I spent the last two nights playing on shift…dealing about an hour each night before taking the player’s side/seat at the table. Truthfully I’m in shock at how bad some of the new dealers are. While I understand that they come in from other places and some of them may just deal tournaments, it’s almost scary to have them in charge of the game. If they have any dealing experience at all, some things are just common sense…like if a guy moves over two seats and a player that posted both Blinds now leaves, the guy that just moved CAN’T HAVE the Button! We do have a Dead Button Rule at Bellagio for hell’s sake. That’s pretty standard in most houses that run big tournaments. There’s a lot more but I don’t have the time or the energy to sound off about it right now.

During my playing sessions, one thing has become totally magnified in my thoughts…the new player…God bless their little chip throwing hearts…never put you on anything. Not because they are trying to, they aren’t thinking of anything but their hand and the possibility they might make a pair.

I got the usual set of Aces cracked off on the River by a gutter, gutter straight, and flopped a ‘Big Duke’ three other times and got them all beat by a gutshot straight on the River. Not whining. Just making a note to myself that these people have the imagination it takes to make these hands and we definitely want them there trying to make these hands.

One hand that really sticks out in my thoughts is when I had just played the Button in the 2s and moved to the 8s. I was sitting next to Tom, long time 7 Card Stud/Holdem player from the Mirage days. Tom popped it up with K-K. I folded and watched the ‘imagination theory’ unfold.

The 2s was a young kid and had posted to take a hand. He held Q-J off-suit. The Flop was K-7-5 rainbow. Not to worry, an Ace on the Turn and a 10 on the River gave him the pot…and he was fading a bet every step of the way. A few of the other new players tried to give me the ‘you left that seat’ raspberry. Damn right I did. If I hadn’t, I would have NEVER made that straight…but why explain it to them.

Yup! I left a winning seat alright. Unfortunately I would never have played the seat as well as he did because he has a much better imagination than I do.

*****
A $4,000-$8,000 game bloomed in the middle of the low limit section. It was huge for all the ‘tv’ fans. It started with Chau, Sammy F., and Phil I. Later it filled up with Eli E., Barry G., Johnny Chan, Ted F. Doyle was in and out and may have played in it too but since I was playing instead of dealing I didn’t pay much attention. It was google and gawk for everyone around them and on the rail.

During one of the Ultimate Bet $500 Buy-in Tournaments, I had the misfortune to deal to John Bonetti. Over the years, I’d heard many dealers, players, and supervisors talk about his bad attitude towards dealers and how mean he could be. I figured it would go one way or another, he’d either be calm and collected because he was playing with a field of Brick and Mortar Green Horns, or he’d believe he was the only one entitled to win and show it. It was the latter…damn it! I hate it when it goes that way.

He was in the 2s and snipping cards at my fingers with the first hand dealt. He had a direct shot because the 1s was empty. I deftly dodged each ‘snip’ for the first five/six hands. He was in continual snarl and grumble mode, making statements like, “these dealers…” waving his hand in the air to show his disdain for us and the rest of the world. And then, even though I keep my hands clearly back of the box and the ‘war zone’, he hit me in the side of the hand with both cards…believe me, he was trying to hit me.

Calm as the eye of the hurricane, I said, “Just set your cards down.”

“W-H-A-T?” jerked out of his lips. He acted surprised that I would say anything.

I repeated, “Just set your cards down.”

“W-H-A-T?” Either there was no comprehension that I was serious or he’d gone into ‘broken record’ mode.

“You heard me. Just set your cards down.”

“What are you implying.”

“You hit me in the hand with your cards. Just set them down.”

By now his eyes were popping like Old Faithful and it looked like they were getting ready to blow. “I was just trying to get them in to you.”

I called for a decision. All of his statements were harsh and angry, he was definitely trying to get them into me…as in meld them into my body.

Jon came and I explained to him what had happened. Amazingly, the 5s, someone I’ve never seen before and hope I never see again, jumped into the conversation and told Jon that John was not out of line…he had seen John out of line and this time he definitely wasn’t. Thank you, Butthead! You’re not the one that was taking the cards in the hand.

Jon told John that he would have to set his cards down. As soon as Jon left, John did a, “I come all the way from Texas to put up with this?” still waving his hand and gesticulating at me like I was dried snail slime.

I called Jon back. “He’s still making comments to me.”

