I would love some elaboration, especially from a pro. Maybe use an example from any of the hands I've posted?
I'll all for improvement. I'm all for study. So I would love to know how "im bad at poker" translates to losing when I get my money in 80% or better consistently & still lose.

Is the monkey that shoved into my aces & caught his 5-outer as an 11.32% dog the "good player"?

I would say the world as a whole would've been better off without it.

I remember the last time I was 1-outered too. It was 3 days ago at PLO10 on Global. My set of KK vs set of TT.
As I said, that crap happens to me literally every session I play which has me baffled at how anyone wins long-term.
In my mind, it's because they don't run like complete dogsh*t like I do.

No criticisms? No suggestions? No improvements? All I get is "you're just bad at poker".
Then you went into focusing on improving at one game only to which I agree is sound advice.
Yet nothing on how wrong my thought processes are?

Well, if sticking my stack in every time I know I'm ahead & a heavy favorite yet still losing on the runout means I'm just bad at poker then you're correct.
It seems too difficult for people to admit when someone truly does run like dogsh*t & there's nothing you can do about it.
I understand there's been thousands of horrible players who don't have a clue of the game just brushing it off as "bad luck" & I'm sure I'm getting lumped into that group.

So, I disagree with the blanket garbage statement of "you're simply bad at poker". No I'm not.
I've posted a few hands where I've made mistakes because there's no such thing as the perfect poker player but anyone who reads my histories can plainly see I'm running like absolute dog.
So, if that's the conclusion you're sticking with while having nothing backing it, I don't have any respect for you, pro or not.
I'd be happy to be criticized, that's why I'm posting on this site filled with trolls when reddit is honestly more entertaining these days.

This is just a small sample of the beats I've taken over ~105 hours (80 online 25 live) & 10k hands.
Obviously I have loads of others to bring me to down a total of ~$1500 so this isn't all of them.
Getting it in 75%+ & being outdrawn makes me a terrible player I guess.

Here's how a typical hour looks for me. This has happened twice this week in the first hour of a session. (-$50ish)
I guess getting the top 3 hands in poker cracked every time I play them makes me an awful player.


AA v T7o (-$300)
81.6162% vs 18.3838%
Should've folded pre I guess.

Folded a straight when I realized I was beat instead of stacking off (-$82)
Cuz terrible players always fold straights in this spot

KK v QQ v TT v 89o
56.915% v 18.0211% v 13.2764% v 11.7875%
Should've folded pre I guess.

AA v JJ on 8-high board (-$300)
Cuz all the pros routinely fold overpairs on disconnected boards against aggrodonks at 1/3

AA v QJs (-$30)
77.98% vs 22.02%
Should've folded pre I guess.


KK v AA (-$30)
Should've folded pre I guess cuz the winning play is to fold KK pre in online micros

AA v KK (-$30)
Should've folded pre I guess.

AA v 99 (-$30)
Should've folded pre I guess.

ATs v AJs (-$12)
76.19% v 23.81% when stacks go in
Not quite 80% equity so maybe we just fold when we're 3 to 1, yea?


Fact is I'm just not good at poker

Having slept on it, I've realized how much of an asinine comment this is which is probably why I had a bad reaction to it last night & posted evidence of running bad with hopes of any sort of feedback. Since this is coming from someone who's considered to be a professional player, it makes me lose respect for the professional community as a whole but I'm slow to judge an entire community based on one ignorant person. Given the sudden upswing Rampage is currently enjoying, you really don't think it's possible for someone to "sun-run" for years & falsely believe they're now a "professional" & success story? Doesn't a huge part of the poker pro community hate him because he's not a top-tier professional in terms of skill, yet continues to show results that are envious of the entire community? What's the difference between his results versus the rest of the "professionals" here on 2+2? His rungood a.k.a. LUCK

It makes me consider the possibility that most professionals here are simply luckboxes who understand basic strategy because with the introduction of GTO, once everyone who plays poker starts to play the exact same 'optimal' way, success will be determined by the luck of the cards. Obviously at higher stakes, there's much more room to outplay opponents & luck becomes a smaller contributing factor especially compared to the micro-stakes I'm playing. I've read the books, I've studied CLP, the Lab on Upswing, the countless YT videos & taken the feedback given by those who love the game so much they want to help others (versus not offering any analysis or feedback instead just telling them 'uh ur bad just quit duhhhrrrrrrr) so I've done what's needed. What I can't currently overcome is the dogsh*t luck factor.

