Back to My Roots

So far this month I've played 5 out of 6 days and posted 4 big wins. Today and Wednesday I spent at Garden City, mainly to avoid the zoo that Bay 101 has become leading up the Shooting Star tournament (there is a big tournament every day where they give out seats to either the $1,000 buy in events next week, or the main $10,000 event on March 16th). Garden City has been kind to me. Wednesday I played a marathon 10+ hour session and posted an $800 win, and today I played for 5 hours and won almost 4 racks.

Today didn't look like it was going to go very well. I showed up at Bay 101 around 10:45 to find a 20/40 list longer than my...well, you get the picture. It was long. Pete and I shoot the bull for 5 minutes, then decide to ask Steve, the main floor man, how long he thinks it'll be until the "top section" can claim another table. He tells us "probably an hour". And with that piece of news we're off to Garden City in our respective vehicles.

Immediately after our arrival Garden City is able to open a second 20/40 table. Pete and I take seats, tread water for a bit, then I take all of his money on a QJ4 flop where I happen to have the Queen and the Jack. Then Ted, the floor man, makes some noise about starting a 40/80 game. This is preposterous. He's got 5 names on the 20/40 list and 8 on the 40/80. The rub is that 6 of the 40/80 listees are currently playing in the 20/40 games. You do the math....Pete and I tell him as much, and he eventually decides to just start a 3rd 20/40 (which ensures that the 40/80 game will not be successful on this day at Garden City). So around 12:30, 75 minutes after opening the 2nd 20/40, Ted again calls down a 40/80, which eventually gets off the ground 7 handed, with Pete and I manning two of the seats. The game isn't very good and there are a couple of mega-fish seated in the 20s, so after winning, then losing, then barreling off some more chips, then winning a pot to get back to almost even, I drop back down to 20/40. 15 minutues later, Pete shows up at my table again. We play for a while, some new people come in, and again the game just isn't very good. I opt for one more table change and.....

In my first hand I post in the hi-jack and am dealt the 8 of clubs and the 3 of spades. This is a monstrous holding when it folds to me, worthy of a raise (as would any two cards). The cutoff cold calls and the big blind takes a look at a flop of:

Jc Tc 4c

Well then, I have a flush draw. Time to fire some bullets. I bet, and only the big blind calls.

4s

I bet once more, and again he calls.

Js

Yeesh, I bet again, he calls, and I declare "8-high" while tabling the beast. He rolls T6s for a veritable monster, and says "I'm surprised you even showed that hand". I smile, only.

The very next hand....Two limps and I raise 88. I get one cold call and the big blind comes along....then UTG 3-bets it. This is almost always Aces or Kings or some other monstrous holding. Players do this because they want to make sure they get lots of action with their big pocket pairs. The problem is that if you only do it with monsters, you give up so much info that it can't possibly be worth it. Anyway....we all call, and I behold the most beautiful flop of:

872 with two hearts

UTG bets right away and I raise right away. Everyone else folds, and he 3-bets. I 4-bet, and he 5-bets. I 6-bet and he calls.

4 (not a heart)

He donks. I raise. He calls.

Q (also not a heart)

He donks once more. For a moment I fear pocket Queens, then realize he only has 10 chips left. He can't even 3-bet me. I raise for the 6th time this hand. He raises me back for his last 2 chips. I calls and fast-roll my hand out of courtesy, and he mucks. To re-cap, thats 8.75 big bets he put into the pot ($350) when I knew pretty much exactly what he had from the moment he put in the 60th dollar preflop. Where do they find these people?