Thin line between positive and negative...

I think these are the posts that make it obvious that I'm not crushing these games... instead, I play it fairly safe and consistent so I generally squeeze out profits and as the law of statistics suggest, in the end, I make money but not to the extent that guys do who are clearly playing at a different level. So, some nights, when I end up playing a very big pot, that could define whether I will be up for the night or down. Last night, relatively early in the session, this happened (this is not intended to be a bad beat story but rather an illustration):

I was dealt pocket 10's in middle position so I made a standard raise to $14. The guy right behind me paused for a little bit and then called. With online poker, you never know but for some reason, I got the feeling that he thought about raising so strangely enough, my initial reaction is that he might have a higher pair or AK. Everyone else folded so we went in to the flop heads up. Flop comes 10-5-6, all hearts. I bet $28 into a $34 pot because that's what I generally bet (approx 80% of the pot). He raises to $90 so it's $62 for me to call. I thought about just calling here but since I got the impression based on his bet size that he didn't want a call, I figured he couldn't have a made flush. The range of hands I put him on based on my preflop impression was AK, AA, KK, QQ, or JJ. There may be more but that was my initial thought. If he had trips too, that was just golden. So, unless he had AK of hearts, I am clearly ahead and if he's got a higher pocket pair with one heart, I wanted him to pay for his draws. Like I said, I considered the stop and go approach where I would call his raise and push on the turn as long as it wasn't a heart but here, I decided to come over the top. He insta-calls with AA, one heart. Turn was a black 9, and the river was a black.... A... brutal... I'd rather lose to a flush. No difference, I know, but still. That was a nice $800 pot for him... ($400) early in the session. I ended up battling back but I still ended the night down $200.

Like I said, I'm not complaining about the beat. Maybe if I called the flop and pushed the turn, he would have folded, though doubtful. Regardless, this is the type of hand where if I win, I clearly would have been up $600 for the night but instead, I was down $200. A big swing that I know is expected in the cash games but it affects me (not in a tilting kinda way but just my general profit) more than some of the other guys who are crushing this game because my game is more like chipping away at other people's money instead of dropping the hammer... Nonetheless, not a good start to for this month... after 3 days, I only have like $200 profit so far...