There are times that I do a self evaluation and search through my being to see what I am, where I am, what the hell I think I’m doing, and how I got where I am. This search continues for days at times. It’s so intense it’s like looking for light at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Lately I’ve found myself quite at peace with me. Well…enter the end of my night…table 1.

I waited for the dealer to finish the hand. Seat 1 – Larry, Seat 3 – Curtis B., Seat 7 – A familiar face but unknown name. Curtis was horribly drunk. His eyes wavered between focus and oblivion and he turned to Carmen and said, “You’d better watch this game because I’m going to have a fucking fit with one of them.”

He looked at me.

I said, “No you won’t. You’ve got too much class for that.”

He bellowed, “The fuck I do!”

I should just leave it here and let your imagination run with it but I won’t. This is fairly long so take a deep breath, get your favorite beverage, and kick back. I’ll paint the picture, you watch it unfold.

The games are Omaha 8 or Better, 7 Card Stud, and 7 Card Stud 8 or Better, $400-$800 Limit. Something had happened with the dealer I was pushing, Mary C., but I’m not sure what. Curtis was moaning and telling her how much he ‘had been going to give her’ type of thing. The 7 Seat said something about her dropping the deck.

The game was Omaha 8 or Better. One hand Larry quartered the 7 Seat. Since their bets were laying in front of them, the 7 Seat cut off half of his bet and pushed it to Larry. The center pot held 2 – $100 Chips. I gave one to Larry for the high and the other one to the 7 Seat because he was left of the Button for the Low Half. Curtis tried to cause a dispute over that, believing that I didn’t do it right. Carmen was watching the game and trying to keep it down to a dull roar.

Curtis raised it blind in the Small Blind and got a call from the 7 Seat. Curtis flopped a wheel and the 7 Seat turned a Flush. They split the pot and Curtis had a mini-tiz because he’d flopped the nuts and ‘she’ put up a spade on the turn so he only got half the pot. Guess who SHE is!

I happened to look up at him as I shuffled and he looked at me with a look of begging hatred, like I was the executioner and I wouldn’t answer the phone ringing down the hall, which he knew was his pardon from the governor, and my finger moved maliciously towards the ‘switch’ that would suck his life away.

The 7 Seat was being a little flirtatious with Carmen and Curtis made several comments about ‘how big her ass was’. Carmen took it well and laughingly agreed with him. She’s a classic beauty, a regal queen, and handles herself very well. It would take more than this to ruffle her feathers. She left the area to greet Bruce M., Graveyard Supervisor, just coming on shift.

Curtis called Larry and the 7 Seat names, as in like ‘stupid cocksuckers’ and a few other wonderful, endearing terms. They played the game with him. He went to the bathroom and came back. He split another pot and started making comments about why did he ever tip anyone. It went on incessantly and finally I asked, “Why talk about it?”

I should have/could have just kept my mouth shut but he was really overbearing and out of line. He went off on me. Then Larry agreed with him that I was out of line. I just got lynched without the judge and jury. I wasn’t out of line. But they dragged me out of the jail cell when the deputy went to dinner and aghhh…choke…gasp!

Curtis thanked Larry, way too many times, for agreeing with him and then demanded to know what I meant.

I said, “Never mind.”

We played through eight hands of 7 Stud 8 or Better and when the game changed, I announced twice that we were playing 7 Card Stud. Marybel came to sit with Curtis. She’s his lovely wife. She plays $4-$8 and $8-$16 Holdem and some low limit Stud. She’s very quiet and I always enjoy seeing her in a game.

The 3rd or 4th hand of 7 Stud, Curtis ended up with Larry at the River. Larry said, “Two pair.” Curtis turned up an 8 low. Marybel whispered to him that it was 7 Card Stud. He backhanded a glass of water across the table and floor – knocking one of the three Game Plaques onto the floor with the sweep of his hand. The glass flew off of the table and hit the credenza and the floor…amazingly, it didn’t break.

I yelled for Carmen.

She came up and asked what was going on. Curtis tried to focus on me, slurring out the words, “You tell your side of it and then I’ll tell mine.”

I did tell Carmen what had happened. I don’t have a side. I just deal the cards and run the game.

He really was very intoxicated and I believe that he wasn’t really aware of his behavior at this point but it doesn’t change the fact that this was a nightmare Down for any dealer. He was out of control and capable of hurting someone.

He said he didn’t think he threw the glass and asked me what I thought. I said that the way it appeared to me, he’d hit the glass. He said he didn’t think so but maybe I was right.

Carmen started wiping up water with a towel and picked up Game Plaques and arranged them on the table again. Bruce came up and patted Curtis on the shoulder and spoke with him for a moment. I don’t even know what was said, too much going on for me to assess all of it and I was NOT HAPPY!

As Bruce walked away, the 7 Seat told Curtis that he was going to have to be more cautious because Curtis could have hit him with the glass. Curtis semi-acknowledged the statement and then told me that he couldn’t play with me dealing because he would never tip me again.

He then went on to say that I ‘pulled a dirty’ on him. I said, “All I said was, why talk about it?”

He said, “No. You said I threw the glass. Do you think I threw it?”

I said, “Yes. It appeared to me that you hit it.”

Curtis then turned to Marybel and told her to never tip another dealer in the room.

I got pushed out of the game. I ran, no walking, stumbling, or tripping, to Bruce and Carmen who were standing by the Page Desk. I practically lost it, emotionally irritated to the point that I could barely get a word out without having to stop and take a breath, I told them both that he was completely OUT OF LINE. I interjected my statements with his swearing statements and explained his bad behavior and then turned tail and went to my last down.

I was tight jawed and slipping out of Marianas Trench as I finished my night…wondering why in the hell I’m still dealing with this part of mankind that really gouges a huge hole in the rainbow of life. I don’t know the answer so I’ll keep looking. It ain’t pretty though.