Did I play this "right"?

I have been only playing real money poker for three weeks and I know I have a LONG way to go. I am currently playing 10NL on Party Poker but have only played about 1600 hands. I am holding my own, basically staying even and maybe even inching slowly up.

Last night was one of those "swings" I hear about. I lost $10 or so. Not a big deal, the money is not an issue, but I still wonder if I could have/should have seen it comming at times.

For Instance.. take the following hand (with my comments):

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.05/$0.10
7 players

Stack sizes:
UTG: $9.40
UTG+1: $8.01
Hero: $11.19
CO: $10.58
Button: $14.54
SB: $7.27
BB: $1.45

Pre-flop: (7 players) Hero is MP1 with ad ac

*YEAH! Finally a good hand. It had not been a lucky night.

UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.1, Hero raises to $0.4, CO folds, Button calls $0.4, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.3.

*My standard raise is about 4xBB. I try to stick with that no mater what I get dealt, to minimize any betting related tells about my hand.

Flop: th ts 5s ($1.35, 3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $1, Button calls $1, UTG+1 folds.

*I bet most of the pot, trying to give bad pot odds on any draws. He called. I figured he might have a another 10 and be slow playing. Or he has nothing

Turn: qh ($3.35, 2 players)
Hero bets $2, Button calls $2.

*Again, 2/3's the pot as my bet and again, he calls..... Now I think he is on KK, since the Q here didn't seem to excite him.

River: 7d ($7.35, 2 players)
Hero bets $3, Button calls $3.

*I thought hard about what to bet here. I almost went with $7, which would have been basically an all-in for me. But.. I only had AA and the Button had only ever called. So, I went with a 1/2 (roughly) pot bet and he called again....

Results:
Final pot: $13.35
Hero balance 4.79 lost 6.40 Ad Ac
Button balance 20.84 bet 6.40 collected 12.70 net 6.30 5d 5h

Yeah.. he FLOPED A FULL HOUSE. *sigh*

Maybe I should have checked on the River to see where he was?

Any help or suggestions or sympathy is welcome!

Be happy the button was a retard who didn't raise you with such a huge hand postflop. You shoulda been destacked there.

If he HAD raised, I would folded, since I had thought he might have a 10. Turns out he didn't, but the effect was the same.

raise bigger preflop. To get any respect in 10nl you have to raise at least .50-.60 I think my standard opener when I played was .60. This wouldn't have changed much in your case, because a 55 is going to call just about any raise.

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Originally Posted by chardrian

Be happy the button was a retard who didn't raise you with such a huge hand postflop. You shoulda been destacked there.

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As someone who is completely capable of making bonehead plays I can sort of see why he might be tempted to just let our Hero bet and see how much he'd put in.
But not betting the river? What's that about? I mean if you call the river there's no more money going in the pot, so who wouldn't raise here?

So what would have been a good post-flop bet for our Villain? I mean he took down quite a nice pot, could have been more with a raise on the river. But what would be a post-flop be which would increase the pot but not risk letting our Hero get away from the hand?

villain played it fine until the river. At that point he HAS to raise - if HERO has TQ or QQ, oh well.

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Originally Posted by DWayneBos

*My standard raise is about 4xBB. I try to stick with that no mater what I get dealt, to minimize any betting related tells about my hand.

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This is very likely a mistake. On a mediocre hand you invest too much in regards to what you might win, and on a good hand you'll get too many people who 'take a shot' with an inferior hand and luck out. I'd say, standard just "honestly" raise the amount your hand is worth. If you notice people always folding to your better hands, that is a good time to start using those amounts as bluffs. Bluffs, when executed in a good way, should have a positive return in the long run. And the added benefit is that it will instill doubt in your opponents so they might be taking a shot when you do have a premium hand.

Ofcourse this is from 6max 10NL experience, so take my advice with that in mind.

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Yeah.. he FLOPED A FULL HOUSE. *sigh*

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I think this one of those situations where you just lucked out. You get a premium hand and your opp gets something better. The only way to avoid this would be if your "danger sense" kicks in based on the reads you have on this guy. Otherwise it's a classic set-up for getting destacked. Comfort yourself with that thought that when you're on the receiving end of such a flop, you're the one doing the destacking too.

Oh and "honest" preflop raising should bring these occurrences down to a minimum. Your opponents raising too little should actually give you long term perspectives to have this happen to you more than that you get shafted by it.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

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Originally Posted by DWayneBos

*My standard raise is about 4xBB. I try to stick with that no mater what I get dealt, to minimize any betting related tells about my hand.

