No -- I don't think it was an actual superuser, but it sure as hell felt like I was playing with my cards face up and he had full control of the doom switch. The game was $50 NL HU cash. His game plan? limp every button, call every preflop raise from both positions, and run hotter than the surface of the sun. I think he had the stone cold nuts on each of the first 25 hands. It was sick. Every now and then this happens -- I'll play an opponent who is clearly terrible and (theoretically, at least) easy to exploit, and I get totally owned. Everything gets there for him, and I keep thinking "no one can play like this in a NL HU match and survive over the long term." But he keeps winning, and I start to feel like I can't win no matter what I do -- but of course I continue to play anyway. In the end I dropped at least 4 buy-ins, then made about 1.5 back before he quit me. I then found a super passive fish, played like a maniac on monkey tilt, and made another 1.5 buy-ins back.

Does this happen to other people?

First!
First blog entry. I hope to use this as a space to think and write about my progress as a player. I'm currently playing .25-.50 NL HU exclusively, and I only play one table. My goal is to get myself to 20 buy ins for the next level and take a shot. This is an aggressive approach to bankroll management that others don't use, but I'm comfortable with it. If I lose 3 buy ins, move back down.

Time to dropkick the HUD
About a month ago I started using HEM and its HUD. I like the display quite a bit, but there's no doubt that my results have suffered from relying too heavily on the display. Without it, I'm a more creative player - willing to take different lines to maximize my result. I like the meta game of constantly assessing my image, my opponent's tendencies and mood, recent history, etc. I think the HUD is holding me back. I find myself just attacking basic leaks with math-based play (e.g.: if he folds > 33% of the time, I show an automatic profit by raising the SB every time, etc) and abandoning some of the deeper analysis I was doing without it. To support my feeling about the HUD hurting me, I figure that my winrate was TWICE as good without it. My cards have not gone cold, I'm just not playing as well. From here on out, I'll abandon the HUD. Hopefully I can get back into my former rhythm quickly...