Retirement

   Well, I lost it. All of it. I headed up to GG this morning with the hope of making back some of my losses. That didn't happen. I lost two buy-ins, everything I brought. Time to reconsider my options. I won't go into specific hands except the first and last one. The last one not because it's a bad beat, but because it demonstrates something I learned today. I started out losing a big hand, but I think I played okay. I get pocket AA, raised to $10 and got two callers. Flop comes with 2 hearts and I lead out again for $30. One caller. Turn is another heart. The caller is first to act and bets into me. I fold, he flips over Q8 hearts. Good laydown, I'm thinking clearly and I made him pay for his flush draw. The next couple of hours were up and down then everything started to go south. I tightened up. Limped with big hands, called with long shot draws. I call it desperation. I kept looking at my stack dwindling and seeing everyone else winning with junk. I had to make something happen. I should have quit when I started feeling that way.
   In restrospect my mistakes were obvious. I failed to raise my big hands enough to get the junk hands out. I also called too much trying to win a big pot. I also got desperate and gambled too much.
   Last hand of the night. Pocket AA again in early position. I small raise, $6 knowing it was too little to push many hands out. I wanted to build a pot, win big. Flop is J95 two diamonds. I bet $16. He calls and the turn is a blank. I fire again, another $15 and he calls again. I knew on the flop I was pot committed as I only had about $40 behind. The river is another 9 and I shove in my last $26. He calls and flips over J9 for a full boat. I should have walked away hours ago when I started getting desperate.
  I told my wife I was busto. I now think I know where I stand at live NLHE, I suck. I guess I'll retire from live poker for a while. My losses for the last few weeks are just too much. I'll still play recreationally, maybe more tournaments too. But my plans on supplementing my income from poker are gone.