The 1s filled up with a little Asian cutie from a broken game and she said, “Oh my God! I knew I didn’t want to come to this table,” as she eyed John.

The 5s piped in again with, “You must not pay your dealers enough.”

Let’s clarify that one. There is no amount of money in the world that would make me be a willing backdrop for someone’s cards. I will take a card from someone when they’ve had an unexpected beat and it’s an explosion over the hand…never twice. I will not take a card from someone that’s malicious and aiming to get me because I’m a dealer. Don’t even bother dragging out your checkbooks, boys, cause you ain’t got enough money.

The 5s needs a clarification on what should happen at the poker table and player behavior…not on what HAS happened at the poker table.

Jon again told John that he would have to set his cards down and play poker. Don’t worry, as soon as Jon walked away, John started in again, “I’ve put up with dealers all my life…”

Oh my God! Poor man, forced to play poker and put up with us little dried slime trails. What a horrible life.

I called Jon again. I told Jon that John would not just leave it alone and that I wasn’t going to deal to him if he continued to behave in that manner.

Jon again went to John. John demanded to see Suzie. Jon told John that Suzie wasn’t running this tournament, that he, Jon, was the Director and John would have to speak to him. They stepped away from the table for a moment. I dealt John in while they spoke.

Jon came back to me and asked me if I wanted to be let out of the box and have another dealer come in. I told Jon that I was fine. I just wanted the 2s to stop it.

Stop it did! I ended up pushing the 2s several pots before I finished the down. I never slam chips at a player or act disgruntled towards them…so I gently slid the chips his way, in my normal ‘professional’ dealer mode…and John set his cards down like a good boy and stopped waving and foaming at the mouth.

As soon as I got to the next table, the one behind me was broken and the players moved to other games…yup…John moved right into the 5s in the my next game. Don’t you just know it! It’s Murphy’s Law of Poker Dealing. John behaved all during this down. No twitching, no waving, no stupid stares or idiotic statements. Just the way the game of poker was meant to be played.

*****
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Day 1 of the Championship Event was broken into three flights, played on three consecutive days of play. Each flight ended at 10:00 p.m. or whenever the flight dropped to X amount of players…someone said 70 but I’m not sure of the amount…remember I’m the kid that took every E/O possible.

Championship Event, Day 2, took place on the 29th. I heard it started with approximately 200 players and when I came in to deal at 7 p.m.ish, it was already down to two/three tables, and broke down fairly fast to nine players. Jim, David’s friend, from the post on the 29th was one of the last nine. I went in for a moment and visited with him, wishing him luck. He ended up in that spot…but hey, what a payday and what fun! I honestly don’t think anyone that came to play could be too unhappy with that finish…unless of course they are a ‘top pro’. Yes, first place is always what we strive for but it never hurts to be happy with where you are and what you’ve accomplished.

That room was filled with spectators, cameras, noise, and lots of confusion. I started in the Buy-in Tournament room. Begin stress and frustration overload. This is the night that I had a super problem with FCF.

About half way through one of my downs, the 7S raised to $400. The 8 folded. The 9s made it $700 all-in. It was clearly announced by the 9s and by me, “All-in for $700!”

As everyone was folding around to the 7s, he threw out $100 more. The chip clearly left his hand and landed with his previous raise…but then just before the last player folded to him, he grabbed it back. I told him that I was sure the $100 had to stay but as he whenged and cringed, stating that he thought it was only $100 more, I told him I would call for a decision. I did. I got FCF.

The play and action was explained like this, “The 7s raised it to $400. The 9s raised to $700 all-in. The 7s threw in $100 more and then took it back just before the action got to him.”

FCF looked slightly confused and said, “It’s not more than half the bet…”

I truly thought FCF misunderstood the situation and I said, “This isn’t about a half a bet rule. The 9s is all-in and it’s heads-up.”

The 4, 5, and 6s were starting to twitch a little bit because they knew the rule and they weren’t going to let the 7s get away with retrieving his $100 chip.

FCF again stated, “Well, it’s less than half the bet.”

I couldn’t believe FCF really comprehended the situation when the ‘half a bet rule’ kept surfacing. I countered again, “This isn’t about a half a bet rule.”

FCF said, “Well maybe I should get another decision.”

I said, “Maybe you should.”

