Agony! First of all, it’s actually painful to sit in the box and deal when you’ve been a lazy butt like I’ve been. On Monday night, the 10th, I drew the tournament area as my start in the line-up. I did sign the E/O list. And wouldn’t you know I was out in an hour and a half. Amazingly, the second $1,000 ‘second chance tournament’ table I dealt, the 1, 2, and 3s, all ended with A-A, A-A, and K-K, respectively – in the first hand. The 2s had a redraw as two spades came on the Flop. The 3s busted out…Kings never helped. Crazy! And all of these tables are ‘hand shuffle’. No shuffle masters in Fontana.
On Tuesday night, the 11th, even though I signed the E/O, I worked five hours. Seriously ugly as it was all in the main room and I got to hit a wall doing 110 MPH with a few players that just make it more difficult to deal a game as it should be dealt. On a funny note, as I walked by a $30-60 H game, one of the players asked, “When was the last time you put four Queens up on the Flop?” He was referring to the hand I dealt on the Aruba WPT which was televised this last week.
The room was a screaming madhouse of insanity. The heat in the room was unbelievable.
Sam Farha was playing in Bobby’s Room and I decided to take a minute to visit with him. He was playing PLO with Aaron and someone else I didn’t know but have dealt to before. Sammy is one of the most amazing chameleons of mood that I’ve ever seen and that might be one of the reasons that I really like him so much. He doesn’t stay in ‘gloom and doom’ for very long. He raised it pre-flop, both players called; the Flop was middle-straight related. He showed me A-K suited, A-J suited, with some comment about the game and play. He did it as if he was dissecting a bug under a microscope, needing to take notes of each cell as the scalpel sliced through it…then he turned to me with a huge smile…a new day had begun. I asked him what I came to speak with him about. He was so damn charming. Then I was off to work.
My first game was a little rocker, must move $10-20 NLH.
The next game was $200-400 Mixed. Max Pescatori, Chris Fargis (picture promised and coming soon). This game was a little hopper. Amazingly, the 1s, Walter (and I don’t know his last name), is from Czechoslovakia. The first time I dealt to him was in 1987 at the last Grand Prix tournament at the Golden Nugget and I didn’t deal to him for years, until he made an appearance at The Mirage in 1994. Wow! Long time no see!
Then off to $25-50 NLH. One hand took so long the request was out to put a clock on ‘the Venezuelan’. The Venezuelan was facing a huge bet and it would put him all in. He exclaimed, “American Airlines,” and his English was not even close to being good but that came across pretty damn WELL. He ended up folding.
The next game was another $10-20 NLH. The 2s opened. A new player came in and posted. Several hands passed and the 7s opened. The 2s opted to move to the 7s and had just posted his blinds. After settling into his seat, as I pulled the deck out of the Shuffle Master, he told me he would just wait. I told him that he moved into the Blind and would be dealt right in. He told me that he would let the Blind go by him. I told him that if he waited, he would be given a Missed Blind Button.
I think the part that I found the most amazing was that a player named Mark, in the 10s, said, “I don’t believe she knows what’s she’s talking about.”
I’ve dealt to Mark many times over the years and this was sort of…well like…bullshit! Several other players took up my defense, ones that I’ve never seen before. Then Mark may have semi explained his stupid statement by asking, “He’s a new player, isn’t he?”
It never hurts to pay attention when you’re playing. Of course he wasn’t a new player. Else why would I take the stand I did? I didn’t even bother to go into that. I just told Mark that the 7s had already posted in the 2s. Some of the other players explained that in Vegas, you can’t ‘deal off the button’. A few of them even went on to say that Vegas has some funny rules. That statement is too bizarre for me. Vegas had poker long before the rest of the US had it. So Vegas/everyone doesn’t conform on rules. Why does that make us ‘funny’?
Well, the tax man cometh. I have an appointment today to have my taxes done and I can’t finish this, sleep, and make it to the guy that’s going to save me from Uncle Sam so this has to give.
Post-poned