Laws Of Chance

I can name that tune in 5 notes . . .

2007-12-04T18:48:00.000-08:00

I scored some free tickets to see the $250,000 Game Show Spectacular at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The game show was hosted by Bob Eubanks. They play a bunch of games based on popular games shows and take players out of the audience. My tricket was drawn for a game they called Name That Song. I played against two other audience members, they played 7 songs, and as soon as we knew the title of the song we were to buzz in and give the answer. The person with the most correct answers would win the game.

The first song was Ruby Don't Take your Love to Town, I remembered the name of the song just a second too late as time ran out, none of the contestants buzzed in.

The second song was Sweet Home Alabama, I knew this one immediately, but guy on the other end beat me to the buzzer.

The next song was a trick question and it even fooled the Host. A couple of seconds of music and the young lady in the middle hit her buzzer, but she couldn't come up with a name. As soon as her time was up I hit my buzzer nad gave the correct song title Escape, and Bob started to tell me that it was incorrect but then looked at his card and acknowledged it was correct. You see many people have no idea that this song by Rupert Holmes is actually called Escape, most people know it only as The Pina Colada Song.

Three songs down and I'm tied for first place.

Next song was Carly Simon singing Your So Vain, and i quickly buzzed in and got the point.

The fifth song was something I never heard before and missed the name when he announced the answer. No one buzzed in, no one got the point.

The sixth song was Alan Jackson's Chattahoochee, This one almost got away from me as I struggled to remember if it was called On The Chattahoochee or just Chattahochee but i buzzed in on time and got the point.

At this point I had three points, the other guy had 1 point and the girl in the midlle hasd zero, there was only one song left and I couldn't be caught. Bob walked up to the girl in the middle told her that she needed to get a point and told her that the next song would be Jessie's Girl, and I took my hand off the buzzer and allowed her score the point as they played the final song.

My prize was $200 cash. Pretty good score for knowing three song titles.

Drew Carey on Raid on VFW Poker Game

2007-12-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

I guess anything goes Now

2007-11-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning I'm dealing a $4-$8 game. A bunch of Asains who are regulars in the room are in the game. I have had an ongoing battle with many of them over the years about speaking foreign languages at the table. "Ricky" folds his hand and starts loudly conversing in Chinese with someone stading at the table. I ask him politely to stop and he argues withj me that the person he is talking to is not in the game. I explain that it doesn't matter and Ricky goes nuts. He jumps up and is screaming about it and goes running to the front podium where he starts telling the cashier what happened. the floor is out of the room, but Andy, another dealer hollers at me that they can speak foreign languages if they are out of the hand. That is bullshit. Andy just thinks that we have to let these guys do whatever they want so that they keep coming back. I tell Andy I need to hear that from the floor. They get a floor person person over and the floor does in fact tell Ricky to stop speaking Chinese while a hand is in progress.

Later the other floor calls me into the office and tells me that "everybody" is upset at me. When I ask who everybody is I am told it is the other floor people. He tells me that although I am right about the rule, since there are lots of Asians in the game and nobody complained, I should let it go.

Well I don't consider this a minor matter. Protecting other players in the game is my job. The other players should not have to complain, some of them may not understand how they may be disadvantaged, others may feel intimidated from speaking up. I know that as a player would rather not have to call attention to myself to be the one to identify rules violations, i want the dealer to do that for me.

Well fine, the floor wants me to take that approach, they are the boss they call the shots. I simply will deal cards and let the clowns run the circus. I'm not there to protect the integrity of the game, let them protect themselves.

I suppose I can't bludgeon him to death on my first day.

2007-11-17T10:11:00.000-08:00

New Poker Room, new bunch of regulars and they are all regulars. Well all regulars in the sense that they play at the room on a regular basis. Some of them are definitely irregular.

My first down in the $2-$4 Limit game I get two guys who are trying to test me. Hey look I'm no rookie, I can take it, but I shouldn't need to take it. The good news is the floor told me he is trying to get one of them 86'd.

But one guy, sitting in this game made it clear that he thinks the $4-$8 game is bingo (meaning the players play with no skill and only luck determines the winner) and he went on to explain to the others at the table how solid poker players prefer to play $2-$4 limit as opposed to higher limits. This the $2-$4 game has better players than the $4-$8 game.

Heard at the Poker Table.

2007-11-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I started the new job. This poker room has one of the lowest rakes in town, yet I still had a player sitting at the table complaining about it (he seemed to think that there were cheaper rakes to be found somewhere).

While rattling on about it he pointed at the drop slot and announced

Thats the Second Most expensive Hole in the World

(UN)EMPLOYMENT

2007-11-09T20:38:00.001-08:00

well for some time now business has been slow and the poker room remains overstaffed. This has resulted in some of the extra board dealers not being scheduled and the rest of us being scheduled for only 2 days a week. Its tough to make a living with only 2 days of work. There is a new interim manager, and the word is that he will be cutting the extraboard dealers even further. Since i am the employee with the lowest seniority (3 years) still getting scheduled, i will be the first to lose my schedule. I don't know whether I will be laid off, or just reduced to unscheduled status.

So I have started looking for work. Yesterday i had two auditions. Both went well. One we were told we would hear back by Tuesday, the other room called me today and offered me an extraboard position today. I accepted and will process on Monday.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

2007-11-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

Last night i went over to the Monte Carlo with the intention of playing in the HORSE game. It wasn't running when I got there so I put myself on the list and got into a No Limit Hold em game while I waited.

I sit down in the 5 seat and the Player in the 4 seat greets me, acknowledging that he thinks he has played with me before. he was trying to be pleasant, he came off as a bit pushy but not really like he was trying to be annoying.

There is a guy sitting in the two seat who at the moment is taking a bit of a beating. He keeps buying in for $200 shoving it in and rebuying, throughout the night he has some pretty wild swings and goes from the felt to $800 and back to the felt again.

Seat 2 gets into a hand with seat 4. Al the money is in and seat 2 probably shows top two pair. Seat 4 says "good hand" pauses and then flips over his cards showing a straight. This is a huge breach of etiquette. When you beat someone you don't pretend like you lost and taunt them. Its poor sportsmanship. In poker we call it a slowroll.

Player 2 rebuys and comments about the slowroll. Player in seat 4 makes some comment back which was pretty unresponsive. It seems to me like the player in seat 4 doesn't understand what he did, and that this may be a misunderstanding, and perhaps I can educate him and take the edge of the table. So I politely explain why the player in seat 2 is upset and now this guy tells me he knows and he did it on purpose, so I say "well then your just an asshole" and we exchange some other unpleasantries. Now the table gets quiet and we play in tense silence for a while.

After a while Seat 4 starts talking again to me. It seems like he is again trying to be pleasant. I accept that he is trying to not be an asshole at the moment and exchange brief words with him of the small talk variety. Things are pleasant, until I take a big pot off him with a nut flush against his set. Then he starts getting a little bit excited. But he still isn't getting out of line, its just that he wants to keep talking about that hand. I just nod my head and pretend to listen.

Maybe 20 minutes later the guys go ballistic with seemingly no provocation, hes swearing at everybody at the table, and no longer trying to be pleasant. In fact he's trying to be as unpleasant as possible. If he stays, there is a good chance there is going to be a fight. he busts out and leaves a little while later.

When i get the chance I mention the guys behavior to the floor (I want the floor to know in case there is a future incident). I tell the floor the guy was having wild mood swings and the floor looks at me and says "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." I hadn't thought of it but it seems appropriate.

Problem Child.

2007-11-08T06:07:00.000-08:00

I participate in poker discussions on several message boards.

One such board is based around discussions of the Las vegas Poker Rooms. And there is a small core of members you frequent one room in particular. They have turned that board into an almost provate club of readers who play at that room and rarely do they post anything of actual substance, mostly just personal chat. At one point i actually spoke up and objected to the personal chat being present in a thread which was supposed to be informational. I got some private support, but have taken a bit oif abuse from the chatters. the boards Moderator is one of the gulty parties and he has gone so far as to delete my posts about the issue.

So there is a young lady who deals at another card room who also participates on that message board. While playing at that room I was able to identify her, and when I got a chance I called her by her screen name. He responded by asking who I was. I told her I was the "problem child" and she immediately knew my screen name.