FCF left, Jon came to the table, I explained the same situation to him. The decision was the $100 had to stay. The 7s could call $100 and fold or call the additional $300 and play the hand. The7s elected to call the full raise and the hand played out.

I knew I was going to get heat. I did. It came at the wrong time and I wasn’t prepared for it. I was standing behind the next dealer, at the next table, signing the ‘down’ card, when FCF appeared at my left shoulder informing me that I shouldn’t say anything when a decision was made.

I said, “Ok.”

It didn’t stop there, increasing in volume, more blah, blah, blah.

My volume increased, “OK!”

More blah, blah, blah! Louder than before. This was so unnecessary…a control thing. The point had been made with the first statement.

I was irritated now and it seemed to be going on way too long so I exclaimed, “OK! FCF! OK!”

I jumped into the Box and dealt my next down. As I was getting pushed, Jon walked by and I told him I needed to talk to him. Just as I got started FCF jumped into the picture. Actually I wanted to talk to both of them at the same time so it worked out for me. My complaint was that I don’t mind the lecture but I don’t need it as I’m pushing into the box…make it away from the table.

I reiterated that the situation wasn’t about a ‘half a bet rule’ and that several players at the table were going to demand a second decision because they knew what the rule was. FCF’s complaint was that I was the only person FCF heard saying anything at the table and the decision…one really was never made due to my mouth…should have been final.

I followed with the fact that FCF clearly stated, “Maybe I should get another decision.”

The truth of the matter is that I should have just SHUT UP and let FCF make a decision. Even though we would have called for a second decision because the 4, 5, and 6s were never going to go with a ‘half the bet rule’, at least I would have done my job the correct way.

I believe the reason I didn’t let it ‘just happen’ was that I work with this person at Bellagio and I knew the rule and felt they should too. For some reason I felt obligated to point out that it wasn’t about a ‘half a bet rule’ and thought it would register with FCF that something else was happening here. Oh well! Slap my mouth.

The next game I dealt broke down due to tables being combined. Suzie asked me to go the Championship Event and deal it. I was on a break, talking to my friend Grace, when David appeared. He’s young, a tournament dealer, and plays poker at Bellagio from time to time. He jumped right into my conversation with Grace and wanted to know if I would trade him places. He was on 36B and was dealing the Buy-in Tournament room…where I had just left.

He said, “You’ll at least be dealing three tables and then take a break vs. dealing one table and taking a breaking in the main room.”

I think I laughed. I asked, “So what? Why would I want to trade?”

He went on to say that I would deal three games each session instead of one. Did this kid know that I took an E/O every chance I got and didn’t care if I got in more downs?

It registered with me that he really wanted to be in the action of the camera and the lights and I really didn’t care one way or the other. I told him to go check with Suzie and see if it was “OK” and if it was, I’d trade with him.

He came back a few minutes later, big smile…huge smile…and we traded. The Championship Event was playing down until there were six players left for the WPT filming the following day. He even told me a few hours later that he busted the seventh player. Cute! NOT!

I don’t believe the dealer ever busts anyone and I don’t go around telling people that I pumped someone up or broke them…honestly, I don’t have ‘jack’ to do with the game unless I make a mistake. But David’s young, highly energetic, and smart…maybe he’ll figure that part out as his career progresses.

*****
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The 29th, Championship Event Day 1, Flight 3. *Begin Edit* We had two rooms of tables and dealers/players. One room hosted all the satellites and buy-in tournaments and the other room hosted the main event. I started in the Championship Event, dealt to Marcel Luske and Mike Matusow in the same game. Marcel went ‘bust’ during my deal as he tried to run over A-A with the A-2 of Clubs. Debbie Burkhead held the Aces that sent Marcel out of the tournament.

David Oppenheimer was at my next table and as soon as he told the players I was the best dealer, I made an ante mistake. For the life of me, I don’t know how or where but we were short one ante and I had to call for a decision. Jack McClelland appeared and summed it up as ‘it’s too late now’. Shortly after that this game was broken and the players sent to fill other emtpy seats and I was on my way to the buy-in tournament room.*End Edit*

I know the majority of the dealers, including myself, never had a problem with any of the players and as far as I know, there were very few incidences where a Supervisor had to be called for dealer or player abuse (player to player abuse). I ran into all of it in the few short hours I dealt during this shift and the following night.

