Satoshi was playing mixed games last week – $150-$300. He started at The Mirage years ago and only played 7 Card Stud at the time. His visits are few and far between now but he remembers me, mainly because he had a ‘poker connection’ with my son Dan some years ago. He’s always player/dealer friendly to me and just likes to play. When I sat down in the box, he smiled, said hello, and after I dealt the first hand, he threw a green chip and asked for reds. I complied.

When I looked up, he was looking at me and then nodded towards the table. He had the tip system all set up. $5 – $10 – $15 – $20 – $25. I laughed and so did he. No one else got it but that’s ok. I made it to $20 and then he added $30, $35, $40. I got pushed. It was sweet on his part and fun for me, especially since I pushed him a few pots. The norm for me is that if someone threatens me with money, I usually put them on the biggest ‘belmont’ they’ve ever been on. What’s a belmont? A backwards rush.

*****

There’s all kinds of hop skipping, jumping, and twisting sideways over Wynn Las Vegas. Lots of players ready to jump ship and go there to get treated like royalty??? Whatever that means in the poker world.

Lots of employees that are applying there, whether or not they decide to make the move. I wonder why everyone believes that everything is going to be different there. It will be mass confusion for the first year or so, just like all places that open. It takes about a year to iron out all the wrinkles and then it settles right into the same old routine – poker, poker, poker.

Me? I’m sticking with Bellagio.

*****

While dealing a $2-5 blind NLH game last week, a player in my game, looked up at the top section and queried, “Is that Sam Grizzle?”

We replied that it was and he followed with, “I want to go shake his hand for putting Phil Helmuth in his place on TV.”

I’ve never watched that episode but I’ve heard about it a lot of times…but then I get to see Sam in action all the time.

One night last week, he was playing $1,000-2,000 with Lee S., Gus H., and Renee. Sam was in the 1s, Renee in the 7s. They went to war in a hand of 7 Card Stud. Truthfully, I have no idea how the hand started, who was low or who had what, the end of the hand I remember very well. Renee showed nines full of deuces. Sam showed trip Queens and one nine as he shuffled his cards and kept looking at Renee’s cards…shake that up with comment upon comment.

“The case fucking nine. She had to give you a deuce,” more card shuffling, “A fucking deuce…she had to give you a deuce…” repeat, blip, repeat. He threw his cards across the table, mostly into Renee’s hand.

Sam went all in on the next hand and left the table…Lee won the hand and then made the comment that Sam had been on self destruct.

Last night I dealt a $10-20 blind NLH game in which Sam was in the 4s. I can’t help but laugh at his antics and the way he totally believes he is the best player in the world. You have to admire someone that believes in themselves that much…anyway I do. That doesn’t mean I’m always happy to deal to him or that I hold him in high esteem – I just admire the fact that he never stops believing in himself. And he can be pretty damn funny at times.

The game was mass confusion – the dealer before me never had control and I never did either. Troy was in the 3s and threatening to do a fist tattoo on anyone’s face…not sure if he was serious but he looked pretty damned unhappy (which is unusual for him) and for some reason, most of it was aimed at the 1s. The 1s was a complete stranger to me, fairly small build and had a European accent. Everyone was talking, the 5s took forever to look at his hand and make a decision on what he wanted to do, each hand took an hour, and Sam was ‘over talking’ everyone else.

At one point, after the Flop, Sam bet, the 5s raised and went all in with an overly loud, “I’m raising you, Sam, because you never have anything.”

The Board was Ace-face-face, and Sam showed an Ace and folded and filled in all the little cracks in the silence with something like this, “Yeah, I never have anything…”

The 5s showed a Broadway and announced that he showed Sam his cards because he liked Sam and added, “You are pretty hard to like though.”

Sam threw out a startled, “What?”

The 5s, “I like you…but you are pretty hard to like.”

Someone on the left side of the table agreed but it was almost lost in all the conversation and noise going on.

The 8s left. J.C. (not the dreaded J.C.P.) moved from the 2s to the 8s. Another European sat down in the 2s and started talking to the 1s. Troy jumped into the middle of both of them and told them not to talk to each other because he wasn’t going to put up with it. He was really out of character. They took it pretty well. Still if they said anything to each other, even when they were out of a hand, Troy jumped on them.

Two more Europeans walked up behind the 1 and 2s and started visiting. Lets hear it for more noise and confusion because that’s what it was. One of them made the comment that the 2s was the best Backgammon player in the world, then someone else blurted out, “What about Gus Hanson?”

“Oh yeah! Gus Hanson is the best.”

Just like a surgeon with a laser, Sam cut right into the heart of the conversation and everyone went stone silent. Sam stared at the original speaker behind the 1s and declared, “You are looking at the best poker player in the world.”

“What?”

Sam’s gaze never faltered as he continued, “You are looking at the best poker player in the world. I don’t know about all that other stuff.”

The noise and confusion folded around his last word and the game of poker semi/sort of went on.

There you have it…not only do I get to watch him in action, I just dealt to the best poker player in the world.