Is someone having a laugh - or are all the fish just dead?

I am sure we have all had the feeling that no matter what you do you can't win an online hand. No matter how many times you go in ahead, or how far ahead you are, the muppets still manage to out draw you. You sigh, reload or start up another Sit and Go and the same happens again and again until you start to question not luck, but the mechanics of the poker site on which you are playing.

Since day one of Internet poker there have been rumours of site fixing and a bias in poker software. I have never been one to back up this theory up and still hope (with all my heart) that this really is just a rumour.

However a bad run of cards can soon start these little gremlins of conspiracies past talking in your ear whilst sitting down to a game.

My most recent of these feelings were felt whilst playing on the ongame network. I have dropped and returned to a particular site on this network a number of times due to seemingly unfairness. The problem is that the site has such a good bonus structure, and this keeps me coming back.

This return started fine, I ran $50 up to $350 in the space of a couple of weeks and was getting close to completing my bonus. I was still seeing (or thought I saw), what appeared to be a dis proportionate amount of 60/40 and 70/30 hands going the wrong way, but it wasn't happening to me so I didn't care.

Then the mysterious "DOOM SWITCH" was flicked and I couldn't win a hand never mind a Sit and Go. I was constantly getting pushed into situations where I needed to go all in, yet couldn't win one if I was ahead or behind. Well the Gremlins got active ... my confidence dropped and I was starting to play poorly because I felt I couldn't win a hand whatever happened. One more fish had been added to the pond ... me!

So what was I doing here? What was I going to do about it? Well the bottom line is that I managed to clear my bonus and still make a profit before cashing out a little bit mentally worse for wear.

It is quite clear however that I held mental baggage from my previous playing history on this site. The rot from this luggage slowly set in until I couldn't play poker anymore. The only option was to cash out and play elsewhere where I haven't yet heard the demon on my shoulder telling me "this site aint right!"

So that's the ongame network struck off my playing list ...

Where next?

Well I have gone back to William Hill on Cryptologic (although I hear their time there is limited, a shame because I actually like Cryptologic) and have also been playing a few of the sub qualifiers on 888/Pacific for the Irish Open.

So far I have been playing OK and my slow profit building ability has returned ... this fish is now an amphibian and will hopefully be losing its gills somewhere in the near future.

In fact I am in an Irish Open qualifier tonight from a ticket I won this morning.

All I have to hope now is that I don't start to see an unlucky pattern setting in on these sites otherwise I will be fast having nowhere to play online poker.

So with my sanity slowly returning I will sign off for now ...

Keep it Tight!