The first colossal incident came when I entered a $540 buy-in NLH tournament event and Melissa was playing in it. I’ve never seen Melissa out of line or irritated but she definitely appeared to be both…not with me. She’s always gracious and treats me with courtesy and respect. I would just have to surmise that she was having an unusually bad day…and I’ve been guilty of them too so this isn’t judgemental, just the way it came down.

The 3s was a well put together, healthy guy with an accent…maybe French but I really lose my ability to distinguish who’s from where/nationality, etc. Three females in the game, 5s, Melissa – 6s, and the 7s.

Towards the end of my down, the 3s put in a small raise pre-flop, the 4s folded, the 5s went all-in, Melissa folded, the 7s went all-in and had the 5s covered. Everyone folded to the 3s and he contemplated the bets and the raisers. He was taking a little extra time but nothing that would have been earth shattering according to NLH standards. Finally he exclaimed, “I have the opportunity to take two ladies out at once!” as he shuffled his cards back and forth and looked at the raisers.

Melissa stood up with, “You piece of shit! Make up your mind,” and walked to the table next to us to visit with a friend. She returned within a few seconds and stated that she wanted ‘the clock’ put on him.

He was flabbergasted. He asked the 5s and the 7s if he had offended them in anyway, they responded with a positive “NO!” He wanted me to call the Floor because he didn’t appreciate Melissa calling him a piece of shit and she wanted me to call the Floor to put ‘the clock’ on him. I called for a decision.

The person that answered my call is the subject of another post back about a year or so ago. At that time this person specifically requested that I NEVER use their name again on my website and had a heated discussion with me about infringing on everyone’s rights by writing about them here. Call me stupid, call me neanderthal, but…if you’re in the poker world today, you are either being photographed or written about so get used to it. And if you look bad, maybe you should change what you’re doing. But since I have to cross paths with this person at Bellagio…I’m giving an alias, hence known as FCF.

I explained the whole situation to FCF over my right shoulder and after I finished, the 10s stated to FCF, “She really was totally out of line with her statement,” referring to Melissa.

While I was explaining the situation, Melissa was still demanding the time clock be put on the 3s and stated that she didn’t like the way he treated women. The 3s was still verbally defiant that she had called him a piece of shit.

FCF handled it all like something like this, “Ok! Everyone has to behave now.”

Wow! That takes care of it.

I finished the hand with the 5s and the 7s heads-up as the 3s folded. If I remember correctly, the 5s had Q-Q and the 7s had 10-10. Take it 7s. The 5s left quietly.

I got pushed. I’ll admit I was shaking my head a little bit over that decision. If a man had called a woman a name, there would’ve been hell to pay…why is it not the same standard for women?

*****
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The 27th – Championship Event 1, Flight 2, found me dealing to John Juanda. He was in the 9s and pretty frisky. For me to state how the action went in the game and the hands, I cannot, I only know that he put in raises and picked up several pots because that kid doesn’t sit around and wait for a hand…he picks his spots and jumps head first into the ‘chip wars’ leaving caution and sense of reason to those that can’t keep up with him. He ended up in one hand with J-J, raised it, and got one caller – the 2s – heads-up. The Flop contained one skinny, little Ace. John made a marginal bet, his opponent raised all-in and had John more than covered. John called. His opponent held A-Q. A Jack popped off on the Turn. John brought home the spoils from the Chip Wars. And had more ammo for the next battle.

I landed in a game with Layne Flack and Phil Laak AKA The Unibomber. Layne was in the 2s and landed in his seat just after the tournament break ended. We exchanged ‘hellos’ and I couldn’t help but almost chuckle every time I looked at him. He had a huge grin when he looked at me and I asked him who was bringing him the beer this year. Last year he had someone bringing it in by the dozen in a bucket of ice. And he was passing it out to anyone that wanted one…jumping up from his seat from time to time to hand them out. Not this year though…nothing alcoholic anywhere around him.

Finally I asked, “Where’ve you been?”

He replied that he’d been in ‘rehab’ for 30 days.

I exclaimed, “No Way!”

He reaffirmed it and I said, “Ok. No more questions.”

The 1s put in a few raises pre-flop and each time he did, he put on his sunglasses, AFTER he raised it. Phil was in the 5s and he pointed out the fact – the sunglasses go on after the raise. Phil stated that it was a nice move.

