The most interesting things always seem to happen in High Limit. It’s the one place that you can sometimes, depending on the situation, swear with them and be part of the group. Very seldom ever that you’re included in the group, but it does happen.

During one session last week, Chau was in the 1s and Minh in the 8s, they got involved in a hand together, and yakked it up, back and forth, with me in the middle. Their English is broken and can sometimes be a little difficult to understand.

Minh declared that he had a certain hand, and Chau said, “I don’t fucking believe you,” it was meant in a joking manner and they bantered back and forth.

Chau didn’t call. And as I dealt the next hand, Minh prodded, “What did he say?”

I said, “He said he didn’t fucking believe you.”

They roared over it.

In this same game, Jennifer was having a horrible day. Her whole table presence was ‘gloom, mixed with more gloom, and solidified with double gloom’.

They were playing $2,000-$4,000 and she split a pot with Phil I. in the Omaha 8 or Better. I meant to give Jennifer the odd chip because she had the high hand. It was the case of brain wants to do something, hands fail to obey. She queried me as to why he got the extra chip, it was supposed to be split.

I said I thought I gave it to her. Chau interjected and said I didn’t. She told me it was supposed to be split, I said I didn’t know, she followed with, “Did you ask? Next time ask, if you don’t know.”

I said, “Ok! I will,” then asked Phil to give her a $500 chip. He did.

I got pushed a few minutes later and I stopped behind Chau, he handed me a toke and told me I gave the best massages…Jennifer mumbled something, I stopped behind her and put my hands on her shoulders and said, “Don’t be mad at me, Jennifer.”

She jumped like someone had screamed, “Clear!” and hit her chest with a defibrillator. She threw both arms out to the side and exclaimed, “Don’t touch me!”

I said, “Ok!” and moved away like the house was on fire. About that time David G., almost yelled, “She was only kidding.”

I turned around as I was exiting the High Limit area, and Jennifer was looking at me too, “I was only kidding!”

I said, “Ok.”

She continued, “I hope you know I was only kidding.”

Experience has taught me there is a very fine line between dealing and playing. Sometimes you’re just better off to move on and not say anything, even if everything’s in jest…in a heart beat, it’s not…it’s painful and ugly.

I said, “Ok,” and kept moving. I was off for the night. That was on Monday night, on Wednesday I passed her on my way to a break. She was standing by the Middle Podium. I said, “Don’t touch me.”
She really, really, expressed and over expressed, that she was only kidding.

We visited through most of my break…she was waiting for a seat in a game. I gave her a CD of the pictures that were taken in Aruba. I had one of her in a bikini, only the upper body is in the shot, when she came to the Azzurro Restaurant to see who/what was going on. I told her the picture was on the CD and that I had made copies for the dealers and a few supervisors that worked the Tournament. She asked me how much it would cost to buy all the copies…funny!

Back to that same game, on Monday night.

David G. was in the 4s. He’s such a nit. Not that that makes him a bad person but he likes to JAB the fact that someone made a mistake or isn’t paying attention…he’s pointed out to all dealers that they ‘have to pay attention’. Well in this game, he put in $2,000 for the Small Blind, which is $1,000.

I really wanted to say, “David, you have to pay attention! You’re playing for real money here!” in a demanding voice, but instead, I pushed the extra $1,000 back to him and just dealt without saying a word.

*****

I’m always amazed when someone gets 86’d for bad behavior. No, not the fact that they get 86’d but the fact that they immediately try to come back into the room as a player. Maybe I’m a strange bird but if I behaved so poorly that I was asked to leave, I’m not sure I could stand to walk back into the room and act as if nothing had happened. It happens all the time in the poker industry.

Some of them are long term sickos…err…ahhh…offenders and some of them are short term. To me, it’s like saying I’m an idiot and I can’t take a beat so they had to throw me out…but why the hell do I want to go back? Hit the discussion page for this one.

Perfect example would be Ritchie, high limit Holdem player, dealt to him for years, he’s really mad as hell when he’s not winning, the smile goes only to his ear lobes when he is, and when he’s away from the table.

He literally was told that if he didn’t leave the table, Security was going to be called. He sat there until Security was called, then left the table…after stating that the dealer was ‘fucking lying’. But he was back on Monday, apologetic, ready to behave. Ugh!

