APRIL 07, 2008

The money train made a stop today - it was an unscheduled stop as the train actually derailed and smashed into a family of four. I boarded the train before lunch and quickly was in the hole over $1k. It was one of those sessions where I lost every coin toss and my big hands weren't holding up. When I was already down a little and needing a boost, I raised with A-J, was immediately re-raised, and for whatever reason, I just didn't believe the guy had me dominated. I figured he had a pair of fours or something and would lay down to a third raise. He knew I was serious, but made the call anyways, with just enough in reserve to save it or push it depending on the texture of the flop. Well, the hand he called me with was 8s-7s and the flop didn't let him down, giving him two medium spades. I called his push with the best hand but the river filled his inside straight flush draw to give me an indication of what the rest of my day was going to be like. There was another hand soon after in which I flopped the nut straight against top pair, top kicker. It came running aces to give him the nut full house.

I would have easily dropped two grand had my luck not even out a bit - I closed the session with a $640 loss. After lunch, I got back on the train and again fell victim to bad luck with straights and flushes getting counterfeited and my trips not holding up. I took a big loss on a hand I wound up folding. I raised with A-T and was called in two places. The flop came (5-T-8) and I made a $60 pot-sized bet to get it over with. The first guy folded but the button called, raising my suspicions. The turn was another ten but I was too deep-stacked to shove it in when the other guy may have just filled up. I check-called his bet of $180, hoping to either fill up on the river or see him check behind with a pair of kings or the case ten. The river was a nine and I told myself if he pushes his $360, then I'm outta there, which is what happened. It is far more likely that he had a full house than a ten with a weaker kicker. I would love to know for sure, but this hand won't be televised so I never will. I clocked out of my post-lunch session with a $480 loss.

I squeezed in one more session while the kids did homework and even though I went down right away, I managed to climb back and escape with a $135 profit. Later, I blew $300 on tourneys and called the end to a miserable day, $1200 loser.