That's Mr. Sour Grapes to You

I feel horrible. I'm mucking along, reading about everybody's wins, and making money at the 25NL tables and at lower limits. You all know my stats. You all know how I play. Why do I continue to lose? The river suckout is becoming my own art form. There is nothing more frustrating than playing a hand perfectly and getting beaten by not hitting a draw, or by being beaten by a player on the river who is insane to play the cards he's dealt that far anyway. Look at the example below (the O8B post). I know I shouldn't necessarily be playing a draw, especially not that hard, but when you keep flopping 4-flushes, you should hit SOMETHING, right? My confidence is pretty much gone, and I don't know how to fix it. At one point, I had over $360 in my Stars account bullying low-limit tables. I haven't changed my style one bit. And in the occasional good session with the cards, I exhibit the same characteristics that make me a winning player. There is one thing that I learned--paraphrased from Chris --you can't bluff people that don't know how to play the game. So no bluffing. Then I get dealt crap for 4 orbits, and watch the blinds eat away my stack as I toss unplayable hand after unplayable hand away. Then I finally get something: KK. Flop trips with K-rag-rag. Bet and raise all the way to the river. Cap twice. River card pops up, and the other guy flips up 74o to make his runner-runner rag filled straight. Two holes in an inside straight draw and he caps betting? Happened to me Monday. Lost almost $28 on that gem. It just keeps happening. I'm almost afraid to play now, just for fear that my flopped Broadway straight isn't enough, or that the AK2 flop that gave me Aces and Kings isn't good. Bet/raise/cap, and the guy flips over 92o after the river brings a 2. There are no consequences to calling a bet--they figure, "What the hell." I take it seriously, they don't. I want to win. They'll just bet it to the river. Since the end of February, I've had the worst luck I've ever seen. I've never flopped so many 4-flushes in my life. I play tight enough that you KNOW they're king-high, or nut flushes. Could I get a card? Never. Why? Why should we pay off the good player? Let him play it to the river--don't pair anything. Leave him with nothing. It's good. He'll chase the flush. Then he'll fold on the river when it's obvious that he's beaten. I lose so much money this way. Getting pot odds the whole way, I bet. I raise. I am as aggressive as they come. I almost wonder if I should just bite the bullet and take a grand and start at 4/8. You know, where calling a capped bet has consequences.

I have no intentions of doing that, of course. I just don't think I can hang at microlimits or small-stakes anymore.

Mrs. PokerShark said to me, after my umpteenth rant about shitty players winning,

Not everybody's going to play right. If they did, nobody would ever win!

I understand that. I play ABC poker. Nauseatingly boring. Winning over the long haul, though. I also play aggressively. I push people off hands regularly. Except of course, the guy who calls my all-in and runner-runners me to win. I was playing O8B with a guy (I should give out his Stars screen name, but I won't...) who called my pot-sized pre-flop raise with 8-9-J-T rainbow. He called when I bet the pot again with trip aces (I had A2A3 double suited). He called again and again, and sucked out a straight (with no low) when I couldn't hit a low card, a diamond, or get the board to pair). This was a $50 pot, mind you. His last call was on an inside straight draw. 2-to-1 to call on an inside draw. I should be celebrating this, that eventually I will win out over this douchebag. But when? If it's not him getting lucky, it's someone else. It's constant.

Face it. I'm not losing because I'm being outplayed. Maybe one pot every couple sessions, someone will trap me. I'm losing because someone drew out a shitty hand. Either they out drew me, or they drew to a shitty hand that would beat my made hand. In O8B yesterday, I lost a pot to an nine-high flush (won one too). I had a Broadway straight from the turn, and the guy just called and called, and hit a nine-high flush. I don't slowplay anymore. Anything!

If I slowplay, I lose.

This is what my mental game has deteriorated to. It's been constant since the beginning of the month. I took up O8B to alleviate the holdem losses. Now I'm getting sucked out on there too. What's next? Stud? Stud 8/B? Razz on Full Tilt? I've lost over $140 (over half my roll) since 3/1, and Mrs. PokerShark lost $80 that I gave her. I can't buy a win anywhere.

Some will say, "What about going down limits?" Ah, yes, where calling has even less consequence. I observed a 0.50/1 table yesterday. 7 players playing all the way to the river, some with Jack-high!

That will go over big in the suckout motif.

All I know is that, with the casino trip this weekend, I need to get my game back--fast. I need to get my live game on. Play aggressive, but hide it. Don't want to totally scare the fish away. But if I leave them around, they will suck out on me. Guaranteed. As much as I love poker for the high level of thought required to play the game is as much as I hate it right now...

Grrrr.