*****

Discussion with Ed, mentioned in previous posts…he’s cool and ‘with it’…we talked about player anger. His opt was, “How can they not think they are going to lose a hand?”

My opt was, “They react because of other things in their life, not necessarily poker, but their unhappiness and actions in other things.”

We spent one of my downs/dead-spreads with this discussion…hey, this kid knows what’s going on…but does the rest of the poker playing world?

A curiosity thing with me, posed on the ‘discussion/poker forum’ I share with pokersearch.com and onlinepokerrooms.com. At what age or time in your life, did you learn or become interested in playing poker?

I was a late bloomer. Poker was a total taboo in my family life. My mother hated it with a passion, felt that anyone that played poker was a ‘slacker, liar, degenerate’, and a few other unmentionables, and yet…my dad played the game. It was never a pretty site.

I can remember being so distressed when I was a little girl and my mother walked the floor, crying and swearing over my dad, I woke up in the night, more than once, to hear her crying, and I sat beside her and cried because she cried. I didn’t need a reason…she was reason enough. She was my mom, my mainstay, my life line and reason to be. I don’t believe that the only reason she cried was over poker play. Only a fool would believe that, but it took some years of seasoning and learning to understand the foundation of the tears.

Yet, my dad did play poker, and many times he put everything we were about in jeopardy. We grew up as a bunch of rag tag brats, moving from town to town, traveling from state to state, in the back seat of a car, jammed to the top with belongings and whatever we could take with us. We lived in the easiest to find rentals, shabby accommodations with outside plumbing and wood stoves most of the time. We always wore hand-me-downs, and in this day, would almost be classed as Street People.

The long and short of it is that my mom and dad were divorced after 29 1/2 years of marriage, never a happy, comfortable, or loving marriage. That was a long time ago. I gave up trying to understand why and how people spend their lives together in a sexual, living relationship, when they aren’t happy. I realize that things were much different in that era than they are now in terms of ‘staying together’.

When I finally landed in the ‘poker arena’, it was in full tilt, ready to gamble mode. It was the wildest rush I’d ever experienced in my life, packed, tamped, and shoved down my throat, ready to blow out through my eyes and nostrils, the most addicting experience I’d ever had.

But I didn’t step into this ‘arena’ until I was 32. I know a lot of people grow up playing poker. It’s played at the kitchen table, a weekly home game, a private barbershop get-together, and anything and everything else…yet I’d never experienced it before. I always felt that it was something off limits until I stepped into it for the first time. Upbringing? Ah…yes!

Amazingly, I come across people that have been playing poker since they were little kids, people that used it to fund their college education, people that have ran their own games for years, people that utilize it for income and people that have no idea what they are there for…even though they are there every week.

Yes, I’ve also come across people that don’t play…how in the hell is that possible? They don’t know the first thing about it, where it came from, anyone that plays it, or how it’s played! Let’s hear it for the WPT, it’s bringing in all those people!!!

Would my dad be happy with where I am? Probably. Do I care? Not really, he was never around and did not serve as a guidepost or strength in any part of my upbringing and life. I really never learned about poker until long after his time on Earth was over.

Would my mom be happy with where I am? I believe the answer is yes. If she knew I was happy with myself, as a person, she would be satisfied with that…so am I.

Last week, $8-$16 Holdem, Bill V. He’s got a tangy kind of whine to go along with a slight Southern drawl, he never shuts up, and contrary to what poker’s all about it, I believe he plays to win but also plays because he wants to be somewhere and have someone listen to him. I could be wrong about the ‘listen to him part’ but I just don’t think so. He was in the 3s, yakking and jawing with the players next to him when I sat down in the Box. Hey, this isn’t a ‘Bill rant’, just part of what goes on at the table, and if it was a ‘Bill rant’ and you don’t like it, leave now!

Somewhere about half way through my down, Bill raised pre-flop, got one caller, and the action took off. The board was something like A-10-Little, a Jack on the Turn, putting up 2 Flush cards, and whatever the Flush card was, it came on the River and paired the board. The first player had checked and called after Bill raised him on the Flop. On the River, Bill went into a, “Jesus Christ, Linda, why don’t you put up something to beat me?” as the first player checked.

The first player turned over a pair and Bill turned over the needed Straight cards and won the hand.

I replied, “Jesus Christ, Bill, if I knew what was coming, I’d of retired long ago.”