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This is very likely a mistake. On a mediocre hand you invest too much in regards to what you might win, and on a good hand you'll get too many people who 'take a shot' with an inferior hand and luck out. I'd say, standard just "honestly" raise the amount your hand is worth.

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That is most certainly a mistake.

Don't ever tip the strength of your hand with your preflop raise.

Every opening preflop raise you make should be your AA raise, whether you have 99, JJ, AA, KQ, or AK. This doesn't mean your raises won't vary in size, cuz they will. Regardless of the cards in your hand, you should always raise just enough that you think you will get 1-2 callers with MAX.

I think you are talking 10max here again? Because there I do approximately what you just said. (ie, when I decide to go, I have to go strong enough or not go at all)

In 6max however you have to play a LOT more hands and raising a standard AA-raise of say 7-8BB on every hand including like KT is fatal.

(his example had 7 people so I figured it'd be closer to 6max than 10max and hence gave that sort of advice)

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Originally Posted by jackvance

I think you are talking 10max here again? Because there I do approximately what you just said. (ie, when I decide to go, I have to go strong enough or not go at all)

In 6max however you have to play a LOT more hands and raising a standard AA-raise of say 7-8BB on every hand including like KT is fatal.

(his example had 7 people so I figured it'd be closer to 6max than 10max and hence gave that sort of advice)

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7-8bb?

six-max, ten-max, or heads-up, you cannot vary your opening raise based on hand strength. If there is even a remotely aware villain, you are toast.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

I think you are talking 10max here again? Because there I do approximately what you just said. (ie, when I decide to go, I have to go strong enough or not go at all)

In 6max however you have to play a LOT more hands and raising a standard AA-raise of say 7-8BB on every hand including like KT is fatal.

(his example had 7 people so I figured it'd be closer to 6max than 10max and hence gave that sort of advice)

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???

I don't care whether it is 6 max, 10 max or heads up. Why would you want to tip off that you have AA?

wow - that's sorta scary ^^^^^

dude its like we're doubleteaming him

ummmm... wow that's even scarier ^^^^^^

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Originally Posted by chardrian

I don't care whether it is 6 max, 10 max or heads up. Why would you want to tip off that you have AA?

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I am glad that I have that right at least. :) I just finished Phil Gordon's Little Green Book and that was one of the things I took away from it. I am trying to NEVER limp in and always to raise the same, plus a factor for people limping in in front of me. (Trying means at times I still myself limping, bad habits are hard to break!) Knowing that I am not going to limp helps me play tight, since putting 4xBB in the pot with J9o UTG is just not comfortable.

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Originally Posted by chardrian

I don't care whether it is 6 max, 10 max or heads up. Why would you want to tip off that you have AA?

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Let's say I vary between 4-8bb on my starting hand, depending on strength: so I'll play the odds nicely, but ofcourse it'll also "tip off" the strength of my hand. So I start out like this, and see the reactions of the room. Then I'll start "playing the people". Ie, throw out bluffs faking a premium hand. When i sense I have a strong image (ie folding a lot, and when it came to a showdown once I won) then it is usually a good time to bluff. When I sense I have a weaker image (I'm playing more hands and I got called out on a bluff or two, etc) then I'll be inclined to play 'honestly' (ie on the odds). In practice, this means my bluffs are usually scary enough to work, and my high raises on premium hands will usually get a caller or two.

I do better in 10max than in 6max, but I like 6max since there's more tables like that in unibet and it has a faster money flow, so I'm practicing that and I simply HAVE TO do these things. When I go with a standard 4BB on all playable hands, the times I win don't pay off enough to compensate for the times I lose, and when I go with a standard 8BB on any playable hand (which in 6max is also QJ etc) then I'll simply lose too much money to make it worthwhile because when I get callers they'll have top hands.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

When I go with a standard 4BB on all playable hands, the times I win don't pay off enough to compensate for the times I lose,

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Here's a little secret about NLHE. Generally, the vast majority of your BB/100 comes from that one lucky hand that happens every hour or so that takes someone's stack.

All of the little small pots you win and lose, and the c-bets that are successful and sometimes fail, generally just recoup your loss due to blinds.

You're job when you sit down at a ring table is to try to put yourself in as many stack-taking situations as possible, while keeping your own stack from being taken. The small pots are just to keep your head above the water while you are waiting.

