Some days are like a fog…I wake up, build coffee, try to jump start my brain into motion as I drift through emails/spam filter, sort out what I need to accomplish today, think about (and achieve) some form of exercise, make a few family phone calls or receive them, find the shower and fumble/mumble out the door to hit the freeway where everyone’s trying to kill themselves and they are determined to take the rest of us with them, slide into an employee parking space and race to catch the shuttle, make the building and walk down ‘heart attack hill’ to my locker – praying all of the Dasini bottled water isn’t sold out in the machines, and then up the escalator into the noisy casino to trudge dutifully into the poker room, clock in, and find out where the hell I’m going in the line-up. Believe me, this is only the beginning. The next eight hours are a jumbled mass of limits, people, games, people, poker hands, people, breaks, and people…people…people.

A typical night: There’s a game running in Bobby’s Room. I’m not dealing through there tonight so I don’t really care who/what’s going on in there, but through the glass doors I see Gus Hanson putting the ultra follow through on a golf swing…and yes…he has a club in his hands. There’s a golf bag with clubs in it leaning up against another door in the room. Gus swings repeatedly at the air.

Jennifer Tilly is moving around the room attached to Phil Laak. Cute! No…really! They look damned good together.

I sit down to deal $40-80 7 Card Stud – Joe R. is in the 5s. Yup…the subject of the last post. Before my butt hit the seat, he put his hand out across the table to me, “Linda, I’m really sorry. I’m sorry.”

I said, “It’s ok, Joe.”

I couldn’t help but reach over and touch his hand. I’m pleased that he thought about it and decided to tell me he was sorry. He should – damn it! Poker is poker but people are the most important part of your life. Don’t mess up your relationships with people just because you lose at poker. But getting past that part of it, it was nice to know that all the years we’ve spent together weren’t just an ‘air ball’.

I dealt a $2-5 NLH game. They were all noisy, blustery, ‘real’ players, and the action was unbelievable. Raise to $25 and six people call. Holy Chit Mon!

I had a little beef with the 7s. The 5s went all-in preflop. The main pot had approximatley $250 in it. The 6s and 7s were the only two left in the side action and the 7s was trying to talk the 6s into not betting…blah, blah, blah. I put a stop to it immediately. It’s very unfair and unethical for the two of them to try and cut a deal of any kind when another player is in the hand – even if he is all-in. I got an argument from the 7s. It was a little bit funny because each time the 7s checked, the 6s bet. The side pot was over $200. The 6s won all of it and the 7s wasn’t happy with him for betting. Bummer!

The 1s was extremely cocky, loved himself more than anyone else ever could (which is admirable in its own way). They were all talking and having fun. The 3s told me he’d kiss me if I gave him a pair. Umnhhh!!! What if I don’t want the kiss? And on and on they went through my half hour down.

I hit the next table, $30-60 H, and during this down, the 1s from the previous game jumped up and screamed, “Y-E-A-H! What a call!”

He’d called a big all-in bet from the 7s and his hand was good, forcing the 7s to buy-in again. Just after the 1s jumped up and screamed, a smattering of applause broke out around the game I was dealing. It swept like wild fire over the room. Everyone was applauding and screaming. As rapidly as the applause started, it stopped. It was so awesome though that Eric H. – 5s in my game – and I both busted out laughing.

While dealing through a $20-40 Stud game, rebounding chips or my hand, hit the Shuffle Master Button and the door popped up, spilling $5 chips into it and around the sides of it. It took me a moment to extricate the chips and I removed the shuffled deck so the door would close. I’ve never had chips fall into one before but it doesn’t look like they would create a problem because all shuffling, etc. is over before the door can be opened.

This same game, I pushed Bill a big pot and the player next to him made a comment, “…it must be nice…”

Bill hit him with, “We’re getting married,” motioning to me.

I chuckled. Almost on the defense, he informed me I could do a lot worse than him. As I finished the deal, I stated, “If I was looking, you’d be the first one I’d ask.”

See how easy it is to escape. I’m a pro at it.

And in this same game, the dreaded Mike D. or Israeli Mike, occupied the 1s. He thought he took a big beat when he had Queens Full in six. He got really lucky because he was heads-up with his friend in the 7s. His friend made Aces Full in five and Quads on the River and the hand was checked out.

Mike still looks for reasons to not get along with me. He has played very little in the room in the last few years and I still have no tolerance for his abusive behavior towards dealers, although he’s much better now because he knows he’s 86’d if he steps out of line…especially if I’m dealing.

The world is tuned in to the WSOP. I’m tuned in to the fact that my butt is dragging after every shift and none of it’s easy. There is no Sandbox. After a typical night of dealing, I’m crawling out the door, wishing the WSOP would be over so the room would quiet down…and vowing to play in it next year. Speaking of tournaments, this Sunday, $20 buy-in:

SUNDAY, JULY 17th
18:00 EDT (17:00 CDT)
PokerStars
“WPBT Charlie Tournament” under Tourneys -> Private tab in the lobby

This is a charity tournament for Charlie Tuttle’s family. Be there!