Crumball!! This year’s almost over already – where the hell did it go? Well…having said that, and nothing will change any of it; let’s get on to enjoying the hell out of what we have left of 2005.

The costumes were few and far between for Fright Night. Yes, the usual faces were in the poker room but they weren’t in costume. Marty C. was there and gave me a baleful eye as I walked past him just after I entered the room. I actually snickered as I passed him. He’s joined J.C. Pearson in the Creep Freak Hall of Fame. They are the only two poker players that are now life members of the Creep Freak Hall of Fame. But then it’s my Creep Freak Hall of Fame, I created it and I nominate, vote for, and appoint the members.

I started in a cheery little group of $4-8 H players. Wish that I could have stayed in that game all night, they were fun, gambling, and throwing $$ in my pocket which always makes for a good down.

$8-16 H and $4-8 H, these two games weren’t nearly as much fun as the first one but they weren’t painful.

The next game was $30-60 H. I recognized the guy in the 1s from last week. I asked, “Aren’t you the guy that used to own a casino…?”

He asked, “What?”

I went with it, “You know…you used to own a casino. Until you moved out of your apartment.”

He cracked up. “You thought that was funny?”

I said, “Damn right. I was laughing about it on my days off and as a matter of fact, I’m going to put it in my blog on the Internet and give you credit for it if you’ll give me your name.”

His name is Doug. He informed me I could call him Mr. X. Another player at the table said he looked a lot more like a ‘Doug’ than a ‘Mr. X.’. That was funny too. Well Doug works at Excalibur – poker dealer. Welcome to Bellagio, Doug.

I tried to screw up my line-up by taking a break out of that game. About four minutes later, some bell went off in my head and I raced in to check the break board. Straight to the next game, cruising in as fast as I could get there, I asked the dealer (he’s new), “Don’t you call out no push when the dumb dealer behind you doesn’t show up?”

He said something like he didn’t pay attention to the time; he just kept dealing. Well not only is he new, he’s young, and he looks like he’s never been happy in his life. What’s that all about? How can you not be happy in the poker room? Kee-rist! What are they making these kids of now a days?

This game was $10-20 NLH. Not a lot of action, very little noise, and I was there less than a full down because I screwed up! Slice of pie.

Then I really was on a break. I hit the restroom. As I walked in, a young woman stood right in the entrance with her foot up on the counter, bent over, trying to look at her butt in the mirror. She was definitely in costume and had three other young lovelies with her.

I started laughing as I queried, “Do you have something up your butt?”

Well…the way she was craning and looking in the mirror, I thought she might have lost something there. Apparently she thought she’d torn her fishnet stockings and was looking for the tear, somewhere in her crotch or buttock area. They were laughing, one of them was bending over looking at the fishnet stockings/butt/crotch.

Finally satisfied the stockings were intact; she stood up, looked at my nametag, and asked, “How do you like my balls, Linda? I made them myself.”

She carried two golden globes, each about 10 inches in diameter that had a gold handle that held them together.

Although I had no idea what they were supposed to be, I told her they were great. She said, “See if you can guess what I am supposed to be.”

She reached into one of the balls and pulled out a pinkish, red looking thing on a stick (yes…it resembled a penis). She had on black fishnet stockings, a blackish, short outfit, with something that looked like wings, and she’d already mentioned ‘balls’ so I said the first thing that came to my mind, “A walking Dick Head.”

“No-o-o-o. I’m the condom fairy,” and with that she reached into one of the balls and handed me a condom that had a paper pasted on the side, “Don’t be a ghoul, cover your tool”.

It was too funny. I asked her and her friends if they’d been through the poker room.

“No!”

I asked them if they’d mind walking through. They were fine with it. I took The Condom Fairy and one other one up through the Upper Section with me and I asked the Condom Fairy to give a condom to Nate (he was working the brush). She did. Everyone was watching the chicks…the hell with the costumes.

I left the girls there and continued on my break by heading back to the restroom where the Hallo-weenies had sidetracked me. I left my gift from The Condom Fairy in the restroom…who knows, maybe there’s a guy disguised as a girl drifting through there later in the night.

See…how can you not have fun in the poker room?

Tomorrow night is fright night – the day/night that all the ghosts and goblins come out to haunt everyone. I’m sure I will find a few of those in the poker room and they won’t even be wearing masks or face make-up or “trick or treating”. I’ll try not to act surprised to see them and I know they won’t yell “BOO” because they’ll be doing their usual.

Joe R. was playing in a $40-80 7 Stud game last week when I came in to start my shift. I walked up behind him, put my arm around his neck and shoulder, gave him a hug, and as he said, “Hi Linda. How are you?” I asked him if he was ready for Halloween.

For somewhere around the last 10 years, we’ve joked about the fact that he would be looking for me on Halloween. Sure it was a hot date thing…that really never was. Some day either Joe or me won’t make another Halloween. If it’s him, he will be another memory tucked away that will surface especially around Halloween. If it’s me, it really won’t matter now will it?

I love memories! Even if they’re sad, they are part of my life. I can’t seem to pick and choose which ones I want to keep because they flood through my head, at certain times, in an stoppable torrent.

