FLUSH DRAWS OUT OF POSITION

I won a big pile of money on January 2nd and I haven't had a winning day of poker since. The profits are bleeding and I can't tell what the problem is. I think it is just a bad stretch that is bound to turn around. I haven't stopped making stupid moves and bad calls but the frequency is down from this time last year. I still like my chances for having twelve profitable months with a few big scores sprinkled in. I guess I will just continue to be a streaky player with bad weeks followed by magical days.

Today, I was already down several hundred in tournament entries so I joined a $5/10 NL cash game with $400. Everybody else at the table had over a grand in front of them, but a few hands into my session, I was glad that I began with the minimum. It was a six-handed table and with a raise in front of me, I repopped with QQ on the button. He went all-in and with a good percentage of my chips already in the middle, I had no intention of laying down the ladies. He showed AA (what are you gonna do?). We both hit our set on the flop so there is no question I was destined to lose whatever stack I was playing - so I spun the outcome so that I felt lucky for only having about $350 at the time disaster struck.

I bought back in and managed to turn my second $400 into $990, then I did something I wish I had done at Hollywood Park - I quit. Most of the magic came on a hand that went something like this: I held 55 in a multiway pot; the flop came 852 and there was a $30 bet followed by a call. I bumped to $100 and the bettor folded while the caller called my raise. There were two diamonds on board and I imagined he is only calling with a flush draw or 76, since he would need a nice draw to a big hand in order to play a big pot. The turn was the Kd and I was fully prepared to muck my set to a big bet. I figured he must put me on a set and he will want to protect a made flush or get me to commit a ton of chips on the draw. I was surprised when he checked. I took the free card and was glad I did when it was a deuce. He bet $240 into me and I was only beat if he had 88 or 22 so I called and he showed a diamond flush. It's always nice to steal a big pot that was already given up for dead. It's a lesson we all have to learn again and again - when the pot is big enough to win now, take it down. This guy got greedy and I benefitted.

In a tournament earlier in the day, I was the guy who was playing the diamond draw out of position. I called a raise from the small blind with KTd and the flop came QdTs5d. It was a flop so good that I decided I could slowplay the hand, so I checked. He checked behind. The turn was a black five and I put out a bet that he could call but not raise with the scare card on board, so I made a good-sized bet and he called. The river was some sort of diamond, giving me the king-high flush. At this point, I was looking to value bet, so I bet between half and three-quarters of the pot. He mulled it over and repopped all-in. I was stunned, having put the bulk of my chips in the pot already, sure I was ahead. I thought about the hands he could have that beat me and came up with two likely couplings - AJd and QQ. If he had the nut flush, I'm not so sure he could raise me in this spot and I also think he would have put out a continuation bet on the flop. I considered how he would have played QQ and it was exactly what I had just witnessed - he flopped top set, gave me a free one, cold called the turn after he had filled up, and prayed for me to catch my flush, which I did. I was so convinced that he had QQ that I didn't even make the crying call. I guess I played it okay despite the fact that I lost a ton of chips.