He really wasn’t being anything other than Bill and I wasn’t being anything other than Linda. He tolerates me jabbing him with a verbal tango every time I get ready to dance so how can I fault him for that?

We got a new player in the game, the 8s, he posted and won a pot and Bill made some comment to him about, ‘see, she put up every card that could beat you and you couldn’t even bet on the River, just like she did to me’.

As I pushed the pot, I said to the 8s, “Just ignore him.”

Bill never slowed down and the 8s just nodded as if I was crazy.

The 5s grumbled about never winning a hand and never having a playable hand. I told him to take a deep breath and relax otherwise he’d end up being like that…I waved my hand towards Bill.

Bill jumped right into the role, he did a spastic type of twitch, pulled his shoulders up, hunched over and did a jerk, cracked his head to one side, acted like he was glassy eyed and frothing at the mouth and did, “Yeah, duh! Duh!”

I cracked up. So did the rest of the table. They kept me entertained.

*****

Back to this night. The only two $15-$30 Holdem games I dealt were some of the worst in existence…possibly the worst games I’ve ever dealt at Bellagio…fold, fold, fold…call, check, check, check. The Sandman must’ve stopped by here and picked up some dull, tired, sleepy sand to spread on the rest of the world.

But the $4-$8 Holdem games I dealt were exactly the opposite of the $15-$30 Holdem games. The meaning of the words ‘ram and jam’ were created from tablets written in stone, the tablets were ground into ‘gamble dust’, and sprinkled on these games. It was infectious, incurable gambling. Everyone seemed to be in great spirits, give or take a few bad apples here and there. For the most part, they were happy and gambling.

*****

My last down was in a $2,000-$4,000 Mixed game. A-Rod was sitting behind Phil Ivey, not really sweating him, just visiting. He left a few minutes later and the conversation moved to the fact that Phil didn’t know him and was surprised when A-Rod wanted to sit down and visit with him.

Chau was in the 1s, Gus in the 2s, Jennifer in the 3s, David G. in the 4s, Phil I. in the 7s and Minh in the 8s. They’d been there awhile and none of them appeared to be too happy.

Particulars another time. The Sandman sprinkled some of that $15-$30 Holdem dust on me and I can’t keep my eyes open.

November 10, 03. It’s ‘jaw dropping’ amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun, and on the stress side of life, when you have so much to do that if you had a compactor and could squash all of your projects into a fragment of their original size, you still couldn’t beat the clock. I’m past ‘jaw dropping’ amazement, my jaw is on the floor. I had the greatest plans for the weekend and they disappeared in a blast of hot air that blew past my head as I was swearing at computers. Finally, after almost a week of swapping files, networking, fax and printer set-up, I think…stated nervously while fidgeting…think that I have everything licked, cured, healed, fixed, repaired, up and running, and I’m on the road to getting back into a routine…oh wait, where’s the wine?

Monday night, work as usual. I had to make a mistake, it just wouldn’t have gone with my ‘mistake waiting to happen mode’, if I’d made it through the night without one. The comedy of the whole thing is that no one caught it but me. It was $4-$8 Holdem, everyone was talking and kidding around, the 10s kept yakking, I kept listening and laughing…Hey…I’m guilty here, no way around it.

The action went to heads up on the Flop, the 5s bet, the 10s called. The Turn, the 10s checked out of turn and I was obviously having too much fun with him, I explained that he was last and that action out of turn was the action in our room, so…

He laughed and went with the fact that he didn’t know he was last to act. By now the 5s had bet $8, the 10s checked again, I burned and turned off the River, the 5s was reaching for chips to bet the River. No one caught it.

I went into, “Whoa! I made a mistake. The bet on the Turn was never called, let me call for a decision.”

I got one from Dave N., I explained what had happened, prefaced with, “Idiot dealer error…”

Dave said, to take back the River card and see what the 10s wanted to do. The 10s hesitated for a few seconds and folded. It was over. I teased the 5s because he was willing to bet again without the 10s calling his bet, the 10s said it was his fault, I said, “No! It was my fault. I made the mistake.”

They all took it better than damn good and the game went on. Me? I’m just hoping the brain dead, non focusing, dip shit that’s living inside my skull right now will dissolve off somewhere in the night air and I’ll return to my original state, Super Dealer.