Some of my favorite memories are centered on the Saturday Night Card Game at my house. Several of the people I’ve known for years – Gordon and Carole, we’ve been friends since the Montana Days. We worked in the poker industry together in Montana and have been friends for a zillion or so years. I met Vivienne when she came to Bellagio to play poker. I met Wayne when he found this site and came in to Bellagio and introduced himself. The rest of the crew pretty much developed from reading this site and wanting to learn to deal poker. Some of the wannabe dealers have gone on to other places and lost touch with us but the majority have remained to become good friends and still return to play cards and help more new people that want to learn to deal.

One of my favorites, and she’s not a dealer or a card player, Amy, is attached to Greg (no…not physically…they’re an ITEM) and that’s how she joined our group.

Amy recently had a birthday and like any good hostess should, I ordered a cake for her. It was a beauty – custard filling – marble cake with butter cream icing:

As the card party developed and we grazed on a variety of munchies, food, snacks, and Amy’s cake, I decided the cake needed to go back into the refrigerator. This is what the cake looked like a few seconds after I picked it up.

I know…I know! One would think I was drinking and couldn’t manage to pick up the cake and move it to the refrigerator. Truth is, the majority of the cake was on the back half of the base and the cardboard the cake was seated on neatly folded in half from the weight, and the cake slipped onto the floor on its top…as I did a SHRIEK kind of thing.

Amy and some of the crew ran in to see what the shrieking was all about. When Amy saw the cake, she grabbed a fork, got right down on her knees, and dug into the custard filling with, “Umnnhhh! This is my favorite part.”

We were laughing our asses off. I grabbed a spatula and started scraping up the sweet, gooey mess that used to be a birthday cake. Wayne grabbed my camera and snapped away.

I scraped the bottom off – which had now become the top – put it back on the cardboard and into the refrigerator. The top of it – which had now become the bottom – went into the garbage can. It felt like most of the icing ended up on my hands. The upside down cake, what was left of it anyway, stared back at me each time I opened the refrigerator door for the next five days until I finally pitched it into the garbage. Thinking back on it now, what we should have had was a ‘cake fight’. That would have really been the “coup d grace” for a birthday event.

Although we joke about the fact that we get together to graze and drink, we do play cards – splashed with all kinds of conversation – and the norm is to hang out for seven to eight hours before we give up until the following Saturday. Last week we played a half and half tournament – structured Holdem and Omaha 8 or Better. This week it was half and half – Deuce to 7 and Ace to 5 Triple Draw…hate those games. We finished the night off, after the tournaments, with our usual Big Deuce game. Next week…who knows?

But in the meantime…Fright Night – Halloween awaits!

Kim AKA The Dragon Lady. She’s such a character. She acts like she’s mad all the time…and she’s dirt talked to Marty ($40-80 7 Card Stud) so she’s got to be on the top of the list…mine anyway. She goes from being shy and cute to mean and horrible in a zillionth of a second.

She was in my line-up. Recently she trashed me because I said ‘hello’ to her when I sat down. Hey…don’t you know that’s unlucky as hell???? What’s wrong with me that I wouldn’t know that? So…when I slid my tush into the Box, I never even looked at her. She was in the 4s, right across from me, and I still made sure I never gave her eye contact. I wanted to bust out laughing…

The game was short handed, Nick, one of the Greeks, that I had problems with about two months ago was playing. He didn’t last too long. We’ve gotten past the screamer stage where he was pissed because I wouldn’t let him buy short. He finally picked up his chips and left with the statement that he couldn’t beat anyone.

A graciously, wonderful black man was in the 6s. He had a great sense of humor and seemed to be in awe of Kim and her mouth. Kim moved to the 1s when it opened and the 6s took her spot in the 4s.

Kim kept expounding over the fact that she hadn’t won a hand in the last four dealers. OMG! In two hours? Kee-rist! I’ve gone for weeks and never won a fucking pot and I’m listening to her rant, double rant, jam it up rant, pack it down rant, and just nodding my head every time she looks at me after slamming out an emphatic statement on how bad she’s running.

She kept snipping her three cards in, one up, two down, because she’s too damn lazy or irritated to turn them down and push them in. She made a comment when she was low. I chuckled and said, “I love you.”

She croaked, “I love you out my ass,” as she leaned onto her left cheek and pointed to her tush with her right hand.

I roared. Bill – 3s said, “She doesn’t like anyone.”

I argued, “Of course she does. She loves me.”

She slammed and snorted through a few hands, once she raised her hand like she was going to slap me. I laughed. The 4s’s mouth fell open and he almost jerked back. I spoke to directly to him; “She doesn’t mean anything by it. She loves me.”

She won a few pots. Then she had two blues chips in front of her for her ante and told me to give her one. If she won, I’d get it back, if not…forget it!

I dug into my pocket and put out a chip to complete her ante. She never played the hand. A few minutes later she threw in a $5 chip and asked for change, gave me back the one I’d given her, waited a half a minute and threw me another one.

I was still laughing when I got pushed. I walked around behind the 4s and told him she was just a softy and that one time she had said she would fucking kill me and I told her she couldn’t kill a grandma. He started laughing.

Kim was eagle eyeing both of us and listening. She asked, “Grandma?”

