Day 4: Staying Strong

Here is something I posted on another site. I thought it caught the frustration I have been feeling lately very well:

I am just saying that the ebb and flow of the game is frustrating. I had my bankroll up at 3K, and lost some, and got back up to a tad under 3K, and lost some.. it just seems so not worth it some days. You spend a week building the bankroll and bring it back down in a day or two of bad sessions. I enjoy the game, but I also (wrongly) judge my success by my bankroll and it seems like I am only moderatly successful sometimes. I guess as a relative newbie (6 months) I am at a point where I am questioning the game, and how good I REALLY am at it. How much is suckouts and how much is bad play? How do you really gain confidance in your game if HE is so volatile? Where do you really look to plug holes? It is such a complex and facinating game, however that makes it really hard to know what the right move might be.

I.E. I am facing a Maniac and a Calling Station Player. Different hands. I have TPTK on the flop, no flush draw, no straight draw. The Maniac and CS in our respective hands both raise my flop bet. Well, doing the exact same move against both players is wrong. The Calling station will not raise unless he has a good hand. As a matter of fact he probably will not raise unless he has a DAMN good hand. He would rather call his two pair to the river and flip. You might consider folding here. The maniac on the other hands is raising 3rd pair and trying to scare you off your hand. You might re-raise him here. Same cards, different strategy.

So anyway.. just venting on my recent frustration. Thanks for all the comments. I appreciate them.