Agh! Phoot! Ack! I jumped right into a little group of non-friendlies…well two of them anyway and then the braying dog pack picked up the scent and went with it…all except Tex and Bruce. $40-$80 7 Card Stud. The locals…and a few that don’t live here but come into town often enough to be known as locals…filled the seats.

Joe, 1s, has been playing about six months or more on Swing. I don’t remember him from anyplace before but some of the players know him, possibly from back East.

Phyllis, 2s, a fuel injected grouch. I ran into her in the restroom once and her growl was, “When are you going to deal me a winner?” If this woman won every pot, she’d never be happy. She’s so unbelievable to deal to that if I knew the day I would deal her a pot, I’d take the day off.

I sat down and announced ‘Time Pot’. Dudley, 3s, put out a $10 chip and left the table. The ante is normally $5 but it’s a double ante for Time, $7 is taken from each player and the remainder goes into the middle. The 4s was absent and I took $7 from the stack and tossed an absent button at the chips, spread the new deck, scrambled, and shuffled up and dealt Dudley in.

That’s when the noise started. It went something like this: Joe, “He’s not even here, use your brain, that’s what God gave it to you for.”

“I am using my brain. He didn’t state that he was paying only time, he anteed.”

Phyllis took off, “Why would you deal him in? Common sense would let you know not to deal him in…”

Poor little old me replied, “He anteed. If I don’t deal him in, it’s a misdeal.”

Both of them did a mish-mash jumble, telling me that Dudley had no intention of taking a hand, that I should give him back $3 change, and that if I could think, I would’ve known that’s what he was doing.

Phyllis ended with, “Don’t try to tell HER anything, she knows everything.”

I replied, “Yes, I do! I’ve been dealing for over 20 years and I do my job the way it should be done.”

They both implied I was a retard, possibly they were kneeing each other under the table by now, and they were enjoying nipping at my heels as I ran for the woods.

Dudley returned and asked if he got change, I told him that he didn’t say he was only paying the Time and that he’d been dealt a hand.

The dog pack went into a frenzied rage now, jumping and barking, baiting me.
I lost it. Suzie was at the center podium and I called her over. I explained the situation and she stated that I was totally correct. There was no way that I could know that he was only playing time and if that was the case, he should have told me.

Phyllis jumped in, “But this is a TIME POT! She should know better than to deal him in.”

Suzie continued that there was no way that I would assume he didn’t want a hand unless he told me he didn’t want a hand and that if I didn’t deal him in, it was a misdeal. She was wonderful.

They continued after she walked away, ‘common sense would work here, anyone would know that he wanted to pay only time…’ They were brain dead.

I had a fit. I said, “All a player has to do is say they’re paying time only. What if they anteed and walked over to put something in the garbage and returned? If didn’t deal them in because it’s a Time Pot, then it’s a misdeal. The house rule is that it would be a misdeal.”

Another player told me to drop it. I replied, “Hell no! I’m not dropping it until they do. I’m not going to sit for a half hour and listen to that.”

Now Joe R., in the 5s started with the common sense thing. I just couldn’t believe that these people were smart enough to have handled their money long enough to be playing $40-$80…since they couldn’t figure out that I was DOING MY JOB!

Tex had been on his cell phone during all of this, he won the pot, ended his conversation, and asked, “What’s wrong, Linda? Are you ok?”

I said, “No. I’m getting shit for doing my job.”

Tex replied, “I’m sorry, I was on the phone, what happened?”

Joe R. jumped in with, “Don’t use those bad words.”

I laughed and it all blew over.

The rest of my night was easy. Sometimes the bumps in the road make me realize how good life really is.

*******

I failed to mention that A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez has been in playing lately. Last Friday night, I dealt table 19, and he got a seat at that table just after I left…$15-$30 Holdem. All the noise around the room is that he’s a ‘great guy’.

*******

I jumped into a $30 + 3, single table tournament at Empire when I got home from work. About the 4th hand, I lost my connection. Have no idea what the problem was; all of my other internet connections worked. I called tech and they told me to reboot.

I’m thinking, Damn…I’ll be critically wounded in chip count by the time I get back to the table.

I rebooted, jumped back into the game, had missed about 12 hands, and I won the tournament…Woo-Hoo!!! I love this country.

*****
I was part of this project. Sweet!
Howard Lederer’s ‘Secrets of No Limit Holdem’