Warning: has some whining and bad beat content, but hopefully also raises some valid questions .

For the past two days I've suffered some quite heavy losses. What is heavy is of course open to debate, but both in absolute terms (over 1K) and in relative terms (10% of my bankroll) there is some substance to the loss.

I've been playing PLO more or less seriously for a bit less than a year now, and build my bankroll from $200 to 10k, and for the past few months I've played $100 PLO as my main game, with an excursion to the $200 tables every now and then. After a particularly good month of October I decided to make the $200 tables my home and have the $100 tables as backup, for when the $200 games are not good.

At first things went well, and even though it always takes some adjusting to a higher level, I felt that I could do well in the $200 games, and that there still were enough bad players to make a good profit there. Besides, many of the players are the same as from my $100 games, and I know I can do well against them.

Now the past 10 hours of play have been a succession of bad beats and outdraws, in addition to the fact that I can't remember a single hand where everything works according to plan. I'll post some hands later, but one of the things which make my sessions very difficult is that if you get outdrawn a few times and if you have to fold a few hands after showing aggression, then people start smelling blood and it becomes harder to outplay anyone, while outplaying seems like the only way to actually win a pot.

Here's my questions. Below I'll post the hands which cost me a substantial amount, i.e. half a stack or more. Some are just unlucky, but some I should have saved money or misplayed them.
First, should I adapt my style or strategy? Are there aspects to the $200 game I should adjust to better? For the past days I painfully realized that in these games I'm quite dependent on the cards. I feel I'm stuck between two impossibles here: I can't win at showdown, but I also can't make them fold.
Second, should I move down for a while to recover from these losses? Theoretically speaking (and I think the hands illustrate that) the $200 games can be very profitable, but the gap between theory and practice is quite frustrating.
Third, I thought about shipping part of my roll, say 2-3K, to another site in order to play in a different setting. Any recommendations? Do you advise to do this now or do you think I should first get back into winning play at my UB home again?

A selection of hands:

1) This one is quite bizarre, but I seriously doubt whether it shouldve cost me my full stack.
On the river, the board shows [9h][8d][7h][8h]. It has been checked around on each street, and I have the remaining 8. There is a bet, I raise small. Everyone folds, the bettor reraises. A call commits 2/3 of my stack. No reads on the player, is not a regular, nothing special. You think he has 99 or a big pair often enough?
He had the straight flush...

2) Flop 345 rainbow, I have 5678 rainbow. I bet flop, one LP caller. Turn is a 2, putting two clubs out. I bet pot, LP raises pot (this puts in half of my stack). I pushed in and lost to a third club. Can you seriously fold to the raise on the turn, or do you somehow try to play a smaller pot?

3) Here I either made a very bad misread or got very badly outplayed.
I have [Jh][Qs][Ks] and limp in EP. A few callers. Flop is [9s][Jh], giving me quite a juicy draw. There is a min bet and I raise pot. Only the min bettor calls. He has an almost full stack. Turn is a brick . Check, I bet pot (I put him on a draw), opponent calls.
River is the . Opponent checks. I bet $40 into the $100 or so pot, representing the boat. Opponent moves in?! I can't imagine that my one pair is good here and fold. He claimed to have the boat.

If he had top set to begin with, I can only imagine that he slowplayed since he had backup draws and put me on a lower set, a draw or a bluff, and that he thought that the only way to extract money was to pretend he was drawing, but still I'm puzzled.

4) Similar to a hand I posted the other day (see "Flushes in $200 PLO").
I have [Qs][Jh][Th] in EP and limp. LP raises, I call with one MP player.
Flop is [6s][5s]. I lead out for $25, worried that it will get checked around. MP folds, LP minraises. I reraise the pot, LP flat calls. Turn: . Pot is over $300 now, he has about $50 left and I cover him. Can you fold this? He had 567s8s for the smaller flush, two pair and the straight flush draw on the flop. I get the impression that at the $200 games people hardly ever give you credit for the made nut flush on the flop. Maybe it is often the case that people with sets, small flushes etc are overaggressive in this situation or bluff a lot, making that a weak flush or set is good enough to go to the felt with.

I could post more of these, but you get the point. Hands not holding up, draws not hitting.
I know that part of this is just variance, but it raises a strategic issue. If people see you getting stacked a few times and having to lay down a hand to a river raise, and if you don't get a chance to show down a winner, then people will lose respect and will try to outplay you. If you're not catching cards, then your profit can only come from outplaying them and by avoiding showdowns, but with a weak image that only gets you in more trouble. So, I feel that in these circumstances I'm not able to pick up the small pots that I usually can, and also not get away with a bluff if everyone misses. Even though the main profit in these games should come from pushing the nuts, one should still make a reasonable part of one's profit by making some plays. The issue therefore becomes: given that the cards are not helping you, how can you still maintain an image that allows you to make some plays and compensate for the times you have to go to showdown?
I guess that here it is my inexperience at the $200 level that is hurting me here, since the game is so a lot wilder and more aggressive than the $200 is, and I don't have good control over the tables.

Sincere apologies for the rant, and thanks for any advice,
Pieter

Hands 1, 2, and 4... unlucky.

Hand 3... good fold (at least imho).

i think your last paragraph hits the nail on the head. a lot of money is made when you DON'T have the cards. as such, i think that you should leave the tableswhen your table image is weak. there is nothing worse than when people don't respect your raises -- you have to show down the best hand to win a pot, and this doesn't happen often enough for this to be a sound strategy.

when your good hands consistently don't hold up, chalk it up to variance and either change sites or just take a few days off. i think staying at the same tables is a mistake.