So there is another board that I frequently participate on where I don't have the problem child reputation, or at least didn't.

The forum i participate on is dedictaed to the topic of brick and morter poker rooms. TT the screen name of the moderator is very protective of NYC underground clubs and often edits out information from posts which he thinks may endanger the clubs.

In response to a recent robbery at a club, which resulted in a shooting death, a thread about NYC card rooms started up and within that thread there was a discussion of whether operators of these illegal clubs might be hesitant to call the police in the event of a robbery.

For some unknown reason TT took the position that this would not be the case, and in support of that position he cited examples of operators calling the police during a robbery. But there is a difference. When a robbery is going on and peoples lives are in danger calling the police even though you may have some minor legal problems is a no brainer. But if the robbery is over and no one is threatened any longer, why would an operator of an illegal poker room call the police. That is like a drug dealer calling to report that someone stole his drugs.

But TT thinks that my saying this endangers the NYC clubs and he has threatened to dleete my posts if I continue to disagree with him.

Below is the first message he sent me:

the news media is reading that thread - its not just a bunch of fellow 2+2 degens, your going to far because your not considering the damage you may be causing. Please drop the discussion about before/after, insinuating that there are robberies that have never been reported is not in the best interest of the NYC poker community. We are trying to shape and controll the news stories that are being released to encourage cooperation with the police department and legislation to change the legal status, if newspapers start reporting that "according to 2+2 there have been numerous unreported robberies" then we will have failed. Take the high road, the responsible thing to do is to drop the discussion about calling the police after robberies have occurred. The important thing is that the general policy is to call the police while a robbery occurs, anything that happens after the fact can only cause trouble for the same people we work hard to protect.

I just gave an interview where I encouraged the reporter to pull up the police records on poker room robberies and raids, he said there were virtually non-existent. There is very good reason why, but we wont allow that to be discussed because then we fail at our mission to protect the operators and players in these underground rooms.

In response i basically told him that if he made bad arguments using faulty logic and misrepresentations I would continue to challenge him.

in response he sent me this message

i started to write a long response but I abandoned it, I'm really pressed for time so I unfortunately have to make it short and sweet. Any continued discussion about not calling the police after a robbery will either be deleted, or the thread locked and moved to the mod forum. We don't need the extra headaches, I'm asking you to help us keep the thread free of conflicts - if your not willing to help then the thread won't exist. The right of free speech is trumped by our goal of protecting the players in NYC, we are concerned with their safety.

So according to the moderator of this forum, it is acceptable to tell lies about the saftey of the clubs so that the club owners can continue to attract business, while the players may be endangered, and he will use his power to delete any arguments put up by people who want to tell the truth.

Update:

if your going to troll and claim things that are not true, I'll delete more than your posts. I told you to stay out of that thread, but it wasn't because you disagree with me - its because your irresponsible and uninformed claims could end up in the press - which would destroy everything we are trying to do. I have done three interviews in the past 2 days on behalf of 2+2, we don't need some know it all from Vegas who has never stepped foot in a club in NYC to make claims that are patently false.

all of your future posts on this topic will be deleted because your agenda will hurt NYC poker players, we are going to protect them to the best of our ability. If it continues, or if you troll by continuing to claim that its a personal issue I'll be forced to consider a ban as a last resort.

Tells

2007-11-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

In the movies the hero poker player spots the villains' "Tell"( that is his mannerism that gives away when he is bluffing or has a big hand). In real life it doesn't work that way. tells in reality are nothing more than clues. they can have many different meanings, you have to piece together all the information you have including whatever "tell" you might think you have spotted.

Many low buyin No Limit players seem to buy into the movie portrayal. They stare into there opponents eyes sure they can see into their souls and know whether the player is bluffing.

That is just a silly waste of time.

However there some times when a player gives away too much information.

Last night playing in a $1-$3 NL game I got involved in a pot with Ace Queen. It ended up heads up between me and the guy with most of the chips at the table.

The flop came rags I completely missed. The turn was another rag, but a rag that made a flush draw possible as well as various straights and straight draws. I knew from the betting that he didn't have straight, he never would have called my bets and raises with the cards he needed to have made striaght. But he could have a straight draw.

And when it was his turn to act on the turn he leaned in to look at the board cards, and thats when I saw it. His lips were moving, he was counting his outs. Now I knew he didn't have a made hand he was on a draw. So when the River card fell it was a King and it couldn't improve a straight or make a flush, I made a large bet, I only had an Ace High, if he called me i was beat. Now he showed me he had a King, giving him top pair, I was beat, but then he folded. His kicker was a obviously a low card that gave him a straight draw and when he missed his straight he accidently hit the King, but his kicker wasn't high enough to call a big bet with. If he didn't have a straight draw he would have been playing only to hit the king and he wouldn't have folded.

Freeroll

2007-11-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

Knocked out early of the Monte Carlo freeroll.

60 Players with 15 advancing to the final day. I just ran into some bad luck. Looking around the room I had to be a favorite to advance. But starting with $2000 in chips early on I picked up pocket Jacks in the blind. A player ahead of me made a pot sized raise i just called. I figured this would let me get away from the hand if an overcard fell and he showed aggression. The flop came 7 high and I bet out with a little less than a pot sized bet. He pushed all in (he had me covered) and I folded leaving me with only $1000 in chips.

Next time around I'm in the small blind with $900 (having lost $100 in large blind). Folds around to me with KQo and I raise to $250. Big Blind calls. Flop comes with trash. Problem is that by the time the blinds get around to me again they will be $100-$200. I only have $650 left. I figure Large blind wouldn't call my raise with trash so he probably has overcards. If he has an ace I'm beat, but any overcards that don't contain an ace and I have him beat.$500 in the pot, I push, he insta-calls I ran into pocket aces. I catch a King on the turn keeping me alive but the river is no help and I'm out of the freeroll. I played no other hands other than posting the blinds.

Daytime floorperson tells me that i was his horse, meaning he had picked me to win. I don't know if he had money on the line or it was just a friendly wager, but either way I'm glad to know that someone who has had a chance to watch me and my opponents play would pick me as a favorite.

On the way home I stopped at the Stage Deli at the Forum Shops to try a sandwich which had been recommended to me. The "Uncle Paulie" is a triple decker sandwich with Corned Beef, Chopped Liver and Onions. It doesn't sound like a great combination, but it was delicious. If it wasn't such a hassle to get to the Stage Deli I would definately make this a regular meal.

High Hand Jackpot

2007-11-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

I finally hit a High hand Jackpot (I have previously hit two, both at the now closed Hilton). Playing $1-$2 No Limit Hold em at the Monte Carlo.

I had made the decision to play loose and aggressive and this has been working out for me. I make a preflop raise to $10 holding 5 8 of diamonds. This isn't a very good hand but I figure that it is the kind of hand to potentially double up, since noone will see it coming. There is a raise to $35 and it comes around to me and I call.

Flop comes 6d 9d 7h. Perfect I flopped the straight and I have a flush draw. I figure slow playing here is bad. If a diamond falls I may be beat by a higher flush, and if not I may not be able to get him to call a large bet because of the flush on the board. There is no way he can put me on straight now, so i decide to make a big bet. I only have $136 left. there is $70 in the pot. If I bet $70 and get called I won't be able to make a significant bet on the turn, so I announce I'm all in.

This turned out to be the perfect bet, because my opponent was holding pocket Jacks (including the J of diamonds). He thinks about it for a while and calls. I flip over my cards and he can't believe that I had a straight. Dealer flips over the turn and its the 7d giving me the straight flush. The river was the 4d.

Unfortunately the 9 high straight flush had been hit earlier in the day so the jackpot payout was only $20, but I did get to double up, plus I got the added benefit of every player at that table now aware that i could raise and call a reraise with any two cards. This meant that they were unable to narrow my holdings for the rest of the session.

You need to pay attention when playing poker.

2007-11-01T22:13:00.000-07:00

Over the last week I finished putting in my 30 hours of poker play at the Monte Carlo required to qualify for the $30K freeroll (I will be playing Saturday morning).

Yesterday while playing $1-$2 Blind No Limit hold em the following sequence of hands came up.

