InFlux

I had two thoughts as I was playing The Mookie last night.

Thought No. 1 - Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Thought No. 2 - Why the fuck do I play these things again?

Unfortunately, thought number two came in the middle and lasted until the end, after my steal attempts were re-raised both times by Zeem, who seemed to know exactly what I was doing both times (despite only raising twice in 20 minutes). It came as I pissed away my chips by calling one raise with 5,5 and two other times limping with 5,5 and hoping to make it through the ring with a chance to see a flop, only to see shortie push both times. One time I seriously considered calling, which should tell you how frustrated I was, that I'm willing to put most of my chips on the line with a hand that would, at best, be a coin flip and could be totally dominated.
All of this isn't that unusual in a tough MTT. Tournaments go that way (at least they do for me), and it wasn't your night.
Except it coulda been.
I chipped up slowly but surely by playing a little more aggressive than normal. I told myself that a tight/aggressive game, my game, wasn't going to work against a field of bloggers, many of whom are capable of taking down a large MTT field on any given night. By the time Miami Don, a great player who was a little short, put me all in with his KK versus my AA, I had a decent-sized stack, and when my AA held, I was in 5th place.

Now you should know that I final tabled the Mookie and made the money in my first attempt. I do not expect that every time, nor do I expect it even once out of every five times. But, ya know, every once in a while would be nice, or else there's really no reason to keep playing, right, unless I'm willing to pay $11 just for the privelege of chatting and playing with players better than me (which is why I only play one event like this a week).

Eventually, the deck continued to go cold until I got QQ, and I was put all in by A,K and my Hiltons go down to an A on the river (can't it just come on the flop if it's going to come, I know it's a damn race but it sure feels like a suckout when it comes on the river).

Poor, impatient play and a little bad luck equals IGHN.

To put the cherry on my night, I bubbled two $5.50 SnGs in a row.

I have a feeling this is going to be an uneasy year. Last year I was happy playing tight/aggressive poker, only playing great starting hands at $25 NL and stacking idiots. Now I've found the idiots aren't out there as much anymore, even when I'm not playing The Mookie, and playing just solid, predictable poker ain't going to cut it anymore. As Jay Greenspan says in his Hunting Fish book that I started reading last night, all the books teach you how to play a tedious, predictable game, and that's the game I need to change a bit.
Unfortunately, that means flameouts like last night's Mookie, when I make plays I'm not used to making or I'm downright uncomfortable making, are going to happen more than I like.

I'm already a better player than I was two months ago, as I'm mixing up my game more. The goal is to be a better player by the end of 2007.

And not lose my bankroll in the process.