Hard times

I actually reached a point this weekend where I felt like I really hated this game. It seemed like I could not catch a break. On Saturday, I ended up calling with small to large pocket pair on five separate occasions against a short stack that pushed. On all of those occasions, the short stack turned over a smaller pocket pair - 9s vs. 8s, 8s vs. 7s, Qs vs 8s, 9s vs. 4s, and another I can recall. On FOUR of the five times, the lower pair flopped their set to win the pot. Now, I know sets happen. About 1 out of every 8 times, which is 12.5%. Not 80%. Couldn't catch a straight or a flush (unless I had already folded of course), close to bone dry on big pocket pairs and A/K or A/Q combinations. When I got busted out of another tournament (again) holding pocket jacks to A/To when the board came A/K/J/A/K (and yes, that was the order, so I filled out my full house before he did and got counterfeited on the river), I was seriously on tilt.

Oddly enough, I actually did okay on my last tournament of the day (9th out of 180), but I don't think I have ever been that frustrated by this game. I know, the bad beats and bad runs happen. I guess it just seems like it happened at a time when I thought I was improving, and now I'm doubting that pretty seriously. I'm rereading (or listening, actually, since I have it on audiobook) to Gordon's Little Green Book, so I am feeling a little calmer, but I actually feel a small hint of dread about playing right now. When is my (technically) better play going to pay off with better results? Is there still a serious gap in my play I need to plug? For the record, I believe there are smaller holes that still need work, but I thought I was making solid advancement in my core skills, and this recent relatively dry spell is seriously sapping my confidence.