I’m normally off on Sundays but I was asked to come in and deal a media tournament. I did. The best part of it was that I was invited into the launch of the World Poker Tour. It’s a huge event, beginning with Bellagio’s $10,000 Buy-In No Limit Holdem Tournament that begins tomorrow. This tournament will kick off the beginning of poker that’s televised in a completely new format. The viewer will be privy to the hole cards of each player. Instead of witnessing A-A raising and battling it out with A-K, the viewer will now see the 9-4 off-suit, the folds, the bluffs, the great play, the glamour, the glitz and the excitement of what draws us all to the poker table.

Get ready for all those non-playable hands and all the bad plays that you thought your hero would never do, because you’re going to see it now.

I find this to be very good for poker. My feeling has always been that hell is 10 of us sitting at a table fighting over the same $500 into eternity. If we don’t invite and excite the new player, we grow stagnant and broke over time. Let’s rejoice when something comes along that really feeds the poker world.

Bellagio’s Tournament is supposed to run for three days and then take a day of rest and get ready for the final days of play that will be televised and played on a stage. This is the projected stage.

Not only will this be done at Bellagio, it will be done at all participating casinos. The final and grand finale will be announced.

*****

After leaving the convention center and returning to the poker room, I dealt two of the media tables. It was fun. I knew some of the players and it was very easy to deal. Jack McClelland is our tournament director and he does a wonderful job. He puts forth a great effort in time, energy, and knowledge to make sure everything is as it should be. BTW, I dealt to June Fields at the 1st table.

I then moved into a satellite for the tournament Bellagio hosts tomorrow. One of the players was Scotty Nyugen, WSOP Tournament Champion and a frequent player at Bellagio. He bit my head off when he raised, heads up. After hesitating a moment, I started to pull in the original bet and Scotty’s call. This is standard procedure. If it appears that the other person is thinking and may call, dealers are supposed to pull in the bet and call and leave the raise in front of the Raiser.

He said, “Don’t put your hands on my money! He knows what the raise is, just leave it.”

I said, “It’s my understanding that I’m supposed to bring in the bet and call and leave the raise. I’m sorry.”

Don’t think for one half of a second that I’m really sorry. It’s just a way to escape the wrath of an ego maniac that thinks the rules apply to everyone but them.

I left the bet and the other player called. On the Flop Scotty checked and the other player bet a large amount, Scotty folded. I feel the reason Scotty was so irritated was that a few hands before, a player raised $3,750 all-in and Scotty thought and thought and then called with K-Q off-suit…this action was pre-flop. The raiser had A-4 of Clubs and won the pot.

Great player? I don’t know. I wouldn’t have called pre-flop with that hand and that raise in particular, but what the hell do I know…I’m just a dealer.

I think Scotty won one of the satellites later in the night. Good for him. Not because I care one way or the other but I’m never one to rain on any one’s parade.

The rest of my night was fairly simple, just shuffle up and deal, game after game after game. There was nothing in high limit and no cranky butts to deal with except Wally. He’s always there, lurking on the edge of a perfectly peaceful poker game, zinging the cards into your hands if your hands are on the table. I have a solution for the Wally’s of the world…when they zip the cards into the rack, I just turn the hand up, leave it lay on the table as I state, “These cards are exposed and out of play.”

Hey, if you don’t want the world to know what you throw away, don’t throw your cards at my hands, Dude.

My mother never really knew what she wanted me to be when I grew up. However, when she died in 1975, I was a legal secretary. Dealing poker is a far cry from working in the legal system. She probably would turn over in her grave if she knew that I was a poker dealer and player.

My father tried to gamble away all the household pennies more than once and I have many memories of her walking the floor at night, crying out loud, and wondering how in the hell she would feed eight of us kids. I was very young and I would always wake up and cry right along with her, even though I had no idea what it was all about, because when my mom felt bad, so did I.

I deal to and play poker with people, on a daily basis, that make me wonder what’s waiting at home for them. The longer I sit at the table, the more insight I have into the heart of my fellow man/woman. I’ve spent more nights with a lot of men than their wives or girlfriends will ever spend with them. I know most of you better than you know yourselves.

Sure, you may beat me to death in a poker game or treat me like I’m nobody just because I deal poker…but I have the advantage. I learn from you. I’m not drawing dead in the game of life.