Broken....OH NO!!!

So I've been playing Rock Band off and on for the past couple of weeks. I have been doing really well on the drums. In fact, I beat the game on medium and have finished most of the hard songs. I can play quite a few on expert and have unlocked the flawless drumming achievement. To get that achievement, you have to get 100% on a song while playing on the expert level. I also got my flawless groove achievement, for getting 100% on an expert song while only strumming up on bass. Finally, I got the flawless strummer achievement for getting 100% on an expert song on guitar. SO things were going well.

All of a sudden, in the middle of a song, the bass pedal snapped in half. I was killing the song at the time on expert and then the damn pedal broke. It was so frustrating. So I went to the support website, and now have to get a new bass pedal. I don't know how long it will take, hopefully only a couple of weeks. I decided to replace the drum pads as well. I figure, I might as well get the upgraded set while I'm replacing my bass pedal.

SO, that's pretty much been my weekend. In terms of poker, I have played in a few sit and go's and have cashed in a large majority of them. In fact, my return on sit and go's is the highest it's ever been. So that is very encouraging. I've been playing very well. I have picked off players making weak bets, and laying down hands when I should. That is one thing I have noticed about a lot of the players at lower levels. They do not know how to lay down big hands. I'm not saying that I do it all the time, but there are times when you know you are beat, and one pair of Kings are just not good enough. But I see it all the time. A great example is when I was in the BB with 72. Two players limp, and the SB calls. I have the worst hand, so I'm glad to check it down. The flop came 774. I flop GIN! Most of the time, I would bet right out, but that's usually when there was a pre-flop raise. However, the table is quite aggressive, and I know someone will take a shot at this pot. Sure enough, the UTG bets the pot, and the MP calls. I check-raise about 4 times his bet. UTG folds, but MP calls. The turn brings a King, so I go all-in, and he calls. He had 99.

I have started reading the Full Tilt Tournament Strategy book, and after that, I will be reading Championship Omaha by T.J. Cloutier. So the education continues. I have felt extremely encouraged by my results so far. However, I really need to work on my tournament game. I make it deep in tourneys, but lack the killer instinct and don't play off my image enough. SO that is one aspect of my game I'll be working on. I'm planning on playing in the South Sound Poker Championships. So I really need to step up the learning curve and get some table time. I have plenty of experience playing. But I need to get a lot more live play time. Well, time to get back to work. Good luck at the tables.

Frustrating

I've played in quite a few sit and go's over the past couple of days. I have cashed in a large majority. However, I'm frustrated because I can't seem to get past third. Ugh. It's so annoying. I have cashed third in 6 of the last 7. I'm glad that I'm cashing on a consistent basis. But it's still annoying that everytime we get down to three handed, I either take a bad beat, or run into a bigger hand. Oh well. All I can do is keep doing what I'm doing and playing as aggressive as possible.

I just finished reading Harrington on Hold'em Volumes 1 and 2. I feel that I have learned a lot from these books. Especially from the second volume. The M Zone section is very helpful. It has really helped me up my game and stop myself from being blinded away. When I reach a certain zone, I play a lot faster. It has helped me stay aggressive and not play passively. From time to time, I have pushed when I shouldn't have and got lucky. But that is a part of the game. You have to get lucky to win tournaments. You can't just sit back and wait for the nuts and hope to get paid off. You have to mix up your game and you have to steal the blinds to keep yourself in a viable position. So, I'll stay aggressive and try to pick my spots. Hopefully I will start to win some tournaments, rather than finish third.

On a side note, I checked my rating on poker-edge.com. It was quite encouraging to see that I was rated as a shark. Just a few months ago, I was rated as a green fish. So that is a big sign that I am doing the right things and playing aggressively. Aggression is the biggest key to playing poker. Play position and play aggressive. That is the formula for success.