I held up five fingers as I turned to my next game. See…she’s got a heart and it ain’t made of stone. You just have to know how to find the map into that heart.

Another part of the equation that’s funny, I used to play $3-6 H with her beau, Bill, at The Mirage – that was long before he hooked up with Kim. Bill plays $30-60 H now and he was an assistant prosecutor in L.A. Not sure what he does now. *Kim is in the People in Poker pages*

*****

How many Elaine’s does it take to stop the whole room? Just one sort of throws a glitch into everything. She’s Asian, used to play $20-40 Omaha 8 or B with a Kill, now plays $30-60 H and the $40-80 Mixed games. And I’ve heard that she used to deal at the Palms. No news on if she works anywhere now. The only problem is that is she does work in the gaming industry, she should be cautioned because of her bad behavior in other casinos.

I was dealing a game with my back to the Cashier when my game and the whole room was interrupted with an incredible amount of screaming behind me. I turned around to see Elaine screaming at Menchie and Menchie slamming out of the Cashier’s Cage.

I went back to my game. The whole room had stopped for a few seconds. People in my game were buzzing about what had happened and why. The word around the room later was that Elaine apparently can’t stand to have old and new bills mixed so when she cashed out, she found five $100 bills in her otherwise ‘all new bills’. She threw them on the counter and wanted to change them for new. Done deal. Menchie, one of our long time cashiers changed them for her. Don’cha just know that Elaine happened to find another one and wanted to change it too. Can’t happen. The cashiers are only allowed to change $500 max in cash for cash.

Elaine was having a fit. Kamell spoke with her about the rule and explained Menchie’s position.

Instead of trading the bill off with another player, or walking to the main cage to swap it out, or just letting it go, she went back to Menchie with the bill and wanted to buy a $100 chip. Menchie sold it to her. Then she immediately wanted to cash it out. Menchie gave her back the same bill. Elaine went nutzzz screaming, “Do you want to fight me? Do you want to fight me?”

I heard that Menchie simply said, “Ok!” and headed out of the cage where she was promptly stopped and herded back towards the office by Skip.

Elaine had to leave the premises and could not return until she spoke with Doug. Naughty, naughty, Elaine, shame on you…someone that’s worked in a casino, especially in the poker room should know better.

And on the other side of it, my money’s on Menchie!

Bruce Meierkord

I just received news from Suzie Lederer that Bruce passed away this morning, October 27, 2005.

Bruce was just in Aruba with us dealing the Ultimate Bet Event. Bruce opened the Mirage with a lot of us that are still in the industry. He moved up to Assistant Supervisor and eventually took the graveyard supervisor position – later moving to Bellagio to fill the same spot. He left Bellagio’s employment a few years back and maintained an active part in poker as a dealer at tournaments and possibly some floor positions that I’m not aware of because I lost touch.

My last memory of him was an animated, smiling Bruce, laughing at himself for getting ‘old and fat’. Damn it! Life is so harsh at times.

My wish for Bruce: May peace fill your spirit and your new journey carry you to places that we all dream about.

Table Tango, my couch, awaits my thoughts and self-expression for the day. This self-indulgent space is my therapy. Let me tell you how it all started. I dealt poker in Montana for some years before traveling to Vegas to deal my first big tournament in 1987. That tournament was the last tournament the Golden Nugget hosted – the Grand Prix. Shell shock!!!! Looking back on it now, I wonder how I ever had the will to return. It was brutal. I was almost sick to my stomach due to the attitude of the players and the house’s willingness to let it slide.

After the Grand Prix, I continued to work major tournaments in Nevada for two years – from 1987 to 1989. Poker was really slow in Montana and I knew if I was going to be in the poker business, I would have to make a move. I applied at The Mirage and opened the casino (along with over 5,000 other employees) in November of 1989. The Mirage took all the poker business in town. Caesar’s Palace closed their poker room six months after The Mirage opened. Every room in town downsized or closed.

Fright night had turned into 24/7 as far as I was concerned. I dealt to everyone that was ‘name brand’ during that time period. I used to leave the poker room at night swearing that I would have to quit my job. I dreamed of ways to make myself immune to the ugly glares, the card throwers, and the swearing freaks that were always the same troublemakers in the games and always managed to just get a gentle rebuff when they got horribly out of line. Even a lot of low limit players had the attitude that they were spending their money, they should be allowed to behave any way they wanted. I hated every second of it. I used to sit with other dealers and moan and groan and share horror stories about players and their attitudes towards dealers.

Then in 1996 I got my first computer. Back in the days when 32 mgs of ram and a 1.6 gig hard drive was the top of the line. I knew absolutely nothing about computers but I was determined to learn to build web sites. I locked up a domain name for my son’s tattoo shop and started messing around with a site. One of the dealers I worked with had just started a poker website. We spent a lot of time visiting and he asked me if I would write something for his site. I did. (In the meantime…along about 1999, I locked up the domain name ‘PokerWorks.Com’) Although he liked the articles and put them up on his site, he eventually felt they were too much trouble to update and told me I should just put them up on my site. I did.

Those articles were my first rebellious statements about what happens at the poker table on a daily basis – the truth about what people are really like when they are running bad and watching their money being pushed across the table to someone else. Eventually I kicked off ‘dear diary’ and then changed the name of my couch to Table Tango when I had someone else write for a short time.

