Another Beautiful Break Even Day

So I decided to let my rush at Garden City play out, and think it's safe to declare the thing dead. Today was one of those days where, while walking to the cage, you simply cannot believe you have as many chips as you do. Going through the bad beats, one at a time, it just seems impossible that you have any chips, let alone nearly as many as you started with. And away...we go....

Shortly after sitting down I find myself a nice pair of ones in the hole. I raise, and we see the flop about 4 ways for 3 bets:

KQJ

Yeesh.

I bet, and two of them call, plus one guy is all in.

A

Top set! Yahoo? I bet, and two of them call again.

Blank

I bet, and one of them raises. Other guy folds, and I muck. QTo good sir.

A few hands later, a huge fish open raises in late position and I 3-bet AQo. He calls only and we're heads up:

T52

I bet and he calls.

Q

I bet and he raises. I 3-bet to put him all in, he calls and shows TT. OK, so that one wasn't really a bad beat, but I didn't HAVE to catch TPTK on the turn, right?

So by now I've determined that I have at least one looney toon on my hands at the table. I limp in with 33 and he raises in late position. 5 of us see the flop of:

JT4 with two hearts (I have the 3 of hearts)

It checks to him and he bets. I raise because I have read his soul. Everyone else folds, but he 3-bets. Perhaps my soul read was incorrect? I call.

JT4-T with 3 hearts now

Well soul read or not, we're showing this puppy down now. I've got a slew of outs and there are 9 big bets in the pot after he bets.

JT4-T-4

I play the board....I check, he bets, I fold, and he shows his hand to his neighbor. I invoke "show one show all" and he proudly displays 76 of diamonds. He says something about "That won't work again any time soon" and I say "It didn't work there either, man. I can't call you playing the board". Another player says "Pocket 3s?" and I just shake my head up and down and rest it in my hand.

Time for some more Aces...This time I manage to get it only 3 ways preflop, and overs buttons kick in after the flop (the stakes are now up to 30/60). Actually, I don't really remember this board, but I do know that one of my opponents went running spades to make a flush and that I was not too thrilled about it. Now the real chaos kicks off:

I am in the big blind and find 76o. Not a gem by any means, but certainly worth a call in a 5 handed pot, getting 9:1 with almost no chance of more bets going in. The flop is:

952 with two spades

It's checked to an early position player who bets. I call, kind of concerned about the flush draw out there but still unwilling to lay down a gut shot at this price. 4 of us call, so we've got 7 big bets in the pot and find a gorgeous

952-8

Sweet sassy molassy, I've done it again! I check and the guy bets again. Some fishy lady calls, and I do the checkin' an' raisin' routine. They both call, and we've now got 13 big bets out there, to go along nicely with my nut hand.

952-8-T

Great card, I say. Sure I don't have the nuts anymore but...wha?! You raise? I call! QJo good m'aam. Quickly now, we can't fall behind....

This one is pretty standard. I raise 99 and see the flop about 5 ways. I flop top set on a board of:

983r

Awesomeness. 2 bets go in 3 ways and this pot is getting big.

983-J

Still good. 1 bet goes in, and I still have two opponents.

986-J-7

Kenny (the guy who still owes me $100 that I'll never see because he took McCain straight up on election night, then welched on the bet 30 minutes later when he realized the Vegas line was like 5:1 or something preposterous like that) donks, and I just fold. My other opponent actually calls, and they chop it up with JT and AT respectively.

I haven't had aces in an hour or so, so I figure now would be a nice time to get them cracked again. I manage to limit the betting to 4 ways, and see a flop of:

K72r

That is what one might call a "dry" flop, in that it doesn't really present much in the way of "draws". I bet and get two callers. Overs kick in and the board comes heart, heart. On the river my lone remaining opponent raises me all in for 3 more chips. He has A9 of hearts, which on the flop was dead to running hearts or running 9s. He says "I was getting ready to go home" to which I respond, literally "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah". I will now note that this is the same looney toon from the pocket 3s hand above.

I've saved the best for last. Against my now favorite villain who just runner runnered the flush against my aces and got bailed out by the board while trying to triple-barrel bluff 7-high a few hours ago, I again walk into a mine field. He raises and is promptly 3-bet (for some reason I am no-where near the Jesus seat, and in retrospect this concerns me) by another player who can be described only as mildy psychotic post flop. Another player calls 3 cold and I find T9s in the big blind. Meh, I call. It's probably a fold, but against these 3 guys it can't be wrong to jump into the pot. Here it comes:

935 with two spades (I have clubs)

I check and call one bet. For some reason (perhaps it was the preflop 3-bet) my spidey sense is tingling. I smell an over pair! The preflop raiser, the looney and myself remain in a 7.5 big bet pot.

T

Top two. Gin. Now watch what I do here, cause this is awesome. I donk (because 3 bets is more than 2). Looney calls, and the preflop raiser raises. I 3-bet, and looney looks really pissed off. He then calls, and I place him firmly on a flush draw. Preflop raiser folds saying "I know what he's got". Never mind that his over pair has 8 outs to beat my hand, and at least 5 or 6 to win total even if the other guy turned the nut flush draw face up, or that he is getting 15.5:1. He knows that I've got and it's time to fold his hand. I won't even tell you what card hit on the river, but rest assured I only put in one bet, showed down, and lost. To a flush.

Somehow, after all this chaos and destruction, after 6.5 hours of play I stumbled to the cage with $1817, less than 200 below my starting total of 4 racks. For the life of me I can't remember where I won it all.