First Hand. 5 players see a flop. Checks to player in seat 7 who bets out. Folds around to the player in seat 6, before he can act the player in seat 7 flips his cards up showing two pair. Player in seat 6 folds. We don't know what seat 6 had, or if he would have called if he didn't see seat 7's cards, but seat 7 potentially cost himself money here. Why did seat 7 flip up his cards? Well he didn't realize seat 6 was still in and he thought the hand was over.

Very next hand. I limp in with K7 clubs, 7 players see the flop. Flop comes with two clubs including the Ace, giving me the nut flush draw. I'm in seat 3, player in seat 10 picks up $30 in front of him and bets. Ordinarily I wouldn't call this $30 bet here, but i figure that since he's just bet all of his chips I'll get to see a river for free so why not gamble a little. I call the rest of the field folds. Turn comes a club giving me the nuts. Now I hate to slow roll so now that I have the nuts and the other player is all in I flip my cards up. As soon as I do this I realize that everybody is looking at me like I just did something bizarre. Seat 10 announces that he's going to fold, thats when i see that the 10 seat had racked up his chips to leave, he wasn't all in he had a full rack of chips which I had not seen (someone suggested that my view was blocked by the dealers arm which is probably what happened) so I'm holdiong the nuts against a player with a full rack of chips and can't win anymore money. While he would not have likely doubled me up unless he was holding the second nuts or something similar, he certainly would have paid off some small bets. he said he put me on a flush draw, but the fact that i called his $30 bet had to suggest a different hand.

Hilton Poker Room Closed Early

2007-10-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well tonight was supposed to be the final night for the Hilton Poker Room. Supposedly they were going to close tonight/tomorrow when the last game broke. I was planning on heading down there to play to the end, however at 3:30PM I called over and spoke to Linda the Daytime Shift Manager (whom I first met when she was a floorperson at the Aladdin), they had no games going at that time and were planning on closing soon.

UPDATE:

I called again at 7 PM and was told they had a game going. I went over and there and played to 3AM when we played the last hand. For a little while they had two games going. They were taking out the furniture from the room while we were still playing. Sadly none of the dealers had been able to find another job.

Go eat a sandwich . . . WTF?

2007-10-16T01:22:00.000-07:00

Saturday night i went to the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay to see English Beat. They were one of my favorite bands back in my college days, and I never had the chance to see them live before. It was an excellent show.

I had a rather bizarre encounter with the staff though. I had bought tickets on-line in advance. I showed up early and picked buy tickets and headed to the poker room to play some poker for a few hours before the show.

The show starts at midnight (there was some other show earlier in the evening), with the doors opening at 11PM. My tickets were general Admission and there is no seating, just a bar area and a dance floor in front of the stage. I didn't want to stand around inside so I waited till the last minute to to the show.

At 10 to midnight I go to enter, first I am met by the ID checkers. Now i don't mind showing ID, bu'm 38 years old and there is no way that anyone could reasonably mistake me as being under 21. But they wante dto see my ID, obviously there is a policy to ID everybody, which is idiotic. I didn't give them a hard time, its not there fault that they have to follow a stupid policy.

So after getting past the ID checkers I come to the next set of staff, the ticket chekers. They scan my ticket and I move to the next of staff. They are apparently searching people for something. There are two of them, and man and a woman, the woman is holding a metal detector wand. As I approach they don't make any eye contact or acknowledge me in any way, so I am thinking that maybe they don't intend to search me. I go to step past the guy, and he steps in front of me. But makes no effort to communicate with me. I ask him what the deal is and he tells me "Go eat a sandwich." Then he tells me come back in 20 minutes. So I'm thinking maybe the doors aren't opened yet, maybe the earlier show ran late. So I step to the side to wait. But some more people come by and they let them in. So what is going on?

So the guy steps away and I go up to the girl and ask her what's going on. She has no idea and frisks me (yeah i finally got some action) and then lets me pass. I'm almost in the club when I get grabbed him behind, its the guy. I ask what the problem is and he tells me that it wasn't twenty minutes yet. So i ask him what the problem is and he informs me that they refused me admission an hour and half ago becuase i was too intoxicated.

Problem. While i did have drink while I was playing poker, I was certainly not intoxicated. I had not been anywhere near the club an hour and half before that, and the doors weren't even suppose dto be open an hour and a half earlier so i don't know how they would have turned me away because I was intoxicated.

I tell the guy he has me confused with someone else, he tells me that his boss gave him instructions to not let me in. I look at him and say aside form the fact that you have the wrong person look at me now, obviously I'm not intoxicated. He tells me he I will have to talk to his boss, so he calls eone on his radio and down come the boss.

Now the boss tells me that 15 minutes ago was unsteady on my feet. I tell him that isn't even the story the other guy had. tell him he obviously has the wrong person as I'm stone sober. I stayed calm because i knew that if i blew my stack they would just interpret that as being intoxicated. The boss let me in. Now as soon as I get in I see some people who are obviously extremely intoxicated and it becomes obvious that the staff is completely incompetent.

But I had a good time at the show.

New Poker Room Opens/Poker Room Closes

2007-09-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well the Rampart has opened a new Poker Room. t really a room Not really a room, its four tables in the Pit area. They didn't hire any poker dealers, they are just having the Pit Dealers deal poker. I went to check it out and it was clear the dealers didn't know how to deal poker and the floor didn't really get it either. They had a $1-$2 No Limit game going. When asked what the buy-in was I was told $300. That was clearly the maximum buy-in so I asked what the minimum was and the floor didn't seem to know, he finally landed on $50 as a guess. Now I wouldn't buy in for the minimum anyway but the floor ought to know the answer to that question. Also they had a bizarre rule.hey have a three raise cap in their No Limit Game. So a player may not even get the chance to raise in a No-Limit Game. This is clearly a rule made up by people who don't understand the game.

The Hilton has announced the closing of their poker room. Closing is scheduled for October 17. expect we will see some more closings.

Resolution

2007-09-18T00:04:00.000-07:00

Well the resolution of the case of the guy who didn't want to pay the $766 bet was that he did in fact end up paying after gaming got involved. The Player who got paid left a generous tip for me and the floorman.

Welsher

2007-09-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

So this guy has been playing all weekend. When I left work Sunday morning he was sitting in the $2-$5 NL game. When I returned to Work at midnight Monday morning he was still in the game still wearing the same clothes (indicating he had not left).

He's got about $1200 in front of him. And then a hand comes up. UTG is in seat 10 and limps in. There is another limper and the guy who has been there all weekend raises to $30 from seat 5. Three callers and then seat 10 reraises to $170. Folds around to seat 5 who announces he is all in and puts out a couple of stacks of chips. Folds back around to seat 10. Seat 10 goes into the tank. Apparently I missed (probably while I was counting out the $170 from the chips seat 5 put out) the guy in seat 6 gets up walks around to seat 10 and asks him do you have Kings and the player in seat 10 apparently said yes). Seat 6 sits back down and later opens his mouth to suggest that Player in 10 flip his cards up to get a read. I immediately tell him to keep out of it - 1 player to a hand and he shuts up.

Eventually seat 10 calls the bet (he has $766) and flips up pocket Kings. I put out the board and seat 5 folds his hand face down. I start to count seat 10's chips to see how much is owed. Suddenly this guy announces that he isn't going to pay because seat 6 went over and spoke to 10 during the hand. He refuses to pay and eventually security escorts him downstairs to wait for gaming. his breaks the game. I spend the rest of my day doing paperwork and waiting to see if gaming needs me. I end up only dealing for 40 more minutes of my last 2 and 1/2 hours of work. I left before gaming had the matter resolved.

Best Thing I've Heard at a Poker Table

2007-09-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

For the three years I have been dealing now there is a young lady who frequently comes to play. Occasionally she plays $4-$8 Limit but usually she is playing $2-$5 No Limit. She talks a big game, and clearly she thinks she is a professional player. She frequently drops names and alludes to having played in much bigger games. Sometimes she wins, but more often than not she is losing.

For a while now she has been bringing her sister along with her. her sister doesn't gamble, or at least she doesn't play poker and she doesn't seem interested in it at all. Her sister will sit behind her or walk around and she is usually trying to get her sister to leave.