These pages are here for me. I write for therapy. I write for my own enjoyment. I write so that I can go back and see where I was at another time in my life. I really never thought anyone would ever read of any of it or that I would meet so many great people because of all of it. But the bottom line is that this is here for me.

I really used to become quite angry when someone would say, “Stu Ungar was the greatest card player that ever lived.”

And I would want to snort, “Bull fucking shit! He was great when he won. But when he lost, it was the dealer’s fault.”

Guess I should say that I didn’t just want to snort…I did snort. And truthfully, I never had a good session with Stu Ungar. So if he was so damn great, why couldn’t he take a beat? I don’t think the world should view poker players as if they aren’t human and they all sit around like Ladies and Gentlemen and pass the time of day politely moving on to the next hand. It just ain’t so. And if poker players don’t want the world to know just how ugly they can get when they’re on a losing streak, they need to apply more make-up to their poker face, bite their tongue, control their hand motions, and just get on with the game because some of us are going to tell it like it is.

So it all started out as rebellion and turned into therapy. Now it’s a way of life. I can’t imagine not writing about my life and how poker interacts with it. My beautiful couch…Table Tango.

Back in the trenches – two eight-hour shifts, back to back. The world must be coming to an end because I’ve decided to actually go to work and work.

Where to start…I’m in an exceptionally relaxed frame of mind and there are no grouchy spots or people piss offs going on from my side of the green felt but there are still happenings that are noteworthy so let me get started.

$4-8 H, a friendly little game – all male – until the 2s opened. A foxy little chick appeared, with a male sweater in tow. She posted and raised when the action came to her. The Button raised and everyone else jumped right in…big pot. The Flop was all ‘under cards’ one Spade.

The chip runner brought the Foxy Chicks rack of chips and she owed $24 to the pot. She seemed to know what a hand was but seemed out of sorts with what to do and when to do it. She had chips and when it was her turn to act, she said, “I bet $4,” but made no move to put any chips into action. Her Sweater told her to put out $4. Once she leaned back and looked at him, as if looking for advice, I cautioned, he didn’t say anything, and she acted on her hand.

Long and short of it, the Turn and River were Spades. The 2s and the Button got in three bets on the River. He showed Q-Q, she showed A-J S. She pulled in a huge pot. Her Sweater got several empty racks and declared they were going to the Buffet. Hello and goodbye.

The guys were all a little astounded that she won one pot and left. She acted like it was her first time at the table, if it was she just started a long journey with that one hand – I figure she’s hooked.

On to $2-5 NLH – one of those stupid, never should happen things did happen. The Shuffle Masters on a few of the tables are sunken a little too deep – just below the table surface – and it creates an obnoxious lip that’s hard to push chips and cards over. One hand, with three-way action and a raise pre-flop, I hit the lip with the deck in my hand as I was pulling in chips and discards. Of course the top half of the deck popped off of my hand and went into the muck. I honestly couldn’t tell if some of the deck went into/under the mucked cards and/or lit on top. I called for a decision.

Boba came over and after I explained the problem, he said I had plenty of cards intact on the deck so ‘just burn and turn’. He walked away in the middle of some grumbling from the 4s. No one else had a problem with it and the game went on.

$30-60 H and Lance was in the game. He’s like watching perpetual motion. He changed seats once. I kept chuckling over his antics and motions and finally said, “The Rodeo will be in town soon.” Somewhere back in the archives is a post about Lance during NFR.

He threw his hand up over his head and did the bull riding motion from the hand down to hips and said that he’d be bull riding at Mandalay Bay, “I’ll be riding Ol’ Blue out of chute number two.”

Guilty…I cracked up. Then he croaked out, “I’m lying here with Linda on my mind…” and seriously, he was croaking during some of it. Then he asked me if I’d ever heard that song. The 1s said he’d never heard it sang quite like that. *laughing*

Lance said he couldn’t sing it like Conway and then someone said Conway couldn’t sing it anymore because he was dead.

Lance never slowed down, he chatter boxed about how tight everyone was in the game, even the 1s that was a tourist must be the tightest player in his home town, and how did Lance always end up in these kind of games, and then he lost a pot.

Then he added a twist to the song, “Lying here with Linda on my mind…she always fricking kills me…” he croaked it out too.

I was rolling. I can’t help but smile when I see him and I can’t help but laugh when he comes undone. Love ya, Lance.

By now all kinds of camera equipment had rolled into the main entry of the poker room and ropes and security were everywhere. We had to enter and exit through the Sport’s Book entrance and walk around close to the entrance to Light and then cut back across the Casino to go to the Employee area. I inquired. They were shooting an ‘in house video’. The kind you see in your room about things to do while you’re at Bellagio.

I hit another game or two and then I was off to Table 1. All those times I missed it in the last few months…no escape hatch tonight. $2,000-4,000 Mixed. Chau – 1s, Eli E. – 2s, Abe – 3s, Young stranger – 4s, Ted F. – 5s, Todd B. – 6s, David B. – 7s, Ralph P. – 8s.

I announced, “Time Pot,” and dealt Omaha 8.

