OK, so here I sit on a $950 downswing after playing VERY well the past week or so. I HATE variance and I stew all day at work when I lose a bit of money, so lets look at some bad plays from the past 2 days.

#1) 5 handed $1/$2 NL.

UTG raises to $7, 1 caller and I call in the SB with AQ. I could re-raise but I think a call is fine.

Pot $22. Flop Q63. I lead $12, raiser folds and other guy calls.
Pot $46. Turn T. I check, he bets $25 and I check raise to $75. He calls.
Pot $196. River K. I have $105 left and I push. I doubt I can beat anything but QJ so I think this is really bad. I lost to QT. I shouldve saved $105 and check/folded the river. The rest of the hand can be debated but Im only really concerned with a pretty obvious wasted $105.

#2) Same table. Big hand that I posted here
forum/viewtopic.php?t=16774

I can easily fold the flop and save $295. Whether or not my big bluff is +EV is up for debate but I save $295 if I dont try it.

#3) Heads up $1/$2 NL
I raise to $7 with [Qs]. He calls.
Pot $14. Flop [6h][5d]. He checks, I bet $10 and he min raises me to $20. I call.
Pot $54. Turn He leads $40 and I raise all in to $$170. He calls with 74 and I miss my flush. I didnt think he was going to call and I had outs, but is this really necessary? I couldve folded or called to try to hit the flush. If the over card hits, I probably get busted anway heads up, but it didnt so I count this as wasted $130.

#4) Heads up. He raises to $6 and I call with A8.
Pot $12. Flop T84. He bets $10 and I call.
Pot $32. Turn 2 He bets $24 and I raise to $100. He pushes and its another $100 to me. I fold and he shows QQ. Theres really no need to bluff these guys like this heads up. Ive been killing them w/o doing it. Wasted $100. Shouldve just folded the turn,

So theres $630 I wasted out of the $950 Im down right now. I lost a big pot at $2/$4 NL with a flopped set in a raised pot to a flopped straight. That cost me about $200.

Take away the bad luck set hand and these other 4 bad mistakes and my "horrible" streak is now just about wiped away and its just a mediocre break even day and a half because I didnt hit any good hands.

Anyone disagree?

Youre a donk....

Not really but I've ALWAYS wanted to say that...

Hand 1, your turn checkraise is just as bad as your river shove.
Hand 3, I don't mind.
Hand 4, if they're really that easy then don't bluff, but I don't think it's too bad.

But you are neglecting telling us reads... that can make or break these hands.

Why is the turn check raise so bad? I thought he had had Qx. Hes going to bet the turn almost every time once I check.

Because he doesn't call with worse hands and you are stacking off vs stronger hands.

I would either lead turn again (vs stations) or check/call (vs aggros).
I don't like absolutes (and giving away too much about my game ), but I would hardly ever check/raise in this spot.
I would have to be sure that: I have the best hand (likely) AND they would bet (player dependent) AND that they would call the checkraise (unlikely).

In my opinion, checkraising in this spot is turning your hand into air.

If I lead and was raised I would fold against most players.
If I check/called, I would often check/call most rivers and sometimes lead.

You also say that if river blanked you wouldn't mind your river push.
This is only true because the pot is huge because of your check/raise and you only have 1/2 pot left behind.
I am not looking to play for stacks with TPTK on this board against most players.

P.S. When I write "he won't call with worse hands", I should have said "he won't call with most worse hands". The only hand I see calling that you beat is KQ. But that's only one hand and there are a lot of others in his range.

I dont understand check/calling the turn unless you think hes aggressive enough to bet a marginal hand again on the river.

If I check / call $30 on the turn. All Im doing is giving him a free shot to outdraw me. Free, because he already paid $30 when I think Im ahead. Why not make him pay some more when I think Im ahead and he might call?

if he has anything below QJ, and I check / call...I think he checks behind on the river alot of the time. Why not check raise him? Not only do i make him pay more than he wants to, but if he folds some junk like Q9 or 65s, it will teach him not to try to take the pot away when I check it to him.