Still Sinking - Not a Good Week

Well, I hate to say it but things have been pretty miserable for me on the poker front this week. As I moved up to $200nl in midweek, I saw my AA cracked  twice, one night after the other. The first saw my villain's AK improve on a K K x flop while the second saw my villain snag a 2-outer when his JJ hand saw another jack fall on the turn to complete his set. In both hands I got it all-in preflop and lost $200 on the first and $182 on the second.

Following this I played good, solid poker to see my bankroll crawl back up from about $5.55K to $5.80K. However, on Saturday, although I encountered some weak villains I still proceeded to see an opponent hit a 3-outer on the turn when we got it all in on the 10 x x flop (A 10 v. J 10) and then, later on, the same villain hit his 2-outer on the river for his full-house to beat my earlier made set; once again, when we were all-in before the river. These hands cost me over $100.

A cheap flop and I'm ready to rumble...

Oh dear... Ever get the feeling things just aint gonna go right? (Actually, by the river he had 4 outs because another 9 would have handed the pot to him as well. Still these sorts of hands, especially when they accumulate, can start to hurt.)

To rub salt into the wounds Sunday has been almost as bad. I just don't seem to be hitting any of my draws, or indeed ANYTHING on the flop, while my opponents seem to be improving their hands with insane regularity. Of the very few hands I do hit, I'm just not getting paid off and every time I do make a move I get raised off...You know, same old same old.

Out of all this, part of me is still really encouraged as I feel I have played well overall and that it has to come good soon; especially with the play at $200nl really not being THAT special. On the other hand, towards the end of my session this afternoon I was definitely playing fairly weak, I was wimping out too often on the turn and playing predictable poker. Having to endure a barrage of bad luck can certainly breed negativity at times and can definitely make you play below optimum levels on occasions.

With around $300 being squandered this weekend (just as I felt I was turning a corner), my current online bankroll now stands at a disappointing $5.51K which means I've dropped around $550 in total this week. Not good. I don't know if I'll be playing any more today but, if I do, I may just play an MTT to slow down. In any case I'll do the statistical update later and enter it at the bottom of this post as is usual for my last Sunday post.

Surely next week things can only get better..

__________________________________________________________________________

ONLINE: WEEK 3: -$550 (~£330)  /  JANUARY -$490(~£300)  /  YEAR: -$490(~£300)

LIVE: WEEK 3: N/A  /  JANUARY +£625 (~$960)  /  YEAR: +£625 (~$960)
TOTAL: WEEK 3:-$550 (~£330)   /  JANUARY +$470 (~£300)  /  YEAR +$470 (~£300)

---------------

Just two hands, in the space of five minutes, at The Empire Casino on a Saturday evening last week have made all the difference to my overall balance this year. Considering these hands in contrast to the 4200 hands, and over approximately 65 hours that I have played online this year, and it really shows what a difference a sudden slice of luck can make. Let's just hope my online efforts over the next week can put the online figures for January back in the green.