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dude its like we're doubleteaming him

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Yeah stop ganging up on me lol

But really.. all the things you guys say makes me think "yeah I totally agree with that in 10max".. but in 6max, I painstakingly learned it follows vastly different rules. For one, 1/3 of the time you'll be paying blinds.

jack - I don't wanna bust your bubble; but it needs to be busted.

You do pay blinds more in 6 max, but that doesn't mean you should bet AA with a 7-8x BB raise and 9Ts with a 2.5xBB raise. If I was at your table and saw you doing this, I would make a note that I want to play you everytime... you might win some this time, but in the long run I'd exploit you worse than a baby-faced white guy who drops the soap in the prison shower.

With 9Ts I'd call with atleast one limper in front of me, because it's a "drawing hand". But contrary to 10max, I don't find them very profitable in 6max, so I mostly play power-hands (and them being suited or connected adds a little bonus). So with say QJ I'll raise 4BB (the lowest) and with AK 8BB (the highest). This is standard, "honest" play. But like I said, you won't see me constantly make these standard plays. Typically the first few hands at a table, until I see how it plays.

So in practice, if I throw 4BB I might:
- be playing "honest" (like I have QJ)
- be downplaying a good hand, if I want to draw out tight players (10NL.. so in practice this is rare)
- be bluffing with nothing (again, very rare, since this is a weak bluff.. only when I'm say on the sb and a super tight player on the bb)

If I throw 8BB I might:
- be playing "honest" (ie I have a premium hand)
- be bluffing, I actually have nothing (rare) or a lesser hand

As this is 10NL, most of these people play on intuition anyway.. so if I have a strong table image, I'll be more inclined to bluff. With a weaker table image, more inclined to play honest. I'll always adjust to the feedback ("feel") of the table.


Ofcourse.. yeah.. I'm new to NLHE.. so if you say this is stupid, well, probably you're right and I'm wrong. I'll have to get back to you then when I rake up more experience.

And the answer to any semi-aware player is....

You bet 8xBB and I fold - who cares if you are bluffing, I'll win it back later.

You bet 4xBB and the times I don't fold (which will now include more bluff attempts preflop with position as you are most likely holding cards that can be easily dominated) I raise. Free money sure is nice.

Yeah, sure. If you're a good player and you can see through my game, you can burn me. Hasn't been much of a problem on 10NL though.

Btw what would you suggest? Raise every hand ranging from QJ to AA with a "standard" 7-8BB?

No. Every hand you open-raise (whatever that may be) should be more of a "standard" 4xBB raise.

Ok, I'll try that.. the only problem I possibly forsee is that, because you have to bluff in 6max, I can't bluff people out with a 4BB raise. So an 8BB raise will become a "hey guys I'm bluffing"-sign. Ofcourse, conjecture. Will see how it plays out.

so jack are you saying you come first into the pot bluffing with 8bb? This seems like a lot to risk for a blind and a half to me. if you raise the same 4xbb +1bb per limper raise with AA as other hands then you wont need to use 8bb to bluff. If your 4xbb raises are getting too many callers then raise your standard to 5 or 6 bb's

Well I do it "when it feels right", which is on a looser table with a lot of limpers. I won't bluff on a 15 cent pot. But all in all, it's probably better to use that 4bb+ 1bb per limper rule than the set amounts I've been using.

I'm also kinda rethinking my strategy after the things chardrain said, and also about what renton said about where your wins *really* come from and how you should play on those. Had some success in "luring" guys into unfavorable big gambles. Just too bad the biggest one backfired, $22 pot all-in, my KK vs his 88 and he somehow got a straight on the table. So this kinda offset all my previous winnings I had made that hour :(

you can't bluff 10nl people. Also, 4xbb isn't going to cut it at 10nl. When I played 10nl, my standard opener was .50 +.10 for each limper past one. I only raised with JJ+, AJ+, and KQ. I only called raises with AQ+ and pairs, and I only reraised with QQ+ and AK. Obviously, since you are playing 6max you probably will need to loosen up a little from those parameters.

As far as bluffing goes, only perform semibluffs. Stone bluffs are unprofitable at microstakes. What I mean by semibluffs, is only bluff when you have at least six outs.

Ex. You are in LP with AKo, four people limp for .10 and you raise:

.50 +.30 for the limpers=0.80 total.