Todd and David split the pot. I asked them if they wanted to split the Time. I thought Todd said he’d pay it as he threw me a $100 chip. I changed it and took $80 for Time. He corrected me and said he was paying $40. I apologized and explained that I thought he said he’d take care of it. He went with it. I’m not sure what I created or did there but he paid all of it.

David seemed to be oblivious to everything as he and Eli were doing Proposition Bets. Even when the game went to 7 Card Stud, they picked out what the Flop would have been and who would have gotten what and sent big chips flying across the table to each other. Once when David threw a chip to Eli and it came so close to hitting me that I jumped back in my chair, Eli laughed and said to David, “Don’t hit Linda. If you’re going to hit her, hit her with a big chip. Right, Linda?”

I agreed. Of course we all know that is never going to happen.

Chau had Kleenex stuffed in his ears with long pieces of it hanging down by his neck. I asked him if it was because the music was too loud. He said it was because the 7s never shut up. *chuckling*

I tried to misread one hand between Eli and Abe in Omaha 8. They had a split but I thought Abe had a straight. Nope. No straight. Todd sang out, “This isn’t Montana, Linda.”

That was funny too. He played in Lakeside, Montana. Same game, just a much smaller limit.

I headed up to Table 4. $400-800 Mixed. Yen – 1s, Mike W. – 2s, Ali – 4s, Lee – 6s and walking, Eskimo – 8s.

Yen asked me if I was the Linda that helped Michael Craig with the information for his book. I just smiled.

They gamboled. Lots of chips flying…especially in the triple draw games. Once when Eskimo threw out $500 and reached back for $300 more to raise, Yen quietly said, “That’s a string.”

I pushed back the extra $400 to Eskimo and told him he couldn’t raise. He argued. I called the Floor. The decision was that he could not raise as he didn’t state it or put out half or more of the raise.

He called Yen every name in the book. “Little mother fucker. He always pulls that on me. I never say anything to him. Cocksucker…”

And on and on it went. Yen never said a word. He really could care less. Eskimo was slamming chips in the pot now and Yen had the best of it. I got pushed and a few minutes after I hit the next game, that one broke up. Ali and Yen came over to join the game I was dealing now.

Due to the ‘in house video’, they were closing all of the games in the upper section and moving them to another part of the room. When the Floor informed the players they would be moving the game, a player complained, “We’re stuck.”

The Floor, Jimmy, replied, “You can be stuck down there.”

My game broke due to players moving to another section. It was almost 3 a.m. Time for this girl to fly.

Damn pocket nines! Or is it damn the Card Fairy? Or maybe it’s both. I was cruising along in PokerStars Inaugural Blogger Championship – intermittently picking up 9-9 – raising it, going all-in against someone that had fewer chips than I did, and I lost with them, four – COUNT THEM – four damn times. The last hand sent me to the rail. I raised pre-flop…who the hell can remember how much and what the blinds were? $100-200 I think. I raised – around $600 (another I think), got raised for the same amount. Flop 10-8-6. Queen-queen, as I found out a moment later, bet and I raised all-in…somewhere around $3,???. Of course I got called, no help, out in 884th place.

C U PokerWorks. It’s ok though…I enjoyed the online experience and the opportunity that PokerStars gave to the Blogging Community of the world. One thousand-four hundred-seventy three of us were seated and slugging it out…may the best player win. Obviously I’m not stating ‘may the best blogger’ win because there are so many great blogs out there, it would be hard to judge…besides, this tournament is about playing poker, not writing.

Vivienne (friend, late night walking buddette, pan/card playing pal) made it to 586th place. Greg P is still in. (Another pan/card playing friend, hiking bud, new dealer at Bellagio). I’m watching his table and scanning all the chatters as fast as I can while I write. There are currently 263 players left – they are falling like locusts from the sky at harvest time. Blinds are $300-600 and antes are $50.

*real time intermission*

I didn’t see Sam Grizzle anywhere during Bellagio’s Festa al Lago. What the hell happened there? I just can’t imagine Sam not being in…watching the action…coercing someone for a buy-in…or playing. Somehow it just doesn’t seem right. Maybe someone will send me an email if he’s spotted. Consider this a ‘Sam Grizzle Watch’.

Daniel Negreanu was playing Bobby’s Room Thursday night. Now the question has to surface…what happened at Wynn? Not my question but the world’s question. Because for months, every since remodel in April, the word has been out around all the tables that Daniel had a contract with Wynn and could only play tournaments in other rooms, all of his live play had to be at Wynn. I don’t have any answers because I haven’t been that curious. He’s always a welcome addition to any game I deal. J

*end real time intermission*

Ouch! Greg just took a beat with – you guessed it – 9-9. Up against A-K. He still has over $7,000 in chips and he plays well…I’m rooting for him. GO GREG!

*real time intermission*

I dealt a $40-80 Mixed the other night. Eli B. was in the 7s and Freddie was sweating him. This Freddie used to be the ‘major’ food runner for the high limit players. It was such a great job, I even thought about quitting mine just to run food for them. They gave me a $100 tip more than once when I went to CPK at The Mirage for them. And more one time when I went to Smith & Wolinsky. Well…anyway…back to the original story. Eli has thrown cards into me more than once and we’ve had words at the table…of course we get along away from the table. Go figure!

