As of late I’ve hit the room and signed the E/O-Play List. We still are not allowed to play on the clock, yet all the other MGM/Mirage Property dealers are doing it. Why? The word: In order for us to play on the clock, our small signs, that adorn the walls of the room, state that we ‘do not’ hire props or shills. Those signs have to change to read that we do hire props. I find that to be totally amazing that after almost 16 years of being employed by The Mirage and parent corporations, we now have to state that we are props – but what the hell do I know? Apparently the other properties have already changed their signs…but Bellagio can’t seem to get there yet. So rather than sit ‘dead-spreads’ and put myself through ‘deal a game, take a break, sit a dead-spread’, I believe I am capable of winning when I play and I elect to ‘not’ clock in and join the battle on the green felt.

My game choice has been $15-30 LH for the last week and a half. I like the game and the action. I’ve always known that I needed to move up the ladder of limits and stop spinning my wheels at $4-8. It’s easy to hide in a sea of $4-8 games and never stand out in the crowd…unless of course I was an overly developed 21 year old that wore Victoria Secrets attire when I slowly strolled through the poker room showing off my wares.

One of the things I don’t particularly care for is the fact that people seem awestruck that I play poker. Like where the hell have they been for the last 25 years of my life. It seems that if you don’t sit elbow to elbow with them, you aren’t in their field of vision or scope of awareness. In a way, that’s a good thing. I like playing poker with people that miss the obvious and are oblivious to the rest of the room and what’s happening. Of course if I took a seat in $2,000-4,000 (I would need my head examined) everyone in the world would be exclaiming, “OMG! She’s a dealer! What’s she doing playing that limit?” and I would be the talk of the room for days. But since I’ve mainly confined my play to $4-8 H over the years, no one even thinks I know how to play a higher limit. And most of them want to make comments about me being in the wrong seat. Thanks, kids! But it does get old after awhile. That’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed tucked away in $4-8 H…there are others, but that’s one of the reasons.

I happened to be playing the $15 game last night with a gent that I’ve dealt to off and on (mainly when he’s in town) since The Mirage days. He’s a wonderful addition to the game, loves to throw chips in every pot and can just flat make you sick when he shows you ‘9-4 off’ at the end of a hand to take all the checkers, and of course, he likes to whine a little when he loses. I can take all of it. I take my ‘9-4 off’ pills before I ever enter a game.

He usually calls me his buddy and makes sure that every knows that he’s known me for years as he orders another brandy from the cocktail waitress and talks about the girl that’s coming to his room later in the night. When are we NOT buddies? Any time I beat him in a hand. I did! He never had the best of it. I did! As I stacked a huge pot, he loudly stated to his male sweater, “I hate playing with dealers!”

Then he pointed at me, “She’s a dealer…” almost as if I had a strange slime growing on me that would infect others if they got too close.

OMG! The Brand is showing! The big ‘DEALER’ that’s tattooed on my forehead must be throbbing and starting to turn fire engine red.

I laughed, “Yes, I’m a dealer. I’m proud of being a dealer. I never said I was a player and I don’t pretend to be one. That way I never had to defend my play at the table.”

Most of the other players laughed and thought it was funny. The good news is that Mr. 9-4 Off jumps right into the next hand and completely gets past any beat…except when he beats you with a bad hand after he’s paid you off on a good hand, he will make a comment that you owed him one for the hand you beat him on. Oh well, a little square needle now and then never hurt anyone.

The $15 game I got into last night, Phil (used to play $15 and now plays higher) walked by and informed me, across the table so everyone could hear, “Linda, you are in the wrong seat! You are supposed to be over there,” as he pointed at the Box. Not to worry, an hour later when I had changed games and was sitting in the 10s, he walked by again. Again across the whole table, he stated, “Linda, you are getting closer. But you need to move over one more.”

Thanks. Does that mean he’s hoping I will go broke so I have to deal? I don’t believe so. I believe he just thinks he’s really being funny. I have given him two polite chuckles over his comments. I’m sure he – and others – will have plenty more for me as I continue to bludgeon them or myself from the player’s chair in the $15. Of course if I drop back to $4-8, they won’t even notice me in that part of the room.

One of the funniest parts of the whole thing is that Sammy Farha has noticed me when I play $4-8 and has told me, on more than one occasion, that he would go partners with me. Cute! I love that guy! From his angle, The Brand has been lasered out.