You raise to .80 and get one caller, whom you have position on. The flop comes J94 with two diamonds. The pot is 2.00. You figure he probably has a small pair like 5s or something. A semibluff for 1.4 is in order here (about 2/3 the pot) you will probably take down the pot, and if you don't you have 6 outs to out pair him.

These are the only types of bluffs I would recommend making at these stakes.

Yeah that's kinda how I do it. Never thought about it in terms of outs though. I'll never bluff with like 35s, cuz you have zero chance to win if it comes to a showdown. (I've seen people do it though, and then flash their hand after they take the pot) Postflop bluff I'll do if I have a good hand to play with.. well basically what you said. And preflop bluffs similarly I'll never go with utter crap, I want some options in case it comes down to it.

One thing though, atleast at unibet, 10NL'ers can be bluffed out pretty easily. They're mostly loose passives, they call on every other hand and are scared of big numbers. So they tend to fold a higher bluff without a real premium hand. That is, if I've been playing tight (ie folding a lot preflop), if for whatever reason I've been playing a lot of hands, there'll be someone who will call even a higher raise.

The thing I'm trying to work on now is my "intuition" in the game.. like "if he has the Q here, he'll probably do this, if he has a pair then he'll call my higher raise so no need to bluff" etc. Sometimes you just.. kinda.. KNOW.. someone is going to go keep calling your raises if they have a lower pair, so no need to bluff there but ideal to lure em if you have a set. And sometimes I also just kinda know that I can taunt this guy into an all-in showdown if I push it.. like my gut feeling tells me he will take it (dunno why) and more often than not I'm right. Just now, this guy saw my all-in, said "bye" in the chat and called. I made $4. Too bad in a similar scenario the other guy got a straight costing me $11.

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Originally Posted by Renton

Also, 4xbb isn't going to cut it at 10nl.

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No kidding.

I'm currently playing SNGs at micro limits; and there I have an early 'standard' raise of about 12xbb in early stages. I then get 1-2 callers. A mere 8-10xbb and you can have half the table in.

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Originally Posted by Anosmic

I have an early 'standard' raise of about 12xbb in early stages. I then get 1-2 callers. A mere 8-10xbb and you can have half the table in.

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I'm starting to think I'm totally playing at the wrong site.. 8bb only gets called by premium hands here

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Originally Posted by jackvance

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Originally Posted by Anosmic

I have an early 'standard' raise of about 12xbb in early stages. I then get 1-2 callers. A mere 8-10xbb and you can have half the table in.

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I'm starting to think I'm totally playing at the wrong site.. 8bb only gets called by premium hands here

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He's talking about SNG's.

In the first few rounds of a low-stakes, loose-passive SNG, when the blinds are really low, 10bb is about the only raise that gets any respect.

Well, if people are really that loose at 10NL, then I just become super patient. My only moves would be fold/raise.

If I started to get blinded down a bit, I would simply keep reloading.

Well, not in 10NL ring, atleast where I play.

But pf, poker is depressing me a bit. Once you got the fundamentals down about odds, reading your opponents etc.. it's basically just a waiting game. You wait wait wait for a good hand. And then hope the flop doesn't ruin it. Just made $16 in half an hour playing single table at 10NL. That came mostly from three times I hit something nice (2x with AK, once with KQ) and I managed to either drag an opp along to the showdown, or incited him to try to bluff me out. But really.. like always, these profits will probably just compensate for the future games where I start to play like an idiot, get crap hands all the time and throw an all-in out of frustration only to hit an AA, see my opp's get a set on the river, getting a bluff called by a guy who hit a lucky street, etc etc.. pff.. in the end, no matter what I do, I'll probably be playing for $1 an hour per table at 10NL anyway..

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Originally Posted by jackvance

Well, not in 10NL ring, atleast where I play.

But pf, poker is depressing me a bit. Once you got the fundamentals down about odds, reading your opponents etc.. it's basically just a waiting game. You wait wait wait for a good hand.

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You will realize this a whole lot more when you get Poker Tracker. AA and KK represent a HUGE portion of a ringer's total winnings.

Yeah I'd really like to use Poker Tracker, maybe I should switch sites soon. Bonus whoring would be nice too.

But really, the thing that is depressing me now is that basically if you cannot accept the following things:
- to see idiots play like idiots (like a super obvious bluf) and not being able to do anything about it because you're not getting the cards to make em pay for it
- to see idiots constantly get good cards while you get crap
- to get beaten by against-the-odds showdowns
- to play for 10BB/100
- to realize that if you make big winnings, it's mostly to compensate for future losses and hopefully some of it will be left so you run positive atleast
- that when you get that good hand finally, it won't pay off over half the time
- to be asleep most of the time, waiting for that good hand
..then you simply shouldn't be playing poker!

ugh..

