I’ve picked up a particularly nasty Trojan today. It’s the Trojan/Zlob, also known as Mssearchnet.exe and Nvctrl.exe. It’s some kind of adware to get me to buy SpyAxe. First, it hijacked my IE home page. I’ve removed it with 3 different spyware-removers, but it keeps coming back when I re-boot. Mrs. Big tried removing the files manually, but that didn’t work either. From what I’ve read, it’s extremely difficult to remove, but nowhere can I find the magic formula for actually getting rid of the damned thing.
I’ve used McAfee’s indo88, Pest Patrol, and SpywareNuker. Each time, it looks like the trojan has been found and removed, but when we re-boot, there it is again. I managed to get rid of the hijack portion, but I still get a little security pop-up from the system tray that’s a fake message from the trojan telling me I’m infected and need to download software. It also seems to be changing some of the security settings on my PC, and it is definitely blocking competitor’s websites.
So, I’m asking for some suggestions. Between Mrs. Big and I, we’ve got about 6 hours invested in this thing and I’d like to be done with it.
TQB, redux
$15 Turbo SNG, third hand, we’d already lost the 8 seat. This funny-guy gave me this gift in the form of the Worst. Play. Ever.
Come the flop, the only hands I could have played the way I did had him beat. I suspect he put me on AA and thought he could push me off thinking he represented AK as a possible hand. I don’t think I could have played it the way he did. I’d have been very scared of the trap and used a tester bet, or even checked behind, in his position.
How would you have played it in his shoes, holding the QQ? It’s tough, but he still had over T1300 in level 1, so a measure of prudence should probably have been in order.
But that’s just me.
As for the rest of the tourney, the 2-seat (who doubled up on the first hand putting all his money in pre-flop with JJ vs. AQo… whaaaaa?) kept attacking my blinds 90% of the time. He and I both lasted to the final 3, when I trapped him with the nut-flush and he called the river raise on the turn with 2nd pair. I had a 3-4X advantage heads-up and managed to bring it home again.
I’m nailing a lot of first places now in comparison to 2nd and 3rd. At first glance it looks like my short-handed and heads-up play is improving, but truthfully I’m getting heads-up with big chip leads, usually.
Oh, took a major shot (for me) in the wee hours last night, playing a $55+5 turbo. I dominated the table until I got crushed by a 2-outer (Aqs, with a flush-draw vs. Ajo) and eventually went out in 3rd. I still made nice change (for me), but it’s upsetting to be running the table when I’ve stepped up, staring a $267 first place (would have been my biggest ever) square in the eyes, and getting rivered. I’ve learned to mostly let the beats go by, but to get my hopes shattered that way is still a bitter pill to swallow. I still have some growing to do to let these type of situations just go. But, it was definitely a confidence builder, and I continue to see the advantages and benefits of selective aggression.
One thing I am noticing at the middle-level SNGs are more players that are obviously multi-tabling, just trying to hang on and cash. In the $55, I put 5 players on a “fit-or-fold” strategy, and just kept the pressure on. It was easy to lay down hands when they played back, because I was betting with nothing but air. But I nearly tripled-up before anyone either realized what I was doing or had a hand strong enough to stand up to me. It was a fantastic experience, and certainly showed me the benefits of staying focused at the table.
