NOVICE VIEW - Poker can be brutal

I have had a mixed couple of days playing poker at ParadisePoker.com. I have come to realized that Poker can be a cruel game, probably much like everything else in life. Only, poker seems to have the ability to whack you down to earth quicker than anything else.

I entered a $10+$1 sit and go for a couple of nights in a row. I immediately recognized one or two names at the table. One player who I knew was weak, and another one who seemed to bet or call anything. Keeping notes, I realize, can be very helpful. It was a strange game for me. First of all I never hit a pair until there were just three players left, and those were deuces. Now I player as tight as I can, so it was hard to make any hand, however, I managed to steal a couple of pots, and actually got lucky when checking on the big blind with bad cards. I reached heads up with just over a third of the chips. I just got a feeling that my opponent was going all in with every hand. I let it go until I hit 10 h Jh. I called, and flopped two 10s. Btw. I had the chip lead and he seemed to choke up. He went All In with a meaningless hand and I called with pocket 8`s. The cards were insignificant and I won. A great feeling.

The next two session were painful. On the first I hardly ever hit a decent hand. I decided to call an all in with JQ off suit after I haled the best hand with two Q`s. It turned out that the other player was gambling with 6J. Only problem is there was a 6 on the board and he hit a third on the river. Sucks.

Feeling a bit shaky, I made a ridiculous all in call with A Q off suit, after the other player had put in a sizeable bet before the flop. The rest is history, I guess that`s what you call "tilt". It wasn`t happening for me and I got desperate.

Two things worry me: strategy if you are just not getting the cards, and how to play the lower suited connectors. I feel like I need to learn how to get into the game without being stupid.