UPDATE: I played another sit and go, and wouldn't you know it, I finished third AGAIN. OMG!!! I played really well, and put pressure on the other players and was reading them really well. I raised when I knew they didn't have much. Which in the lower limits can be risky because you will run into a lot of calling stations and loose players that overvalue marginal hands. However, my table image allowed me to do this because I had shown nothing but strong hands in the early stages of the tourney. What sucks is that during this streak, I have lost with strong hands to very weak players. I think I have let them take control of the hand and should have either bet or raised to protect my hand. SO, my streak is still alive. I've cashed in 9 straight, but I really want to win the next one.

Back from Mexico

My fiancee and I went to Puerto Vallarta for Valentine's day. It was an unbelivable trip. Tammy won the trip from her work for her excellent sales. So we were there with a group from her work. So we knew some of the people there. We left on February 14th and returned February 18th. We stayed at the Casa Magna, which was one of the best resorts I have ever seen. The resort was right on the ocean and the views were spectacular. When we left Seattle, it was about 45 degrees. When we landed in Puerto Vallarta, it was 85 degrees. The weather was flawless. Not a cloud in the sky the entire time we were there. A gentle ocean breeze during the day helped cool us off. All in all, the weather was perfect. I was not ready to come back to 40-50 degree weather. But you have to come home sometime.

Our first day in Mexico, we spent around the resort. We ate some lunch at the hotel bar and grill. That night, we ate dinner in the formal restaurant. The food at the hotel was excellent. Not once did we have a bad meal or a bad experience. The first day, we wanted to stay low key and just relax around the resort. That night, we went to the hot tub and had a great time. The best part about this trip, was that it was all inclusive. All meals and drinks, and the room were paid for. All we had to pay for were spa treatments and upgraded drinks, as well as the typical souvenirs, cigars, and the like.

On the second day, the group from her work took everyone out on a couple of catamarans to go whale watching and sailing. We were out on the water for about 4 hours. I put on a ton of sunblock before we left, but it wasn't enough. I got sunburned, but not too bad. That night, we went in to "Downtown" Puerto Vallarta, which is the old city. We ate at a restaurant called PiPi's. They had the best fajitas I have ever had. They made fresh guacamole at the table, which was just as good. The margaritas were huge, and were not watered down at all. Some places in America will bring you a large margarita, but put the same amount of alcohol as in a regular margarita. Not here. After two, I was pretty much done for the night. :)

All in all, it was an unbeliveable trip. I only had a chance to play poker once during the trip. I was sitting on the balcony Saturday night. It was a pretty mild night, and I was recovering from the night before and my sunburn. While we were in town, I bought some Cuban cigars and was smoking one on the balcony. I hooked up to the wireless connection and played a couple of sit and go's. It was nice. I took second in both, which was fine by me. I was in paradise, smoking a cuban cigar, drinking a mojito, basking in the 70 degree weather, and had the fresh scent of the beach and ocean in the air. Could life get any better? I submit it cannot. Finally, we had to come back to reality and head back home. We will definetely be back sometime. Hopefully not too long from now.

Home Game

We played our weekly home game tonight. I played pretty well most of the evening. I played my typical, small ball style. The night was pretty uneventful. I added to my stack slowly and steadily throughout the evening. Early on, I had KK in the BB. A late player raised, I decided to just call. I thought they might have AK, and they were pretty loose. I wanted to make sure an ace didn't hit the flop before getting too crazy. Plus, by just calling, I might get an extra bet out of them on the flop. The flop came jack high and they fired when I checked to them. Long story short. I called to the river, where I hit a king and raised. They had JJ and flopped a set. I rivered it, and got lucky.

Later, I had QQ and was up against AA and KK. Pretty sick hand. I got away from the ladies for pretty much the smallest amount I could lose. The action was pretty straightforward. Small raise, I re-raised, and the player behind me re-raised. The original raiser just called, and after thinking about a lot of different possibilities, I called. The flop came 334. Player bet, and I folded. Pretty simple hand. Outside of these hands, not much happened until later in the tourney. I kept stealing blinds and preying on weakness. I was adding to my stack and staying aggressive.

