Vacation

I will be taking a vacation until Sunday, June 28. I will be playing live Thursday night, so I may have some live hand histories to post, but shy of that, I don't expect to play online. I guess, given the way I've been running, this is the humane thing to do. Therefore, there will likely be no new posts until Sunday night or later. At that rate, though, I don't know how much more my bankroll can handle. I'm down to around $55. I'm living [online] off of the rakeback that I get.

If this is the life of the poker player, I don't think I could ever live like this. I am so happy that I have an education, and a solid job to fall back on. I work as an engineer, in a job where I can readily advance and am given ample opportunities to do so. It also provides more than enough income for my family of 5 to live on. Thank God poker is a recreation for me, and not an income source I depend on. Therefore, all of these complaints are merely a drop in the bucket with regard to lifelong luck; I am very fortunate to lead the life I live.

That said, all of this brings up the crossroads in my head: what do I do here? I flop sets 1 out of 14 times, when the statistical mean is 1 out of 8. I lose 50/50 coin flips like it's my job. Heck, I even lose 80/20 flips of JJ vs. 99 or AA vs AK (I'll have to post that one if I find it! It's amusing - AIPF of course). So, with a net positive of $15 from my original buy in of $40, plus the rakeback that I'm expecting to amount to another $5-8 for this week, what should I do? Do I continue to play through this rough spell? I'm hoping the Thursday poker game will help clear my head and luck of all the negativity that I've been experiencing. Perhaps I can shake off that jinx that's been put upon me, and come back to online with better luck. It's funny - I'm the first to say poker is a game of skill, and not luck. Yet, here I am, with each and every post lately, proving the contrary.

I realize that I have [only] ~27K of hand histories to fall back on as a gauge to my play. However, things are very difficult when you have a minuscule bank roll that can't take constant bad beats and suckouts. It is become increasingly difficult to maneuver on the tables when every flop I see, I look for the worst and assume the worst. Not only do I not get maximum payout when I'm far ahead and being paranoid, but I become a bit of a calling station just to prove my paranoia correct.