Mrs. Lederer, wife of Howard, sister-in-law of Annie Duke, THE Swing Shift Supervisor at Bellagio, but better known to all of us in the poker world as Suzie, has left her position. Her last official shift was Sunday night…yes, she’ll be missed by all of us, players and employees. She isn’t finished with us though. She will be working tournaments (I’ll be working with her in Aruba in a few short weeks) and a few of those will be Bellagio’s big events so she’ll be around.

While dealing $60-$120 Holdem tonight, Richie W. asked me if Suzie was going to become a player. I gave him the above report. Suzie came in on graveyard tonight to help Shana get the feel of the relief Supervisor on Grave. When I told Suzie about the query, she laughed and said they obviously haven’t seen her play.

It feels like an era in poker has passed. We started dealing together at the Mirage a million years ago. Truthfully, I hoped I would retire before she did but alas, I still have that damn mortgage and a hundred other things to take care of…hello time clock.

*****
The $1,000-$2,000 Mixed game was hopping on Table 1 and right in my line-up about 12 a.m. Renee, Jennifer, Abe, David G., Minh, Ralph, Eli E., and Chau…in order from seat 1. They were well heeled and low key, involved in taking bets with each other and giving odds on players placing in a tournament.

I deftly dodged the one and only bullet. Eli lost the first few hands I dealt. He was in the 7s and the Big Blind in an Omaha 8 or Better hand. I took the shuffled deck out of the Shuffle Master and released it to cut and deal just as he lofted two $500 chips into the air that would land on my hands. My peripheral vision is better than bat radar, I saw them sailing in and pulled my hands back. The chips did a dead ‘splat’ onto the green felt. I picked up the deck, cut it, and dealt the hand. Nah, nah, nah, nah! Hell yes he meant to hit me with them!

*****

The $2-$5 Blind NLH game is just phenomenal. I wish I was in the mood to play poker and had the time to cruise through a few sessions of it. The play is unbelievable and you’d have to see it to believe it. Late tonight, still a must move into the main game until 2:30 a.m. The must move broke when four seats opened in the main game. The action was crazy…in both games.

*****

I’ve witnessed some strange bets and calls in the last few months but this one might take the cake. $4-$8 Holdem. The Big Blind had stacks hidden behind stacks of chips in front of him. He was somewhere around 30, made the statement that he learned to play by watching TV.

He started to fold his hand when I said, “Option.”

The player next to him pushed it back to him and told him he was already in. The Flop was something like 9-5-3. He checked. One player bet and everyone folded to him. He called and checked the Turn. The other player checked. He checked the River. The other player bet. He called. They both turned up K-4, no pair and split the pot.

Pretty impressive that he wanted to fold pre-flop, had no draw and no call coming but called the Flop, checked the Turn, and check-called the River for a split pot.

Damn it! Maybe that’s where I went wrong, I should have learned to play by watching TV.