Bad beats, bad play and the weirdest game of poker I have experienced so far!

Greetings,

I'll start with the bad beats; now i havent played much poker at all recently and the few games i have played have been destroyed by ridiculous bad beats. In which early on in tournaments i have got all my chips in with a hand that is a massive favourite only to suffer defeat.

Example 1 : I have A 8 off suit and am on the big blind, its folded round to the small blind who flat calls, thinking i have the best hand i raise and get flat called. The flop duly arrives 8 high, think it was (8, 2, 5). Small blind bets at the pot, i figure having played so passively pre-flop, he hasnt got a hand. I raise him and he responds by going all in - I am convinced given the way he had been playing he had nothing so i call. He flips over A 7, i think yes, that is until the turn and river are 4 & 6 respectively giving him a straight - out and gutted.

Example 2: I have A Q and put in a pre flop raise around 3 times the big blind and get one caller. The flop comes down Q x x - great i think and get a bet in, again I am re-raised all my chips, again i think i am ahead so call. My opponent turns over Q 6 and has no draws at all. The turn comes down 6 and i am out again - Gutted!!!

Now its only 2 bad beats but I have only played 4 games in about the last two weeks so 50% of them have ended this way!!!

My third game ended again in an early exit but this time it was my fault I raised pre-flop with AK and was flat called I missed the flop and put in a continuation bet as the flop looked harmless - i was flat called, i probably should have checked the turn but again bet and was flat called. The river came down and it didnt help, i bet out again (doh!) and the over guy lumped all his chips is - it was only another 300 to call so I called. He flipped over a pair of 3's and took it down. He had called all my bets despite this being the first hand i had been involved in and despite 5 overcards on the board. Ok I played the hand pretty bad but I figure so did he but as the saying goes you cant bluff a bad player, it was also i reminder that AK isnt a made hand!!

Now I have just played and won one of the most bizarre and frustrating Stt's i have ever played in. My connection was sluggish from the start but once i got into the game it was constantly dropping, the first time this has ever happened to me on stars. I was disconnected for ages and whn i finally got back on i had just over 1k in chips BUT there was only 3 other players, this soon became 3 and ensured me a payout. The connection picked up for the next 10 mins or so and I managed to get into the final to and build up a chip lead heads up before i was disconnected yet again. When i got back on the chip counts where almost level and few hands later I won the tourney with trip 3's!!!!

Maybe from now on I will enter tourney's and just sit out, seems I get more success that way - let the idiots knock each other out and that way I dont suffer any bad beats!!!

Bankroll: $271.02