A little history is in order here. In October of last year, I posted about a bad exchange I’d been having with Cuckoo. Everything seems to resolve itself, one way or another. In December, he was standing in the high limit section and I walked by and touched his arm, and asked how he was doing. His reply was that everything was “Ok.”

A little later in the night, he passed me again and this time said something along these lines. He was just being mean when he gave me the heat, during my conversation with Freddie and him, that night in the Sports Book. Since then, each time we’ve passed each other, it’s definitely a more sincere, “Hello, how are you?” exchange.

I dealt to him a couple of times this week. Last night he was playing $400-$800 Mixed Games, on table 1, and in the 4s. The game was 7 Card Stud. He lost a huge pot. Held his cards for a little longer than necessary, but laid them down instead of throwing them at me. A few hands later, he held his two hole cards by the edges between his thumb and index finger, horizontal to the table. He meant to give a squeeze and have them pop out to the muck as he was folding. He squeezed too hard and one of them shot right into my upper chest, a few inches below my chin. My eyes popped open, it was so unexpected. I looked at him and he apologized immediately. I know he didn’t mean to do that. I didn’t say anything, just went on with the hand.

Curtis and Jason were sitting next to each other and a few hands later, they started a commentary, “Wow! Wish I could learn how to do that…that was pretty smooth…”

Cuckoo blushed, “Did you see the look on her face?”

I said, “He didn’t mean to do that.”

They both went into “That’s what you think, he knew what he was doing…”

I said, “He’s a professional card thrower. I’ve seen his moves. If he wanted to throw them, he’d just throw them.”

Sam G.’s comment, “Can you do that with a saw blade?” Well what else would you expect from a professional, high limit, railbird?

Hey, shit happens. You can’t always think someone’s out to get you or everything’s intentional…I do know the difference. There’s a time to scream for a decision and report someone’s bad behavior and there’s a time to just get over it and get on with the game.

So here’s the difference:

A week ago I’m dealing $80-$160 Holdem. Taz is in the 8s. He’s a regular – sort of off and on – bad tempered when he’s losing but otherwise he’s easy to get along with. He flopped a set of 4’s in a pot raised pre-flop. The raiser held 7-7. Board, 10-5-4-8-6…lots of action, action, action. He raised the River and got raised and called. His cards sailed up in the air and one landed in the muck and the other flew into my hand.

I immediately said, “Just set your cards down.”

I’ve dealt to him many times and this is typical for him, there’s no reason for me to let him get started with his ‘I’m having a bad day’ routine when I’m the one that has to do the dodging.

The next hand I dealt, the action was still on the 3s, when Taz’s cards flew through the air about nose level, out in the area of the 3s. I sternly said, “You are going to need to fold in turn and set your cards down. I’m not going to dodge them while I’m dealing to you.”

The next hand, when the action came to him, his hole cards were setting a few inches from his chips, right between his arms which were resting on the table. I waited a few seconds and when he didn’t move, I said, “It’s up to you.”

He motioned to his cards and said, “Take them.”

I yelled for a decision. The 5s, a California player, said, “It’s ok. It’s ok, you don’t have to call anyone.”

I said, “It’s not ok!” and screamed again for a decision.

Nate appeared. I told him exactly what happened. He told Taz that he would have to fold in turn and push his cards in. That if he didn’t want to play while I was dealing, to take a walk. Otherwise he’d be dealt out. The 1s gave Nate a tip and said, “Good decision.”

Taz was fine with that. He behaved. A little later I stopped and visited with him for a second, after the game broke (it was a must move). Hey…he’s really not mad at “Linda”, he’s just mad at the dealer, no matter who it is. His behavior is terminal…never ending…always the same. Mine might be too….