Frustration

I played another frustrating session. I moved down to the 0.5/1 deep tables this time. I think I played very well, but once again luck was not on my side. I did end up +$70, but it could have been a lot more. I got unlucky in some key pots:

An aggressive player had been getting re-raised quite frequently lately and I sensed he was starting to tilt. When he raised my blind and I was staring at two kings I felt pretty good. He called my re-raise and I could just sense that he was weak and was about to do something stupid. The flop was 882 with two spades. He raised me all-in and sucked out with his 79 of spades. I lost the $230 pot as a 2 to 1 favorite.

I had been hammering on a fish two my right all night as he limp-called my button raise. I had 99. Flop was J75 with two diamonds. He check-raised me quite big. I pretty much thought that he was completely full of it. I called. Raising is not really an option in that spot. Turn was an offsuit 8 and I picked up a gutshot. He quickly bet $40 into $56 and I called again. River was an offsuit king and he instantly moved in for his last $70. I'm getting almost 2 to 1 at this point. If he had a pair and a gutshot on the turn, my nines are still good. He could have missed a flush draw. My initial read was that he had finally cracked, so I called. He showed KQo to scoop the $278 pot. That was very frustrating. I had the correct read, but he hit his 6-outer.

I'm realizing now that I have been whining a lot lately over bad beats that are standard for any serious poker player. I did actually end up in the green for this session. If I just keep up playing my game I will eventually have big winning sessions again. A professional poker player should find satisfaction in making good decisions and not care too much about short-term results. Patience!!

I said I wouldn't withdraw more money, but I'm going to have to make withdrawals again. I need money to pay for plane tickets and hotel for a chess tournament I'm playing around New Year's Eve. The hotel is about $100 a day, so that's gonna hurt a bit. All this means that I'm staying away from 1/2 again, at least until I get rakeback in a week's time. Bankroll: $3.4k