Quad-Coaster Weekend

Now that Dancing with the Stars and the Olympics are over, half the eye-candy on TV is gone. At least my online play won't be so easily distracted now. Wifey and I got plenty of live play in over the weekend, and even got to meet the infamous Doc. Chako, who ran off with a couple of my stacks....

We'd put in a few hours almost every day at PJ Pocket's, just watching their Monte Carlo board escalate. Quad Aces and Kings at $600+, Jacks at $1600, Eights $700, Tens and Sevens over $400. My wife had this feeling that once one of them hit, the rest would just come tumbling after... we wanted to be there to see of some of it would come tumbling into our laps. After almost a week, the Quads still hadn't been hit, and we were in the plus column overall by about $300.

We decided to go spread the wealth and return to our original stomping ground, the Midway Casino. They closed down a few months back, but is now under new management, and a banner hanging outside said, "Grand Opening, Feb. 24th." Friday night, we cruised down there, and entered through the backstreets. When we made the turn around the building into the parking lot... it was completely empty! The Grand Opening banner now had a crude 8 patched over the 4.

The night was young and so we continued on to a nearby Silver Dollar. This particular location was doing High Hand payouts every two hours, but the only Monte Carlo Jackpots they paid were Royal Flushes. So a few hands in, literally within 10 minutes of sitting down, I limp in EP with QTo and flop two-pair. I lead out and get callers, even as it comes runner-runner Tens. I drag a nice pot, but the High Hand for this period was Quad Queens, and I wouldn't have gotten a Monte Carlo even if they were paying it cause I "only" had a one-card Quad.

The VERY NEXT hand, I get Pocket 9s and flop a set. When the Turn is the 9 of Hearts, completing the flush, I get a bit tricky (at 3/6!) and check it to the guy holding the Nut Flush, who does the betting for me. Yes, EasyCure, I guess am a Quad-peddler. :) I built myself another nice pot, and the missus noted that I've probably now used up my karmic wad for the entire year.

I sit on my pile of chips for awhile and watch as beat after miss after beat is administered to the wife. She finally hit the felt, but I had her covered so we decided to move on. Next stop was the Silver Dollar here by work, where they had High Hands AND Monte Carlo Quad payouts, but I wasn't expecting to hit any of them. Nothing too exciting at that location, except for the fact that we ran into 3 other people that had also left the house that evening to go to the Midway's Grand Reopening, but had to settle for the Silver Dollar. About two hours in, the wife hit the felt and I had doubled up to cover her, so we headed towards home to see how PJ's Quad board was doing.

The place was jumping, as it usually is on the weekends. They have a nice bar/club area, lots of pool tables and live bands and a dance floor, so it's a popular general hang out location for the kids. We weren't suprised to see all the people, but it was surprising to see that half the board had been hit... Kings, Eights, Royal, and most of them on Thursday - the one night we weren't there! Aces, Tens and Sevens were over $700 and Jacks were $1800, so still worth hanging around for.

We got a seat at their 4th and final feeder table, with three older Korean men in business suits who were obviously new to playing and readily giving away their money. As I waited for a hand that I could get paid on, I looked around for a face I'd only seen in pictures... Doc. Chako had text-messaged me earlier that evening asking if I wanted to hit PJ's. Ah-ha, table 2, seat 6, with a rack and a half in front of him. When the button had passed, I went over to say hi and introduce myself. He was now down to less than half a rack, saying he should have left hours ago, and that this was probably his last hand or two. Yea, I've heard that one before! :)

After a bit, there were enough seats open to break down our table, and me, my wife, and the Korean business men all ended up at Table 3. I managed to tread water for a bit, but my wife picked the hot seat and went on a tear. It all started when she flopped a Straight Flush - 78d, flop was 69Td. There was a bet before her that she called, but the action died when the 3d hit the Turn... obviously no one else had a big Diamond. She flipped over her cards, got paid the $50 jackpot, and got her name up for the last High Hand block for the night.

A bit later, she flopped the nut straight with QT. The way she played it, I knew she had it; but I didn't tell the 3 people behind her - especially the one who raised her on the River with his lower straight. She dragged another huge pot the next hand with another flopped straight. After a few more rounds, I was up $50, and she had over 3 racks in front of her. This is the mound of chips Doc witnessed as he left after almost getting back to even. I racked up and she said she would do the same after the next orbit. She managed to fill up another rack by the time the blinds got back around to her.

Quads twice in a row, running into other Midway wannabes, meeting Doc, flopping a straight flush... needless to say, a fun and profitable Friday night! We *had* to go back on Saturday night, so she could collect her $100 High Hand payout, which obviously held up. When we got there, the Jacks were finally crossed off, at $1966. Turns out the guy who hit it was in the same seat the wife was in the previous night, so it was definitely a hot seat that just kept paying out! We got in on the feeder table again and not too long after, the person to my right hit the Quad Aces for $898. What sucked about that one was that someone had just changed seats the hand prior... if he had stayed where he was for one more hand, I think the Aces would have been mine. Instead, all I got was a free drink as the winner bought the table a round.

Just as the night before, our must-move table broke down and we all filled in on table 3. Doc showed up again, asking if we had ever left from the night before! He was first up on the list, and took over the seat that Mr. $1966 Quad Jacks left open, and yes, it continued to be a heater. I experienced it first hand when he flopped a set against my TPTK, and then he took me again when his T4 sooooted rivered the flush against my flopped two-pair. I had just read how he played T5s, but I didn't think he could stoop so low as to play T4!!! Protecting his Kill leg, he justified. Even when I moved directly to his left, he was getting cards left and right. I finally got moved to the main game, and saw him cashing out with over 4 racks.

The wife and I only lasted another hour or so after that, but we still came out ahead for the weekend. Had a lot of fun and got in plenty of play time; but now that the Quad board has fallen, I can get back to my regularly scheduled life... though I hear the Bad Beat at the Muckleshoot hasn't been hit in a few months and is now up to $290K... hmmmm....