Along about 2:15 a.m., while lounging on an empty table on break, Jimmy asked David (a new dealer) if he needed a break or was ready to push at 2:30. David said he’d deal at 2:30. Jimmy asked me if I wanted to clock out for the night. Y-E-S!!!!

I almost felt guilty when I told David he would be dealing the game from hell…but not guilty enough to stay another half hour. Table 16…usually a great spot in the line-up…but tonight it was the $100-$200 Blind Pot Limit game that usually runs in the high limit area.

David looked like a Little Lambkin being led to slaughter when I told him what the game was and he said, “I’ve never dealt Pot Limit before.”

I gave him a brief run down on taking time, how the pot size was figured, and then took him over to the table. All the usual suspects were there. George P., Ben R., Sammy F., Hamid D., Robert W., and others.

I tapped Robert W. and introduced him to David, loud enough so the table could hear. It went like this, “This is David and he’s going to be your dealer in a few minutes, he’s never dealt pot limit before so help him out if he needs it.”

While Robert (wonderful person that he is) was agreeing, Hamid turned to me and barked, “What the fuck! Why should we get a dealer that’s never dealt the game before?”

I said, “Help him out then. You don’t want him to make a mistake.”

Harmid, “Fuck! Why should we have a dealer that doesn’t know what he’s doing?”

I said, “He’s coming through the game. Management sent him here. Just help him if he has a problem.”

Poor David. Getting the ‘blow up’ from Hamid and he hasn’t even sat down. I walked back to the Page area with him, explaining that Hamid really wasn’t a bad guy, just a hot head. David took it all pretty well.

I clocked out and hit the road.

The next night I dealt to Hamid in a $800-$1,600 Mixed game. He was spanking his chips and having a fit as usual. A woman walked up and gave him the ‘long lost, where you been, and how the hell do you look so good’ routine. The game was running three handed and I just chimed in, “It’s all that clean living.”

Hamid looked startled, looked at me, and then agreed, “It is that clean living.”

When I got pushed, I stopped behind him and gave him a 15 second shoulder rub. He barked, “When are you going to deal me a winner?”

I laughed. “I have, you just never remember those times.”

“You always deal me off.”

I quipped, “I’ve dealt you lots of winners. You have to stop thinking like a player.”

He laughed then and I escaped to the next game.

*****

$10-$20 Blind, NLH. At the end of my down, huge pot, the 3s flopped top pair, 10’s and bet $100, got called by the 9s that had a Flush draw, and the 10s that had an open ended Straight draw. A Jack popped off on the Turn, giving the 10s the Nut Straight, the 3s two pair, and the 9s still had a Flush draw.

During this hand, the conversation between the 5s and 10s had been about being taped on a poker show which will be aired on television and the 10s appeared to be spaced out on the show…this statement being given by the 5s. The 10s explained that he had a ‘stem’ in his eye. His eye was all scratched and irritated, etc.

The 10s bet around $2,500 all-in. The 3s barely thought about it, and called approximately $1,200 all-in. The 9s, thought, counted out her chips, recounted, thought, and finally did a ‘what the hell’ kind of thing and went all-in also with a little over $700.

The Straight held up and won the pot. I pushed all the chips to the 10s and while I was pulling the deck together, I asked, “Stem? What is that?” OK…I’m a dummy…I thought it was a medical condition.

He explained that he’d been blowing a pipe to clear it out and a stem had blown into his eye. I did a, “No way!” kind of thing, shuffled and dealt the next hand. The 3s and the 9s had already pulled out money and they were dealt in.

The 3s now accused me of cheating in a subtle, slimy way. “I wonder if you exposed a card?”

I went totally blank at his statement. “What?”

He was looking at my left hand, holding the deck level to the table, and repeated, “I wonder if you exposed a card?”

I said, “No. I don’t expose cards.”

His response? “Only the experienced dealers do it. The new dealers never do.”

The 9s chime in, agreeing with him, and repeating what he said.

I was enraged that he would think I was cheating. I jumped, “No! I never expose a card and I don’t want to be accused of it.”

I got pushed after that hand. First of all, I got stiffed by the guy that won the pot. Second, how could I expose a card in a manner that the 10s could see it and no one else could without rolling my hand completely over? If anyone could see an exposed card, it would be the 3s. If he’d won the pot, he would never have any such idiotic thoughts…typical! He plays so damned good that he has to be cheated to lose!

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