First hand is kinda standard, really. He's UTG with about 30bbs, you start with over 60. He's in a good spot to trap here with those short stacks behind him, and you sorta fell in love with top pair. I mean, in a way you sort of thought maybe you were trapping by hiding that KQ in the BB, but I believe it was Doyle Brunson who warned against committing to a one-pair hand on an unraised flop.

When you get raised on that flop, it should give you notice. Yes, you have top pair, but there is a decent-sized stack picking a fight with your big stack. At least one alarm bell should go off...he limped utg..what can he have here that can raise so confidently? A bluff? Maybe, but not often enough for us to lose half our stack to discover. It's OK to get bluffed on occasion.

So does he limp utg there with broadway hands and small pairs, or is this the kind of player to throw in all the suited aces, kings, and queens? At any rate, what does he push back against your stack with on that flop? AQ, KQ, KJs, QT, maybe KJo, some suited spade hands, and of course 44. You're just not that far ahead of that if at all. Then when the 9 hits you commit to his shove by betting out, meaning you feel like you really can't fold there. Calling the flop raise was iffy, but betting out here is the real mistake IMO...just check-fold that turn unless he lays out some horribly small bet.


Next hand is odd, but really just a cooler. Weird play for him to limp-call JJ there, but maybe he's one of the billions of players who hates to play JJ. You're never folding at any point there with only 17bb effective. If you play online long enough, you're simply going to see this stuff. It's going to stick in your mind, but the reality is hands can come in clumps, hands can be spread out, a 6 can seem to hit 30 flops in a row, etc. Your brain will lock on to whatever your focusing on, so don't focus on the inevitable strange combinations of hands or bad beats or whatever and you'll see their significance fade. You'll win more, and poker will be more fun.

The converse is to concentrate on the belief that the site is somehow out to get you, which is the saddest state of all. Why anyone would continue to subject themselves to the whim of a site that they believe is actively trying to cheat them is beyond idiocy. Someone was joking about a "doomswitch" today in the chat. It cracks me up. Like if they truly believe that the software is somehow rigged to favor bad players, to punish good players, or whatever, then what masochistic need are they fulfilling by logging on?

Anyway...these hands individually are sort of just coolers (alth I think there's a cheaper way out of hand #1), and taken together they can be tilting. But only if you allow that to happen.