[2HighIsTheNutz]

Well it continues. It's completely unreal. Is it statistically possible to lose 30 18-man SNGs? I mean, you could click randomly and still finish ITM (top 4) at least 1/30 times I would think. I cannot win a big pot to save my life. Two memorable highlights: I FINALLY flopped a set for the first time in who knows how long - one limper along for the ride. Pocket 9s in the big blind. Bet on each street, guys just calling. There was an A on the flop, so nothing overly suspicious in his calling. Finally pull the trigger on the river after nothing scary comes up - guy has pocket A's for the over-set. I give him credit for the risky limp with aces, but what can I do? Nothing. Another time, flopped a 9-K straight with my J-9. Bet, bet, bet. Guy catches runner-runner flush. Whenever I'm short-stacked on the bubble (which is basically every single time now) the times I DO make it to the bubble, I have yet to win a race. Not a single one. In all those times. If I win ONE race, I double up and I'm ITM. Not a single damn time. About 75% of the time it's a guy calling my all-ins when I have JJ,QQ,KK (I always get AA in the big blind and it's folded to me - unreal I tell you) with a weak ace. Ace comes EVERY SINGLE TIME. It's gotten so bad that the only thing I do now is try and guess whether it's going to come out on the flop, turn, or river. Sometimes the monsters never come, so I have to push with A-rag or a couple of face cards. The game will go like 5 orbits with everyone folding to a raise, then when I stick my neck out the guy right in front of me (always directly in front of me) has a monster (usually A-K). It feels so set up. I used to get frustrated, but now I'm almost having fun with it because it's so ridiculous. When my entire bankroll is destroyed (NEVER happened before) in the next few days, I'll be glad it's finally over. Goodbye Full Tilt Poker. Thanks for completely ruining my love for the game.

I talked to a few players in one SNG to see if this has been something others have observed. Well, I'll tell you, did I ever open a can of worms. A lot of the profitable players (like I used to be) are really frustrated lately. If I had the time I'd check the results of showdowns between veteran players and new sign-ups. Two thoughts here: there was a recent amateur article released widely giving a step-by-step on how to make a poker bot, and I wonder if this has created some activity in the programming community? Also, I wonder whether (this has been mentioned before) there is some sort of edge given to new signups so that they don't get cleaned out as soon as they sign up and never come back. Give them a few wins and get them hooked maybe? If FTP was truly rigged my guess is that as the motive.

Anyway, I don't know what to make of this anymore. All I know is that making +EV plays has been causing me to lose money over an extended period. We're talking ~2500 hands here. And a lot of players are making really strange calls that have been paying off big MUCH MUCH TOO OFTEN. Defies common sense. Maybe players run insanely bad like this from time to time, I don't know. Anyone comment on this?