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.