The Five Diamond World Poker Classic is winding down. It’s been a huge success. Tomorrow, the 18th, will be the final day of the Championship Event – the remaining 36 players play down to the final six. If you’re in the neighborhood and want to stop by, go to the ballroom area and follow the signs. The person in Number Three position is Steven Landfish. Sorry Steve, but your last name, in connection with poker, cracks me up…almost as good as Moneymaker!
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Our employee Christmas celebration happens today. It’s a real event, tons of great food, a gift, and last but not least, a picture with Santa or Mrs. Claus and the Elves. I’ve saved every picture, the years I worked at the Mirage and all the years at Bellagio. Nope…don’t ask me to count.
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I started in a sensible part of the room tonight. It was pretty easy going, all $15-$30, $30-$60, and $4-$8 Holdem, throw in a few 7 Card Stud Games and the night was smooth sailing.
One $15-$30 Holdem game left me in awe – wondering what/how a person thought they should buy chips and take a seat in a game…and she was in $15-$30, not a $1-$2 where she could have had all that fun and only lost a few hundred. She played every hand – even betting 6-2 off suit from Under the Gun, when she needed a five for a gut shot straight…she missed.
She played Q-9 off and lost because of her kicker, K-3 off and won a pot – upon which she informed me that was the first hand she’d won since I sat down and that she’d gone through $500 with me dealing as she threw me a $1.
I disagreed with her and told her she only had a little over $100 when I sat down and that she’d bought another $300. The 10s told her it was the other dealer. Hysterical. It didn’t matter who was dealing – this woman came to play.
When I got pushed, she did a, “Nice to see you leave, Linda.”
I just went with my usual, “Thanks everyone. Have a good night!”
Man it’s tough to help someone that doesn’t even know there’s help out there.
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It’s fun listening to the euphoric reaction of people coming in that have seen some of our players on TV. Last week Sam G. was in a $15-$30 Holdem game I dealt. He took a walk about 15 minutes into my down and a player from the nearby $4-$8 game came up and wanted to know if that was Sam – he’d seen Sam on TV and thought Sam G. was great.
Another night and the $8-$16 Holdem game broke, the players drew for seats, leaving me with one young man that wanted to talk about the celebrities. He really wanted to know if they played at Bellagio all the time and the limits they played. I saw Sam F. sitting with a lady at the Sports Book Bar – I pointed him out to the youngster.
“Wow! Is that really Sam? He’s so funny.”
Me, “Yes, that’s really Sam.”
Bellagio’s Tournament has brought them all out, any name brand player that anyone has ever heard of…still living…is playing at Bellagio right now. Stop in, lots of them will give you an autograph.