How to deal with a bad run ...

Numbers to date through 2.5K hands:

There is inherent variance associated with poker. All of us are going to run bad. Usually a bad run starts with a cooler or a bad beat. You're playing well, but you are losing. This is the type of session I had for the first 500 hands today.

1. 4-way pot and I have a suited connector. Easy call. I lead out and expected get raised. I would expect AcAx to raise here. There is a call and I shove. I'm drawing nearly dead as the villain has an over flush.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1039087

2. A few minutes later this hand happened. The pot is just about right for me to shove and I do. I'm semi-bluffing with the shove, but I would do the exact same move with an overpair (see below). I get called by 6h7h. Notice - he 3-bet me pre-flop, called my 4-bet (big!) and then called my shove.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1039092

... and here is how I would play aces in this spot: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1039097

Granted, I played a very similiar hand at 400NL the same day.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1038662

Both players claimed tilt.

3. Pretty soon after that I get AK again and get it all-in pre-flop vs. AT:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1039101

4. And finally, the coup de grace. Same player with the AT hand turns a full house on my straight. I called pre-flop because it's a nice hand to have in position and called the flop bet because it was so weak:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1039108

So. I was done for a while. No sense in continuing when you are clearly frustrated and need to clear your head. I went out to eat and came back. I put in some changes:

1. I played fewer tables.

2. I played a lot tighter. When you are playing well, you should loosen up. When you are playing poorly, play better cards - you will have to make fewer marginal decisions.

I also started my first 25NL video to talk about dealing with a downswing (I mentioned the two things above), but the sound cut out halfway through. Ugh. Another bad beat. I will talk about one of the hands from the video though:

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Hold'em Cash Game
$0.10/$0.25 Blinds
5 Players

POCKETYANKEE: $48.20
r8r4life: $26.05
TUCCI007: $17.25
TheXC: $27.80
trapperjoshmd: $72.90

Preflop: TheXC is dealt Ad 6d (5 Players)
TUCCI007 folds, TheXC raises to $0.85, trapperjoshmd raises to $1.45, POCKETYANKEE folds, r8r4life folds, TheXC calls $0.60

Trappers has 3-bet me before and I've folded. He less than min 3-bets me this time so I call and hope to hit a good flop and bust him.

Flop: ($3.25) 4s 6s Ac (2 Players)
TheXC checks, trapperjoshmd checks

Great flop. I could lead or I could check. I choose to check.

Turn: ($3.25) 3d (2 Players)
TheXC checks, trapperjoshmd bets $1.25, TheXC raises to $5.25, trapperjoshmd raises to $9.25, TheXC raises all-in to $26.35, trapperjoshmd calls $17.10

I choose to check the turn as well (while leading would also have been good). He bets around 1/3 pot and I pop him up. He min bets me again and I figure he's got AK or AQ. I think AA would flat call my raise here and try to trap me on the river.

River: ($55.95) Qc (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $55.95 ($2.75 Rake)

I'm correct and avoid a K on the river.

At the end of the night these two hands ended my session:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1040119

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1040120 - and I actually tanked and almost folded this.

Tomorrow I hope to make my first 25NL video.