Obligatory Doomswitch

Immediately after my last post detailing how awesome I am I was hit with the obligatory doom switch. I had two days last week where instead of calling it in up 2 or 3 racks after a reasonable session (5 hours or so...very respectable given that I basically had the flu) I stayed past traffic and lost something like 110 bets (6 racks the one day, then over 3 the next). I try not to torture myself with this stuff too much, but these days were particularly awful because I sort of wanted to quit and had a reasonable excuse to do so (the sickness) but powered through and was swiftly punished. It made me realize that a big problem I have with poker is that hard work focus and dedication often do not lead to success. I nailed that decision both times; the game was good and I was winning and playing with confidence (despite feeling like shit) so I stayed. And it not only didn't help me, but also left me just soul crushed. So that wasn't fun.

Poker is pretty much on hold now, as my dad is in town for a much postponed visit. I'll probably play 1 or 2 days, but nothing serious. I'll pick back up in a week and finish out March, and by then hopefully be well (I have some sort of residual bronchitis at this point) and able to resume living a normal life, whereby normal I actually mean nothing most people would ever confuse for normal but what for me passes. Now two quick hands from today:

Hand 1: I Play Good

A raised pot happens and somehow I have ATo in the big blind. The flop comes down T93r and I miss a c/r on the preflop raiser, but another villain bets so all is not lost. I raise, everyone else folds, he 3 bets and I 4 bet and he just calls and I can see on his face that he's upset his free card play didn't work. The turn however brings a king and I...check/fold. He is appalled and asks me how I knew before showing me the QJ.

Hand 2: I Play Bad

A fish limps the CO, I raise the button with AJ, the sb calls and the resident maniac 3 bets the big blind. The fish calls, I cap it (probably close but I am trying to error on the side of wider ranges in spots like this) and we take a flop of 632r. I bet, the SB folds (lol) and the bb and fish call. The turn pairs the 6 and is of the 4th suite. They check, I bet, and the maniac...raises. The fish folds and like an idiot I call and let the river 9 check through. He shows me AK, which is the hand he always has, and I lose. I realize this doesn't sound that bad right now, but trust me I was supposed to 3 bet because he always has a weak value hand and well I just needed to bluff him trust me. Adios.