I have one major, giganticous, ugly flaw in my inner character hard drive – sure I have a lot of them but this one tops them all. I feel everyoneMUST be held accountable for their actions. If we make a mistake, and we are intelligent enough to reason that we could have made a mistake – in reflection or discussion – we then need to apologize or try to make sure we don’t create the same problem in future actions.

The perfect picture to show accountability will best be shown in the following game:

Take one $40-80 Mixed Game, eight handed, add six locals and two tourists, and send Linda in to deal. The 7s is the local ‘bag of gag’ AKA J.C.P (too many posts on his ugly attitude and self loathing to even try to link to them) and he has a yellow button in front of him, he’s not played a hand yet, four hands out of the blind, and I’ve already checked with Boba to see if there is a list on the game. If there’s a list, even new players must pay time – a whopping $7 a half hour – even if they can’t take a hand or are waiting for their blind. In Deuce to 7, the first two players out of the blinds are dealt out to prevent running out of cards.

When my butt hits the seat, I announce, “Time Pot!” Bag of Gag sits there, ignoring me as I expected, and I put my hand on the table towards him and say, “$7 for Time please.”

Not only do I get a blustery, “HUMPH”, kind of retort from him, I get noisy from the 1s, and 8s, and a few more thrown in to boot. They inform me that he’s a new player. NO SHIT! The only thing he would ever be new at would be smiling and peace of mind, he’s definitely not new to hating everyone but not nearly as much as he hates himself.

I follow through with the statement that there is a list and that he must pay Time. Bag starts muttering, some of it went like this, “She just wants to get every penny from me she can get. She wants me to pay…”

I called Boba for a decision, in the midst of the noise and jabber-jawing that I’m receiving from people that should make Bag accountable for his actions (that’s a sick side of poker that has been touched on in other posts before, how players will tolerate all the cheap, shitty shots, and attitude from a losing player, just to keep them at the table…yes, Bag…you are a loser. In more ways than one! They want you in the game), and their support to the dealer doing their job would be great, but there are only a handful of players in all limits that will hold the Live One accountable for their actions.

Boba ruled that Bag had to pay the Time becausethere was a list, and left the scene. The 1st began to inform me that it wasn’t Bag’s fault because he couldn’t take a hand, and that he would be missing a total of three hands for the half hour if he had to pay Time, and it wasn’t fair to Bag.

I really like the 1s but I totally disagree here. Why should the next player on the list be kept from a seat when they would pay the Time just to keep their seat andBag can’t figure out that paying Time is part of the game? If they want Bag in the game so bad, why don’t they all put in $1 each to pay his time?

Bag started to rack up, grumbling and swearing, but the other players convinced him that if he just held his seat, there might not be action on the Blinds and if there was no action, Time would not be taken, and he could come in in the Blind. Gag said that would work for him*double, triple, quadruple GAG from me*

The 8s, Asian cutie that doesn’t speak English as well as the rest of us and is really great for a game from the dealer’s side, blew the whole game plan to hell when she called the $40 Blind. We were going to have a Time Pot.

I, once again, ask Bag for $7 for Time. Once again I start hearing flack from the players at the table, once again I call Boba, and the 1s suggests asking for a decision from Jimmy, our swing supervisor. The playersare still telling Bag not to leave his seat, that he won’t have to pay time. Boba arrives and tells them that he checked with Jimmy and that Bag must pay time if he’s going to hold the seat.

Bagstarts racking for real, swearing (I’m sure he said something “Fuck…dealer…” but I couldn’t catch enough of it to call the floor on him), and grumbled into, “…I don’t know why I even come in this place…I hate being here…” as he glared at me.

I looked right back at him and said, “Then don’t.”

AwayBag went, the air cleared immediately, no black clouds were hanging over the table, but then the 2s began a dissertation with the 8s that if she hadn’t called that bet, they could have keptBag in the game because one more hand and he would have been in the blind. She didn’t quite comprehend what he was trying to tell her and she tried to explain that she just played her hand. And why should she have to take heat, just for playing her hand,to keep Bag in the game?

And did anyone at the table ever figure out that I shouldn’t have to take heat for doing my job, just to keep Bag in the game. Shouldn’t Bag be held accountable, by them if nothing else, for keeping the game going somewhere in a casino poker room? If you don’t pay Time, and there is no rake, where are you going to find a game? At your local back alley bar? Who is going to pay for the air conditioning, beverages, security, etc? Check out The Cost of Doing Business.

I had no focus for the game. I tried to make a mistake by giving one player too many cards on the draw and was stopped by the player receiving the cards so no damage done. I tried to make another mistake in giving change (because another player pushed chips back to him from a bill he called with – this is brutal when I have a mindset on what he gets in change and someone else does it for me as I’m reaching for it), but all-in-all, they kept me from creating any monster error or problems. And they should.

But I do realize that I’m accountable for the dealing when I’m in the box. I’m also accountable for how I represent Bellagio and poker. I always try to do my best job at both…even when I’m playing in a game. And if I play cards with some clown that wants to harrangue and hassle the dealers or other players, I’m usually the first person that jumps feet first into their chest and puts my fist into their throat. Accept responsibility PEOPLE! You’re sitting back and allowing it to happen just shows you’re not doing your part.