I had thought to race off to sleep as soon as I arrived home from work. Nope, I’m hanging out at the keyboard instead. The moon is full and extremely beautiful. And it makes the chill in the air seem even more extreme. Of course 57 probably isn’t a ‘chill’ to a lot of the world but right now I’m c-c-c-o-l-d. If this ends abruptly, I either shivered myself into total collapse or I fell asleep while hanging out here in cyber.

I feel the need to backtrack to Tuesday night. I left it sort of hanging in the air and there’s a lot more that I want to throw out, from the dealer side of it all, in the form of a rant. I really despise dealing the $40-80 Mixed game. When it first cranked off and became a regular, featured game everyday, the players always argued about how they would pay Time. I’ve posted about that before – and the confusion and mess it caused. Gradually, all the dealers and the supervisors must have just realized that it was always going to be a problem unless it was just taken out of the pot – the players wanted it that way. So be it!

It’s played eight handed and for some obscure reason, it’s usually spread on one of our ‘new’ – ‘bigger’ Holdem tables that came in when the room was remodeled. It’s impossible for any dealer in our room to reach the 3-4-7-8 (3 and 6 when it’s set up eight handed) seats’ chips and cards unless the player pushes them in, as there’s no ‘dealer cut out’ in the table.

So…I got to deal the Must Move and then Main Game both. The Must Move was five handed when I sat down. Tony – this game is perfect for Tony because he likes to gamble and he’s always on a draw – was in the 5s when I sat down…he moved to the 3s after a few hands. Adam was in the 4s – I could never complain about him in anyway, he’s always there to play and quite conscientious and helpful in almost all areas of game play. Thor was in the 6s. Karina was in the 7s. A stranger was in the 8s. The game was playing incredibly fast, bullets were being fired from all barrels and someone was in the wings, loading up the ammo clips for the next round.

Several comments were exchanged between Tony and the 8s – i.e. about the level of play. It was tinged with barbs and Tony was kicking butt for a few hands. Then Karina went on an incredible rush. The sky was raining chips and she was stacking them. The game was truly a bitch to deal. I couldn’t reach anyone’s chips or cards and I kept repeating, “Push them in please.” And how can one begin to think that they would figure it out and just push the damn chips in?

I made the comment to Adam that I couldn’t understand why those games were always started on the bigger Holdem tables. He said the players didn’t want to be all squashed together…not that he was giving me heat, he wasn’t. He said (jokingly) that they didn’t care about the dealers anyway. I replied, “I knew that.”

Smoke was starting to roll from Tony’s seat…he was hot and not in the manner that one needs to be hot to be stacking chips. STEAM to the max. I dealt his cards about five inches in front of his hand and he barked, “Could you get my cards to me, please?”

He really didn’t mean please. He was ready to blow. He took a few more beats. Not that he ever started with the best hand – he was always drawing – and he figures it’s a beat when he can’t complete his hand. So he did just what I’d expect him to do. He set his cards about one inch from his fingers when he was done with them and looked off somewhere like he was daydreaming.

Of course he was punishing me. I’m supposed to deal his damn cards right to him but he doesn’t have to cooperate with me at all. Two hands back to back, when he folded, I transferred the deck from my left hand to my right, pushed my chair back, stood up, leaned across the table, pulled in his cards, pulled my chair back in, sat down, and transferred the deck back to my left hand. He really showed me. Dipshit!

And you know what – I don’t care if he reads this tomorrow. No one that could ever have a serious thought about playing poker for a living should ever try to pick at the dealer when the dealer is doing their job the way it’s supposed to be done. Only an idiot slows the game down and lets the other players know they are getting ready to bleed…chips and more.

I got pushed. But there’s more, I just don’t have the energy left for it right now.

*Post poned*