The 1s looked like a fairly new player…hell, maybe he didn’t know Phil is a ‘name brand’ player but it appeared to me that he beamed a little brighter after that.

Layne was pretty quiet during this down and didn’t do much, verbally or with chips. I heard at the Awards Banquet that he’d made some major changes in his life lately. Good for him! It’s so hard to overcome yourself and make the first move .

My next game had Annie Duke and Chris Ferguson in it. These tables were filled with pros. I wondered if most of the online players had any idea of what they were up against in these games…not only did they have to fade the transition of going to Brick and Mortar play where they faced down their opponents, had to fold in turn, and looked at a lot less hands an hour – they were playing against the top players in the world.

Some where in here, I dealt to David from Canada again. *David, I edited the other post*. He was funny and chipper as usual. He wanted to know if I was going leave him on his own against all these players or if I was going to help him out…maybe not in those words but the meaning was there. We both laughed on that one. I told him, “No! You’re on your own.”

I was still on the E/O (Early Out), every time I went in to work, and that’s exactly what happened here. I went…out into the luscious night air, drinking in the humidity and warmth, humble in the fact that I was there and life was good!

My next day of dealing, which I believe was the 25th, consisted of two deadspreads and Suzie asked me and Grace if we wanted to go deal live games at the Excelsior Casino. The Excelsior is in the Holiday Inn. The Ultimate Bet Tournaments were held in the Ballroom at the Holiday last year and had nothing to do with the poker room in the Excelsior. So…we said “Yes!”

We figured the worst that could happen is that we could get there, not deal, and leave when we felt like it or get there, deal, and still leave when we felt like it…after all, we had no obligation to anyone and weren’t under contract with anyone other than Ultimate Bet. The Excelsior was going to be hosting a ‘big’ live game later in the night and that was one of the reasons that some of us were asked to go.

We walked the beach side to the Holiday, taking our time, and went in and introduced ourselves to Marta, the poker room manager. She was extremely busy and very friendly, asking us to take a seat in the back and relax for a few minutes because she had to put her dealers in live games before she could/would do anything with us. We accepted and relaxed at two empty tables in the back of the room. Several dealers that were in our group were now playing in a game next to us. Michael, the Casino owner, came over and introduced himself to us. He told us that all the dealers in the casino had to share their tips, poker/pit, etc. We were asked to leave all of our tips in the center tube in the rack and write down how much we made each down, we would be compensated for them when we were done for the night but the tips in the rack would be picked up every hour and put into boxes for dividing between the crew later. We agreed.

Within a half hour, Marta started a $5-$10 spread limit Holdem game at the table I was at. It was easy to deal and quite active, lots of money slamming into the pots. Grace ended up going into the ballroom to deal. New games were starting as fast as Marta could find people to deal them because Ultimate Bet held a drawing each night, and had for the last five nights, for a $6,200 seat in the Tournament…it was almost time for the drawing. I moved into a game that was $2-$4 Blind, NLH…just starting and by the time I sold chips and dealt one hand, I was pushed to the next game which was a $2-$5 Blind PLH game.

About this time, Ben Affleck, Russ Hamilton, The Devil Fish, and a few more showed up to start a game. They were still talking and getting the game set up as I went by to a $4-$8 Holdem game. The rail was lined with beauties all leaning in to get a look at Ben. Even more amazing was that the rail didn’t collapse with them pressing into each other and leaning over it. I can’t help but wonder how he can even stand to go out in public…

In the $4-$8 game, the player in the 10s waited until I dealt the 2nd hand before he asked me if I was “Linda…Pokerworks Linda?”

He was hysterical. David from Canada, he said he’d written me about the order of the posts – back some time ago – and wanted them to load oldest to newest, did I remember? Yes, I did! He went on to say that he knew I was coming to Aruba and he started checking out all the female dealers, even if they were 20, even though I’d said I started dealing in 1940 or sometime in there…lots of laughter here…he was determined to meet me. It’s funny that I would meet him at the Excelsior because I wasn’t even supposed to be dealing there…life is strange. David beat the hell out of his good friend, Jim, that started with A-K and David started with A-Q catching runner, runner, to land a Straight on the River. *Begin Edit* I just got a note from David that it wasn’t ‘runner, runner’, he flopped a two card straight and a four flush. Slap my fingers and my mouth. Damn it! Guess I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been but did I forget to add that every time I turned a card off the deck, David yelled, “Red Ace!” Maybe that’s why my brain went into ‘runner, runner’. They had money flying back and forth to each other for almost every card that came off the deck and the Red Ace was worth $100…I think…if I’m wrong I bet he’ll let me know. *End of Edit*

About this time the drawing for the $6,200 seat was starting. Lots of noise and confusion, screaming, excitement from all the players in the room. There were two dealers in my game that came from Vegas to deal the Ultimate Bet event.

