One of those nights...

I hate when you have one of those nights where your reads and plays are constantly off.  Last night was such a night for me.  I've been finding that those types of nights, which I'd classify as playing poorly, are usually preceded by a massive EV downswing night, which is exactly the type of night I had the prior night.

As I've referred to before, I've been moving my primary play over to Bodog & PokerStars.  I honestly feel as though the average donk on Full Tilt has become a lot smarter, and though I can still win, the winnings are not as great as what could be realized elsewhere.  I've built up a roll on Bodog and I'm continuing to build on Stars - to the point where I can comfortably 6-8 table 25NL without fear of being able to auto top-off.  Regardless, I log into Bodog and expect to win; if I don't walk away with at least a buy in, it's a disappointment, or I got smacked by the variance tree.  (I guess the prior sentence sounds somewhat stupid; I should expect to win anywhere I log in and play...)

Last night, though, I played and didn't listen to my opponent's face-up styles of play and fold when I was behind.  I had to rely on the good 'ole "suckout when the money is in the center" method, where I hit a river set on a turn all in vs. a PF 3bet AA.  Against the same opponent, I ran into a situation which I'm not really sure how to interpret, but I consider poor play on my part again: I raise A7s in the HJ and am 3bet (again, same opponent some 30-40 hands later) from the BTN.  I flat and see a 2 5 7-high flop.  I check and he bets $6 into the $8 pot (i.e. he 3bet my $1.50 raise to $~4).  I flat and we go to the turn which is a blank.  We check through the turn (fail on him for giving me a free card - I plan to fold to a 2 barrel) and see an Ace on the river.  From his checked turn, I immediately assume that he has AK and lead for $20 into $20 - most Bodog players won't lay down a rivered TPTK or TPGK in this type of situation - dry board, etc.  He insta calls and shows KK and I take down a $60 pot on a nice 5 outter.  Needless to say, there was a TON of chatter in the chatbox.

My poor play continued into the Mookie / Dank where I knocked out Hoyazo on running deuces, with A2s on a 3 5 9 board (he had T9o), but started to finally get cards and play solid until my final blowup with 22 on a 5 6 7 board vs. 99.  (That hand was at least excusable in my mind, because my oldest got out of bed, and sleep walked downstairs - I had to get him back in bed while dealing with my crying middle child whose "back was hurting".  She's friggin 6.  What does she know about back aches?  I felt bad that she was having growing pains.  I didn't want to wake the wife up who is sick herself.)  At least I got a knockout / bounty from Alcanthang (thanks, Al!), for the knockout of Hoy.  All in all, I want to bury last night in the back of my mind and not revisit it.

I don't even know why I'm writing this; I feel like this is life as usual in the ups & downs of a poker player.  I guess that's what I'm trying to convince myself.  I think I need to be more self-aware and shutdown when I feel like I'm not playing my "A" game.