So last week they are both at the game and she is yacking on and on about how good a player she is, and if only she could get some good cards, when the sister suddenly says:

If You're Such a Good Player, How Come You Always Lose?

A Few Nights Later With the Same Dealer

2007-09-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

So now a few nights later I'm dealing in a $2-$5 No Limit game and the same dealer is playing. He gets into a fairly large pot which is heads up on the river. He is early position, but his opponenet jumps out and bets out of turn making a bet of around $100. He is considering his action know when he turns to me and says I am first, I said not anymore and he looks at me like I'm cheating him. His opponent gave him the advantage of getting to act last, and he's mad at me for letting him do it. Apparently he doesn't understand that it is an advantage to act last.

You would think a Dealer would understand.

2007-09-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Poker has many rules. Some more important than others. Some are esoteric which rarely come up, others are basic rules which are encountered daily in a poker game.

One basic rule at least in the United States is "English Only." During the course of a hand players may not speak in foreign languages. While many foreigners like to pretend that this is just some sort of xenophobic rule aimed at making life difficult for them, there are very good reasons for this rule:

1. Poker is an individual game which is only fair if each player is playing independently of other players. When players work together at a table we call it "collusion." Collusion is a very serious matter in poker and it is important to avoid collusion and the appearance of collusion. If certain players are speaking to each other during a hand in a language not known to other players or the dealer they may in fact be working together. Even if they are not working together it may appear that they are.

2. Related to collusion is the idea of "One Player To a Hand." Each player is on his own and may not get advice on how to play his hand from other people, be they players, spectators or staff. Now if someone else at the table or standing near the table is to speak to a player in a foreign language they may in fact be giving advice to that player. Since others at the table don't speak the language we simply have no way to know that the conversation does not violate the "One Player to a Hand Rule". Its not uncommon for me as a dealer to have to warn English speaking players of this rule, since many don't fully understand it. You see many players think that saying things like "There is a straight on the Board" or "Pot Odds" during the hand is not advising others, but it is in fact against the rules. At least when English speaking players do it, I have the opportunity to address the violation.

3. Related to the idea of one player to a hand is the idea that certain information in a poker game is not supposed to be known to other players. Poker is a game of incomplete information. In Texas Hold'em the only information I am supposed to have is my own personal hole cards, the cards that have been dealt to the board, and whatever betting takes place. I am not supposed to know what cards another player has or had. Yet its not uncommon for English speaking players to announce what cards they folded even when they are not supposed to do so. When an English speaking players do this I as dealer can address the violation, and every player at the table has the opportunity to hear the information, so all are treated equally (players who understand no English are a special but rare case). When a player speaks a foreign language at the table since I have no idea what they are saying I have no opportunity to address the violation and make sure all players have equal information.

Many foreign speaking players for some unknown reason think that if they speak their language to another player who has folded their hand or to a person not playing but standing near the table that this is acceptable. After i tell them to speak English only during the hand they scream at me that "he isn't in the hand" as though I am out of mind to think that this could possibly matter. The problem is that the person they are speaking to, who is out of the hand, is not the only person who can hear them, and I have no way of knowing whether someone else at the table understands what they are saying. Information they reveal to their friend may affect the play of the hand even if their friend is not in the hand, because someone else may understand what is being said.

This last concept has lead to many confrontation between me and Asian players who simply insist that they are allowed to do what they want. There is never any support from the floor on the issue because these are regular players who the floor doesn't wish to upset. But we do have an obligation to protect the other players in the game.

So last week I was dealing a $4-$8 game with a bunch of these Asians and I once again had to repeatedly tell one or two of them to speak English Only During the hand. When one of the players complained that she was just speaking to her husband (who was standing behind her) and I told her it didn't matter, one of my fellow dealers who was playing in the game (and is not a native English speaker) speaks up and says "I don't see any problem."

Well thanks a lot for the support, since you don't understand the rules you are going to undermine me in front of the other players. Good Job.

Catching Up

2007-08-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

By popular demand, and by popular demand I mean the nagging of two people, I am once again going to make an effort to keep up on this blog.

I did not work the WSOP this year. I simply don't see how any dealer who was there last year could go back again. Of course for some unknown reason many did in fact return.

Instead I dealt the Venetian Deepstack tournament series. I made similar money as the WSOP, but I had much less grief. Sure it was hard working two jobs, I had weekeends were I was getting six hours of sleep total, but it was just for a month and a half. This let me put away a little bit of money.

This years WSOP was once again a circus. The number of entrants was down for the main event , in part due to the clamp down on online gambling, in part due to the fact that poker in general is slowing down, in part due to the fact that people are being put off by the way that Harrah's handles the event, and in part due to the fact that many players are getting busted out by the prevalence of No Limit Hold'em as the game of choice.

So I had a little bit of money put together and I have been thinking about buying a house. I got to work fixing some credit issues and got pre-approval on a mortgage. On problem that I encountered was the fact that since most of my income is tip income I am unable to prove my income and needed a Stated Income loan. This requires better credit and and a higher interest rate. But I was able to get approved for a much larger loan then I needed (no I couldn't afford the size loan they were willing to give me).

So I started looking for houses. My agent mostly showed me new constructions in the new Mountain's Edge Masterplan. Unfortunately most of these houses were just a bit more than I wanted to spend. One thing i find very disturbing about property here is that they are building houses on tiny lots. I saw homes with backyards that were just large enough to open the back door. I don't need a large backyard, or any yard, but I hate the idea of my neighbors living right on top of me. If I'm going to shell out a quarter of a million dollars for a house, I would at least like to feel like I have bought some space between me and my neighbors.

The house search has been put on hold since my work search situation has taken a turn for the worse. Business has been slow for a while, but I was still getting by with very part-time work. Now everything is uncertain.

The beginning of the crash was the $1,000,000 freeroll. Our room decided to offer a huge promotion, a free tournament for $1,000,000. In order to qualify you needed to play 300 hours in 6 months. The management badly botched this by barely advertising it. In fact in the end we had approximately 160 qualifiers.

Where was the $1,000,000 to come from? Well a TV production company was going to put up the money in exchange for the chance to make a reality TV show from the promotion and tournament. And of course before we would begin such a thing we would get a bond for the $1,000,000 posted. Of course our manager went ahead without the bond being posted, and in late June I heard for the first time that there the production comapny backed out and there was no money for the freeroll. Of course this meant the casino would have to pick up the $1,000,000 cost and that was not good for us. Once this happened there was much uncertainty about what the response from upstairs would be, and many of us feared that the poker room would be closed. Fortunately it appears that the poker room isn't being closed, but our manager was fired in July over this incident. We still do not have a new manager.

Anyway now that the freeroll is over business has taken even more of a downturn. recently they began cutting back on the shifts for extraboard dealers. And in fact this week I am the dealer with lowest seniority who received any shifts. That is all the dealers below me in seniority have no work this week. This is not very good for me since any further reduction in the number of available shifts will put me out of work as well. We currently have one dealer out on LOA and another dealer is out of work with a broken hip. When either one of them returns I will be out of work unless something changes.

I have been searching for more work, but their aren't many jobs available for poker dealers these days, becaus ethe downturn in business is not just our room, but in fact all poker rooms. I went to school and learned to deal dice, and I may start looking for a dice job, but that will entail a huge pay cut.

Earlier in the month I dealt a Poker cruise to Alaska that was a lot of fun. Alaska is real nice at least this time of year. I wouldn't want to deal with winters there. These cruises are regular cruise lines, so you have all the amenities of a cruise plus there is a poker room on board. Anyone who is interested should take a look at Classic Gaming Cruises for the upcoming schedule.

The Monte Carlo offered a $125,000 freeroll which was played out in the beginning of July. I qualified for the freeroll with 50 hours of play over 3 months and took down 6th place for $6,000. I was short stacked for much of the tournament but kept surviving and managed to position myself at the final table with a smaller then average stack. I got myself into a hand with another player with a slightly larger stack. All the money went in preflop with me having AQ suited and my opponent having AJ. Unfortunately my opponent spiked a J to beat me. I believe that if I win this hand I have a great chance of taking down the whole tournament for $25,000. I very much believe I was the best player remaining in the tournament and if I had a stack to work with i could have applied a lot of pressure to my opponents who I believe were playing very badly.