Eli said that all the dealers were lazy now because of the shuffle masters and dealers didn’t know how to shuffle anymore…as he looked at me…even though he was supposedly talking to another player.

I lipped off – in good humor – and said something about dealing.. He, in turn, made some sarcastic comment about ‘old dealers know how to shuffle’.

Freddie started laughing and said, “Linda was dealing before poker was invented.”

I cracked up. And I had to agree with him. That’s how I feel sometimes – I was the beginning. *laughing*.

*end real time intermission*

There are 160 players left in the Blogger Tourney. Blinds are $400-800 – $50 ante. Greg has $11,178 in chips…time for a hand. Come on Card Fairy…shine on my friend.

*real time intermission*

I had to work six whole hours on Thursday night. Unbelievable…and I was second on the E/O list. The final table – Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship was going to be my next game when I got tapped out for the E/O. It was the final seven battling down to the final six. When they reached the final six, it would have stopped for the night and resumed the following day in Fontana with the WPT Crew filming away.

The dealer following me may have meant well and may have been having a great time but I seriously thought about setting the deck down, capping it with chips from the pot, and ‘pimp slapping’ him.

He was on a break. I was dealing $30-60 H. My next game would be the ‘final table’ on Table 40. He walked up behind me, hand on my chair, “Linda, don’t break anyone on the Final Table. That way I can deal it.”

I asked for ‘time’ and started to push my chair back. The Dealer was gone. WTF???? Does he know I was dealing a hand? And involved in running the game? Not to worry, he came back again, about a minute later, and chatted into my ear again, same topic…’don’t break anyone’…then walked off again.

This time I turned around and looked for him to see if he was there to ‘push’. Sam was in the 3s and he said the dealer must really like me because he had to keep coming up to talk to me.

*end real time intermission*

Blinds are now $600-1200 – $75 ante. Greg has $9,303 and hasn’t danced since he got moved to the new table. Just blinds and antes.

Now the Blinds are $1,000-2,000 – Antes $100. Greg and ‘easy-wind’ just held A-K all-in vs. StiffKing’s 3-3. StiffKing was short chips, side pot split left Greg with around $8,000. Man – he needs a rush.

*real time intermission*

The Dealer interrupted me twice in about two minutes just to tell me to not to break anyone on Table 40. He was finally – really – ready to push. When he tapped me out of the game, he repeated the repeat, “Don’t break anyone…”

I got the E/O. I don’t know if Erika broke anyone or if the Dealer got to deal Table 40. I hit the Time Clock.

Michael was in the room, playing $15-30 H. We had a ‘hug’ and a short visit. His newly beloved, Michelle, was at another casino and we have yet to meet. They just returned from a Hawaiian Honeymoon. *wishes and congrats*

*end real time intermission*

Crap! Greg just went BUST! His 8-8 vs. A-K bit the dust! He finished in 98th place. Great showing but no fun.

*real time intermission*

I was such a lucky girl. Pete asked me on Tuesday if I wanted Friday off. Hell YES! I’m on the three-day weekend. Yippeee!!! The weather’s great, life is good, and I have the answer…’if poker is only a game, why do we play so hard?’ but you need to figure it out for yourself.

If poker’s only a game, why do we play so hard? That thought popped into my head yesterday and has been running around, racing through the hallways, careening off the sidewalls, dancing with the ganglia, and popping to the front of the other thoughts that are crowding around, waiting to be heard and experienced.

I have a complexity of thoughts about that and I can’t/don’t want to share them right now. I still need to allow them to ferment, scrape off the foam, saturate my soul in them, tuck them away in a darkened corridor to ferment some more, and then try to put them into a specific time slot where they are logically patterned and can be interpreted into rational thought.

WTF did I just say? Please catch up…Kee-rist I hate having to spell it out.

Before I hop into the Poker World, this is a little bit of my world.

I’ve been strangely detached from everything that’s going on around me lately. It’s kind of like having a front row seat in a movie without the popcorn and sodas. I just drift along watching the scenes, catching the lines, and simplify it all into a little jumble of life that really has no consequences or bearing on what or where I will be in the next five years.

So! As my ongoing plan develops, I sold my trusty steed a few days ago…my sweet little Toyota Tacoma, Double Cab, dirt munching, 4×4.

This is on order and should be in within the next few weeks. Only picture it in Silver.

This machine is part of my plan. Stay tuned, more on that as the details develop.

Now – without further ado – I return to the action. PokerStars is hosting an Inaugural Blogger Championship NLH Tourney. Check here for the event and action…to date there are 1437 entrants. It’s going to be a toughie but I will be there, trying my best to finish…no explanation needed there.

Bellagio has just been crankin’. The games are slamming, Bobby’s Room has had two games every night, and all the ‘name brands’ are in action and milling through the room.

The players in lower limit games are in awe of the fact that all the ‘name brands’ are there and moving freely about the room. Like what are they supposed to do – teleport themselves from the casino or valet to Bobby’s Room?

It’s funny to watch the newbies ogle and gaggle over the ‘name brands’. And when they hear a list or name being called for a $100-200 or higher, they start jabbering, “Wow! Who could play that high?” – “Can you imagine playing that limit?”

