The Poker Dead Zone

I consider myself a pretty decent poker player. I usually win more often than I lose (except at Foxwoods...). But this week has to be the one of the worst I've ever had. It all started when I decided to jump back on the Party Poker bandwagon. My usual m.o. is to deposit the requisite $50, try to double or triple that money in a day playing boring ass micro limits, withdraw the initial deposit, and use the remainder to play with. If I win, great. If I lose, it's house money at that point.

This week...no such luck. I stayed pretty even for a day or two, never going up or down more than $15. And then the shit hit the fan. Dominating hands on the flop were cracked by guys hitting runner-runner or spiking a set on the river because they stubbornly played their pocket 2's to the end. Then I had a period where I couldn't hit a damn thing. Nothing. I'm holding AK? Flop comes 2 5 9. I got 56 suited? Flop comes A K 10, all rainbow. If I had the good fortune of flopping the nuts, I'd get absolutely no action, no matter how slow I played my hand. So basically I was hemorrhaging money on losing hands and making a trifle on hands that should've paid me off.

Within a couple of more days I was down to around $5 and cursing the poker gods for forsaking me. See, ordinarily I'd be paranoid and petty and accuse Party Poker of trying to cheat me (there are theories out there...). But my spate of bad luck/bad play continued into our home poker game last night, where I busted out twice.

So with my shiny $5, I decided to start playing super tight-aggressive. It worked for a little while as I started to scrape together a few wins, and then...the hand that told me I should stop playing for a while.

I've got J 10 of spades in second position. The first guy folds, I limp in for .50 as do two more players. The small blinds limps and the big blind checks.

The flop comes 7s 8s Td.
I've got top pair with a decent kicker, a flush draw, an inside straight draw, and an inside straight-flush draw. I figure I'm in great position. SB checks, BB bets out .50, I decide to just call so as to build a pot behind me. Everybody calls except for the SB.

The turn brings the Tc. Now I've got trips. BB bets $1, this time I raise, one guy behind me folds and one calls, and BB re-raises me. Sweet, now we've got a pot. I re-raise, capping the action, and both call behind me.

The 5s comes on the river. I've made my flush. BB bets out again, I raise, guy behind calls, BB re-raises, I re-raise back, guy behind calls, BB calls. Give me my money! Um, nope. BB shows 10-5, giving him the full house and the $27.50 pot. The guy was unknowingly drawing to two outs (the only remaining 5's in the deck) and he hits one of the river. Unbelievable. Now I'm back to $5 and convinced that someone has it in for me. I tighten up AGAIN and make a mini-comeback for an hour, but the momentum petered out, leaving me here, lamenting my poker losses and wondering if it's me, bad luck, or a combination of both.

(Oh, and the Sox defense is atrocious in the 5th inning and Wakefield just got hit in the ankle with a line drive.)