Being able to adjust to the skill of the players you are sitting with is really what a lot of this boils down to. I think that is also implied in TP's first post on this thread.
If you read a book or two about how to crush play proper high limit strategy and then sit down at a $.50/$1 table and employ that strategy, guess who will lose money in the long run?
Without the experience that fills in the blanks before you get to higher limits, you will be throwing money away making plays that at pots when you are likely in a game full of calling stations.
This is why the "how you played AA" comes into play. There are many inventive ways to play AA when you are going to be heads up in a pot and need to disguise the strength of your hand to get the most out of it. But, if you will likely have 6-8 players in the hand with you if you "smooth call" with it from EP (vs only 4-6 if you raise with it inEP
) you are doing yourself a disservice by calling. Once you get a few players to limp behind you, getting them to get out of the way is next to impossible.
It is VERY hard sometimes to look long term in games full of crappy players. I have played at tables I KNEW were goldmines and busted out 2-3 times before I proceeded to take it all back from the 2-3 players who were just giving it away. The key is to find a way NOT to go off because "that moron called wit that flush draw when he didn't have the odds...." and just keep waiting for situations to put him back in that same situation again....and again....and again.....
Seems like there are two fairly distinct sides to this discussion. IMO, while there frequently seems to be a target planted on your forehead (bad luck), just keep it level and keep looking for players putting money in the middle in bad spots.
Maybe some of you who seem down should keep notes on your play All the time. Have you ever been on a good run? Write it down, start a blog, etc.
So much of poker at some level comes down to attitude at the table and internally that sitting down waiting for a suckout will just tear you up.