I sat down in an $80-160 H game, announced, “Time Pot,” dealt the hand, and Kamell came up behind me and told me that I would be backing up one table – immediately – a mistake had been made in the line-up. I dropped the Time with, “Thanks everyone, see you in a half hour.”

When I pushed back into the game, I went through the same procedure. Gary was in the 5s and won the pot. “Did you announce that it was a Time Pot?” as he stacked the chips.

“Yes.”

His face went through an ‘awakening’. “I’m sure you did but didn’t you announce Time Pot a half hour ago?”

“I did.”

He still couldn’t quite put it together. “What…..?”

I said, “It’s Deja Vu – there’s a glitch in the Matrix, Buddy.” *laughter*

This just proves my point that even though poker is a group awareness program, very few people are ever aware of what’s happening at the table. Regardless of all the books they read and all the knowledge they think they have, they can only field a ball hit right to them…everything else is the landscape.

I tried to keep from falling off my chair in hysteria when I watched Bert become a Pit Bull that hated a cat and the cat’s name was Grant.

Both of these players have been around since The Mirage days. The big difference between the two of them is that Grant moved up from $5-10 to $20-40 Stud to $30-60 Stud to an occasional $75-150 and higher – always Stud. It wasn’t a jump into higher limits, just a lot of time at the table until he could make the move. In the last few years, he disappeared and only appears at intermittent intervals. Perhaps he’s playing someplace else – that would be my guess. And Bert moved from $20-40 Holdem to mostly NLH play, playing in our weekly tournaments and the $10-20 NLH game.

$10-20 NLH. Bert was in the 4s – Grant in the 9s. I sat down in the middle of something that had been going on from a previous hand. Bert was in continual motion, head twitching, eyes darting from stacking chips and the hand, the board, to Grant…continually challenging Grant. He would have exploded all over the walls and ceiling if not for his skin that kept him intact as he went into a continual rant.

“You think you’re so smart…I knew you had Aces…that’s why I laid down Kings. Fuck you! You’re a fucking idiot…I’ll play you heads-up anytime you want….” repeat, add a few more lines, repeat…

Grant was completely relaxed and enjoying the hell out of the ‘tiz’ that Bert was in, throwing in a subtle stab here and there; fanning the fire and Bert went with it. I finally interjected with, “Bert! Stop swearing. Let’s play poker.”

Bert looked at me like I had stepped in between him and the cat that he had cornered and he was just ready for a big ripping bite of fur…I wasn’t the prey but I was in his way, “I didn’t swear at you and this is between him and me.”

It slowed down a little bit but not much. The game was a Must Move and six handed. Bert dodged and danced in and out of hands for a few minutes but still challenging Grant – nonstop.

Grant got called to the main game.

The deck ran over Bert after he showed the remaining players a bluff on a big pot. He picked up A-A and had a player pay him off on every street, including the River. He was really on the rampage then, “Like I can’t fucking play poker. I have to play bad to get them to play at my level…”

I was getting tapped out when he was getting called for the Main Game…hey, that cat was still waiting in the corner. I was moving a game ahead, further away, as Bert was racking up his chips to leave, I said, “Thanks everyone. And thanks for the entertainment, Bert.”

I ran into Bert later as he was cashing out. He was still on a ‘cat’ rampage. It was funnier at the Cashier’s Cage and I don’t want to repeat it because it would appear to be gossip at this point. Bert is one of the stones in the foundation of poker and I love his heart. He’s a bit quiet and sulky when he’s losing but he’s part of the game and that’s why I’m there.