This is going to be a rather lengthy post, so I apologize in advance to those of you who bother to read it lol.

I've been experiencing a great deal of problems during the past few weeks in online ring play. This isn't meant to be another bad beat sob story, but it is sort of a poker catharsis for myself, so please bear with me. I'll start at the beginning...

I discovered NLHE near the end of Summer 2004 through... guess what? Television. I had known about poker/gambling/etc for years but had never been interested in that subject. However, learning Hold'em from a few of my friends was quite an enjoyable experience for me. I consider myself a very competitive gamer, and had made shifts from video games (Starcraft, Counterstrike) to Chess to Magic the Gathering etc etc etc. It didn't take long before I realized that I was hooked on Hold'em, and conveniently plenty of the regulars I played video games with were as well. It also didn't take long for me to realized that I sucked. A lot.

During the end of that year, I started reading a few books. I remember lounging in the Barnes 'n' Noble cafe, devouring poker book after poker book: Super System, assorted McEvoy books, Caro's book of Tells, Theory of Poker and so on. It started as a hobby but soon became a mild obsession. After a few home games and putting those books to good use, I started winning those home tournaments. It felt great, but of course I wanted more.

Enter the internet. My first site was Pokerstars (with a $100 deposit) in early January 2005. Although I did not have a huge commitment to the game at the time and I felt pressured by school and work, I started playing a bunch of Sit 'n' Go's. I went up a few hundred, I went down a few hundred, but over the course of that year, I was even. At first I thought my natural hunting ground was SNG's but eventually they became "boring" and "frustrating" to me. I mean, who wants to play for a good hour, bubble out, and have to start all over again, right? Boy was I being undisciplined.

I thoroughly studied (and I still do) HOH1&2 near the end of Summer 2005. I mention this because it helped me a lot in SNG's and I feel alot of my "moves" have their origins in tournament strategies. However, I wanted to make the move to cash games. And that's where this site comes into place.

I discoverd FTR in April 2004. No other resource on the subject of poker has been as informative and helpful to me. I loved the SNG strategies but the popularity of ring games intrigued me and I thought tourney strategy was becoming kinda dull (All-in moves PF when blinds are huge etc). It seemed to me that ring was the next step.

Now, it's 2006, and I made a commitment at the beginning of the year to playing yet even better poker. I properly bankrolled myself for 25NL and started slugging it out. But I've hit a major rut in the last few weeks.

It's probably nothing but variance, but a)that's an excuse and b)my mental state concerning poker is on the line. I feel like I keep getting outplayed, at the 25NL tables! It seems everytime I hit a set and win, it's just the flop pot or maybe an extra bet or two. When I lose with a set, I pay a lot of money off to a guy who gets a straight or flush. I also tend to pay off sets more than I should when I hold an overpair. Trust me, I've been making lots, and I mean lots of folds in marginal situations where I've felt that I have the worst of it. I know that's important, but still, being pushed around never really feels great.

I also paid off AA with KK preflop TWICE today. Both times I raised 3-4bb and some guy went all-in. I really thought they had the aces, but I can't make this fold at 25NL, can I? Jeez, I sound like a donk lol. I've read all the threads of KK vs AA. I know how silly it is to worry about AA with KK preflop at a 25nl table. But once again, seeing those dreaded rockets pop up and my stack disappearing doesn't make me feel any better.

I do take the game very seriously, and when I play live shorthanded games, I feel like I can read and outplay anyone in the world. Of course I'm not a real egomaniac, but making reads, running a bluff, selling the nuts, and just plain ol' making money... what can I say? I love it.

This hasn't been too much of a specific "hey how do I not suck at NLHE" thread but a reflection, as I previously mentioned. I got poker tracker, I'm trying to find leaks in my game, I started a poker journal a few months ago, and I'lldefinitely be posting more here. I have plenty of HH's that I need you guys to analyze. I've been lurking this site for over a year and learning a wealth of information, but now I'd like to put some interaction into it.

On an ending note, I can't stress how important discipline is. I remember months ago whenever a big hand of mine would get cracked, I would yell and swear at the computer. Now, my recent poker games haven't exactly made me happy, but now I'm able to resist punching my monitor! I've learned this skill (and many others!) from you guys, and I'd like to say thanks a bunch!

I look forward to seeking advice and feedback in the immediate future. In fact, just writing this has made me feel 100x better.