hh....please help

[IMP]

this is typical of my going out. please tell me what i am doing wrong.
for this hand in particular...i showed all my cards...TT, AK, etc. i hadnt lost a pot yet.

this is so typical of how i have been losing 90% of my sngs in the last 2 months. being anywhere from a 90/10 leader to a 51/49 flip. consistently losing.

Table '10308610 1' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: gassiusclay (1860 in chips)
Seat 2: TheMilli (1620 in chips)
Seat 3: frickinpoker (610 in chips)
Seat 4: RobMC_1 (1420 in chips)
Seat 5: BrainDonor (1475 in chips)
Seat 6: HOGGER70 (1270 in chips)
Seat 7: 12eeDe12 (1420 in chips)
Seat 8: gator8373 (2080 in chips)
Seat 9: sharks1 (1745 in chips)
RobMC_1: posts small blind 15
BrainDonor: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gator8373 [Qc Qh]
HOGGER70: folds
12eeDe12: folds
gator8373: raises 90 to 120 i raise it 4x bb.
sharks1: calls 120
gassiusclay: folds
TheMilli: folds
frickinpoker: folds
RobMC_1: folds
BrainDonor: folds
*** FLOP *** [8c Ts 5c]
gator8373: bets 420 i bet well over the pot, to get rid of flush draw
sharks1: raises 1205 to 1625 and is all-in
gator8373: calls 1205 how can i fold this???
*** TURN *** [8c Ts 5c] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [8c Ts 5c 2c] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gator8373: shows [Qc Qh] (a pair of Queens)
sharks1: shows [Ac 7c] (a flush, Ace high)how can he call preflop and how can he push like that post flop?

oh yeah, he gave me a hard time that i didnt bet enough. uh...HUH????

sharks1 collected 3535 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3535 | Rake 0
Board [8c Ts 5c 2c 4h]
Seat 1: gassiusclay folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: TheMilli folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: frickinpoker (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: RobMC_1 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: BrainDonor (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: HOGGER70 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: 12eeDe12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: gator8373 showed [Qc Qh] and lost with a pair of Queens
Seat 9: sharks1 showed [Ac 7c] and won (3535) with a flush, Ace high

2 hands later......

PokerStars Game #2150247002: Tournament #10308610, Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30) - 2005/07/20 - 23:15:35 (ET)
Table '10308610 1' Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: gassiusclay (1860 in chips)
Seat 2: TheMilli (2040 in chips)
Seat 3: frickinpoker (610 in chips)
Seat 4: RobMC_1 (1405 in chips)
Seat 5: BrainDonor (1415 in chips)
Seat 6: HOGGER70 (1225 in chips)
Seat 7: 12eeDe12 (1390 in chips)
Seat 8: gator8373 (380 in chips)
Seat 9: sharks1 (3175 in chips)
12eeDe12: posts small blind 15
gator8373: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gator8373 [Th Ts]
sharks1: folds
gassiusclay: folds
TheMilli: folds
frickinpoker: calls 30
RobMC_1: folds
BrainDonor: folds
HOGGER70: folds
12eeDe12: calls 15
gator8373: raises 350 to 380 and is all-in i am ss, there is one limper. anything wrong here?
frickinpoker: calls 350
12eeDe12: folds
*** FLOP *** [Qh 2h Jd]
*** TURN *** [Qh 2h Jd] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 2h Jd 9s] [7s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gator8373: shows [Th Ts] (a pair of Tens)
frickinpoker: shows [2s Qs] (two pair, Queens and Deuces) ???????? how on earth does he call this????????????
sharks1 said, "In Atlanta you must get double points for using the moron word"
frickinpoker collected 790 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 790 | Rake 0
Board [Qh 2h Jd 9s 7s]
Seat 1: gassiusclay folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: TheMilli folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: frickinpoker showed [2s Qs] and won (790) with two pair, Queens and Deuces
Seat 4: RobMC_1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: BrainDonor folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: HOGGER70 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: 12eeDe12 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 8: gator8373 (big blind) showed [Th Ts] and lost with a pair of Tens
Seat 9: sharks1 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

[Bama Gambler]

It sucks, but that's poker. It happens to everyone. I know you feel like it just happens to you, but your wrong. It happens to everyone. One problem I see is that you are so focused on your beats that you are unable to focus on the rest of your game. Try posting a hand were you weren't sure if your call was right, even though you had the best hand. Try posting a hand were you bluffed and won, but weren't sure if it was a smart bluff. Try posting a hand were you bluffed and got called. etc. etc. Don't post hands where you clearly played the hand correctly, got your money in as a huge favorite and lost. Sorry if I come off as harsh; I'm really trying to help. Finally, variance is a b*tch; you will only overcome her after you learn to accept her for who she is.

[IMP]

Originally Posted by Bama Gambler

It sucks, but that's poker. It happens to everyone. I know you feel like it just happens to you, but your wrong. It happens to everyone. One problem I see is that you are so focused on your beats that you are unable to focus on the rest of your game. Try posting a hand were you weren't sure if your call was right, even though you had the best hand. Try posting a hand were you bluffed and won, but weren't sure if it was a smart bluff. Try posting a hand were you bluffed and got called. etc. etc. Don't post hands where you clearly played the hand correctly, got your money in as a huge favorite and lost. Sorry if I come off as harsh; I'm really trying to help. Finally, variance is a b*tch; you will only overcome her after you learn to accept her for who she is.

