As the saying goes, poker is like a rollercoaster full of ups and downs. After the horrible day on Thursday I played a few matches on Friday morning. First I tried a 4 player heads-up tourney. I won the first round easily, crushing my overly aggressive opponent. However, the second round was a losing battle. From the beginning my opponent chipped away at my stack as I couldn't find a hand to play. Whenver I saw a flop with something like middle suited connectors the flop would come with three face cards and I would have to fold to his bet. Finally I tried to make a stand by coming over the top of his bet on a stone cold bluff but when he re-raised I had to fold, leaving me with just under $1,000 to his stack of almost $5,000. I busted out a few hands later when his pocket fives held up against my A-9. Next I decided to play a regular match and just like Thursday I felt that I couldn't catch a hand and a coinflip meant a sure loss. After a fairly quick loss I decided to play a $100 match. I should've known that wasn't a good idea while I was on the losing streak but I really wanted to get back to even on the day. For the first 10 minutes of the match, we traded small pots until i picked up 5-6 of hearts in the big blind. I raised it up to $80 and he called. The flop came 8-10-Q with two hearts. He bet out about $100 at the pot and I raised to $240, thinking he'd call that bet and I could milk him if I turned the flush or possibly bluff him out of a good sized pot if I missed. He called and the turn came down the three of diamonds. He checked and I bet out $450. Again he just calls and I really didn't know what he had. The river brings another 8, but not a heart and he checks. I don't hesitate to bet because I felt I couldn't give up such a big pot. With only $800 left I decided to go all-in, hoping that if he didn't have a straight, full house, or trip 8s he would be hard pressed to call. Well, it turned out that he held 8-10 and had flopped two pair and rivered his full house. He played it really well and caused me to extend my losing streak. I decided to play another $100 match with the intention of stopping for awhile no matter the out come. I think the recent losing streak had gotten inside my head and caused me to play at a much lower level than normal. Tilt can definitely carry over from day to day and I knew I had to do something to get control of it before I lost a lot more money than I already had. The same guy sat down that had just beaten me and I was a little worried because he knew my aggressive nature and I was afraid that it would be hard to take him down. Again the chips went back and forth for the first 10-15 minutes until he hit a straight against my two pair. I was down to $350 in chips and was dealt A-3 the next hand. I went all-in and he immediately called with A-A. I couldn't believe my luck and was resigned to a loss when the flop came K-10-4. However, the turn brought a Q and the river a J so we split the pot. A couple hands later I picked up pocket 7s and went all in and for a change I won the coinflip and I was up to around $700. I don't know what came over me at that point but I really felt that I had to capitalize on the miracle split with A-3 vs. A-A. I started playing really well, stealing small pots here and there without risking many of my chips. I worked my was up to $1550 in chips when I picked up A-Q in the big blind. The blinds at this point were $50-100 and he raised to $400. I moved all-in and he called. He flipped up A-J and I knew I was in a dominating position. The flop came A-2-3 making me feel even more confident. The brought another two and now I was worried of an ace, two, or king for the split (not to mention a J that would cost me the whole pot). Of course the only ace in the deck comes off on the river and we split the huge pot. I continued to play well, chopping away piece by piece and work him down to $750. I raised all in with K-7 from the big blind after he just called from the small blind and I don't know why but he called with 5-2. The flop came 8-5-3 and I was crushed. However, a 7 on the river left him only five outs. A deuce on the river doubled him up and I felt like all of my good play had been wasted. The final hand came just a few minutes later when I raised pre-flop with Q-6 of diamonds and he went all in for $1000 total with 7-8 of spades. The flop came 7-2-J with only one diamond and I couldn't believe it. This guy had called all in several times from behind and everytime he drew out on me. Miraculously, the turn and river brought running diamonds and the match was finally over after forty grueling mintues. I quit for the day and didn't end up playing anymore online, deciding to just forget about the $115 loss. I did play live at Doug's apartment Friday night, coming out even after a few hours. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed some crazy hands. We were only playing four handed so when I picked up black kings under the gun I raised four times the big blind. Devin re-raised and I went all-in. When he said, "It's obvious you have aces" I thought I for sure had the hand won until he flipped over red kings (we ended up splitting the pot). I picked up pocket queens later in the night but ran into Doug's pocket aces. I felt bad when the flop came Q-J-9 but an A on the turn gave Doug back the lead and it held up. Overall it was a great night as playing live refreshed me and left me ready to take on the online world on Saturday. Not too much to say about Saturday. I played six matches, going 5-1, for a $185 profit. It wasn't too eventful but I definitely had my confidence back and felt like I was rolling over my opponents. I have a lot of homework to do tomorrow so we'll see if I get a chance to play much but I'm glad that I put an end to the short losing streak and hopefully tonight will spark another run like last week. Results: 9/17 -115 9/18 +185 9/13-9/19 +157

Source: Poker Journal