Didn't I predict it? AA vs TT, flop is 69J.. and then this idiot gets a T on the river.. the calculator puts me as the 86.75% favorite. I know I did the "right thing" but really.. how can I ever build a BR like this..

Poker sucks.

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Originally Posted by jackvance

Didn't I predict it? AA vs TT, flop is 69J.. and then this idiot gets a T on the river.. the calculator puts me as the 86.75% favorite. I know I did the "right thing" but really.. how can I ever build a BR like this..

Poker sucks.

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Thats poker....

It will happen over and over and over and over.

If your an 86.75% favorite, you WILL lose 13.25% of the time. Thats more than one loss out of every ten hands. With thoes odds, you can easily lost 7 in a row (thats the swings people talk about).

There are is one question you should ask yourself every time your in a big pot.

Did I have the best hand when the money went in.

It doesnt make a diffrence if you won or lost. If you almost always have the best hand when the money goes in (or were getting the pot odds with the worse hand) then your playing good poker.

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it's basically just a waiting game. You wait wait wait for a good hand.

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Exactly.

I'll let you in on a secret.....

Your profit doesnt come from bluffing. Your profit comes from taking good hands to showdown.

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get crap hands all the time and throw an all-in out of frustration only to hit an AA,

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If you cant handle a bad run of cards, then you really need to rethink playing at all until you beat this problem. Players that do that are just being fish food for the better players.

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They're mostly loose passives, they call on every other hand and are scared of big numbers. So they tend to fold a higher bluff without a real premium hand.

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Just make sure that your not risking more than the pot is worth on a bluff. If your playing in a $2.00 pot, and you think that they would fold to a $2.00 bet... you need to be right at least half the time just to break even.

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because you have to bluff in 6max

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Actually you should bluff LESS in 6-max.

People sitting at a 6-max table expects to be faceing bluffs and moves all the time. This makes bluffing a lot less profitable, and value/overbetting a lot more profitable... so overbet more, bluff less.

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But really.. all the things you guys say makes me think "yeah I totally agree with that in 10max".. but in 6max, I painstakingly learned it follows vastly different rules. For one, 1/3 of the time you'll be paying blinds.

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Actually it isnt vastly diffrent... you mostly just play like your in later posistion in 10-max. It really sounds like your trying to play to much poker, and not enough cards if you know what I mean. :)

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Originally Posted by Laeelin

It doesnt make a diffrence if you won or lost. If you almost always have the best hand when the money goes in (or were getting the pot odds with the worse hand) then your playing good poker.

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Yeah, I know that, and it would be a lot easier to sweep these things under the rug if I had the BR for it.. which atm is kinda tight.

But yeah, all in all I'm cool with it. It's just that when people come over they're all like "oh we've been hearing you're playing poker?!" and then I talk enthousiastically about it.. so I need some place to be more honest, which would be here, lol, sorry

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If you cant handle a bad run of cards, then you really need to rethink playing at all until you beat this problem. Players that do that are just being fish food for the better players.

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Yeah, that was my realization for yesterday when I made the post.. learn to suck it up or stop playing..

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Just make sure that your not risking more than the pot is worth on a bluff. If your playing in a $2.00 pot, and you think that they would fold to a $2.00 bet... you need to be right at least half the time just to break even.

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Hm shouldn't that be two thirds of the time? But anyway, lately my bluffs are refining too.. intuition is kicking in I guess.

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Actually it isnt vastly diffrent... you mostly just play like your in later posistion in 10-max. It really sounds like your trying to play to much poker, and not enough cards if you know what I mean. :)

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hehe no doubt :).. but when you're new to something, you make this "huge revelation about a weakness in your game" about once every day lol..

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Originally Posted by jackvance

Yeah, I know that, and it would be a lot easier to sweep these things under the rug if I had the BR for it.. which atm is kinda tight.

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Something's wrong with this statement...

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Hm shouldn't that be two thirds of the time?

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No, if there is $2 in the pot, and your betting $2 into the pot you need to win 1/2 of the time to break even...