I'm back. Set of Emails regarding WSOP

2007-02-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

Got this email last week:

2007 WSOP NEWS BULLETIN……. June 1 - July 17, 2007

The 2007 WSOP is right around the corner….. Are you planning on coming back this year?

The 2007 events will be bigger and better than ever….. Several changes have occurred this year…..

The pay scales have been revised to the old method.

First and foremost, all dealers will keep their own tokes this year, both in live and in satellites.

Of course the tokes must be counted and verified and a toke book receipt issued.

However, you take all the tokes that you earn home with you every night.

Returning dealers will have preference of shifts based on seniority…..

Please respond by February 28, 2007 and let me know if you know one way or another……

You can also indicate that you are not sure yet.

Looking forward to working with you this year…..

Then yesterday got this one:

2007 WSOP NEWS BULLETIN……. June 1 - July 17, 2007

Please be advised that I was not authorized to send the previous Email.
An updated email will be sent out shortly from the Rio Human Resources office.

No job offers were intended or made to anyone specifically, but merely an update
on possible differences to pay structures from last year’s tournament.

I am not the Human Resources representative, but merely attempting to define the
number of dealing spots to be filled. I am not responsible for hiring staff for the WSOP.

I apologize if anyone has misconstrued the intent of the previous email.

Just Like The Old Days

2006-10-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

The new manager has started giving out some "on-call" shifts. This means we are supposed to call in an hour before the scheduled time to see if they need us, and we can be called in any-time up to two hours after the scheduled time. Last Night (or this morning) I was on-call for 1AM. Since things have been slow I never expected to actually be told to come in, I woke up at midnight and called in and asked if I could go back to sleep. I was told that I had to come in. This was a surprise.

When I got into work at 1AM all 10 tables were going, just like in the old days. It wasn't long before one table went down, but we kept a good number of games through most of the night. I got to go home at 8AM when we got down to two games.

We had a fight break out in a $2-$4 game. I don't know hat started it but this one guy was getting out of control. The Floor tried to call security, but they didn't answer the phone (there apparently is some sort of problem with the phone system), and while she went out into the casino trying to get a security officer, out of control guy went off and head butted another player.

I Had A Pet Peeve once, but I forgot to feed it and it died.

2006-10-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

will be posting a series of pet peeves under this heading.

Why is it that when a player wants me to call for cocktail service that they can't simply politely ask me to do so. Instead they sit and mutter about not getting service, or lately I have a lot of people ask me "Did the cocktail waitress go home?"

Actually the very fact that people whine about "slow" service for getting free drinks just baffles me.

Corey Lidle

2006-10-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Corey lidle, pitcher for thew York Yankees died a few days ago whne the small plane he was piloting crashed into a hi-rise in NYC.

I dealt to Corey Lidle when he sponsored the Corey Lidle Celebrity Poker Tournament for charity. I got to deal to many professional athletes, including David Wells, Jeremy and Jason Giambi, Brett Saberhagen, and Randy Wolfe.

my symptahy goes out to his family, but the circumstances of his death demonstrate what I consider to be signifcant racist attitudes. was working when I looked up at the TV and saw a news report that a plane had crashed into a building in NYC. The first thing I thought, was terrorism (back on 9/11/2001 when I heard I first assumed it was an accident). I have no doubt that many people's first thought wa sthat this was terrorist related. That is understandable. Though it did seem an unlikely terrorist target (I am somewhat familiar with the area as my friend Adam had lived not far from the building).

But the second people found out that the plane was owned/piloted by Corey Lidle the thought that it could have been an intentional act was immediately dismissed. Everyone assumes that it was a malfunction or pilot error.

The thing is that if this plane had been piloted by a man of muslim faith, or arabic descent, people would not dismiss the possibility of terrorism.o White guy hits building its an accident, Arabic Muslim hits building, its terrorism.

Harrah's mentality in Electronic Devices.

2006-10-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

My last paycheck (not really a check since I have direct deposit) was short by 14 hours. So I got my records together and tracked down the guy I needed to speak to upstairs in the Bally's Race and Sportsbook.

We each have an badge with a barcode that we use in the electronic time clock (We also sign in and out on paper). The process works like this, press the IN or Out button then swipe the card through the reader then a screen comes up asking if the info is correct and then you must press the YES button.

I mentioned to Mike (the guy who takes care of our time records) that I thought there was a problem with the clocks because I frequently would try to sign out and have it tell me that I hadn't signed in (even though I remember logging in). Shockingly he was able to pull up my records and tell me everytime I swiped my card even if I didn't complete the process. That is to say he was telling me that on those occasions I had not pressed the YES button after swiping my card. Why do I find this shocking? Because for the life of me I can't figure out if they know what time I swiped my card in, why that's not enough to log me in? Why do I have to press the YES button if you already have a record of when I logged in? When I tried to log out wasn't that a clue that I had logged in, and you knew what time I ran my card through the machine.

Even though I agree with you, Its really hard for me to feel sorry for you.

2006-10-07T11:14:00.000-07:00

I love Freedom. I hate government restrictions on what consenting adults may do with their time, money or bodies. I a member of the Libertarian Party.

And so the Net Gambling Ban is something which I naturally oppose. Sure these sites are all crooked, they steal and cheat, but if grownups want to waste their money playing at crooked sites , its their money and they should be allowed to gamble online with it if they wish.

Online poker has taken on significant popularity and most of the crying about the gambling ban is coming from online poker players.

A few months back on a Chip collectors bulletin board a person who is a police officer posted pictures of a recent drug arrest he had made. And of course someone had to post a "Way to go" message, so I posted a challenge, I called his drug arrest a waste of time.

There was a flurry of posts mostly negative about my position (I did get some support in private emails) but really no one stood up for the idea that consenting adults should be able to do what they want as long as it doesn't hurt anybody else (private drug use does not harm anyone but the user). Where were the people who love freedom and don't want the government telling them what to do? They stayed silent.

But now that the government has taken their beloved online poker away they are all over the place posting about how its wrong for the government to tell people what to do with their lives.

Well Freedom means nothing if its only Freedom for people to do what you want to be able to do. People need to be free from government intrusion regardless of what their own personal vice is.

So while I agree with you, quite honestly you deserve it, because you are no friend to freedom.

Upcoming Nevada Elections

2006-10-02T04:26:00.000-07:00

Nothing interesting about the upcoming elections, but there are a bunch of ballot iniatives which I think I will address.

Question 1: Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to require the Nevada Legislature to fund the operation of the public schools for kindergarten through grade 12 before funding any other part of the state budget for the next biennium?

This was approved in the last election and if approved again would go into effect. VOTE NO. This is the sort of thing which drives education costs up because those who care not for the taxpayers can now hold the legislature hostage until they get there way. Politicians hate to be on record voting No to anything education related and our best hope for keeping spending down is when the politicians don't act on education budget. This would force them to do so before they can do anything else. Taking my tax dollars to pay for your child's education is stealing. You wanted children now you should pay the bills.

Question 2 was the property owners' Bill of rights, which sadly was knocked of the ballot. This would have limited government's use of eminent domain powers.

Question 3: Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to limit local and state spending increases?

VOTE YES ON QUESTION 3 Anything that limits government spending is a good thing. This doesn't go far enough, but its a start

Question 4: RESPONSIBLY PROTECT NEVADANS FROM SECOND-HAND SMOKE ACT:

This would ban smoking in almost all "public" I put the word public in quotes because it is actually private property and not actually public property they are talking about. VOTE NO ON QUESTION 6. Its time Big Brother got the fuck out of people's lives.

Question 5: CLEAN INDOOR AIR ACT:

This is a less restrictive version of the smoking ban. But the point is still the same. Let grown-ups decide how they wish to use their property. If I don't want to go someplace that allows smoking then I ply won't go there. VOTE NO ON QUESTION 5.

Question 6: Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to raise the minimum wage paid to employees?

VOTE NO ON QUESTION 6. I would actually benefit from this because one of my jobs would now qualify for a pay increase. But again government regulation wages only leads to unemployment and/or inflation. Let the market dictate wages, it works.

