Paradise tightening up a bit

Interesting weekend of poker. Didn't get to play as much as I would have liked, but then with Jen, three kids and a house almost ready for the market, I'm surprised I was able to play at all. Spent most of the weekend making up for the $200 loss last week, which I was able to do with some much more difficult sessions on Paradise than what I had started out with two weeks ago. The first sessions on Paradise felt like playing at an ATM machine...I mean 11 pretty easy positive sessions in a row and clearing about $1400 in the process is nothing to sneeze at.

Then I lose a buy in last week for no good reason. The table was very loose, pre-flop raises were not really respected and I wasn't hitting. Should have walked after loosing the first $100 and chalked it up for a cold deck. But I tried to fight through it and ended up with a mini-tilt and lost the whole thing. It happens.

Played 4 sessions ove rthe course of the weekend...first three went well, picking up about $230 in the process. However the tables were much different than previous sessions. I was struggling to hit hands, big hands either didn't hold up or just picked up he blinds. suited connectors didn't connect and so forth. The exact opposite of the first two weeks on Paradise, when everything hit. But anyway, I made back the $200 I lost and was up for the start of April by about $70.

Then I was able to play last night with all three kids sleeping. What a disaster. Here I am thinking that I'll finally be able to concentrate on the game and get a nice session going and I sit down at a table of maniacs....Multi-way pots capped pre-flop, $150+ pots were the norm, and a couple of players that would try to buy pots at the first hint of a scary flop or hesitation by an opponent. Anyway, long story short, I was struggling to stay close to even for most of the session...I think I was up $40 at one point, but then lost it when my KK ran into a set of 3s. That was the hand the put me on the mini-tilt....four players see a flop that had been 3-bet pre-flop. 6-7-J rainbow...I check-raise on the flop, hoping to ditch some players and get to heads up...which I'm successful at doing. 10 on the turn, as 10-J had been getting played alot, and I was worried I had just walked into two pair. Remaining player checks and I bet into the pot, he calls and the river hits a 3. He bets, I raise, he-re-raises and I call....shows the set of threes and I cringe that he chased that down. Of course, KK was cracked about 8 times last night, so just chalk me up as one of the 8....amazing that he would chase that down. But that was the type of table I was at last night. 2-3 players that would call down any pot they were in, regardless of their cards. No way to bluff at pots (which cost me a chunk of change to figure out, as bluffing is a pretty big part of my game). So, in the end I loose my buy in when my last $40 goes into a pot with QQ and I get called down by A3os that hit a 3 on the flop and spikes an A on the river for 2 pair.

I have to get better about changing gears at these types of tables, as I know how to beat them. Biggest thing is to stop bluffing at pots without a solid hand, as some of these players think nothing of calling a 2-3 BB raise with third pair, almost like they know what you have in your hand....it's pretty scary to watch happen.

Speaking of, I'm seeing more and more internet sites offering up ways to cheat by getting players to download small software programs that will allow you to see their hole cards. I'm wondering if it is possible and if I've hit one of them by signing up through some of the shill sites to get better bonuses and free stuff. Might be time to run the anti-apyware stuff at home and see if anything is lurking on the computer...or maybe do a dump and re-install.

I'm probably just being paraniod, but I will start to make a list of players on Paradise that have been playing way too loose and keep an eye out for them. I had become way to reliant on PokerTracker on UB that would keep track of players for me. Since Paradise won't allow me to utilize the software live (have to email hand histories), I'll have to be more dilligent of my note taking.

Lots to do today....need to pack tonight for the Mexico trip and also hoping to play in Iggy's Blogger tourney on Pokerstars tonight at 9. I need to start focusing on tourney play soon if I have any hope of playing in and doing well in a WSOP event, or even Bishop's big event at the end of the month. Jen's working, so that will had a layer of complexity to the evening. at least I found my passport last night, so that's all set.

Not sure how much I'll be able to play or post over the balance of the week from Mexico...I'll have the laptop, but unsure about the connections and such from Mexico, not to mention that I'll hopefully have more to do in the evenings than sit in the hotel room. Hoping to find something for Jen and the kids on this trip, as I have no idea when I might make it back to Mexico.

Something to make Monday more bearable here at work

ttfn.