Poker: Love it or Hate it

Right now I'm hating it. Ugh, What a day! I started out the day ready to go get em. I played $1-$2 no limit for a while and started out great. I especially pissed this guy off when he threw out a $100 bluff on the river, and after deliberting it, I called with a mere pair of 8's. It felt like a bluff so I went with my gut and I was right. It was all downhill from there.

Later against the same guy I called a preflop raise from him with 67. The flop came AQ6. He started to check out of turn and I read him as missing the flop. I turned a 7 and led out $30. He min raised and I called. The river was a blank and I bet $50. Then all hell broke loose when he shoved all in. Just then I thought, did he slow play a big hand like AQ or AA? I really didn't give hime much credit after the earlier bluff, and quite frankly I thought he was kinda dumb. Add to that the fact that I read bhim as weak on the flop and you have a formula for disaster. I called with my 2 pair and he, the classless jackass that he was, said, "Well I guess you got me cuz all I have is three A's." I paid out the pot saying, "That's a good hand, but there's no need to be a smartass about it." A couple of other players commented on his being a jerk too. I brushed it off, rebought and moved further into poker hell.

Later I called $12 from position with 89. The flop came K89. The preflop raiser bet $60. I loved that bet and wanted him to pour more money into the pot so I called. The turn was a Qc putting 2 clubs on the board. He bet $90. Again, I knew I had the best hand so I called... and let him get there. Yep, the river was a club. He had AcKc for the nuts and I couldn't get away from the hand. Crap! The only thing I could have done differently was to push on the flop and take the hand down there, but I felt like I was far in the lead so I let him bet his way into a perfect turn, perfect river, winner.

Then I played a hand where I flopped open-ended, turned a straight, and my opponent rivered a full house. That's when I quit. So sick, my day at no limit. I feel like I suck. So I went on to play the $345 Mixed game event on the WSOP circuit in New Orleans. I found out that I'm pretty good at all the games except PLO. So for PLO, I tried to take a walk and miss most of the 8 hands. Anyway, I made it halfway through the field of 60+ players to about 30th place. I nursed a short stack after I crippled myself in the very first round of PLO. In the end, I was card dead for Razz, and finally picked a 456 in stud to stick my money in. I ended up missing the straight and catching 2 pair 6's & 4's which was not enough to hold on.

I've really tried to play my best (except for Pot Limit Omaha), but I'm feeling like a loser. All this losing really does that to you. Poker can be so cruel, and when you are runnign good and playing good you feel like a god. But when you go home with nothing to show for your efforts (good play or not) you feel like the scum that costes the inside of the gutter. I need one of grandma's tranquilizers so I can blow it all off.  Tomorrow, I'll need to get back to my real job before poker breaks my heart and my bank.