Hello and welcome to FTR. Keep reading here as often as you can and you will learn a lot.

I doubt I’ll address everything you asked but Ill address some.

Variance
Variance is what you described when you were getting no hands you could play. It sucks and there isn’t a poker player alive that doesn’t fall victim to it. We all struggle with it.
[to be technical, variance describes a run of bad hands (-variance) and well as a run of good hands (+variance) as well as good hands that all get cracked by better hands (-variance again) as well as good hands that hold up (+variance). So variance is a lot of things, not just a run of bad hands.]
The swings in poker (variance) can be huge and they take a toll on your mental state. This negative attitude can even affect players that have been playing money making poker for years. It is not something you ever learn how to deal with totally. Read the sticky at the top on the newbie cycle of death.
When –variance hits in the form of no good starting hands, just stay tight and fold em.

My advice is to stay at the lowest stakes as long as it takes to believe you are a long term money maker. Confidence plays a part in poker. Make sure you have confidence that once you adjust to the new stakes (after moving up) that you will be able to beat it.

Newbie things to learn in approximate order.
Starting hands / playing tight. (don’t play suited connectors as a beginner)
Pot odds and how to apply them to the various draws (two pair draw, over card draw, straight, flush, etc.)
How to bet based on the pot size.
Raising and Continuation betting.
Pocket pair play.
…I am sure there are more, this is a partial list.


Players at this level bet what they have. When that player fired off a bet with the Q, believe him. For the most part, these players bet what they have. For now, you should just try and believe every bet or every raise. When you get to the higher stakes ($50 buy in and higher) then bluffing becomes a bigger part of the game.