I'm not sure where your getting 2/3 from... :)

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so I need some place to be more honest, which would be here, lol, sorry

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Be careful about that, talking about bad beats is normally a really bad idea... We strongly discourage talking about them here because of that... :)

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Originally Posted by Laeelin

No, if there is $2 in the pot, and your betting $2 into the pot you need to win 1/2 of the time to break even...

I'm not sure where your getting 2/3 from... :)

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Ugh, I'm confusing it here with certain pot odds calculations.. like if you bet the pot, your opp has to invest 1/3 of the pot.. ofcourse that doesn't apply here.

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Be careful about that, talking about bad beats is normally a really bad idea... We strongly discourage talking about them here because of that... :)

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It's taboo? :O .. but getting negative feedback when doing the right thing is kinda a rough thing, psychology-wise.. especially when you don't have heaps of poker-experience to draw upon. But I'm probably already venting/complaining too much.. will try to limit it to when I have constructive things to say lol

bad beats go in the bad beats section, in your blog, or better yet, they get written down on your computer to vent and then you consciously erase it.

Focusing on bad beats makes you get into the "he's bluffing" or "I'm due" mentality... it really does kill your game.

I actually disagree with Chardrian here - I think discussing bad beats is fine because no-one's going to say "dude, that's so shitty, it's totally rigged, better fold next time" - if you get a response it'll be one that makes it clear to you that you made the right move and got ulucky, which is good to hear when you're tilting or confused.

A bad beat is, IMHO, something you can share with others who sympathise but encourage you to stick with your A game. You get it out of your system and you retain perspective.

It depends. If you are posting to vent, it is fine. The problem is most guys here will see a bad beat post, and just respond with the standard "bad beats happen" - so you really aren't going to get much sympathy.

The other problem with posting bad beats, is that it really is focusing your attention on the aggravation, frustration, and flat out suckiness that you feel. That mindset is a losing mindset.

Again, this is something that I harp on because it is still one of my biggest leaks - just check out last night's post in my blog and you'll see that I focus on bad beats too much still.

For me, my mindset is my biggest detriment right now at really breaking through. I know (or at least believe) I have the skill-set to be a very profitable player. But in order to use that skill-set I need to be in the right frame of mind. And that means not letting bad-beats enter into my mind at all.

It's a delicate balance. Posting only great plays, and/or ignoring that you go on a downswing is just not being honest about how you are really doing at poker. But thinking "if it weren't for bad beats I'd be making $50k a year" is also just foolish. We all take bad beats, and in what is sort of an ironic twist, the better we become, the less often we actually give them. But focusing on bad beats and/or fooling yourself that it's because of bad beats that you are a break-even or barely succeeding player is just bad poker.

posting bad beats, telling bad beat stories, dwelling on them in any way, it's a leak. Not a fatal one (see Hellmuth, he's won a few dollars) but a leak none the less. You shouldn't need to vent. Check the ratio of winners to losers posting in the bad beat forum.

Just understand, that every time you win a 90/10, you dealt the opponent 10% of a bad beat. His pot equity in that $100 pot was $10, and he didn't get it. You only deserved 90 of those dollars, but got all 100.

These little 10%'s add up over time and you have to give it back to them eventually.

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Originally Posted by chardrian

The other problem with posting bad beats, is that it really is focusing your attention on the aggravation, frustration, and flat out suckiness that you feel. That mindset is a losing mindset.

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Yeah I gotta agree here.. if I've learnt anything about poker, apart from the strategies, it's that there simply are a LOT of frustrations. Being able to ignore these frustrations and stay calm is just as important as having skill at poker. I'd really like to say most of my losses come from bad beats.. but that's not true at all, if I'm honest I got a lucky steal or two myself too.. most noteably this 3-way all-in with my KQ vs AQ and JJ and I got my K and won $20. Honest considerations would say that my bad beats only slightly outweigh the lucky steals.. far more of my losses come from frustration and consequently horrible play/tilting play! (and ofcourse inexperience)

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Just understand, that every time you win a 90/10, you dealt the opponent 10% of a bad beat. His pot equity in that $100 pot was $10, and he didn't get it. You only deserved 90 of those dollars, but got all 100.

These little 10%'s add up over time and you have to give it back to them eventually.

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Now that's something to remember. Renton you have your game down haha

All in all, I think it also takes enough experience to be able to see things in perspective better. That's why I forsee it'll be easier for me in a month or so, because now at a week and a half of playing online (and two weeks and a half on the game of poker) the ups AND the downs simply hit harder because it's all relatively new..