Bad hands

Here is my situation. I am without boasting a pretty good player. I know tells, i can read people, i know which hands to play/fold etc..

TOnight however was different. 1$ 2$ blinds.

Basically, my first hand was AA and i won the blinds because with a small raise everyone folded.

Soon after that, i hadnt seen a single face card at all for at least 2 hours.

I lost almost all my money just to blinds, and when i was big blind, or small, i was raised because they all had good hands. Had JJ and was put all in. I eneded up doubling up with the small amount i had left.

I then had King Queen and raised 3/4 of my chips and was called and put all in. He had ace 8 and won.

SO basically the reason im giving this situation is to ask...Does anyone experience nights like this where you cant do anything because you dont have anything? And you cant even bluff because your cards are that worthless. Its been happening to me the last week a lot.

Yes. It is just part of the game. For example, my last 3 MTTs were the same. I scrapped by for 3 hours on marginal cards only to be crushed by bigger stacks when I held garbage. It is aggravating to outlast 900 to 1000 people only to get your money back or less.

On the other hand, there will be periods where you run very hot and even your garbage hands turn to gold. So stick with it and it will work out in the end.

It was NL and a low 20$ game. It was tourney and i was short stack. First good hand that i thought i could take advantage of.

If the blinds are big enough to start eating you up, it might be time to loosen up your starting requirements, without having to go all in on the first face cards you see.

Play some suited connectors and other draw hands, and count on your post-flop play.

That being said, sometimes the poker gods just like to kick you in the teeth.

It happens to everybody. Not much you can do about it sometimes. Poker is often just all about minimizing losses.

Worst part about the cards running that cold. WHen you do get a hand and open with a raise everyone folds.

We all have nights like that. I've had 4 hours of cold cards in one night. It happens.

I hear you on this. I am the master of cold cards in our local games. I tend to win a couple small pots early with good cards/aggressive moves, and then I'll go cold and play tight until I'm sitting across from the last remaining player, and he's got 15000 in chips to my 2000 or some such. The only variation I've seen in the last couple months has been that one game out of every three, I'll get good cards that are always outranked by one (middle flush to the nut flush, low straight to the high, full house to a bigger one, nut full house to four of a kind - that was one four hour tournament just a month ago, and it still chafes my ass).

All the advice I can give is to tighten up and wait it out. But if it seems like a night-long trend, start keeping a sharper eye out for opportunities to steal pots. Know your opponents; listen for lots of checking and those strong-when-weak tells, and go in aggressive when you have position and the opposition is soft. If it doesn't work, at least you'll cash out early and not have to waste a couple more hours on those cold cards.

Most of my cash games are in MTT no limit rebuys. The majority of hands you get are total garbage and you just have to throw them away. I do however play garbage hole cards when its cheap enough and even throw in one or two outrageous bluffs during a night. 2 out of 3 times you will lose - but it keeps your opponents guessing about your style of play. This way when I do get a hand I can get a bit more value from it. Anyone can sit there all night waiting for top opening hands but I don't think the most succesful tournament players employ this tactic. As other people have said its all about timing, position and tells (and sometimes desperation). If you watch other players when they get their two hole cards its amazing how many of them moan when they have nothing and those who go quiet when they hit top pairs - admittedly the better players can use information this to trick you but you'll soon figure them out (I hope).
I've only been playing poker for a few years and still have a lot to learn, but I do know I can't expect to win every time I play and some nights will be very frustrating. But even on the frustrating nights you can at least improve your patience! No point sitting there moaning about it 'cause none of your opponents really care - infact it'll probably cheer them up!

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