I don't know what the odds of one player having the lone card with 3 on the board, but they've got to be very long indeed. I figured him for a straight draw. The other guy I knew was betting the flush against me, as he turned over the second nut flush. The only way I could have and probably should have figured him for the case 7 was he only called every bet. Again, the odds he had it made it impossible for me to lay down the nut flush. I think.

Unfortunately, that was only one time out of many, many during the two day implosion.

he could have had a pocket pair or paired on of the other 2 cards for a full house.

Cactus Jack - thanks for the post. I guess misery loves company and I have been having a miserable March. So far I have lost all of my earnings since the first of the year. I admit that isn't a whole lot but it has really hurt my bankroll. I will post my first losing month in over a year if things don't turn around.

Some of my loses are from bad play on my part but I too have been losing on those hands that I should have won big. Last night was a good example of my month. I'm cruising along in my regular Saturday night MTT with 20 left and I'm in the top ten. In the BB I get J9. I have no plan to play it but only get 3 limpers and I get a free flop - T87. I had to look twice to confirm I had flopped the nut straight. SB bets out and I raise with pot sized bet. Button reraises me all in (he has me covered). I called, happy to have the action. Button shows 88 for the set. Of course a ten floats down the river to bust me out in 20th place.

I have quit counting how many times I have lost on the river this month. It is getting very frustrating.

I wish i had some words of wisdom to help you out but I'm not the one to be listening to with advice. I'm just trying hard to play solid and keep my mistakes down to a minimum. I know that the poker gods will smile on me again someday. I HOPE.

No doubt my game still needs a lot of work. I've spent the weekend analyzing my play and have realized what I may be doing wrong. (Full houses are definitely something I frequently don't see, unfortunately.)

As I've gotten more experience and won more money, I've started to play too loose and often way too cute. I'm playing too many hands too aggressively. I'm using my position and taking stabs at pots I shouldn't. My tournament play often bleeds over into my ring game and vice versa. Combine all that with some pretty bad luck and the BR takes it on the chin.

This week I'm going back toward more ABC play. I've done more reading this weekend than I have in the past month and found a lot things I've not been doing right. I'm probably going to play more ring limit games and less tournaments to try to right the ship. I've also got the Interpoker bonus to clear this week and next, so that will definitely slow down the tournament play.

I've yet to decide whether I can be successful playing tournaments. I can make a little with SNGs, but I've yet to play two and three tables to a successful conclusion. Busted out twice on the bubble. And bigger MTTs have simply been a waste of time for me. I'd rather play tourneys, but so far they've been a complete -EV.

Thanks for the replies in the thread. They've helped a lot. Feel free to comment on any of this, as I learn so much more from others than out of my own head.

In my experience, which isn't enough to go by of course, when there are 3 X's on the board, it seems like somebody has the 4th X about 1 time in 3 to 1 time in 4. Obviously, it happens more when a bunch of people see the flop.

One memorable hand: I get AA, raise to 5x the BB first in, only the blinds call. Flop is 222. I have to figure I'm good here, right? Nope. The BB called my preflop raise with K2o. Unreal.