I like that new, clean attitude – the nervous hand that releases chips, the giddy excitement over winning a pot, the chip clatter and table chatter that goes on when people are there to have fun and aren’t trying to mask their emotions and don’t mind explaining why they called a bet or played a hand. I like the seasoned player also. It takes a mix to make poker what it is, which returns me to the question. If poker is only a game, why do we play so hard????

Poker is just as crazy as ever. All the big names are in town and the room is rocking. Doyle hosted a party at Light on Tuesday night – don’t know what the event or occasion was but a lot of players were talking about it in different games. And Doyle was looking rather spiffy in his western hat as he sat outside the room on his motorized chair talking with a couple of ‘dollies’. Bobby’s Room has been w-a-a-a-y active. Of course I’ve managed to veer around it as I sign the E/O and slip quietly out of the room after a few hours. *big smile*

It has occurred to me that I’m missing out on a lot of great events, that I could be writing about, by doing the E/O thang…not to mention the $$$. What am I thinking??? Long story but it will eventually come out.

My first game tonight was one of final event tables. The final event of Festa Al Lago is the Doyle Brunson North American Poker Championship. BTW there were 420 entries, 213 left at the end of the day, and Chau Giang is the chip leader. GO CHAU!!!! I was in the main Poker Room and even though we have shuffle machines, the Fontana Tables don’t have them so we have to shuffle by hand. The players were on a 15 minute break when I sat down. When the Tournament resumed, the antes were $75, blinds $300-600, and the players I knew at the table were Thor Hanson – 1s, Dewey Tomko – 4s, and Rodeen Talebi was in the 10s.

An incident that shows how important it is for players to act in turn, happened in my down. The 1s was the SB, Thor the BB, Rodeen the Button. Everyone folded to Rodeen, the 1s threw his hand away even though I was doing, “TIME. TIME.”

Of course the 1s apologized but it opened the door for Rodeen. He raised – I believe it went to $2,000. Thor called. The Flop was 10-8-2. Who bet what, I can’t remember. Thor ended up all-in and Rodeen had him covered. Thor turned over 10-8 of Spades and Rodeen turned over 8-2 of Clubs. A blank on the Turn – a little deuce on the River.

After Thor left the table and Rodeen was stacking chips, Rodeen voiced what had happened. When the SB folded out of Turn and Rodeen raised, Thor thought Rodeen was stealing. And Rodeen said that he was stealing.

Sometimes you can get caught stealing and still win the pot but if the 1s had held his hand…

I made a super idiot mistake tonight. It was $300-600 Mixed, Table 4, a nice field of faces, and on the very first hand I dealt, Lance – 1s, and Carlos – 2s were heads-up in Deuce to 7 Triple Draw.

I must have been a million miles away or… Well anyway, I dropped the deck after the second draw. I just knew I had three burn cards out and they were finished. Yeah right! They never slowed down with bets and raises and Lance wanted one more card, Carlos rapped pat, and Linda was in shock.

Lance asked Carlos if he wanted to split the pot because of the error, Carlos said, “No.”

I called for a decision. The deck was intact on top of the muck, Kamell had me just burn and give Lance the top card. Lance paired. Carlos showed an eight.

I apologized – several times. I especially have to be thankful for the way Lance handled it. He’s easy on dealers and he let it slip away like smoke in the wind…at least it appeared that way. He doesn’t mutter and grumble and zing cards; he just plays the game.

Ali was in this game and a few minutes later, he said he was ‘playing behind’. I told him he couldn’t. It’s like a never-ending discrepancy in our high limit games. Some of us dealers know that it’s not allowed and some don’t. It’s hard to enforce when the dealer’s before me haven’t been doing it. I ended up getting a statement from Tim, Floor Person, to verify it for the Table’s sake.

Jimmy W. was in the 3s, he split a pot with Carlos in Omaha 8 or Better. The pot had $300 in it and all their bets were in front of them, they took those back, I put two $100 chips in front of Jimmy and one $100 chip in front of Carlos and asked Jimmy to give Carlos $50. Jimmy asked if there was $300 in the pot, as I was saying yes to Jimmy Carlos threw Jimmy $50.

I looked at Jimmy, more of a questioning look, because I didn’t see Carlos grab one of the $100 chips in front of Jimmy. Carlos said something to Jimmy and Jimmy said, “She’s looking at me like I stole something.”

I laughed…more of an abrupt exclamation than an actual laugh, and started to say ‘no’ but Jimmy finished it with the fact that Carlos had taken the $100.

It’s funny but it’s not. The reason I looked at Jimmy is that once I make a mistake in a game, I’m good for two or three more…Murphy’s Law.

It must have been a night for mistakes. David was pushing me but he went right on by me and pushed the next table. No biggie because we all do it sooner or later but it dawned on him about five minutes after he sat down…I was just getting ready to notify the Floor that I hadn’t been pushed. David and I just switched tables while Jason stood over Table 5 and waited for me to get there.

This puts David and me facing each other, about 10 to 12 feet apart. He was having a terrible time in the game I’d just left. He’s an excellent dealer but something went awry and he had to call the Floor for a decision too. Then Ali, David L., and another player switched seats and it created a disruption because of the Blinds. I was watching David’s frustration grow – his face told the story.