Question 7 REGULATION OF MARIJUANA INITIATIVE: Would revise Title 40 of NRS by adding a new chapter that would exempt persons 21 years of age and older from any civil or criminal penalty due to the possession or use of one ounce or less of marijuana; would provide for the regulation and taxation of marijuana by the state and earmark part of those revenues to prevent and treat the abuse of marijuana, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs; would provide penalties for a person age 18 and older who supplies marijuana to persons under the age of 18; and increase the penalty for driving under the influence of marijuana.

I have mixed feelings on this one. While I strongly support legalization of drugs, I also strongly object to taxation and spending taxpayer money for drug abuse prevention programs and treatment centers. I suspect I'll vote Yes on this but I do have issues with it. A problem with increasing the penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana is that in this state you are deemed to be under the influence of marijuana merely by having marijuana metabolites in your blood, which can be detected long after one smokes and is no longer "high".

Encouraging words.

2006-09-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

So my paycheck this week was incorrect. I was shorted 14.25 hours. I called in this morning and asked the shift manager who I had to talk to to get this fixed. . . His exact words

"Good Luck."

Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that my employer cares so much about me that I'm going to end up spending days trying to straighten this out.

Catching Up......

2006-09-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I've been a bit lazy about keeping up with this, so here is a quick catch-up post.

The WSOP is over and done with. I made some money but not as much as I was expecting. I did manage to put some money away in a savings account. I've never really been good at saving, so its a nice feeling to know that I have a little bit saved in case I find myself out of work. Its not a lot but it can get me over for a few months.

also quit my second job. The thing was that the manager of the room was acting like such an asshole that I really didn't have a choice. When I was hired I was told that I would get three days a week work. Well that never happened. In fact after the first week I was never scheduled to work, instead I was reduced to on-call; all of the part-time dealers were treated this way). Now when I signed on for the WSOP I went to the manager and said, please don't start scheduling me, let me work on-call just as I have been doing, until the WSOP is over. This was unacceptable I was told. Don't know what the problem was, it wasn't like there was any work for me.

So then I get a phone call one day "reminding" me of the mandatory meeting the next day. Well remind is not really a good word, since I never was told of the meeting to begin with. It was posted at work, but since hadn't actually been there deal for weeks, there was no way I would have known about this.

So the meeting was basically the you made it through ninety days, now you are off probation meeting. But now the manager basically tells us that part-timers are on-call 24/7 unless they specifically get a day off in advance. That's right, unless I tell him in advance that I'm not available one day, I can be called in at any time, and my failure to come in when called will be considered an unexcused absence. We were also told that we would be scheduled to deal, and that the schedule was subject to change without notice and we were responsible to know of any changes. Well pretty much I have one thing to say about that "GO FUCK YOURSELF!" I don't get paid enough for that kind of treatment.

Also that day I received my evaluation. The evaluation was all positive. On my way out I took a look at the schedule and was not on two weeks worth of schedules.

Two days later I get a phone call from the shift manager, she wants to know where I am, I was scheduled to work. You see in two days time the manager changed the schedule without notice and no was NO-Call-No-Show. Now I couldn't get in, since was at the WSOP dealing when I got this call. After work I went in to talk to the shift manager, the schedule was already removed and no-one knew where it went. Also there were two different schedules posted for the next week, one had me working 3 days, and the other didn't. Now how the hell am I supposed to plan around that shit? So I went home and wrote a resignation email to the manager. I was very tactful, since I don't want to burn any bridges.

The next week I get a call from a Harrah's owned property that I had applied to months ago, and a bit later I was hired to deal for them, so I'm back to two jobs again. I do want to say again though . . . I hate Harrah's.

Clusterfuck continues

2006-07-10T07:36:00.000-07:00

So, we are supposed to be paid our share of the tokes on a weekly basis, and get our base pay on bi-weekly basis.

The toke week runs Wednesday through Tuesday and checks are supposed to be given to us on Thursday. So when the 1st day of the WSOP was Sunday 6/25,, we should have gotten a check on Thursday 6/29 for the period of 6/25-6/27. But did we get paid? Nope. Why not? Apparently planning ahead fro paying your employees is not part of anyone's job description. Ok so you would figure they would get this worked out by the next Thursday.

Next Thursday comes and I head over to pick up my check (we were told checks become available at 12:01AM). No check. It seems that the checks won't be available until 5 PM. At this point I'm thinking that the checks are going to be small and they are afraid that if we get them before we start work that we will walk out or upset the players. Next we are told that the checks are only going to be for the first three days. Of course at this poiint the checks should be for 10 days. Next we are told the checks won't be available until Saturday (these aren't rumours - I heard all this straight from the head DC's mouth). Now there are dealers who have traveled in for this thing with almost no money who need these checks to pay rent and buy food. I think someone threatened them because they decided to get us checks by 5PM.

So at 6 PM a security guard brings the checks down to the dealers tent. Now we are told that the check is for the first 5 days. WTF? Why are we not being paid for 10 days, and how did they come up with 5? If the tokes are being split on a Wednesday througuesday basis how do you pay us for Sunday through Thursday.hey just arbitrarily changed the terms of the pool agreement (I suspect that the toke rate for the first three days was significantly smaller than if you included the two additional days and they wanted to try to avoid a riot.)

And of course we get the checks on July 6 and they indicate that they are covering a pay period through July 6. Yep, we get paid for 5 days with a check that has stub indicating that we are now paid up to date. And there is no information on the Stub such as how many hours you worked or the toke rate, so we have no way to double check the accuracy of the check. They finally tell us the toke rate on the next day.

I choose not to reveal the actual toke rate, but it is $10 hour less than what I average in my primary dealing job. Disappointing to say the least. And to add insult to injury, the next day the DC tells us that we were lucky to have gotten paid at all that day because it took them alot of work to make it happen. FUCK YOU! WE HAVE A DEAL WE WORK -- YOU PAY US!! IF YOU HAVE TO WORK TO MAKE SURE THAT WE GET PAID THAT IS PART OF YOUR FUCKING JOB.

On the next day 60 swing shift workers didn't show up. I figure they were lucky any dealers showed up at all.

Are you a celebrity if I don't recognize you?

2006-07-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I dealt to Kevin Connolly and Nicky Hilton. I recognized neither of them but as soon as they left the other players were talking about them. I never heard of Kevin Connolly but he apparently has a role in the HBO show Entourage. Of course I have heard of Nicky Hilton, but I haven't figured out exactly what she is famous for.

Start of second week of WSOP

2006-07-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

8 days into the WSOP and I have worked 52 hours already. We are going to be working six days a week and were told not ask for an EO unless it is absolutely necessary.

Yesterday was a waste of my time as I was at work for 7 hours yet only dealt 5 downs. But today I got in a full days work (actually overtime) dealing the $3,000 Limit Holdem event. I dealt to many of the big names, Phil Hellmuth, Joe Awada, Evelyn Ng, John Juanda, Phil Ivey, Allen Cunningham (whom I dealt a Royal Flush), and several others.

Dealing live games at WSOP

2006-07-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent all day dealing live games. My first game was a $10 $20 Holdem game, but later I dealt $50-$100 Holdem, $200-$400 Holdem, $25-$50 Pot Limit Omaha, $75-$175 Omaha High Low with a quarter Kill.

Things seem a little bit more organized now, but still some foul ups. I came in at 8AM. At 4:30 (half hour into overtime I was on break so I went to find the guy in charge to make sure he knew I was on overtime. He just snapped at me "Keep Pushing". At 6:15 an announcement was made that all day shift dealers should go see the DC (Dealer Coordinator) on the push at 6:25. So I get pushed at 6:30 and head to the DC. I get there and she is announcing that all 11:00 AM dealers are to clock out. SO I say how about 8AM dealers (yes I know that obviously I am to go, but I want to voice my displeasure at a 10 1/2 hour work day.) And she looks at me and says "what are you still doing here?" as though I screwed up by not telling someone I was on overtime.

Also they need to get some uniform rules. The rules for a Kill were different at every table I dealt at. And all of a sudden they have decided to allow a "Mississippi straddle" . I have heard of a Mississippi straddle before, but never saw the mechanics of it before. They should have anticipated that many of us would not be familiar with this.

