So it's about 4PM and I'm already down 2 buyins from a couple LAG players sucking out... no big deal but I'm sorta on scared money tilt right now. (NEVER EVER play with scared money)

Villain 1: $600 - VPIP is around 80% and like to bet big on every street with any two cards. One hand he bet $150 into a $75 pot and showed 92o after everyone folded.

Villain 2: $400 - Same as Villain 1 in almost every aspect.

Hero: $350 - Been playing fairly tight but betting strong hands hard. Has lost a few hands at showdown for stacks, so table presumes I'm running bad (so one person said) or something and keeps calling me down.

Hero = SB with AK
Villain 2 = Button and straddled $10

Hero calls and UTG+2 makes it $30 total, there are 4 callers including Hero

Pot = $120

Flop comes AJ8

Hero bets $50 - Thinking back I probably shouldn't potted it

Villain 1 raises to $110, Villain 2 calls and Hero calls (Again, probably should've shoved)

Pot = $450

At this point I already decided I'm going all-in but to get the most value I checked to the villains knowing one would shove as they always do.

Turn comes 4

Hero checks and so does Villain 1, Villain 2 announces all-in as soon as he finds out it's his turn.

I should've insta-called here but took my time as I was on scared money tilt and didn't want to get another suckout lol. Such a stupid way to think I know but it just kept creeping up.

I put him on a Jack at best and figured Villain 1 had a worse Ace.

So I took my time and eventually Villain 2 calls time on me. Now I'm really heated and feeling pressured and thought the safest thing to do was fold, even though I only had $250 to call to win $700.

Hero folds and Villain 1 says nice hand, turning over AQ. What does Villain 2 show? J10, just as I thought.

What does this look like to you? Some think I made the right fold but I think it was a scared money play. My reads were right on the money and I would've ended the night being up about $600 instead of down $400.

I really want to improve my game and not let little things get to me so I don't make bad decisions like this hand. After that I let my bad decision effect the rest of my game and went on spewing chips away until I was busted.

I'm also interested in bet-sizing. Do you think it's best to just pot value bet your hands (ABC style) or throw in some check-raises, slow-play strategies in the mix?

Another hand was just yesterday where I had QQ and Villain I've played with regularly shoves my bet on the flop, representing the Ace. I put him on JJ and called, he showed me JJ, then caught a J on the river. This has happened quite a few times recently where I made the right read and was over 80% to win, then got busted on the river. Each time for my stack which has really put a hit on my bankroll.

Should I just consider this as bad variance or something else entirely. Maybe I'm not considering variance and should fold even though I know I'm good there. I can't keep sustaining these hits for my whole stack where I'm 80% ahead and end up crushed by the river.

Maybe I should stick to playing passively on the flop and aggro post-flop? I really don't know and there's not much i can do about the variance.

Wouldn't this mean though that when my variance turns around that my heater is going to be through the roof?

hate all streets

preflop: why just call the mississippi straddle? you need to raise here. make it $35, at least.

flop: as played, bet this flop big. you only have $350. bet flop $100-120 and get the rest in on the turn.

never folding to these villains on turn.

stay aggressive and play your game. don't be results orientated. things will turn around.

if you're playing scared money take a break from the game. it will only get worse.

OP - you need to clean up your posts to get good feedback - less stream-of-consciousness-oh-my-god-bad-beat-bad-fold type hands.

interesting that J is on board and in villain's hand.
No results in your OP and you'll get better responses. Please read sticky on posting for guidelines on how to make a good post.

As played, this is a snap call against described villain.

Looks like you need to go back to fundamentals and bet sizing. I'm shoving on the flop raise.

Normally I would never fold here to these villains. Scared money was the reason I didn't bet more, after losing 2 buyins already. My huge mistake.

Yesterday I learned from that and lost 2 buyins, so without playing scared money I played more aggressive and ended up with a good session in a very short period of time... lesson learned

Ya i'll try to clean that up and the J was wrong suit, my bad.

PF-> Depending on V1's position (is he the raiser) this may be one of the extremely limited situations where a L/RR is the best move. If V1 is raising a lot of the time then we can often get into a situation where there is over $100 of dead money in the pot when it comes back to us.

But you should DEFINITELY be 3betting AK there with like $140 in dead money out there.

Flop-> You should have bet more. When you get raised I don't have a huge problem with flatting, but it would only be with the intention of snapping the turn 100% of the time.

gotta raise that Mississippi to $35-40. then pot the flop and get it in on turn. The way you played let the opponent put you to a decision. You should be on the other end putting the opponent to the decision.

Thanks for the clarification.

I've been in this spot a couple times since then and it's paid off as I'm trying not to let the bad beats, etc effect my decisions.

Variance can be tough, but I would think that with a player like me who's VPIP and PFR are around 18/16 with a 2-3 AF, the variance wouldn't be so high.

Where do you play? Sounds like easy money.

Horseshoe Southern Indiana