I…in the meantime…was chuckling my butt off. Dealing Chinese – $200 a point – to Tim Phan and Paul Phillips. They were more than entertaining as they traded chips, hand motions, and words.

Then I raced for the outside air…E/O time.

The skies been crying, it’s wonderfully chilly feeling, and wet…summer’s over.

Don’t think the railbirds only hang out in casino poker rooms. They are everywhere. I got tagged by one in cyberspace a few days ago. He didn’t catch me through the chat function in a poker game I was in – he caught me through AIM. It was a cold call. I will admit I was slightly startled by the intrusion as he wasn’t on my buddy list and I had no idea what/who was in progress when he popped in. It went like this:

Session Start (lrgeenen:pokergod05): Thu Oct 13 16:24:44 2005
[16:24] pokergod05: hi
[16:25] lrgeenen: hi.
[16:25] lrgeenen: who?
[16:25] pokergod05: Hi, I am only 16, but have won almost 2k playing poker live w/ buddies…….So i’m looking around for a small time backer to stake me some cash over at pokerstars…….I was in fact staked once on stars 25$ and was able to get it up to 200$ however after i paid my backer 75$ I became VERY stupid as far as bankroll management and emotional management(both things that were strong factors in my success before losing it all).

Anyways, my mind is right again and I’m ready to play and win for whoever is willing to back me. I will payback 150% and will be able to send it back within 2-3 weeks(pending how much u send)
[16:27] lrgeenen: $0 – that’s what I would send.
[16:27] lrgeenen: But I wish you luck.
Session Close (pokergod05): Thu Oct 13 16:27:45 2005

Session Start (lrgeenen:pokergod05): Thu Oct 13 16:27:54 2005
[16:27] pokergod05: ok thank you.
Session Close (pokergod05): Thu Oct 13 16:28:06 2005

Session Start (lrgeenen:pokergod05): Thu Oct 13 16:28:14 2005
[16:28] pokergod05: I know you dont know me or anything, but mind if i ask why you wont give me a shot bro?
[16:28] lrgeenen: I work and deal in live poker. There are always people asking to be staked. If I want to put someone in a game, it’s myself.
[16:29] pokergod05: so u wont help me out and send like 5$ to start up playing online(it takes 2 seconds, “requests” then “transfer money”)
[16:30] lrgeenen: OMG! I can’t believe you can’t take no for an answer. But the answer still is “NO”.
[16:31] pokergod05: ok
[16:31] pokergod05: u know any1 who might be interested?
[16:31] lrgeenen: nope, not right off hand.
[16:32] pokergod05: ok
[16:32] pokergod05: well if u run into some1, can u im me?
[16:37] lrgeenen: sure
[16:37] pokergod05: thanks dawg

There you have it, my friends. If any of you want to contribute to a supposedly underage person that has already learned the fine art of begging, please jump.

But on to poker in the real world: While dealing a four handed (two walkers) $80-160 H, Must Move game, one of the strangest incidences I’ve ever experienced with Barry S. happened. Barry walked up to the table and asked what we were playing, question answered, he enthusiastically stated, “I want to play!”

He sat right down, took the blind, the brush person went for his chips, Roger E., on Barry’s right handed Barry a stack to play on until his chips arrived, the bet was raised, and Barry called. Barry and the 2s were heads-up. The Flop: 7-7-5. I honestly can’t remember what the action was on the Flop or the Turn that brought an 8.

A King popped off on the River, Barry bet, the 2s raised, Barry called, and Barry’s chips arrived at the same time.

The 2s turned up 5-5 with something like, “I can’t beat a bigger full house.”

Barry looked like someone let the air out of him. He shuffled his cards for half a second, jumped up and started putting his chips in a rack as he stated something to the effect that he wasn’t playing with assholes.

The 2s said, “If I said something wrong, I’m sorry.”

Barry kept stacking and continued to look at the table and the chips he was racking up.

The 2s asked, “Would you tell me what I did?”

Barry left.

The 2s specifically asked me if he’d done anything wrong. I told him, “No.”

Roger said, “Maybe it’s because I said, ‘Welcome to the game!'”

What just happened there? I’m still surprised by the whole thing. Barry’s been around the tables a long, long time. Maybe he just got knocked out of the tournament or something else was going on in his life before he joined the table.

One of the “walkers” returned and the game went on. Jim M. was playing on Table 4 and I overheard him say, “None of you noticed. I’ve been quiet for 63 minutes.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. Usually the only time he’s quiet is when he’s got a bet with someone or he’s threatened by the floor that he has to be quiet or leave the game. He came by my game, stopped to chitty-chat with the players in general, “What are you playing here?” and a few other queries.

I said, “Hey Jim, I heard you were quiet for 63 minutes,” and I started laughing.

He waited until I pushed the pot, then leaned across the table – yes, he’s tall and lean – and did a mock smooch on my face…damn, his stubbly growth is scratchy, and then acted like he snatched some chips out of the pot I pushed. He held up his hand, claiming to have snagged two chips and no one even knew it. Funny guy!

My work week was over…E/O on Thursday and Friday after dealing a few hours each night, Saturday’s Pan Game – at my house – played poker so Dave could deal to us, and tomorrow will find me back at Bellagio. C U there!