Anyway I got through the day and hope not to be back at the Live section for a while.

Also I got my first WSOP paycheck . . . . $16.95 (it was only for the time at the dealers meeting the week before).

WSOP ClusterFuck

2006-06-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

WSOP seems to be running pretty smoothly on terms of dealing with the public, but internally this is a giant clusterfuck.

Management seems to intentionally fuck with the deals. Case in point is the handling of schedules. When we had our dealer meeting last week, we were given shift assignments and schedules for the first three days (Sunday, Mon, Tues). Now Sunday comes and goes -- no additional schedule, Monday comes and goes no additional schedule. Tueday morning (keep in mind that we do not have a schedule for Wednesday yet) we are told that the schedule is done for the next two days and that there have been some shift changes, but they will not lets us see the schedule until 2PM. WHAT FUCKING REASON IS THERE TO NOT LET THE DEALERS SEE THE SCHEDULE? Its one thing if the schedule isn't done yet, but to be told it is done but you can't see it makes no sense. So it just happened that I had a break at 2PM, so I go out to the dealer tent and you guessed . . . There is no schedule posted. 10 minutes later management walks in with the schedules but doesn't let us look at them. I go back to dealing and finally get to see the schedule on my way out.

This year for the first time, all Tokes (that casino speak for tips) are being pooled and shared by the dealers. Tournament tokes have always been pooled, but ordinarily the tokes in live games and satellites are keep your own. When tournament tokes are pooled they are divided up among the dealers based on the number of downs they deal in the tournament. But this year they are being divided up by time. Sure its easier to manage, but it causes the dealers to get screwed.

Ordinarily the amount of labor in a poker room self regulates. Since you only make Tokes when you are dealing, dealers who are not getting an opportunity to deal much will often seek an EO (Early Out)thus the remaining dealers get to deal more and earn more, meanwhile the dealer who gets an EO doesn't have to stand around not making money (example if you have 8 dealers in a room with 4 games going each dealer would deal for only 30 minutes of each hour. If a dealer makes $15 per down, he is making $15 per hour - in five hours the dealer has made $75. But if three of the dealers go home because they don't want to deal up and down, the remaining 5 dealers each deal 2 hours out of 2 and 1/2 hours. Now these dealers make $24 dollars per hour and $120 in 5 hours. But if you pool all the tokes and dealers know they get paid whether they work or not then they will stay around even if there is no work for them, this decreases the hourly toke rate for all dealers and encourages dealers to disappear so they don't have to work.

There are too y dealers and noone knows where any of them belong, so when someone decides to take break rather than going to work there is no way to catch them. When I first heard about this system I was very skeptical, but I was told that each dealer was going to have a program card that told them where they had to be at any given time and if they weren't there they would be disciplined. There are no program cards, assignments are handed out at random and not recorded. If the Dealer coordinator tells me to go to table 53 no one knows that but me and him, and he doesn't know my name.

1st Day at WSOP

2006-06-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Dealt Satellites for 4 and 1/2 hours before being given the option to leave. the live games were dead, only 1 game was going. Satellites were going pretty strong with a decent waiting list to get into one. For some reason they had us dealing the whole satellite rather than 1/2 hour downs and pushing through. Ordinarily you would deal the whole satellite, but since all the tips are pooled they should be rotating. Maybe they will figure it out.

The Tournamnet of Champions was going on at the feature table.

Make that 31 !

2006-06-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

Fitzgeralds is opening a poker room, moving the number to 31 rooms opening in the two years I have been living here.

The SunCoast is rumored to be opening as well, but I haven't seen confirmation of that yet.

Day Shift

2006-06-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

I got set on Day Shift at the WSOP which is what I wanted, it shouldn't interfere with my work schedule. I work on Sunday in the live games and then I'll be back in on Tuesday to deal the $1,500 event.

*******

I got an email from the Palms telling me that I had free slot today. It had to be used today so I dropped by. Unfortunately it was only $3 free play, but on my first spin I hit quad 4s for $100 and cashed it out.

Atrocious Dealers

2006-06-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

'I'll be the first to tell you that I am not the world's greatest poker dealer. But still I take pride in my work and I make an effort to do my job quickly and accurately. Sure I make mistakes, everybody does.

Last night I went with Rich and his friend Russ down to the Plaza to play a midnight tournament. Unfortunately it was rather small going off with one 11 handed table. I recognized the floor guy as a relatively inexperienced dealer that I know. Inexperienced Floors are never a good thing.

So the tournament starts and the dealer was obviously new. He was very slow, but slow is excusable. We all start somewhere and we all start slow. His pitch was fine, probably better than mine if he could only do it with some speed. But I witnessed two things that caused great question in my mind if he has the faintest idea what he is doing. One incident involved a married couple at the table. Husband was in the 2 seat, Wife was seated next to me in the 9 seat. On the river the board has three Jacks and only the husband and wife are left in the hand. Husband checks, Wife bets, Husband raises, wife Calls. Wife turns over the fourth jack showing the stone cold nuts. That's what we call Soft-Play. There was no reason for wife to not reraise, she couldn't be beat and she was last to act. She even commented that she didn't like taking here husbands chips. Let it go because I didn't want to cause a scene, but the dealer should have immediately called the floor. Now in my opinion the two of them were clueless and didn't know that this was wrong. If I was the floor person I would not have applied a penalty, simply I would have explained to the couple that they can't be playing as a team and that each needs to try to win individually. But the point is that the dealer should have immediately called the floor. Now these clueless people are still clueless and will continue to play that way in the future.

The second incident can only be described as bizarre. When the table does not have an automatic shuffler a dealer is supposed to count the deck once each down. Counting a deck is a pretty easy procedure, done by counting the stub. If a game is 11 handed then 30 cards are dealt in a hand that goes all the way to the showdown (22 cards in the players hands + 3 burn cards + 5 board cards) so after dealing the river the dealer counts the cards remaining in the stub and should have 22 left. Well this dealer doesn't know how to count a stub so after a hand he gathers up all the cards and starts counting (I witnessed this procedure done by a second dealer as well). Well doing it this way wastes time because the game isn't going on while the dealer counts all 52 cards, but don't worry because this dealer didn't count all 52, you see he stopped about 15 cards in gathered up the cards and continued to deal. I'm not sure what he thinks he accomplished, but Rich says he heard the dealer say "I thought there were cards missing, but I guess not."

The next dealer who came in was also slow, performed a count of the entire deck (The floor witnessed this and I got up and asked him if anyone knew how to do a stub count, he told me that if I thought this was bad, just wait until the 2 A.M. dealers get in). He froze up on a couple of occasions were he had to make change, and several times forgot to bring chips into the pot before he pushed the pot.

I really can't blame these dealers, they can't possibly learn when the floor person is not experienced enough to be able to teach them properly.

Trophy

2006-06-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

The folks at pokerstars sent me this trophy. They are sending my Ipod Nano (4GB) but they say it may take 4 to six weeks to arrive. Thats very disappointing, I have a short attention span, and by the time this thing gets here, I'll be bored with it already.

Going to play a tournament at the Plaza tonight. Never played there since moving out here.

Got my Ipod

2006-06-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

Finished 37th. I played reckless at this point because I either wanted the Ipod or to get enough chips to make a serious run at 1st. Didn't want the prizes in between.

One Away from the Ipod

2006-06-18T17:24:00.000-07:00

41 players left. I'm not in good shape, but should be able to hold on for the Ipod.

In the money

2006-06-18T17:12:00.000-07:00

I have a prize coming, 10 more places until the ipod nano.

On the bubble

2006-06-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

58 players left. 54 get prizes of some sort. I'm in 32nd place.

World Blogger Championship of Online Poker

2006-06-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm making a run at it. Started the tournament with 2,247 entrants and we are now down to 96. 1st place is a $10,000 seat in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.

This is a Frightening and Amusing at the Same Time

2006-06-18T07:49:00.000-07:00

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland (GA) insists that the 10 Commandments should be displayed in Court Houses yet can't remember more than 3 of them himself.