I don't have an ego like most on this forum. I've been through hell & back. I've nearly lost my life twice, lost my entire family, have only had one best friend in life who is a worthless moron that's never been there for me, been surrounded by people claiming to be friends who just wanted to manipulate me for their own gain, destroyed my credit (see my first thread I ever made here) and overall have never found real happiness. I've been through military training camps, been stationed overseas, watched my ex-wife slowly resent that I joined the military for dragging her along with me, been through years of therapy talking to people getting paid to pretend to give a flying sh*t about my problems. Going through hell tends to make a person lose their ego. I've recovered from all of it too.

As a "professional" I expected much more but apparently among the "professionals" (or those who enjoy calling themselves this title) there are gambling degens who run good & that run good garners some respect from the community on its surface simply because of envy from other players.

As I said, I don't have an ego, so I'm always open to criticism because every person, irrelevant of results, has room to improve. I have a lot more respect for GG because he's let me know specific feedback, where I had a hand that was spew, his strategy & approach to the game, etc. without moronic comments like Squid's that belong on reddit. Guys like GG are reason I haven't lost complete respect for the entire "professional" community after seeing such a stupid comment from someone claiming to be a professional.

In what industry would you ever see a professional tell someone akin to an apprentice (someone who's trying to learn their trade) something so stupid?
"Well ur just bad at this hurrrr dduurrrrrr & you have a long road ahead if you don't wanna quit hurrrrdurrrrr"
Imagine being a professional electrician & that's the response you give to someone you're training.
But then again, I have to remember, I'm asking for feedback on a forum filled mostly with immature 20-somethings plus some 30-somethings who never matured who don't have a clue of the world around them but 100% believe they know it all.

Last night the illusion I've held for over a decade was broken; that luck can't overcome skill in this game. Yes, it can.

If anyone has actual feedback on hands to help me improve, I'm all for it. I've posted LOTS of them.
If you just wanna post asinine moronic comments like Squid, don't post in my thread. Go check out reddit & be a moron there, "professional".

Brother if you're malding over beats like this you will never succeed at this game. Coolers and bad runs happen to everyone. You can either throw a hissy fit full of rapid fire spam posting about your bad luck, or you can actually work on your game and try to improve.

Many of the hands posted are you whining about getting bad boards or coolers with your premiums. Some are butchered hands that should have been folded preflop. Your thought processes expressed in the hands don't show particularly high level thinking. You unironically posted a hand where you jammed AA over some limps 100bb effective, and another one of you jamming AA for 100bb over a 5x iso, as evidence of you playing well and getting unlucky. You're trying to split your focus between multiple games and have goals to even build skills outside of poker when you've yet to prove yourself a winner at one single format.

When people point this out, you have toddler-level meltdowns and post huge blocks of rambling and whining text trying to defend yourself. This is despite the fact that in some past posts you talk about how thick-skinned and willing to learn you are, or how little of an ego you have. This is laughable. This blog is more or less a monthlong diary of you whining. About something that any pro-level player has experienced far worse than you have.

It's clear that you don't have the mental fortitude to succeed at poker. You should either quit now and save yourself the time, money, and emotional struggle, or focus extremely hard on mindset work and on the elements of the game you can control. Nobody cares that your AA got cracked. Nobody cares that you think you run so bad that it's impossible to win. If you ever want to learn to be a successful poker player, you need to grow up.

If you really want to prove me wrong, do it by putting work in your game rather than spamming out more bad beat whines and talking about how you "lost respect for pro players because they're all pathetic luckboxes."

Nobody cares about my AA being cracked, just as nobody cares about your worthless opinion, kid.
I could explain it more to you but you're not worth the time.
Don't post in my thread again, thanks.

Take your own advice & grow up. Ignore facts more.

I don’t mean this as an insult but your attitude seems all wrong.

And before you attack me, maybe think about the fact that quite a few people told you this already.

As for your hands:

Some of them seems misplayed. QTo on the BTN against a UTG raise should almost always be a fold imho.

Getting JJ in that spot has to be marginal without history or reads.

