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.