There are no numbers on the tables so a card was brought around to each table and we were designated as ‘table 8’. Everyone at my table was screaming, “DRAW TABLE 8…TABLE 8…TABLE 8!” Either the screaming and mindset paid off or something was crazy in the world of luck because – sure enough – the winner was going to be drawn from Table 8.

Now the players at my table were all screaming at each other and trying to make a deal…the winner of the seat was to give everyone at the table $100 in cash. Russ Hamilton arrived with someone in a suit from the pit and Michael, Casino Manager/Owner. The noise and screaming jumped into a mind numbing roar as they all finally agreed to the $100 to each player deal and then all started screaming for their seat # to be drawn.

Russ spread 10 cards, face down on the table while the screaming went into ‘you’re never going to hear after this’ mode. Seat # 4 was chosen…his brother was in the 5s and they jumped up, screaming, hugging, and ‘high fiving’ each other. He handed over the $100 to everyone, the dealers at my table screamed for everyone to give me $5, they did! WooHoo! I got pushed…20 minute downs there.

My next game was back to the $2-$4 blind NLH game I’d been through earlier, I dealt it and the $2-$5 blind PLH game again and was out for a break. The place got much quieter as the drawing was over and the games were breaking down. The Big Game had started and Marta told me she would try to send me through it. Did I care? No! I can deal those games every day in Vegas.

Grace and I were asked to relax for a few minutes and see if we were still needed…we were not. Marta took a few minutes to visit with us and I wonder how many of us that live in the States would handle her job well. She started her day by standing out on the street passing out flyers – along with some of her dealers – for the poker room; followed by starting games and dealer line-ups, and on and on and on, late into the night. She explained that her dealers were afraid we would come in and take their jobs so she had to reassure them that we were only helping out and they had to deal before we could…we were fine with all of it and she was delightful, leaving us with, “Thank you for coming and I hope you will cooperation with me again.”

I only dealt about an hour and twenty minutes. It was fun, no pressure. They are allowed to smoke in the room but not at the table, that didn’t stop them, however. Although no one around me was smoking, my throat hurt within an hour. The poker room has a sunken floor and a lower ceiling…the smoke seems to grow in the area.

*****

On a really down side of our trip – a few of our dealers were out on 4wheelers and two of them were hurt when one of the 4wheelers went down. Nicole was seriously injured, she’s in the hospital, stable but has a broken pelvis and other injuries. Neil had minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises. We’re all in shock over it and hoping/praying for the best.

*****

Just for you kids that love the episodes of the ‘Big Game’…played at Bellagio in Vegas…check this out:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=14268

This “H & G” as in ‘hi and goodbye’. I’m set to load everything and head for the airport…stop in Georgia, a quick hop out over the ocean and “Hello Aruba”. Sweet! Wish I was a little better prepared but sometimes you just have to ‘go with the flow’ and that’s what I’m doing.

I hope to find a ‘hot spot’…sure the place where all the ‘nekkid’, good looking guys hang out…just kidding. A WIFI so I can just wirelessly network onto the internet. It probably won’t happen but if all else fails, I’m going to shoot for a standard dial-up that is available for Aruba Poker Players during this tournament (only problem is that everyone’s using it and it’s always busy) and I really do plan on putting up a post or two. So hopefully it won’t be over two weeks before I get back here.

I’m spending a few extra days, after the tournament is over, and checking out the island. I’ve been told there’s not a lot to it – oh well. I want to visit the lighthouse. They are so damn cool. Anyway, I still have pictures from last year that never made the website…cross my fingers…hope, wish, hope…I might find just a few more minutes in each day and get some of the ‘oldies’ and some of the new ones up.

More later.

