mainly mine. I have stayed almost completely out of casinos since my last foray in to finalize my retiring from Bellagio’s elite poker dealing crew. I really can’t stand the thought of going into the poker room and hanging out – to play poker or visit. What happened? Is there some post live poker hijinx that opens a black hole in my head when I consider going in and playing live at Bellagio?

I can’t seem to put my finger on what ails me with live poker…and believe me, I’ve tried. I want to play in the main event of the WSOP but thinking of staying locked into a seat for 12/14 or more hours a day (if I managed to hang on to chips) leaves me with a dismal feeling. How can I accomplish the WSOP goal when I can’t stand the thought of the noisy heat, all the confusion, and staring at bad cards for 14 hours a day, not to mention the fact that sitting that long makes me insane? And then be confronted with all of the hostility and aggression towards dealers that some players exude – and when you’re in a hand with them, it’s directed at you. I’m not sure I can stand the heat.

The way I see it right now is it’s a zillion to one long shot to fade through all the players to even make the money, coupled with all the other emotional drains and the expense, and the physical discomfort, all of it rolled into one neat little, frigging nightmare and it might keep me from ever competing. Right now…I just don’t know.

With a new tournament somewhere in the world every other day, it’s amazing how many people still flock to Vegas to compete in the WSOP. Downright damn startling actually.

There are a number of reasons that I would like to compete – and obviously want to win the main event – but if I did, you wouldn’t find me down joining the local $2K-4K game at Bellagio. You’d rarely find me as a matter of fact, anywhere other than here, and playing on the internet, probably in tournaments.

We have a series on PokerWorks called “Where are they now” that is profiling the big names and not so big names of poker. The series profiles WSOP main event winners right now but it will branch out into other areas if we live long enough. I’ve had a lot of experience watching WSOP winners over the years. Reading “Where are they now” has kicked a few dust drifting breezes into full blown tornadoes. I really have a bad attitude about the behavior of some of the name brand players…yes it is still going on to a degree – not necessarily in tournaments but in live action.

I’ve always despised the thought that bad behavior in high limit is excusable because of the amount of money they have at stake. Horse Shit! If you make $5K a month and lose $2K in a poker game, tell me you aren’t even more severely affected by that loss than a high limit player is if they lost $100K in a $1K-2K game. For one thing they have a lot more avenues open to them to stay funded and stay in action. And playing at that limit, on a daily basis, they know the risk/reward, and they should know that it’s part of the game by now…losing goes hand in hand with winning.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I hated dealing to some of these people. The thought of having to ever step back into the role… *black hole opens* And then to listen to, “They’re such a great player!” after a fan has watched them win a tournament, makes me want to indignantly yell, “You haven’t dealt to them when they’re losing!”

I’ve never had the fear of growing up to be like anyone I ever dealt to but I don’t have the same attitude about dealers – especially stemming from the last five years – that I did when I first got into the business either. I think that may be part of the reason that I don’t want to play live.

I find the business of poker to be quite a dark, dismal hole for the most part. The most part would be live poker, not the internet.

One of the biggest problems I see with live poker is enforcement and uniform rules. I know there are a lot of people with a lot of heart that are trying to standardize poker rule and make sure the same thing is done the same way ever time but it ain’t gonna happen. The main reason it can’t happen is because people are involved. Think about it!

Another big problem – IMHO – is in live poker I have to sit next to someone that jostles my chair when they move, puts their drink and arms in my space, never shuts up, and some of them just reek from poor personal hygiene.

And then there’s the dealer that thinks they are in the entertainment industry and has to double flip, triple dip the rake up into the air and then catch it on top of their hand as they give it one more flip to catch it and palm it into the drop slot – as they shoot the stub out their other hand in a domino/fan effect. And most of them can’t take the correct rake. And do some of them know what “Shut up and deal” really means?

And I hate jackpots, I hate having my pots double raked and the house charging a management fee on jackpot money they are ‘handling’ for the player…when in essence they are just baiting a hook to reel you back in with the jackpot as they glean another way to charge you to play…a handling charge on your own money…how convenient.

I also don’t like the ‘you have to tip me attitude’ that is apparent in too many situations in live poker.

There aren’t a lot of variables and mistakes that can happen in online poker, the hand plays out as it should with people being forced to act in turn and not allowed to expose their cards during the play of a hand and having a set amount of time to act speeds the game right along. We all know the drill…”you can play in your shorts, don’t have to drive to get there, blah, blah, blah” and yes, all of it’s true. And when I win a pot, I’m not expected to tip because “She used to be a dealer.”

A lot of all of the above in live poker never used to bother me quite as much as it does now..except the bad attitude of some of the players whether I was playing or dealing.
Now I can’t help but wonder if I have finally outgrown one of my greatest loves. Poker is something that has been a huge factor in my life for most of my adult life. The world of poker has changed. So have I. Will I see you there? Perhaps!