Not a good start to '08

I was able to get a couple sessions and a tournament in at Tampa Bay Downs this weekend.

The first session I was able to sit at a new table and bought in for the max. I pretty much had nothing exciting happen as I lost the first buy-in and the second one till the last hand. On the last hand I called with suited connectors. I ended up flopping the flush and raised the other player all-in. He had top pair and no flush draw. He ended up going runner runner boat and that was the ned of my $200 loss for the session.

I went back later for the $85 tournament. You start with 3000 in chips. I had it up to 1100 when the following hand comes. The villan in the hand had around 7k to start the hand. The villan was the type of player who liked to play tricky but was not a maniac. I am in the BB with 8h6h. There are two limpers including the villan who was on the button. The flop comes K,7,5 with one heart and its checked all the way around. The turn is the 7h pairing the board and bringin in my flush draw along with the straight draw. Its checked to the villan who bets out 700 into the 800 pot. I quickly put him on some kind of flush draw. I don't think he hs a K in this spot as I believe he bets almost 100% of the time on the flop with that board texture. When the 7 hits on the turn his bet seems way too much for him to have caught the 7. If he hits trips here I think he bets no more than 400. The river is a non-heart 8. I check and he bets 2000 into the 2200 pot. This bet really seems fishy to me. IF he has trips he is going to bet less to try and get called and if he has a K I think he bets less in case I slow played a 7. Basically his betting agreed with what I put him on, aheart draw that didn't get there. After about a minute I called. He says "you called be, what do you have." Uh, no. The dealer makes him turn over hs hand, the J,10 for nothing. I table the 8,6 and my pair of 8's is good.

This guy just absolutely goes off. Some of the things he called me were a donkey (twice), a fuckin donkey and an idiot. I told him his betting pattern didnt make sense for a hand that had me beat. Well, that tilted him enough to where he goes all-in the next hand and ends up losing the rest of his chips in about 10 minutes. At the break I was up to 14k with the blinds going to 200/400/25.

After the break I took some flops and missed bringing me don to around 11k. I got into a blind vs blind hand that took a couple thousand from me. The last hand in the 300/600/50 level I have around 7k. I get Ad6d in EP and limp. We are 3 handed to the flop of 10,4,3 all diamonds for the nuts. I check and the other two check. The turn pairs the 3. I check, the next player bets 1000, the next lady raises to 2500 and I shove. Both shove behind me. Shit. One has a straight draw with no diamond, good. The lady flopped a set and boated on the turn. Drawing dead and out of the tournament in 20th. Oh well. the final table streak was stopped at three. I was able to get two $5 bounties to reduce the loss to $75.

After the tourney I played some more $1/$2 NL. Fairly early I busted a player and nearly doubled up. I had it up tp around $265 for a $165 profit before the wheels fell off again. One particular hand vs an agressive player he raises to 15 pre-flop. I call with Ad10d. The flop comes 8 high. Hhe leads for $25 and I min-raise to $50. He shoves and I insta-muck. He flips over the Q,Q. I think it is a good play if he is holding something like A,K or A,Q there. At closing time I was down $57.

Not a good start to '08. I leave tomorrow for 5 days in Tunica. Hopefully I can turn '08 around in a hurry. One time please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!