Majestical, to have squid come post in your thread and take some time out of his life to read your blog means something you wrote was at least interesting. By all accounts he is one of the better live players you will get to comment on your play, certainly better than myself. So what he is saying may sound harsh, but he does not strike me as someone who suffers fools and ake his advice for what it is. Him trying to help you out whether it means by you stopping complaining about bad beats, or two to quit the game that seemingly costs you more frustration than you can deal with in your daily life. Again it sounds like you have been through a lot, and starting another downward spiral over a game when you have a lot to be grateful for now is probably not good for your mental health. Hope you are able to relax a bit and see the forest from the trees in the coming days

Also happy holidays

Is my attitude going to change getting drawn out on as 75%+ favored?
This is aside from the fact that we play different when tilted.
I quit pretty quickly when the draw-outs happen in succession so as to not tilt away money.
Therefore, how I handle being drawn out on isn't affecting my game since when it happens in succession, I quit for the day.

I have no desire to attack anyone offering actual feedback. That's why I started the thread in the first place.
If morons come here to tell me "hurrrdurrrr don't whine about beats, maybe you should just quit" while offering zero advice, feedback or analysis on the actual hands played then they can **** off & head over to reddit for their meme answers.

Now then, I appreciate your feedback on the hands.
"Some of them seem misplayed" - alright, which ones?

Which QTo did I play on the BTN? The hand where I folded a straight on the turn? Or a different one?
I've only played QTs a couple of times since coming back honestly so I'm not remembering.

The Jacks hand was pretty rough. As I described in the post, I'd only been at the table for an hour & had seen V with a failed river bluff plus seeing him 3-bet with AJo which made me consider the possibility of him showing up with AK / AQ / AJ / TT / 99. As I stated in the post, I can make that fold against an OMC. But I concede a bad call. Perhaps folding to aggrodonks in that spot saves money in the long run.

Patience, tilt, short fuse. If you want to succeed this is your blueprint. You made it yourself. The bad beat stuff has to stop. Bad luck is a thing in life. Not everyone gets the same cards. But the cards you were dealt in the past dont have to give you bad luck in the future. If you come on here and go against your own blueprint what are youy actually saying? You want things to conti ue as they always have?

Its funny, if I'd not been around this place for so long & knew who he was, I'd have him pegged for a troll just based on the response he gave to me.
He took precious time out of his day to come to tell me to quit. Geeeee how grateful I am to be blessed by someone's online presence in my thread telling me to just quit!
10+ year professional offering zero analysis or feedback on specific hands when I've posted quite a few of them. Instead, I get "beats happen, just quit".
How is his post helpful? Where's the 10+ veteran advice on the hands, how they were played & what can be improved in strategy?
What's the takeaway from his ridiculous post, Larry?
Someone doesn't like what I say, so that means I should quit?
While ignoring the small library of hands I've posted that show the beats? I have a post there filled with them.
Not single reference to those; I should just quit

On top of this, I don't need advice from immature 20-30 somethings (like this DeezNuts kid who's on ignore now) telling me their worthless opinions on my mental state.
You wanna diagnose mental states, go get a degree in psychology then get licensed to practice & you can tell people how you think they feel.
I react the same way everyone else does to the beats, I'm just more open & honest about the frustration.
I also quit for the day once I've become tilted so it can't be said "well you're tilting off money playing while tilted" because I get up & I'm done until I'm in the right mindset again which almost always isn't until the next day at minimum.

When I put time, effort & study into something & don't get the results I'm looking for, I'm going to be frustrated & this is my place to do it.
If someone doesn't agree that one of the most frustrating parts of this game is outplaying your opponent, being a heavy favored & still consistently losing then I honestly don't know what game they're playing. Pretending that it doesn't frustrate you & berating someone else for getting frustrated is hysticeral.

I'm not here for useless opinions from kids (20-somethings) on my mental state, how I handle frustration & whatever else.
I'm here for feedback on improving a game based around strategy; not trolls masquerading as professionals.
Someone who calls themselves "professional" should live up to the title otherwise it's a façade.
If someone doesn't like what I say, then don't read it.

As I continue saying, feedback on specific hands is welcomed & we'll discuss it.

QTo is the second hand of the first session.

I would not worry about the JJ hand too much. What is more important is to draw the right conclusion, e.g. stacking off with JJ pre on 1/3 without solid reads or history is probably marginal at best.

Nothing is going to stop you from being drawn out on, sometimes for a longer time. If you can’t handle it, poker might not be ideal for you.

Misplay.

Misplay.

Misplay.

Misplay.

Misplay (though maybe close).

Misplay. Suits didn't transfer, this is the QTo btn hand.

And basically none of these are hands with complex postflop decisionmaking. No hands where you're trying to navigate a tough spot with a draw. No hands where you're asking about a river bluffcatch. No questions discussing range construction or betsizing. Nothing that shows you're trying to improve and learn. Just a long stream of coolers and poorly played hands that didn't go your way, so you can "prove how bad you run" or some nonsense that's completely irrelevant to your skill at the game.

