Should I Quit Ring?

All good things must come to an end. Coming from a great upswing early this month I am now totally crushed at the turn of events. I am once again in a similar predicament that I have met many times in playing online poker but I am seriously contemplating of quitting ring.

There is a limit to how many times a person can take a runner runner flush and runner runner full house. And when they happen 4 times within 5 minutes one can doubt the randomness of the software.

My $3,500 roll has been reduced to a mere $1500. I have withdrawn $600 which means I have just lost $1,400 in the last 7 days. I have also initiated measures to contain my losses by once again moving down to the 50c/$1 tables to no avail as I am still running horrendously bad.

Case in point I made a loose call with KdQd and was rewarded with a 9d 10d Js flop. Nut straight, straight flush draw.... what else can you ask for? EP player pushes all-in and I instacall a $250 pot. He shows 8c-8h for a pair and the idiot end of a straight.

Money in the bank right????? Turn 10 River 8. Runner runner full house. Of course that happens.... in fact its as normal as rain in the fucking Sahara dessert.

That was the very last hand before I closed all tables and wrote this post. I understand that this may not be the best time to write (when I am fuming) but I really need to release some tension.

Will take a break for awhile before I do so more serious damage to my remaining roll.

When Playing Well Doesn't Matter

Yes Yes I know that bad beats are part of the game. If the chance to suckout did not exist then we wouldn't have a game.

But is it even possible to lose the last 6 overpairs to a set??

3X AA, 2X KK and a QQ was all beaten by an underpair that hit a set. Each time I was able to get my money in with the absolute best hand and having my opponent drawing to 2 outs. One hand I had AA vs JJ vs KJ. And the lone Jack hits the flop? Tell me where the justice is in that?

I have stopped playing given the utter ridiculousness of the situation. I mean 20%X20%X20%X20%X20%X20%.

There is a .000064% chance of that happening. Well it did.

Down massively but still looking good. Gotta pull myself together.....

Cashing In At The $1/$2!!!

Finally after trying to move up from $.5/$1 twice and failing I have finally broken through and successfully moved up to the $1/$2 tables. I think I am starting to crush the game at this level and I can tell you the rewards are staggering!!

I have gone through 9 straight winning sessions with wins from $100 all the way up to $600! My bankroll is now currently at $3,700 and I have no plans of looking back!

For those who are about to make the same leap here are some strong tweaks that I needed to make in my game to be successful at this level.

1. Raise more with AK. I now reraise 3X any raise with AK or AQs instead of just calling and seeing the flop. If I get reraised again I need to check my notes on a certain player and if he is LAG I will call. The beauty with this move is that players here are loose enough to call you with KQ or AJ and are extremely aggressive after the flop. Once the A or K hits then pretty much all the chips are headed your way. Most of the time you will just take the pot away pre-flop.

2. Raise pocket pairs in any position. The value of sets are once again augmented because the players will try to outplay you a lot more on the flop. When you hit your set on a non-threatening board go ahead and bet around 1/3 of the pot and see yourself raised with middle pair!

3. Betting the flop and checking the turn with the nuts. I love this move. When you flop the nuts (flush on the flop or a set) go ahead and bet around 1/2 the pot. Quite a bit of players will call you with nothing and try to steal on the turn. I go ahead and oblige by meekly checking the turn where they will make a massive overbet which I simply go over. Then they are commited and the chips are all yours.

4. Increase your tolerance for losses. A raise for me now costs $7 from $3 and that is quite an increase with my roll before. I also usually started out at a $100 loss before I got my bearings and then playing tough poker. If losing that first $100 will affect your game then you're not yet ready to move up.

It does feel great to be riding the swings of a massive positive variance. Hope I can keep this up!