It’s a few minutes before 3 p.m. and I’m waiting to play in the Charlie Tuttle Tournament on PokerStars. There are 137 people registered for this event at this moment. Woops! A few minutes before it begins and more people have registered. It would be fun to know how many of them are bloggers but I’m not sure there’s a way to even find out. The tournament started with a 144 entrants. Dr. Pauly is at my table and everyone (even observers) are chatting him. Yes…he did a great job at the WSOP! A few minutes into the tournament – Pauly is busted out 10-10 against K-K held by BiffPokeroba. Me? I’m just coasting along – pitch, pitch, pitch. Nothing notable.

So…while I’m pitching, a bit of poker in my world. I hit a $400-800 Mixed Game. It really was almost not a game when I got there. Jimmy G. – 1s, Don – 2s, David S. – 3s, open – 4s, Tommy had a few chips in the 5s but wasn’t sitting, 6s – walking, 7s – standing up, 8s – racking up.

I announced, “Time Pot,” and took the chips from the 6s for Time. The 7s said he was going to get money and would be back. Tommy kept walking around, coming back to the table, glaring at everyone, and finally picked up his few chips and left. That left Jimmy, Don, and David. I asked if they wanted to play, the answer was “NO” they would wait for more players. I pitched the Time I’d taken back to the 6s and prepared to wait. David took a walk. A few minutes later, the 8s was filled by Chris.

Jimmy asked Chris if he wanted to play Chinese while they waited. The answer was ‘yes’. Jimmy asked me if I would deal it for them. The answer was ‘yes’. Jimmy always likes to play Chinese when a game is falling apart and it does help to keep players at the table. Right now I had three seats open, the room was screaming and it was difficult to get a seat filled, three walkers, and basically NO GAME. Don wanted to know if they wanted to play 7 card stud. “NO!” So I dealt Chinese.

**It’s first break time in the Charlie Tuttle Tournament – 87 players left on 10 tables. Average stack 2482 – I’m at 3040. Blinds are $75-150 when we resume. Not to worry, I could be gone in a heartbeat…if I just pick up the right hand to get me there. :-)**

A few minutes later, about the second hand of Chinese, David came back to the game. As I was dealing the next hand, he asked me if I was going to take Time when the game resumed. I told him no – I hadn’t planned on it. He seemed to be deliberating something but what the hell it was I couldn’t figure…until later. He changed the question slightly and asked me again if I was going to take Time when the game resumed. I pointedly stated, “David, if you want me to call a Floor Person and see if I should take time, I will. Otherwise, no, I’m not going to take Time.”

Then he said something about dealer’s making their own decisions. I just didn’t get it. I had no game. In these circumstances, the players would have a cow if a dealer tried to take Time and the House would never demand Time be paid unless the game was in progress. He asked me if I would have dealt 7 Card stud if they wanted to play it. I asked him if it was in the list of games being played. He said no. I said if I were going to deal it for them, I would call the Floor Person first. That still didn’t make him happy but he dropped it. My reasoning here is that Chinese is a ‘filler’. If it’s not on the list of games, and there is basically no game, the dealer can deal it without question in high limit. Seven card stud is a regular game and if I were going to deal it, and it’s not on the list, then I am going to have to get permission and take Time.

A few minutes later, I got two new players, the 7s returned, I had started to deal the next hand of Chinese but I just dropped the deck and the game resumed.

When I got pushed, I walked around behind David, tapped his shoulder (he was reading) and asked him if he thought I should have taken Time. What the gist of that conversation came down to was that he didn’t think I should have dealt Chinese, although it wasn’t worded quite like that, because if they (Chinese players) were in a hand and the other players returned, there was a waiting period for ‘them’ to set their hands and play out the hand, and if they (the regular players) paid Time, it was unfair for them to have to wait for the Chinese to finish.

The whole thing was out of context for what happened in the game. They did not pay Time. It was a free half hour. There was no game. If Jimmy, or any other player asks me to deal Chinese when I’m in the box and the game is technically ‘down’, I will deal it. Guess I’m making a damned dealer decision here but there’s no harm in working with the kids that play poker…that’s my way of thinking anyway.

**And I did pick the right hand. I tried to run over A-3 D’s and Q-Q with 10-10. I could have pitched but what the hell. I’m tired. A little sleep will make Linda feel like a new girl.**