You either need a massive mindset shift or you need to start realizing a game with as much variance as poker isn't for you.

I won't post here again, but had to post when you somehow had the idea that I wasn't criticizing any of the hands you've posted itt. Very nice job quoting me btw, really shows that you're trying to improve your game and put the work in.

Oh! Yea you're right on that one. I didn't lose a ton though since I folded to the river raise which was the positive I took away from that first session.
But yea I could've saved a little more by just folding it to the UTG raise. I'm chalking it up to being my first session back after several years so I made a mistake.
"Stacking off with JJ pre at 1/3 without reads or history" is good advice to consider going forward.
I appreciate it.

Not making myself dumber by reading your trash.
Keep wasting your time more, kid. It's not being read
Don't like the thread, don't read it. Pretty simple.

Think I've figured out what's happening.

Of all the hands (mostly beats) I've posted, none of them were grossly incorrectly played aside from one possible 9Ts spew so other than a few "marginal" spots there's nothing else really to offer in terms of feedback because I played the hands exactly as I should, leaving nothing else to comment on why I might be losing other than opinions about my attitude & how I deal with the beats. Since there's no real feedback to be given in terms of strategy, the focus turns to how I'm dealing with the beats since it's considered taboo within the community to hear or vent about bad beat stories.

Yet, I'm in an appropriate designated place to do it but that doesn't stop people from disliking them.

I guess we're just pretending like nobody takes beats then yells, vents & complains about them while in their car on the drive home; or that poker players don't have poker buddies where they go over bad beat hand histories to each other. Even Brad Owen has admitted to bawling his eyes out on the drive home when he first started trying to establish his bankroll after taking some beats. Maybe if he had a thread here while that was happening, he'd have been told to "jUsT qUiT cUz YoUr MeNtAl Is BaD" too. He reacted that way because he put real time & effort into something only to come out feeling like it was all for nothing. He just didn't broadcast that emotion & kept to himself. That doesn't work for me.

Is venting about frustrations healthy? Or is bottling it all up to eventually explode the better option?

If I was a complete fish, you'd think the "professionals" would falsely encourage me to keep playing so I stay in their pools for free money; not telling me to quit simply because I vent about the ridiculous consistent beats I've been taking since returning. Not that they're in the micros anymore but "don't tap the glass" seems universal, irrelevant of stakes.

I notice people tend to run bad when under rolled. Not entirely sure why.

Does to universe know, and try to punish?

Or do you just end up missing on a ton of non-standard spots because you are so focused on Your Cards and Their Value?

Playing without a bankroll is just glorified gambling IMO, as you are totally dependent on short term luck.

Playing without a bankroll is only suitable for people with nothing to lose.

Without a bankroll, you feel every dollar lost or won so deeply, that it quickly becomes a tremendous mental burden.

It will eat your soul, if you have one.

Sounds like you have a wonderful, supporting spouse, which is tremendous EV, if you allow it.

Maybe build a roll somewhere? Online for micro stakes perhaps. If you can beat NL 50 online, you will crush 1/2 live. OMG so easy.

From your current mental state, even if you go on a heater, it will be stressful, because.. when will it end? And the moment you cool off you will be mentally crushed again.

I feel you bro. But bad luck/good luck is a state of mind.

Also, what is your motivation for winning at poker?

Hi there friend—

Congrats on pursuing a dream. Some people don’t even bother. I know it stings for someone to tell you not to go after your goals, but I would not take squid’s advice as a personal attack against you; I think he’s actually looking out for you. He does say you can keep trying to improve if you want to stick out the bad run you’ve had lately, and that focusing on the bad beats is not the road to improvement.

Being a pro is not all it’s cracked up to be anyway, trust me. I’ve been playing for five years and I think the money barely makes it worth the hassle. You have to find value elsewhere in this game, like social networks, self-esteem, lifestyle. Getting to the point of it being worthwhile financially may not be attainable for me, or it may take another several years of grinding. Either way, it’s been a real slog.

Squid has spent time with a lot of aspiring pros and has probably seen many fail on their journey. So he knows what works and what doesn’t. He also knows that most don’t make it and is probably trying to save you some time you could spend pursuing other efforts. You can always prove him wrong though.