I dealt a hand the other night that still has me completely baffled. The game was $25-$50 blind NLH. The party was just getting started, I had been playing in a $4-$8 Holdem game when I got picked up to deal this one. There was a lot of noise and general confusion as we waited for the brush person to bring chips to the table. A few of the players at the table were regulars. The 3s was from Colorado and the 9s was from Northern Idaho, just where I had spent my vacation a few weeks earlier. The 3s and the 9s knew each other…another poker game, another place.

The 9s, Mike, put a lot of chips into action, it was as if his hands were spring-tripped autoloaders. He liked to show his cards, heads up, when he was facing a large bet. In one hand he called a raise pre-flop and called a check on the Flop. The Turn gave him a four flush and a gut shot straight draw and when faced with an all-in bet, he turned his hand face up and exposed the 8-4 of Diamonds. He kept his hand in front of him, fiddled the cards back and forth on the table for at least two minutes before he decided to release the hand.

The very next hand, the player under the gun raised the bet to $200, Mike called without hesitation, the 1s called, and the 3s raised it to $1,500. The original raiser folded his hand. About the length of time it takes for one to bat their eyes is how long it took the Mike to think about calling the raise. It went to heads up immediately. The 3s jumped up and turned his back to the table. The Flop was A-K, little. Mike checked, and by now the three seat had returned to his seat and stated he was all-in.

Mike turned up J-J and started to fiddle with them. He kept his fingers on them while questioning the 3s… could he beat the jacks. They started talking about a deal. During this time the 3s never opened his hand. A few of the players got involved in a discussion about what kind of deal was feasible. It was my last hand of the down and it took at least eight minutes, a crowd gathered, Mike kept fiddling with his cards, and I sat patiently waiting for them to decide what they wanted to do. The first part of the discussion considered giving part of the pot back to the 3s and then running the cards for the remainder of the pot.

Finally one of the players suggested that all of the other players that were not involved in the hand just “Shut up!” That seemed to work fairly well, everyone got quiet. The three seat decided they had to count down all their remaining chips to see where they stood with the all-in. Mike had the 3s covered but not by much. Finally they agreed Mike would receive $1000 from the pot and the rest of it would go to the 3s. Several players wanted me to run out the board but as soon as it was suggested a lot of noise took place from the other players. I was told to drop the deck and push the pot, I did.

I had never seen anyone give up a pot without seeing their opponents cards. I puzzled over this for quite some time, even talking about it to a few players I knew, later in the night. Fortunately some of the mystery was cleared up for me tonight, the 17th. When I came in to work I ran into one of the players that had been in that game in the five seat. He was in the Sports Book visiting with several people. He took a moment to visit with me about the hand. He said what I had missed when I was counting out the bets as they were getting the pot straight, the 3s flashed his cards to Mike…he held K-K. Whew! I feel better now.

I am sometimes amazed at how much people know about house rules…just kidding. Because if the truth is known, the rules they are talking about must be the rules used in their own home game. The worst part of the scenario is that they want to argue about it even when they are wrong…that would include arguing with the supervisor and we all know the bottom line is the house decision is final. So when in Rome do as the Romans do.

I jumped into a $20-$40, 7 card stud game and the 1s had a roll of quarters in front of him. He went all-in about halfway through my down. I didn’t even ask him to put the roll of quarters into play. He won the hand and after I pushed the pot, Joe – 6s, decided to bring up the fact that the roll of quarters played in the hand.

I said they didn’t. He said they did and did a little dissertation on how it didn’t matter to him one way or the other but…he didn’t drop it either.

I said, “Well let me get a decision on it.”

He told me to get the decision another time and finished with “…you are wrong, Linda.” He flipped that out at me like he’d really given me the grand touche.

I said, “Ok, I can handle being wrong, I’d just like to get a decision for my own edification.”

Nate, Swing Supervisor, came by the table and I asked him about the roll of quarters. Nate said, “No, they don’t play.”

Joe corrected Nate. “Yes they do play, Nate…” and started to go into a dialogue dance when Nate cut him off.

“No they do not. That’s final!” and Nate walked away.

Joe explained to the table that Nate didn’t like him, that’s why the decision went that way.

When I clocked out, Jimmy, Grave Supervisor, was on shift and I only had to bring up the subject of Joe and the stud game. Jimmy looked at me, ” I told him no. Did you tell him no?”