*****

Amazing as poker is, it’s still mind boggling to see someone come up to a three handed, $100-$200 Holdem game and look at the table and then ask what the buy-in is. After being told, he disappears for a moment and then returns with $2,000, flip/flops out 20, $100 bills in all shades of disarray and I ask, “Would you like chips, Sir?”

The vacant look in his eyes, as he tried to focus on me, alerted me to the fact that he’d had a little too much to drink but he wasn’t ‘out of it’. He had no idea what the bet was, how much it was to him or what his options were…not because of alcohol. He was g-a-m-b-o-l-i-n-g. He wasn’t an idiot and he knew what poker was all about, but damn he picked a limit and players that most people in their right mind wouldn’t sit down with. As soon as he sat down, David S. bought in. A few minutes later, the game was filling up. I left him in the hands of the next dealer with instructions to ‘take your time with the 5s, he needs a little help when it comes to the bet amount’, and I was off and running…a break, and then more games to deal.

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

My week went like this, I dealt and they played. Just kidding…yes it did go like that but with some variables and interesting points. Friday night, the high limit was filled with ‘pros’. Larry Flint was at Table One, Lyle Berman, Doyle Brunson, Phil Ivey, Chip Reese, Johnny Chan, Gus Hanson, Renee, and a host of others played $2,000-$4,000 7 Card Stud. I never ventured into the High Limit Section to visit anyone or to deal, and from all the bodies milling around, I’m glad I didn’t have to be there.

On Monday night, I made more mistakes than I’ve made in the last year of dealing. I hit the $1,000-$2,000 Mixed game and started right there. In a hand of High Low Regular, the chips almost bounced off the ceiling after hitting the felt and the pot. Action! Action! Action! The pot started with five way action, max raises, and David G. put in the last raise. I missed it. He picked up $500 chips with both hands and slapped them into the mess of chips in front of him that were his bet/call/raise chips. No one placed their chips in an orderly fashion, they just slapped or slammed them onto the table and the chip piles in front of each player were a jumble. I reached to pull in the bets and David did a, “YOU have got to pay attention, Linda! I raised.”

Everyone else called before he got the last words out of his mouth.
I said, “I’m sorry, I missed it.”

He continued, “You’ve got to pay attention.”

I replied, “You have no idea how hard I’m trying to.”

Someone else told him to forget it. I pulled in the chips, and dealt the next card. More action and slamming until 7th Street. It ended up being David, Doyle, and Jennifer. David had a Full House and I could’ve sworn that Doyle had the best low…idiot that I am…I took Jennifer’s hand and mucked it, pushed a $5,000 chip towards Doyle and five $1,000 chips to David. They set me straight…not in an unkindly manner but I knew that I was going to have a hell of a night. I just didn’t see Jennifer’s low.

When I hit Table 3, they were playing $80-$160 Holdem. Eli B. was in the 2s and down to a few $1,000 chips…$20 chips are the norm in this game. He got involved in a hand with Ming, in the 8s, just before I got pushed. Eli threw out a $1,000, to bet and I left Ming’s bets/calls in front of Ming to designate what Eli owed on the chip.

On the River, I got side tracked by a Floor Person asking me a question. When I looked at the bets, Ming had put out another $160 and Eli had mucked his hand. Now I wasn’t sure if Ming bet and Eli called or if Ming bet and Eli didn’t call or if Ming checked, Eli bet, and Ming called…arghhh! I asked Ming, if Eli had called the additional $160 and he gave me an exasperated, “Come on, Linda.”

So difficult for someone to just answer the damn question sometimes.

He did and I counted out the change coming to Eli and pushed it to him. Yup, another mistake on my part.

By now I felt that I was in total brain lock and would never make it through the night. I did. It wasn’t easy, I really had a difficult time focusing on anything and once I make a mistake, it’s worse, I’m totally on edge and worrying that I will make more. It eased up the following night and I was back to normal. Normal? What’s that?

*****

Something happened in a $30-$60 Holdem game that brought about one of those unique experiences that I’d never seen before and had to call for a decision. The 5s called $30, ($10 chips are used in this limit), the 6 and 7s folded, the 8s had cards and before he could act, the 9s, holding six chips in her hand, threw out three of them, as everyone stopped her because she acted out of turn. She never pulled her hand back or reached for her chips, just waited until the 7s called and then released the other three chips with, “I raise.”

