Quote:
Originally Posted by DesertCat
I remember when Garrett showed up at Casino Arizona after black friday. It was extraordinary how many people lined up to play with him because of the tremendous action he put in. I swear it appeared he opened close to half his hands and three bet most of them.
I first played a bit of 40-80 limit holdem with him without ever realizing he was the other voice on those GMan/Fslexcduck videos. Finally one day I sat down to play short handed 5-10 spread limit with him. I had the nerve to 3b Garrett with AQo, and it was the closest I ever came to wetting myself at a poker table.
I was playing a lot of graveyard that era and remember one night where it seemed the 5-10 broke around 1 am, the regs shambling off with their chips after the last fish left. Then I look up and see it's still going, Garrett heads up with P, a genial older man and relentless drinker. The thing is, I always regarded P as somewhat of a nitty game selector even as he was drinking (which he did so constantly it never really seemed to affect him) and P never played short, let alone headsup. Those two engaged in an epic headsup battle that was still going when I made my dawn exit. As I was driving home, all I could think was, did I just see WTF I thought I saw and what the heck happened to make P do that?
The thing was, no one except the best players seemed to understand there was cold brilliant reasoning behind Garrett's mayhem. Seemingly solid players mistook him for some dumb over-aggro roided up muscle-head, and couldn't wait to play with him. I never understood how anyone could talk to Garrett for any length of time without it becoming crystal clear that he was an extraordinary person, and player.
The best players clearly benefited from the craziness of the games he created, but I doubt they enjoyed the hands they had to play against him. Since he left over a year ago it seems like the 5-10 is mostly on life support, and my theory was that he earned his win rate many times over for the room because he made the games more fun for the fish, and more profitable for the best players. Now when the 5-10 runs it looks like paint drying, super nitty lineups preying on one or two fish.
Garrett was a ridiculous tornado that blew into town, tilting the untilt-ables until games became chip blizzards. He reminded me of Schwarznegger in Pumping Iron, not because of his body building, but because they both are supremely confident, amazing gifted, loudly gregarious, and at the end, stone cold killers at getting into their opponent's heads.
He left after too short a time, and when he did the room didn't just lose a hell of a character, but his games became far less fun and interesting, but to be honest, quite a bit less scary too.
This is a glowing, but accurate description of how Garrett affected the AZ games before leaving. Though the game has made a bit of a comeback in the last month, the 5/10 mostly went through a 1 year dry spell after Garrett left. I don't expect the game to ever be as consistently fun, exciting, or profitable as it was during that time.
Also, rumor is that Garrett more or less broke P in that heads up match....
Quote:
Originally Posted by DGAF
Garrett is very good at variance...
GL Jerry!
+1 lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by macgyver72
as a huge Survivor fan I'd have to say that going in in ridiculous good shape is a huge obstacle to overcome. Hopefully gman is smart enough to know to tank it in challenges so he doesnt get the dreaded "physical threat" tag or else he wont be able to do better than top 5 or 6 at best
This is the only thing that worries me about Garrett's chances, and I think it's significant. No doubt he's stronger, smarter, and has worked harder to prepare than the other contestants.
However, I've seen him make good friends with 70+ year old nits and with drug dealers at the tables. Hopefully, he puts these "soft skills" to work on Survivor so he can do his best to blend in.
Can't wait to watch. GL!
Good luck Garrett! 