I had a run of some bad cards and a cold deck for a little while. I tried to play off my image and got re-raised a couple of times. So I couldn't really do much. I tried to just stay patient and observant and look for anything I could exploit. Finally, I got AK and came in for a raise. A short stacked player went all in and I called. I won the race and got me back into contention. The end of the tourney went pretty quickly. The chip leader took two players out in one hand, and we were heads up. It was getting late, and she offered me a chop, so I took it. She had me outchipped about 5:1. I have no doubt that I could come back to win the tourney. However, I was getting tired and didn't feel that it was worth the little extra. Technically, I finished second. So 5 in a row isn't bad. Maybe I'll start a new streak next week. At least my cash streak is still intact.

Tournament Update

Over the past few days, I've played in several tournaments on Full Tilt poker. I played in 7 tournaments, and cashed in 2 of them. The first tournament I cashed in was the $24,000 guarantee. I played really well throughout the entire tournament. I played very solid, aggressive poker; and was changing gears at all the right times. It was an amazing run. My strategy is to tighten up a little, once the bubble bursts. I do this because there is usually a mass exodus of players right after the bubble bursts. Short stacks start going all-in and loose players get caught pushing at the wrong time. So I tighten up for a couple of orbits and then go back to business as usual.

So, I did just that in the first tournament. We got down to about 20 players left, out of 699. I had JJ on the button and came in for my standard "small ball" raise. The small blind re-raised minimum. I called to see a flop, hoping to either catch a jack or to not see an ace or king. The flop came out Q-J-8. I was licking my chops, because I knew he was short stacked, and was going to push on the flop. Sure enough, he bet the pot. I re-raised to put him all-in and he called. He had AA, and was drawing extremely thin. Sure enough, he caught perfect on the last two. A running straight. That kind of beat late in a tournament can really make you want to chuck your computer out the window or pull your hair out. But, that's poker. I had him drawing to two outs on the flop, and 6 outs on the turn. I'll take a 9:1 favorite everyday. I went out 17th for a very modest score, nothing spectacular.

On a funny side note, I played in another tournament later that night, which I really shouldn't have. I was so tired that I ended up falling asleep in the middle part of it. When I woke up, I saw that I finished in the middle of the pack. Mental note, only play when you are awake and lucid. I was close to cashing in two of the other tournaments. In both tournaments, we were about 30 players from the bubble when I was eliminated. In the first tourney, I had AK and he had QQ. I lost the race and was out. In the second tourney, I had KK and he had AJ. Lost that one too, and again I was out.

Tonight I played in the $28,000 guarantee and the Fifty-Fifty. In the $28,000 guarantee, I kept adding to my stack and taking shots at orphan pots whenever I could, pretty much on auto pilot. Late in the tourney, a short stack shoved in for 9 BB's. I called with AK in the small blind. He had 88, I got no help, and doubled him up. Nothing much happened after that, and I went out 30 players before the money. Better luck next time. In the Fifty-Fifty, I was playing well, and trying to build big pots with my big hands, and outplay the other players on the flop. Everything was going well, and I was sitting a little better than average for most of the tournament. I got lucky a couple of times after we were in the money. I pushed with AJ when I only had 6 BB's, and got called by AK. The final hand was pretty frustrating. A loose player opened for 2.5 BB's, and I had JJ. I only had about 10 BB's, so it was a pretty easy shove. We were already in the money, pretty deep really. So I decided to shove. The player on the button called and the big blind re-raised all-in. Three players were all-in. I had JJ, the button had AA, and the big blind had KK. That has been my luck lately in tournaments. I do well, play well, then get unlucky late in the tournament. I ended up finishing in 28th place. Another modest, but not spectacular score.
I loved the structure of the Fifty-Fifty tournament. You only start with 2000 chips, but the blinds are 12 minutes. Most of the players were decent quality. I saw some questionable plays and calls. But nothing like the $5 or $10 tournaments. For the most part, there were a lot of knowledgable players. I will have to make sure to play in this tournament more often. Maybe next time I'll make the final table.