thing running. But it seems to be the only converter that is compatible with Pokerroom skin hands.

This was fun. 85% favorite going into the river? No good!

100nl FR

Pre-flop: (10 players) Pozzo is MP3 with
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $3.5, Pozzo calls $3.5 (pot was $6), 4 folds, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: ($12, 3 players)
UTG+1 checks, MP2 checks, Pozzo bets $8, UTG+1 calls, MP2 folds.

Turn: ($28, 2 players)
UTG+1 checks, Pozzo bets $20, UTG+1 raises all-in $33.3, Pozzo calls $13.3 (pot was $81.3).

River: ($94.6, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $94.6)


Results:
Final pot: $94.6
UTG+1 shows 6H QD
Pozzo shows 3D 3C

Seriously I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
10 players


Stack sizes:
Pozzo: $138.05
UTG+1: $217.05
UTG+2: $147.15
MP1: $43.80
MP2: $103
MP3: $8.10
CO: $68.40
Button: $42.10
SB: $104.60
BB: $35.15

Pre-flop: (10 players) Pozzo is UTG with
Pozzo calls, UTG+1 raises to $4, 8 folds, Pozzo raises to $16, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: ($33.5, 2 players)
Pozzo bets $27, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: ($87.5, 2 players)
Pozzo is all-in $95.05, UTG+1 calls.

River: ($277.6, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $277.6)

Results:
Final pot: $277.6
Pozzo shows KD KH
UTG+1 shows AD AC

I think I'm done.

100nl FR
Stack sizes:
Pozzo: $94
UTG+1: $94.20
MP1: $81.10
MP2: $18.80
MP3: $199.40
CO: $97.50
Button: $167.20
SB: $104.50
BB: $97.50

Pre-flop: (9 players) Pozzo is UTG with
Pozzo calls $1 (pot was $1.5), UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls, BB checks.

Flop: ($8, 8 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Pozzo bets $5, 4 folds, Button calls, 2 folds.

Turn: ($18, 2 players)
Pozzo bets $15, Button raises to $30, Pozzo raises all-in $73, Button calls.

River: ($164, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $164)

Results:
Final pot: $164
Pozzo shows 4H AH
Button shows AS JD

Leave Ongame. BK has the site rigged so only him can take money from the fish. I lost my 8th straight session. My bankroll is only 1550.

I am waiting for the funds in Hollywood poker to reach my neteller account so I can go to FTP.

iF I KEEP losing there then I should quit.