Breaking the ice on this new forum, thanks for setting it up. I've lurked on this site for years but just registered.

I'm an ok but not great limit player. I travel for work and found a nearby card room but they only spread NL, so I'm "forced" to give it a go. Two sessions have both been rough, especially last night. Bad luck or bad play?

Two hands from last night, 1/2 NL
Fairly tight table, I'm probably viewed as decent but predictable, sorta played everything straight/conservative and am slightly ahead before these hands.

Hand 1: 7 handed, I raise to 8 UTG with AdJd. New guy at the table calls from CO, everyone else folds. Villian and hero both have 150 behind.
Flop: rags with two diamonds. I bet 15, v calls.
Turn: Ac. I check, v bets 55, I shove.

Hand 2: 7 handed, I have 60, both villains cover. I open for 8 from CO with KQo, button calls, bb (same guy from hand 1) calls. Bb seems solid, button knows how to play but is there for entertainment.
Flop: Qxx rainbow. Bb bets 15, I shove, button calls, Bb folds.

Am I a maniac?

Could be good or bad depending on opponents and stack sizing. I'd typically bet call hand one and calldown most runouts hand two.

In nl, since you can lose much more money than in limit, one pair hands go way down in value. You gotta think about the size of your investment relative to the pot. In both hands, you're making big investments with one pair hands which is probably bad unless your opponents really suck.

Hand 1)

Preflop is good. Flop, it's important to note the rags and how many straight draws are possible (984dd is different from 752dd), and since your ultimate goal of betting with your NFD is to build fold equity and a pot in the even that you hit, you don't really need to bet 15 into 19. Just bet like 10, it'll fold out overs at around the same rate.

On the turn, I'd bet like 35 into 49 and probably shrug call it off getting about 2.3:1.

Hand 2)

Reload pre. As played, reads are almost meaningless as you're a 30 bb stack, so you're basically committing top pair good kicker whenever you have an SPR of under 3; just a matter of how you do it. In this case, the BB has made it easy for you; he led the flop and now you don't even need to see a turn card. I'd also be three betting any hand that dominates KQo given your stack size (QQ+, AQ, AK), so if BB is aggressive, you're probably only sweating Queens up and baby sets for hands that have you in tough shape.