The 5s had a little tiz and said she couldn’t raise. I had no intention of ever getting involved in it and I called for a decision. Boba made the decision that she could raise. I was flabbergasted by the decision because our house rule has always been that action out of turn is action. The only way she should have been able to change her action was if the 7s raised in front of her. I never said a word, just dealt the game. BTW, the 5s then re-raised the 7s’s raise.

I queried some of the Floor People as to what their decision would have been in this circumstance; Kamell and Carmen agreed with Boba. Suzie and Pete agreed with me. Tough to get a ruling that everyone agrees on sometimes.

*****

The following is part of the chat during a tournament I played in on Empire. I found it to be quite humorous. Maybe I’m just a little sicko and it’s not that funny but it seemed hysterical at the time…and right now. My handle is ‘PokerWorks’…what else.

Hello PokerWorks, You requested a transcript of Tournament #1302925.
Summary Played on 08 November 2003 09:15 AM
On Card Room Table 598
Game Type: Texas Holdem Buy-In: $50 Fee + $5
You finished in position 8
1st place – duffy2211 – $250
2nd place – greenfee -$150
3rd place – ADent – $100

Bossman: Yawn

BILL_HICKOCK: that was me earlier today Bossman: they need to reset the server, for the last 3 months ive been winning big, they reset the server a few days a go , ive lost about $800 in 3 days , im going to wait untill they reset it again , im sure they do it to let the bad players win to keep them at the site

PokerWorks: hysterical!

duffy2211: at me its the same boss….

PokerWorks: How do they know you’re a bad player?

PokerWorks: Do you have a tag?

Bossman: what is so funny , i have alot of freinds that play here for a living , ive recieved 4 e-mails this morning about it

PokerWorks: U really believe that?

ADent: i lost also 27 trips last two days in stud

ADent: unreal run of bad beats

Bossman: i know that , ive played here since the site started.

PokerWorks: so? law of averages…it all works out.

ADent: me too, and i made good money every month

PokerWorks: Thank you both. Please play in all games I’m in.

ADent: got some good places in multis

ADent: but cashgame was unbelievable

ADent: but i cant really believe, that they can control so many games

PokerWorks: so if you win 20 days in a row, and lose 9, somethings wrong somewhere?

Bossman: they reset servers early hours of the morning , if you play here alot , you get to know what hands will win , its not as random as you think

PokerWorks: really, that’s one I’ll have to put in my book…news flash, internet poker games make too much money, need to keep lives ones coming back.

PokerWorks: how do they know you’re ‘live’ or ‘loose’?

Bossman: to much information is bad for you , play here long enough and figure it out

PokerWorks: really? This is a need to know thing and I can’t handle ‘knowing’ if you tell me?

Bossman: sorry , ask ADent

Bossman: i spent $15000 here in the first 3 months of the site opening

PokerWorks: You’ve both been very helpful, thank you and I won’t take any more of your time. Good luck.

BILL_HICKOCK: well i play here alot and im may be up 2k over 6mos and thats because of a 2nd and a 3rd in the 50 multis everynight and thats depositing aroung 20k

BILL_HICKOCK: some days it does’nt matter waht you play you can’t win other you can play anything and win.

Bossman: i dont play multis often, came 1st in one the other day $30 limit got $3030, the time they take, you can play a few $50 and $100 and win more

****

I can’t wait to play with these guys every day…oh…well, not if they reset the server, of course. hah..hahhhh…ha.hahh…bwahhh…hahh…

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

The Big Game with Andy Beal:

Andy was in town, playing in the early part of the day. I did not see him. No one had much news on him, I did hear some noise about him playing Johnny Chan and that Johnny had made some idiot comments to him…that came from Sam G., but the rest of the ‘corporation’ seemed to agree. Andy was reported to have won about $5,000,000.

New computer, files to transfer, things to set up, and I’m out of time. An update by tomorrow. The Aruba Report is finally finished.

The Big Game with Andy Beal.

Andy was in town, playing in the early part of the day. I did not see him. No one had much news on him, I did hear some noise about him playing Johnny Chan and that Johnny had made some idiot comments to him…that came from Sam G., but the rest of the ‘corporation’ seemed to agree. Andy was reported to have won about $5,000,000.