If I were you I would keep grinding and focusing on attaining your goals for while longer, while keeping his advice in mind about mindset. It took me several months to a year into my journey to finally lift off. I’ve made it this far because I put in the hours and studied, got better, and listened to people who had been in the game longer than me. I won’t comment on specific hands because I don’t play as much hold ‘em anymore. Best of luck to you.

holy crap you are toxic. I was doing my best to be polite. You stated that you are not a winner in your title. Your purple line indicates that you are not generating any EV at all over your small sample therefore you currently are not good at poker.

My GF is also a pro. Here is what a winning players graph looks like

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...ostcount=40849

Best of luck

Thanks again for more worthless advice. You're supposed to be a professional so I hold you to a higher standard.
You tell me nothing more than "you're not good at poker" & "you have 3 options" as if that's not already obvious to anyone with a functioning brain cell.

I don't need your humblebrag on your girl's graph. I know what a winning graph looks like as there's braggarts all over this forum & reddit whenever I'd like to see one.
When she first started, did you give her the same response you gave me? Oh you got drawn out on as an 80%+ favored hunny? Well you're just bad. You have 3 options.....
If so, you really missed your calling as a motivational speaker.

That's why I started this thread; to get help from those who are winning players, not to be discouraged by being told my attitude stinks by a supposed professional who's offered absolutely zero feedback on any of the hands I've played.

Again, you wanna help with a single hand analysis & provide feedback on that? I'm all for it.
Fact is you can't because most of the hands I've posted I've gotten money in as a 75%+ favored & been drawn out on & there's nothing to be said about it since that's just part of poker.
Yet in your silly mind, being drawn out on repeatedly when I'm a 75%+ favored somehow correlates to meaning I'm a bad player. #Logic2023

You could've simply said "that's just poker man, grind through it" & would've been more helpful than just telling me I'm bad at poker.
Especially on someone's thread literally titled "losing player".

"Doing my best to be polite" lmfao
Yea, me too bro. I'm trying my best to be polite too.


This is what a professional giving advice looks like, Squid.
Posting it for you so you can recognize it going forward before you discourage someone else who's asking for help in a field in which you're supposed to be an expert

This is some fantastic advice, DT.
I appreciate it very much. Thank you for the kind words.
I've enjoyed reading your thread from the beginning as well. It's helpful!

Sure. Also, I ran well (and, sometimes, badly). I think Justin Bonomo said it too when accepting an award - it isn't all about hard work and studying, you also have to run at or above expectation if you are to make it. Or at least not run in the bottom %. The more skillful you are the less negative variance will hurt though. A losing month could end up being a break even month because, while you ran poorly in the big all ins getting it in as a favorite, you found a lot of smaller pots to pick up here and there. So definitely don't pay short shrift to improving your game. That's why Squid told you what he did, because it seemed like you were too centered on the wrong thing. Merry Christmas.

You seem really focused on getting HH feedback so I’ll start with a hand so you know I’m not trolling.

I think the AA hand illustrates a flawed thought process. You primarily seem concerned with preventing your opponents from outplaying (can including “set mining” with this) you. You have AA and started the hand with less than 50 straddles, you can’t get outplayed in a 4bet pot. AA generally overrealizes its equity post, but it’s actually hard to underrealize at this spr. You should bet an amount you think will be called. Min 3bet and cold call doesn’t signify a lot of strength to me so i would 4bet something between a min raise and 1/3 of your stack. Yes you’ll lose some extra when the board comes JJx or 9xx, but you’ll get value now and likely will get stacks in with a massive equity advantage on 8 high and Jx boards. Also a decent chance one of both of your opponents get confused and jam preflop.

Now for the stuff you aren’t going to want to hear: you’re not running as bad as you think. Squid already mentioned this but your all-in ev basically matches up with your green line. I’m sure you can find some beats, but after all the money has gone in you’ve dished out as much bad luck as you’ve taken. I don’t know you, but your posts indicate a personality that isn’t suited for poker. I’ll respond if you want me to elaborate, but i think the best way to cut through all this is to have your girlfriend read the thread. Ask her if your posts appear to come from someone in a good mental health space. Ask her if your mental health was better before or after you started playing poker again.

It’s ok to pick a different hobby. I like golf.

Mentally, you’re a ****ing trainwreck. The defensive victim attitude has to stop for you to have any chance of succeeding. I do think you are suffering some beats here, don’t get me wrong. How you come out of these beats is what is either going to make you or break you. Spending time arguing with others on here is a massive waste of your mental resources; I do believe you are skilled enough however I really think you have to get your mental game in check.

Just my opinion though, take it or leave it.