[pig4bill]

A couple of guys at work had mentioned Casino San Pablo a few times, so I decided to give it a try after work instead of fighting Friday traffic. It's fairly nice with a big parking lot and 15 to 20 poker tables. It's mostly limit with 3/6, 6/12, and 9/18. They have $100 no limit ond $300 to $500 no limit 2 nights a week. No free drinks, and smoking is allowed outside of the poker room (smoking is verboten indoors everywhere in California).

I got on the $100 NL list (about 5 deep) and sat at 3/6 while I waited. It's a strange blind structure with 3/2/2 blinds that creates a lot of action. The small blinds basically have to call if they have two cards, so UTG is getting 3 to 1 right off the bat. Almost every hand had 7 or more to the flop, so I probably should have played every hand, but I know how naturally unlucky I am so I played tight. The rake is not bad at $4 and they take no jackpot drop, yet they have generous jackpots. I was up $20 or so at one point, but 3 hours later, I finished down $50. It's a passive game but nobody wants to fold, either, so luck has a large role in your results. Yes, I did say 3 hours. They run only 2 NL tables, no matter what. Management's decision.

I got called for my NL seat just as I was about to leave. They play with $1 chips, which is ridiculous. It slows the game down to a glacial pace, and they actually encourage you to play out the racks to keep the game from coming to a complete standstill. It also has a 3 blind structure, all $2 but it's $4 to bring it in. That puts at least $12 in every pot, again creating action. I think it also had a $4 rake. There was a cute young chick in seat 10 that got felted and rebought about two hands after I sat down. The guys around me said she didn't play very well. Little did I know she was about to go on a huge monster luckbox heater that would make Jamie Gold look like a piker.

She started picking up improbable straights and flushes, one after another. Meanwhile I had doubled up with pocket aces that flopped a set and filled up on the end. This is when I often consider going home with a nice little profit. But I am a moron because I never do it. Then Cute Young Lucky Chick doubles up by calling a $100 pre-flop bet with 4 7 of clubs that rivers a full house. She lets out a scream and buys drinks for the entire table. Some guys jokingly give her grief for calling pre-flop with those rags and she says, I kid you not, "But they were sooted!". And she's serious.

I am just about to head home because it's 11 pm by now, when I pick up kings in the cutoff. The guy I doubled up through opens for $20, which is a bit high for this table. He's Mr. Big Stack at the table with about $800 behind. There are four more callers by the time it gets back to me. I don't want to see a flop with 5 other people with pocket kings so I push for about $220. I would be happy as hell if everyone folded. MBS goes into the tank. There is some commotion at the table, but I don't know what it is because I'm watching MBS. After 3 or 4 minutes I try talking him into a fold - "If you haven't called by now, I got you beat".

"Pocket rockets?"

"Pretty close."

After a few more seconds, he calls. Then Short Stack on the end calls for about a hundred. Now it's up to CYLC. She's got about $700 behind and asks MBS "Check it down?". Half the table including the dealer tell her she can't do that. Then she goes into the tank for a minute. "All in", and MBS calls. There is about $800 in the main pot and a thousand in the side pot. A crowd has gathered around and two floor are trying to shoo everyone away. We all show, MBS has the other two kings and I know I'm dead meat with zero outs. Dont't know what Short Stack had. CYLC called three all-in players with 8 10 of hearts. You know what happened before I say it - she won $1800 with a heart flush.

It was strange walking through the paring lot on the way out. Long lines of cars stalk everyone walking because there's no place to park. That place is apparently very busy late nights because I thought it had a big parking lot. It's near some very dicey areas and there were quite a few salty looking characters walking around, so I wouldn't want to park nearby and walk. I would suggest getting there early if you go. The casino has quite a few very large security guards inside and in the parking lot.