$1500 pot imo

My experience yesterday at Garden City was a positive one, so I decided to head back today for some more 6 way raised 20/40 pots. The games at Garden City are looser than the ones at Bay 101, but also more aggressive. I find it easier to play at Bay 101, but the Garden City games are probably a bit more profitable for me (with a great deal more variance). These two hands should sum up the situation nicely.

So I'm minding my own business, playing pots, flopping sets, rivering 6 high straights, etc, etc, and find myself sitting on a $2900 stack, up 1900 bucks in about 3 hours. Then the following happens:

Asian Hat guy raises in very early position. Loose passive guy calls two cold, and young laggy guy on a life time heater takes two to the face. I find four big titties and make it 3 bets. Like one or two more people call behind me or in the blinds (I don't know, it's Garden City....4 handed pots are rare) and Asian Hat guy caps it up. We all call, and lets call it a 6 handed capped pot to the flop of:

AKQ rainbow

Huh. Now I have six big titties, but I need to be careful. Somehow it checks to me and I bet, and someone calls, and Asian Hat guy raises (the old cap check/raise line is always suspicious). Loose passive guy calls two cold, and I 3-bet, and they both call (Laggy guy on lifetime heater called too, cause I remember thinking there were 37 small bets in the pot at this point, 25 preflop and 12 on this street). I'm still a little concerned that my set of queens might not be good, what with the guy capping preflop and all, but I need to proceed like I have a monster, cause, well, I do.

6 of hearts, putting up a flush draw

Asian Hat guy, Loose Passive guy, and Laggy Heaterman all check. I bet. Asian Hat guy turbo-check-raises. I am a bit sad, and start wondering if I can lay this down if it get 3/bet. Loose passive guy calls, and blessedly Laggy Heaterman folds. I call only, and estimate the pot at 24 big bets.

Final board reads:

AKQ6-T with no flush possible.

Asian Hat guy bets, and Loose Passive guy calls. I call, sadly. Asian Hat guy rolls J9 of hearts for the most impossible to comprehend spewing of 5.5 big bets in recent memory. Loose passive guy rolls AJ for the same Ace-High straight. I am stunned, and make a note that Asian Hat guy might be aggressive.....

So I keep playing, and slowly but surely find my stack all the way down to about 1700 dollars (still a big winning day, but a 30 big bet down swing is never fun, even after a 50 big bet up swing). And then....

I am dealt the 7 and the 8 of spades in the big blind. Some players limp, and someone raises, and since it's Garden City a few people cold-call. I call, and the flop comes down 6 handed, for 6 big bets

QK4 with two spades

I am first to act, and I just donk right out (the preflop raiser is a little passive post flop, and he might not cbet a good bit of his range here, and I want to make sure some bets go in because I have like 33% equity so long as my flush draw is live). Someone calls, the preflop raiser calls, and then Gino raises. Gino is a nice old man who has sucked out on me in like 3 pots in the last 45 minutes (with stuff like A9 on a board of 842-J-A where I had 85s from the small blind). A loose passive awful player on the button takes two to the face, and I decide "what the heck, 3-bets" and 3-bet it. I do this because 5 ways, so long as my flush draw is live, I have an equity edge even if Gino flopped set.

Lifetime Heaterman (wait, it's coming) thinks long and hard and eventually calls. Preflop raiser calls, and Gino caps it. Loose passive button calls, I call, the dealer calls, two guys from the next table, and somebody's pet iguana tosses chips in and asks for two off the top. In all, 5 players go in for the cap and see the turn, with 16 big bets in the pot.

QK4 -T with still just two spades

I check, cause now I'm looking at 9 outs once, not twice. Heaterman bets (uh-oh) and preflop raiser makes it two bets. Gino calls, looking concerned, and the loose passive button also calls. I think about it for a minute (mostly holly-wooding it for the cameras) and calls. Heaterman 3-bets it and the preflop raiser caps it up. Gino, now obviously concerned, calls two cold again and loose passive button calls two more again. I call quickly now, and Heaterman calls the cap. 5 of us see the river, with 36 big bets in the pot, to the river....

5...of...spades

I donk. Heaterman is beside himself and eventually folds. Preflop raiser folds as well (they both claim to have folded the previous nuts, Ace-Jack). Gino calls, the button folds, and I roll my flush. Gino mucks, and it takes the dealer 5 shoves to get the whole pot to me, which I spend the next 4 hands stacking. For the next 20 minutes everyone is calling me lucky and saying things like "well, you paid for it" and all sorts of stuff like that. At the peak I had 3300 dollars on the table and left about 30 minutes later. It was one of those moments that makes me remember why I'm doing this :)