Still Swinging Way Down

Last I spoke, I had cheated and played 2 - $6 heads up sit n gos to have around $18. I decided that was cheating, so I took it and played the Sunday quarter million for $11. Since then, I've run my roll down to just under $4 if I remember correctly. I think I played a $2 heads up pot limit omaha sit n go somewhere along the way and won it, which is the only reason I'm actually up. I've officially dropped under being a winning player at 6 max $.02 / $.04 limit hold em. It's an extremely swingy game, and I don't attribute very much of it to my bad play, but I definitely tilted off a bunch of big bets in there. I'm trying to gather my focus back and get ready to keep plowing ahead.

I took yesterday off, and I'm ready to play again tonight. I'm clearly a ton better at this game than the idiots that play 70% of the hands. I think I'm playing the ideal strategy against the maniacs, but I've been getting drawn out on a ton recently. On the flip side, I know these guys aren't folding much, and I've tried a few too many bluffs against people that I know better to even think about it. Honestly, the best way to beat these guys is to bet the hell out of your strong hands and make them pay to try and beat your monsters. It's just been really tilting to see that they keep beating them. Almost every set I've flopped in the last 10 sessions (which has been few and far between) has been on a 3 flushed, 3 card straight board, or something like that. It's still a pretty strong hand on the flop since most likely my opponent will have the draw, but I'll put in 4 bets on the flop, then a terrible card falls, and I just have to check/call down to the river to see I've been beat. If I get AK and flop an A or K, I'll bet it all the way to the river having them check/call me all the way, only to have my opponent catch his set of 4's on the river and then get 3 or 4 big bets out of me because I'm a pay off wizard in those situations.

It's been really frustrating, and I wish I could attribute it all to bad luck, but a 250 BB downswing just doesn't seem like it's entirely bad luck. Like I said earlier, I know for sure I've tilted off some, and tried stupid bluffs in some spots, but I'd really say about 80% has just been terrible luck and suckouts.

Oh well, I will keep my focus and try and play my best in every session. I can beat this game and I can learn from my mistakes.

Goals for the month:
1) Play at the top of my game at all times.
2) Play 10,000 hands of poker.

That's all I want to do. If I lose my roll because of bad beats, then I'll put some more money back in. I really want to prove to myself that I can beat these crappy limits, move up and become a solid cash game player.