Bellagio just started a $1-$2 Blind, No Limit Holdem game…as of the 15th. Tonight there were two of them running, one is the main game, the other is a must move. $100 buy-in, no more, no less. If a player has less than $50, they can buy $100, anything between $50 and above, they can only buy chips that will bring them to the $100 buy-in. As soon as it goes to heads-up and one player is all-in, the hands will be turned face up before the rest of the hand is dealt.

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No high limit games running right now. All the kids are in California for a tournament. They’ll be back but until they are, the high limit section is q-u-i-e-t. An $80-$160 Holdem game was in progress when I went through there tonight.

The 1s appeared to be totally wasted and definitely the life of the party. He picked his cards up, each hand, and shuffled them so high that the players in the middle of the table could see them…of course no one looked, silly.

He was very receptive to everything I said and I quietly showed him how to look at his hand and not flash his cards. He told me that he had to give them one shuffle…almost as if the Card Fairy wouldn’t forgive him if he didn’t do it. So be it! The guys in the middle only got to see his cards now and then after I gave him the lesson.

He usually hung on to his hand if he was going to play it but once he laid it down and pushed it out about three inches from his hand. Thank God I had the brains to ask him if he was done with his hand…hell no…he was reaching for chips to call with.

In one hand, the pot got max raised by two players…ended up that they both had Aces…and the 1s carved out runner-runner to make trip fives. He did have a straight draw with the 5-6 of Clubs. They punished him with bets and raises every step of the way and in turn, he punished their bankroll.

He did tell me several times that he was new and really didn’t know what he was doing. After dealing to him, I agree with him but he sure was great for the game. When I left, he had C-H-I-P-S and he thanked me for all the help I gave him…he threw some $$$ into my pocket too.

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I like the new age of poker. All those bright, shiny faces that come in to play because they watched the WPT are filling the room and my time in the box with humor and fun. They aren’t there to have a bad time, they can take a beat and never snivel…after all, the players on the WPT aren’t throwing fits when they lose a hand so our new players didn’t learn bad behavior before they joined a game. Let’s try to keep it that way.