All kinds of things to write about today but time for only one. One topic would be ‘bad guys gone good’. How many times have you witnessed a player behaved so badly that even God would slap him and make him sit in a corner while a blind monkey got to play his chips for three days? These players are everywhere. Of course in a room that enforces rules and stops bad behavior, they either learn to stop or they can’t come back and play.

One such case is P. J. He used to play at the Mirage. Every night found him blasting chips across the green felt in a $15-$30 or $20-$40 7 Card Stud game. He played almost every hand but he never shied away from putting as many chips in the pot as he could, even when he had the worst hand.

When he was losing, he’d grumble, mumble the dealer and try to make them feel guilty for breathing air, let alone dealing the cards. When he was winning though…yippee skippy…the dealers all loved him. He threw more chips in their pockets than he could ever hope to win in a life time.

He was becoming unbearable at the Mirage and then he moved over to Bellagio, with everyone else, when it opened. He had several wars with players and dealers and ended up being sent home for the night more than once. Then the straw that not only broke the camel’s back but blew the camel all to hell leaving everyone stranded in the desert happened.

He got into a fight with Carina M. Word was that she instigated it but he picked up all the loose ends, stamped them into a bottle and lit the biggest Molotov Cocktail a poker table has ever seen. He was seriously going to ‘kick her ass’ and security had to come and escort him from the room. The whole room stopped. It appeared that he was going to fight security also but he finally gave up and left.

He was on the 86’d list and didn’t show his face for over two years. Perhaps he’s been back at the Mirage since then but the understanding when Bellagio opened was that if a player was barred from one room, they would be barred from both until the player understood that kind of behavior would not be tolerated. He magically appeared night before last. All kinds of beaming smiles and hand shaking and how are you and how have you been went on. So nice to see old friends come together…choke – sob – gasp!

He didn’t play the first night. He returned the following night and took a seat in $15-$30 7 Card Stud. He wasn’t winning but he appeared to be in control and calm…how long? Maybe he’s a bad guy tightly corked!

He’s not the only guy that ever got 86’d from a room. Bottoms was never allowed in the Mirage from the day it opened, until Eric D. was no longer the card room manager. What happened there? There are rumors but the truth is unknown so you figure it out.

Mike D. was 86’d from Bellagio for awhile. The first six months the room was open, J. C. P. was not allowed to play there…guess he saved a lot of ‘blues’ during that time period.

A few players laughingly ask, “Hey, what do I have to do to get 86’d? It would save me money.”

Nobody really wants to be 86’d. For one thing, if they want to play again in their favorite game, close to home, they have to face the music and admit they were wrong and learn to modify their behavior. A few of them have laughed about it, acted as if they could care less…but they always come back. Go figure!

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This post is done by Chanzes – during the time period that I took a break from posting in the Diary.