Nuff said there. But I did carry it one step further. Out of curiosity, when I came in to work the following night, I asked Kamell the same question and received the same answer I got from Nate and Jimmy. So I guess if Joe knows the house rules he must remember them from his own game and remember if you ever play there that all change plays if you go all-in.

*****
On the night of the 9th, I attended the Poker Fantasy Camp Banquet. I arrived early at the Palms, and never having been there before, decided to take a tour of the casino. I’ve been in Las Vegas too long. All the casinos look the same to me, flashing lights, noisy machines, and the hustle and bustle of mankind running in every direction. As I cruised the perimeter of the casino, I found a final Camp tournament being played down in one of the ballrooms.

One of the contestants at the table was our own Tony H., (a regular at Bellagio) the subject of other posts here. He took second place in this tournament and managed to handle himself extremely well, mainly his temper. His temper is the subject of the other posts. Yes, he knows about the posts, I told him.

First place in this tournament was a $10,000 seat into the World Series of poker. Second place was $5,000 in cash…not a bad showing for a kid that plays at Bellagio.

There were numerous tournaments that took place and some single table tournaments. I wish I had more information on the basic format but unfortunately, working at night while the rest of the world happens during daylight hours, I tend to miss a lot of things because I love my sleep.

The Camp Participants had a question-and-answer period with Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Phil Gordon. They also played poker with these poker greats.

The morning after the banquet, a Celebrity Poker Tournament was to take place, a guest appearance by…some said it would be Gus Hanson…would take place and before the tournament was played, all the pros would again visit with the Participants.

Well hell, there I was sleeping again so I missed that too. That damn time clock is always in the way.

*****<

Soon I’m going to begin testing this statement, “I do this for a living,” as a normal routine check to see if I can say it and then NOT make a mistake. The phrase has escaped my lips approximately fifteen times in my dealing career. BOOM! As soon as I say it, I make a mistake. What the hell is up with that?

I skipped into a $20-$40 Omaha 8 or Better with a Kill. A few of the ‘usual suspects’ were in the game, namely Jay and Jeff. The field was comprised of new faces. They weren’t new players, just new faces.

The 1 and 2s were somewhere in their mid thirties and extremely impatient for A-C-T-I-O-N! The 10s had a horrible time looking at his cards, taking an extra 30-45 seconds, when the action came to him. And he was losing! Short chips through my whole down, finally dragging half of a small pot, I felt a slight sympathy tug for him.

The 1 and 2s kept barking, “He’s got to hurry up! Tell him to speed up!” when I dealt the first hand.

I snorted, “He’s entitled to look at his cards.”

They were on the verge of ‘grumble explosion’ but they eased up a little bit.

As I dealt the third or fourth hand, the 8s was the Button and he pushed the Button to his right, almost in front of the 7s. When I came around with the 2nd card, I asked him, “It’s your button isn’t it?”

He replied that it was and he had just moved it out of my way so I wouldn’t expose his cards. Super pet peeve of mine. Leave the damn button alone. I set it where I know I won’t hit it or expose a card…another post somewhere. I moved the Button back in front of him and flippantly exclaimed, “I do this for a living…at least sometimes.”

Jay chimed in that I was probably one of the very few that could make that claim. It’s always worse when someone gives you a compliment and then you really blow it.

Not to worry, within a few hands, mega action, I missed the 10s on a raise on the Flop, pulled the bets in, burned and turned. Ooops! The 10s and the 7s brought it up. Call for a decision. Finish the hand. A few hands later, I tried to pull the bets in without allowing the 10s, once again, to call a raise.

The 7s had a cute little smile on his face when he said, “I thought you said you did this for a living.”

I knew he was going to tag me on it and wondered how he missed the first mistake. I replied, “I said I ‘sometimes’. Tonight I’m only here because I snuck in after management went home.”

He laughed and replied, “We’re all ok with it.”

Jay laughed too and said he’d keep me from making any more mistakes. Whew!

When I escaped the down, I stopped behind the 7s, put my hand on his shoulder and said, “I was wondering how long it was going to take you to jump on the statement I made. I couldn’t believe you missed the first mistake.”

He was laughing. I thanked him for being gracious about it.

So…if you hear me make the statement now, it will simply be a test and not because I’m lipping off to a player. I hate tests, it always reminds me of the statement, “Pay attention now, there’s going to be a test later.”