downswing or bad playing?
So I'm new to poker, roughly a month and half. I've done quite a bit of studying in my short time of playing. Up until 3 days ago I've been doing pretty well, I've been cashing out double and triple my buy in's roughly a third of the time. As of the last 3 days I've been busting every time I've played. It's not like I'm playing 7/2 suites in hopes of getting a flush, I'm playing strong hands like AKs, AQs and pocket 10s and up but not GETTING A SINGLE card on the board! Today I played I got AK of hearts and the the flop, all spades, turn another spade, I ended up folding and lost a lot of chips, next hand I was the short stack, pocket Queens. Forced to go all in so I did, villain AKo, board ran out no Queens, he wins with two pair for Aces and tens. In the last 3 days I've had pocket Queens 4 times and have not seen a Queen come on the board once. I feel as though this is a down swing but would like some other input on it this is me playing bad or bad fortune?
You have to understand the math of poker better. For example, you say
"In the last 3 days I've had pocket Queens 4 times and have not seen a Queen come on the board once. "
That is totally standard. If you have a pocket pair, then you will only flop a set 1 time in 9. So, missing 4 in a row is going to happen EXTREMELY FREQUENTLY.
Other spots may be some bad play. For instance, you mention that in one hand
" I played I got AK of hearts and the the flop, all spades, turn another spade, I ended up folding and lost a lot of chips"
Without knowing the exact action on the hand or the exact flop cards, I can't say for certain but there could be a leak in your game there. Unless there was a 3-bet preflop and the flop had both the A and K of spades on it, there really isn't any reason to lose "a lot of chips" with AK of hearts on an all spade flop. Without those conditions, AT MOST you should have lost a standard raise and maybe a C-bet.
What I'm saying is that with AK of hearts, I would have raised and if needed called a 3-bet preflop. On a flop with 3 spades, I'd have made a standard C-bet if I had the lead preflop AND was only against 1 opponent -- with 2 or more opponents in a pot, there are too many chances that you are beat on the flop to lead into them, even as the preflop raiser. If I did lead flop against 1 opponent and he raised, then I'd fold in almost all cases. If my opponent had 3 bet preflop and led on that flop, I'd be folding in almost all cases. The exception to folding on the flop would be if both the A and K of spades were on board and I thought my opponent could "bluff" with a hand like QQ with the Q of spades or JJ with the J of spades. The reason I'd stay with 2 pair there is even if I'm wrong, I still have a redraw to the full house -- it's unlikely to hit, but it gives me some equity as a backup, just in case my opponent is not bluffing. Also, in the case where my opponent 3-bet, having both the Ace and King of spades on board means I am much less likely to be up against AA or KK as well as a random suited Ace in spades -- all hands that are beating me on this flop and might 3-bet preflop. So, my opponent's range is limited to hands like QQ and JJ with a spade that could lead 3-bet preflop and lead on the flop, because they know that even if I call a flop bet, they have a strong flush draw as backup.
Dave
P.S. once the 4th spade hit the turn on your AK of hearts hand, you should not lose another chip.
try widening your range in late position. without more info on you're AKs hand its hard to speculate. for me if i'm stacked its a shove from early-mid position w/o call, or bbx3 late/button. position is everything.