Table 27 was the beginning of my night. It was a Bellagio Five Diamond World Poker Classic Tournament table. There were eight players, the ante was $200 each and $800-$1600 Blind. At the time I began my down, the announcement was made that they would play another 100 minutes or until they lost 1 player – that would put the contestants for the title at 36.

Unfortunately, Doyle B. “Dolly” was the one that ended the tournament for the day. Eli B. was on the button and raised with A-3 Clubs, Doyle, in the big blind, called all-in with A-9 Off and Eli flopped a pair of treys to send Doyle and everyone else home for the night.

Previous to this hand, Doyle had mentioned that he hoped someone would put him out of his misery so he didn’t have to come back tomorrow with a short stack and try to play through it. I like Doyle. I’ve dealt to him for years and I find him to be a good man with a good heart. I get a kick out of him…when he’s having a bad day; I keep my hands up because the cards may go sailing down the table. But he’s not throwing them at me.

After all the chips were counted and verified and everyone else had left the table, Eli B. looked at me and said, “Thanks for not busting me.”

I should have just let it go but I can’t. Too many years of the same B.S. and I say what I think so I took off with it. “I never bust you.”

“You never break me?” with a look.

“I never take credit for your wins so why would I take credit for your losses?”

“You break me when you deal to me.”

I said, “You get mad at me for something I have no control over. All I do is deal the cards.”

He managed to get out the fact that he got mad at poker, not me, just as the next dealer pushed. Gee, wonder why in the hell he doesn’t throw his cards at ‘poker’ instead of at me when he takes a beat?

*****

After the next 2 games, the rest of the night was high limit. Yes, I dealt $200-$400 Blind Pot Limit Omaha to the usual suspects…George was one of them. I managed to leave the box unscathed and even knew what was in the pot at all times. Whew! George didn’t go broke during my down, which was really nice for me. I didn’t have to ‘listen’ to any of it.

*****

Table 4 was $75-$150 Omaha 8 or Better with a 1/4 Kill…or so it said on the Game Plaque. However, the dealer I pushed told me they were actually playing $100-$200 limit with a $150-$300 Kill. Ugh! As soon as a limit is changed, the dealer’s supposed to call the Brush and get an OK and change the Game Plaque. I did.

A little altercation…Shuen was in the 8 seat on a kill hand and put in $50 because he was talking to his sweater. Jimmy G. was in the 9 seat and raised it. I got Shuen’s attention and he tried to take back the $50…he finally called and everyone else folded. Shuen began making a deal with Jimmy to get his money back and let Jimmy take the blinds. Jimmy said ‘ok’ but then asked me to put out the flop so they could see what they might have made. I did.

Then Jimmy was expected to put the Kill on it and he didn’t think he should have to. I called for a decision. It was long and ugly but the decision was that Jimmy would have to pay the kill.

Jimmy kept trying to get Shuen to pay half of the kill since Shuen got his money back. None of that happened so Jimmy ended up paying the kill. Shuen left the game a few minutes later and most of the players were glad that he went. No splits and no deals in a hand when the ‘kill’ is on it, they all know that.