BG, i appreciate this. i really dont like that i come off as whining and complaining; it's just so difficult for me not to do so when i am consistently losing with the best hand in. it's been so much in the last 2 months that it's wiped away 1/2 of my profits from this year....and i already went through 2 bad spells of losing all my profits earlier in the year in feb and april. and fwiw, i don't think it ONLY happens to me. i just dont know how to mentally process these consistent losses, and my anger, frustration, and "pain" comes out in a very immature and emotional way.

Regarding your suggestions, going forward, i will review my HH more closely and pick out questionable hands. i really don't bluff all that often. and i really dont play wild or "gamble" too much (asops are different...i play those purely for the fun and not with an expectation of winning). but i do play marginal hands from different positions in an attempt to mix up the game. so some of those might be helpful to post as well.


(btw...1'm in 2 sngs right now...same thing happened with a flush draw chaser vs my KK, calling 1.5x bb on the flop and an all in on the turn. luckily he missed tho. oops, make that 1 sng....AA cracked by......K7, he flops a boat. )

[MNBridge]

Originally Posted by I MUST PASS

but i do play marginal hands from different positions in an attempt to mix up the game.

My advice: Stop doing that.

[Bama Gambler]

I think your expectations are too high. I remember one time you complaining about a run of 10 SNGs where you cashed in 3 of them. The variance in SNGs is a lot higher than most people think. Take the RFPG this month, after around 400 SNGs we were around -1% ROI. How many SNGs do you play in a 2-3 period? I bet it's less than 400. ZeeJustin (one of the best SNG players online, if not the best) has runs of 100 SNGs with an ROI of -40%. The key is to not go on tilt during these runs. It ain't easy.

[Bama Gambler]

Originally Posted by MNBridge

My advice: Stop doing that.

I agree. Mixing it up at low level SNGs is worthless. In fact, I don't mix it up at the bigger buy-in SNGs.

Originally Posted by I MUST PASS

Table '10308610 1' Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: gassiusclay (1860 in chips)
Seat 2: TheMilli (1620 in chips)
Seat 3: frickinpoker (610 in chips)
Seat 4: RobMC_1 (1420 in chips)
Seat 5: BrainDonor (1475 in chips)
Seat 6: HOGGER70 (1270 in chips)
Seat 7: 12eeDe12 (1420 in chips)
Seat 8: gator8373 (2080 in chips)
Seat 9: sharks1 (1745 in chips)
RobMC_1: posts small blind 15
BrainDonor: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gator8373 [Qc Qh]
HOGGER70: folds
12eeDe12: folds
gator8373: raises 90 to 120 i raise it 4x bb.
sharks1: calls 120
gassiusclay: folds
TheMilli: folds
frickinpoker: folds
RobMC_1: folds
BrainDonor: folds
*** FLOP *** [8c Ts 5c]
gator8373: bets 420 i bet well over the pot, to get rid of flush draw
sharks1: raises 1205 to 1625 and is all-in
gator8373: calls 1205 how can i fold this???
*** TURN *** [8c Ts 5c] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [8c Ts 5c 2c] [4h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gator8373: shows [Qc Qh] (a pair of Queens)
sharks1: shows [Ac 7c] (a flush, Ace high)how can he call preflop and how can he push like that post flop?

oh yeah, he gave me a hard time that i didnt bet enough. uh...HUH????

Here is my 2 cents on this particular hand. While he shouldnt give you crap for not betting enough...what can you bet that "isn't enough". Given that the flop only makes you a 56/44 favorite, he gets odds for anything you can throw at him - short of maybe moving AI right away, which is just betting scared.

This is one of those hands where both players played it as well as they can, and the coin landed on heads instead of gator. The ONLY thing you could have done different is to check raise, which I hate here. You were the preflop aggressor, and a really don't like that move. However, it signals a lot of strength, so who knows, maybe he lays it down.

But to answer your question....how can he push like that on the flop? Easy. I would do the same. It's a semi bluff, and he has TONS of outs with 2 chances to draw to them. He has enough folding equity to make it so that he will win more than 50% of the time there.

[USCanuck]

So what are you supposed to do? NOT bet? How do you protect your hand? Or don't you?

Originally Posted by USCanuck

So what are you supposed to do? NOT bet? How do you protect your hand? Or don't you?

You bet. I don't think you can protect your hand here.

[USCanuck]

Originally Posted by lawfi5h

You bet. I don't think you can protect your hand here.

So then, what is the right amount to bet on the flop?

If turn is a brick, what amount is the right amount to bet on the turn?
If turn is the third suit, what do you do? Bet for information? Assume that you don't have a suit in the pocket.

If turn is a brick and the river is a suit, what do you do?

I had this exact situation last night. Except I bet bigger preflop, and went all in on the flop but A7cl still called, and of course, hit on the turn.