No confusion on my part – I know why all these people are charging into the Poker Pit…some of them don’t even know the room is being remodeled…they see the tables and race in to get their names on lists.
I was leaving the room last week and was stopped by a young couple that had been watching a $10-20 NLH game. They wanted to know what the object was. I spent about 15 minutes talking to them, explaining the hand ranking, the betting in NLH and LH, and that they were playing against each other instead of playing against the house. I gave them my PokerWorks card and told them they could send me an email.
They thought it was great – the whole poker concept. I left them with the thought that they should try $4-8 limit first just until they got comfortable with the game. Did they play? Hell if I know, I was on my way out the door for the night.
*****
I dealt to Frog Man Paul. He’s the subject of other posts. Always whining, having a little fit when he gets drawn out on, but tries to draw out on everyone with the worst hands and one of the funniest parts of his play is that even if he posted both blinds and is on the Button when he gets beat, he jumps up and runs off to pout.
How can you not love to play poker with this lunatic. He gives up position when he takes a beat, cries like a baby, and tells you why he played a hand the way he played it…wish I could play in more games with him but if I get in a game he’s in, he usually gets on the transfer list…see ya, LOSER!
This particular game, he took a beat and wanted to give me the ‘look’ and throw his cards at me. I simply stated, “Have your fit somewhere else.”
He cut and ran like he was going to be roped and branded. One of the players in the game, Kelly, said, “I don’t know why they even put up with him playing in this place. He’s always like that.”
I would have liked to chime in, “Why deprive the poker players of the opportunity to take his money here by sending him someplace else?” but I resisted the urge.
My friend, Nicholas in the 3s, is supposed to have a trip report for me that has a ‘Frog Man’ tale in it. Ok, Nicholas, I’m calling you out. Get with it.
*****
Monday night I started in a $2-5 NLH game. The player in the 8s was in a wheel chair and had all kinds of braces on his leg…some kind of surgery was all I picked up. A few minutes into my down he asked me if I had a website. I said, “Yes! What’s your name?”
He introduced himself. Said he reads here and has laughed his ass off so many times when reading. He was great fun. He’s just on the move right now, playing poker…and school may have figured in there somewhere. I’d have to question if it was poker school in the tutorial form as in at the table because he difinitely knew what he was doing…but he was a kick. His name? Matthew Avery. Here’s a clip from an email I got from him tonight.
*Begin email*
I was sitting on table 1 the game was 2-5 200NL I was the guy in the wheel chair. I have never play any NL game at your place, mostly 15-30 or 30-60 game, but my friend talked me into playing 200 NL with him. I have to say there are some interesting players that play that game, they have no chance of winning, and to top it off these guys think they are good, wait I mean they think they are great. It was quite a treat to play with these guys, they just paid my car insurance for a whole year…. 🙂 Well anyway I just wanted to say it was a pleasure to meet you and I will be back in vegas on 16 March and I hope to see you again. Also you are a great dealer.
*End of email*
See…I hate to say I told you so but those $2-5 NLH games are soft. Come on…what the hell are you waiting for?
While I was talking to Matt, I asked him if he could come down the first weekend in March and join the Clan Jam Tournament that was being held at my house…the 10s chimed in and wanted to know if he could come. Jim has my card, has to join the Clan to play but he’s more than welcome. He promised me an email too.
*****
So…on to tonight. The highest limit games were the $80-160 Holdem and $10-20 NLH. I dealt both of them. Both were unbelievable. The $80-160 was a mix of regulars and one part time player named Paul. Paul has been around since The Mirage days. He’s the guy that sends you home talking to yourself…nondescript sort of like out of a junk yard dog type of movie…but he’s got ammo and it’s going into every pot.
Paul was in the 4s, Eric Drache – used to manage the Golden Nugget and Mirage poker rooms – was in the 3s. I get a huge kick out of Eric. He has a mannerism and way of putting things that just makes me laugh.
Paul was wearing a hat and these huge wrap around sunglasses and almost every time he grabbed chips to call or fire, he said, “Let me see your eyes, Linda.”
Sometimes it was followed with, “I can tell by the glint in your eye that I should call this…” or “I can see by your eyes that I can get the card I need…”
Hogwash!!! But it was funny. He turned over horrible cards and was on a little heater. One time he set out two $5 chips and told me (as he called a raise with seven way action) that if he won the pot, I got the chips.
Eric laughed and said to me, “You are going to work awfully hard to make the 8-3 win the pot.”
That’s about the size of it with Paul. He calls with anything and everything. I chuckle every time I deal to him…tonight was no different.
I had to be a dumb butt and misread his hand in this game. He flopped a straight but the way the board came down, I was looking for a seven to make a 9 high straight. I called his hand as a pair of 8’s. Chit Mon…what is my problem? The whole table let me know that I’d screwed up…except for Mark in the 8s.
Mark let me off easy by saying that a million or so poker hands and I’m bound to misread one of them…sweet! Thanks, Mark. He got the shit beat out of him in this game. If I was into feeling bad about dealing beats, I would have had to get out a tissue.
Babe, little Asian cutie, long time Bellagio player was in the 9s. One time, years ago, she missed a hand and almost knocked me out of the dealer’s chair when she threw a side swipe into my body. She ran over this game. She acted like she was going to hit me once when Paul called her raise with 2-2 and called her all the way to the River and she showed A-K Diamonds and Paul took the pot with his pair.
The 8s got lippy with me when Mark folded out of turn and I exclaimed, “Wait!” because Paul hadn’t acted on his hand yet.
The 8s told me not to ‘yell’ at Mark because he couldn’t see Paul’s cards. I replied that I wasn’t yelling, what I had said was “Wait!” I got the lecture…”You haven’t told him to move his hand so we can see he has cards.”
I asked Paul to make sure his cards were visible to the players on the right side of the table. This is a joke. No one in their right mind would want to send Paul to another game. He plays every hand. Some years ago, if he moved to another game, everyone in the game he left got on to the list for the game he went to…that should give you an idea.
So Babe pounded them, threw lots of money in my pocket, I took a break and stopped to talk to Eric about the lunatic Russ Georgiev on RGP, and we laughed over how ridiculously silly his idiot accusations and posts really are. I told Eric I hardly ever read there anymore and Eric said he reads it everyday when he’s home because he’s broke and has nothing else to do…that made me laugh.
*****
My next game was the $10-20 NLH. The guy in the 5s was on a ‘raise tiz’ that would make anyone fear jumping into a pot with him. He insinuated and implied that he had no money worries and he could care less if he gave away the $20,000 or so he had in front of him.
He lost over $3,000 of it one hand by making a bad call with a pair. Then he went on to pick up the slack by calling a raise pre-flop from the 1s. The Flop was K-Q-little. The 5s checked. The 1s bet $1,200. The 5s threw out $3,000. The 1s thought about it briefly and folded. The 5s showed down J-6 off suit. And made a comment about how that amount of money wouldn’t affect his lifestyle.
The 1s replied that he made $5.25 an hour as a dishwasher and it would take him two years to make that up. Everyone laughed…including ‘yours truly’. The 1s took a walk.
The 5s put chips in every pot…more than he should have most of the time. O’Neil was in the 2s and the 8s announced that someone was finally putting more raises and money in the pots than O’Neil. I had to agree. O’Neil likes to take charge of the action…he never had a shot in this game.
When I left the game, the 5s announced he was going to his room, he had to work tomorrow. Nope…it had nothing to do with me.
I spent my night in Disney Land, watching people play the game of poker and all I can tell you is that it is an incredible experience…