I doubt much he'll remember the 11th commandment either : Thou shall not be a self-righteous hypocrite.

Stupid Floorpeople

2006-06-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

I hate stupid Floorpeople. I used to play poker at Harrahs but I stopped for a variety of reasons including stupid floorperson. However Ken was staying at Harrahs and wanted to play the tournament last Wednesday, so I went over and joined him.

The floorperson running the tournament was the same one that remember from when I used to play, and I remember her doing things that were not consistent with the rules back then. So we are playing and I notice that whenever a table needs to be balanced she is walking around counting trying to move people from the same position. This isn't a big deal deal, it makes her job a little more difficult then the system used by the Tournament Directors Association rules. The TDA rules aren't the only way to do things, but Harrahs has posted in the poker room that they follow the TDA rules for tournaments. Ok this isn't a big deal, just a sign of things to come. My table breaks and I draw a seat at Ken's table, I walk over to fond that the seat I have drawn has the button (the best position in poker). In a regular cash game a player can not come into the game on the button and I would have to wait a hand. However I am very familiar with the TDA rules and the rules specify : Players going from a broken table to fill in seats assume the rights and responsibilities of the position. They can get the big blind, the small blind, or the button. The only place they cannot get a hand is between the small blind and the button. So the deal starts to deal me out and I stop her, she tells me I can't get a hand on the button, and I ask for a floorperson. So the floor person comes over and in a very condescending tone informs me that its is standard that the button can't take the hand. I tell her that I was moved form a broken table (she knows this because she was the one who broke the table). She starts saying how that would be "buying the butt and this house doesn't allow buying the button. I am also familiar with the phrase "buy the button" and it has NOTHING to do with this situation. In fact it has nothing to do with tournament play. Basically she is just throwing around terms figuring that it makes her sound smart. Any way she was very nasty and walked off with allowing me to make my case.

So on break I walk over to the front desk, and lo and behold they have a copy of the rules, and they happen to be copies of the TDA rules. I circle the relevant rule, but she is on break and doesn't return until the tournament starts up again. After I get knocked out I go and approach her . First I tell her that I didn't like her condescending tone, and she starts arguing with me that she didn't take a condescending tone with me. Then I show her there own rules and I don't stick around to hear her sorry explanation, because I can already tell she is not going to admit that she was wrong.

Now on Friday get called to work the second job. I get there and find the floorperson is Robert. I haven't worked a whole lot with Robert, but what I have seen is a lazy, non-thinking floorperson who just goes through the motions.

When you are dealing you are only making money when you are actually dealing. I get there and get put into deal a tournament at table 1. In a half hour I get pushed to got sit dead spread at table 2 (that means I have to sit at an empty table). There were 4 tables and four dealers, so there was no break set at that time. When I get pushed from table go to table 3, but a dealer just pushed in. There is no indication that 2 was a break table, but sure enough the floor made table 2 and table four a break (2 new dealers had come in) but didn't bother to update the break sign (so that dealers know the rotation). Well it pretty much sucks to sit dead spread and then go on break, it means you make zero for a full hour. So I get back from break and I see that table 3 which had been a tournament table has broken and the dealer is sitting dead spread. So I go over to Robert and ask him if he realizes he has me sitting dead spread - break - dead spread. He starts barking at me about how he is tired of dealers complaining and whining. I only told him because thought he might not have realized it, and he might want to try to remedy it. This meant that for an entire 2 hour period I had only dealt 1/2 hour. While I understand that sometimes the circumstances make it difficult or impossible for a floorperson to avoid such a situation, I know that there were two decisions that this floorperson made that caused this situation. First was his decision to set the break table as 2 and 4. Had he set them as 1 and 3 this situation would not have occurred. Second was the decision to break table 3 as opposed to table 4 or table 1 the other tournament tables. Third was the decision not to alter the line-up when this was pointed out to him.

At one point while I was sitting dead spread at table 3 the floorperson came over to table 4 and I though he was going to break it. This would have meant that on the push I would either go sit dead spread or go on break depending on if he left the table up. If that had happened I was prepared to quit immediately. The thing is that it was readily apparent that he was not even thinking about the effect his decisions were having on the line-up.

Reba McEntire and "The Twins"

2006-06-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

In the past the Las Vegas Hilton has offered me free tickets to see Barry Manilow and Kenny G. I have not accepted these tickets because I don't want to see or hear Barry Manilow or Kenny G.

Finally they offered me two tickets to see Reba McEntire. This is a show I wanted to see to I grabbed the two tickets. My brother-in-law Ken was in town so I invited him to come along.

The show was kind of mixed. I enjoyed the music, she played some of her new stuff as well as some of her old hits. But she was just really awkward on the stage, she had no stage presence at all. I just think she would have been better off sitting on a stool in the center of the stage singing, rather than trying to move around.

After the show we met up with a some of Ken's friends and ended up at the Piano Bar at Harrah's. They had a dueling piano show going on starring these two hot twins Kim and Tamara playing piano, bantering with each other and taking audience requests for all types of music. It was a good time and I would recommend the place as a good place to have a a few drinks and hang. During the show it came out that these two girls were from Rochester, and then it clicked. Back in law school my friend Meg had been involved with a guy who played in a band called Nick 'n Nice Guys. I had never heard of this band, but they were apparently a popular Party Band and had traveled quite a bit. I was told they were booked to play Super Bowl parties in the host cities each year. I remember Meg talking about "The Twins" who were part of the band. And it occurred to me that these twins from Rochester were very likely the Twins from Nick 'N the Nice Guys.I spoke with them after the show and sure enough they were with Nick for 10 years. They remembered Meg, identifying the name of her ex boyfriend and also asking me if she was an attorney. Its a small world I guess. I don't know if that's Kim or Tamara in the photo because they are identical twins.

Overworked?

2006-06-13T08:48:00.000-07:00

I just completed what is my first 24 hour wprk week in 5 months. Actually I worked 28 hours including a 4 hour shift at the second job. This work stuff is just too exhausting.

Can you hear me now?

2006-06-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

Students find ring tone adults can't hear

I don't have any idea what to say about this. Who would have thunk that there is a sound that kids can hear and adults can't? Maybe this explains why I don't understand "modern" rock lyrics, I just can't hear them.

**********************************************

My cell phone contract is up and I spent a good part of last week working on getting a good new deal. I think I got one, and I'm getting a new phone -- should be here in a day or two. I'm not looking forward to having to moving all the phone numbers from one phone to the other, I guess its time to pare down the phone book and remove those people I never call.

Position open

2006-06-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

They have posted the availability of the position of Tournament Director. This is a full time position and represents a substantial pay cut at least on an hourly basis, it may actually be about the same or more money total per week.

I think i will submit my name, but I don't know who else is interested. If it goes to someone else that still helps because there will be fewer dealers above me.

Hilton poker Tournament

2006-06-04T09:35:00.000-07:00

Friday night Gene asked me to go play the Hilton's new Saturday poker tournament to show some support for Gene's former boss, who is now the Hilton poker Room Manager. I didn't really want to shell out $170 so gene took half my action.

Of course Saturday morning I get a call from Troy at TI, can I come in to deal? So I turned down the chance to work and went to the tournament. There were only 13 entrants in the tournament and gene had brought Benton along as well. The tournament was paying 4 places and all three of us were in the final 6 players. Unfortunately I got knocked out in 6th, and Gene in 5th. Benton cashed in 4th place and we had made a 10% save so I got paid $17, half of which should have gone to Gene, but he wouldn't take it. It was a nice tournament. If only they could have gotten more players it would have been real nice.

After All That -- Three Days Next Week

2006-06-02T04:28:00.000-07:00

So on Wednesday we have a meeting in which we are told that 2/3rds of the extra board will be scheduled 2 days per week, the new schedule comes out and most of us have 3 days.

Dealer Meeting

2006-05-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Had our dealer meeting with the new Manager today. Just the extra board dealers, Full Timers had there meeting yesterday.

It wasn't a real good meeting. We were basically told to find other work. The new rule is that Full-Time dealers can not be required to leave in less than eight hours. This means that if we are not busy I'll be lucky to get half a shift in. On top of that I'm not going to be able to count on being scheduled for more than 2 days per week.

And we are told that many of the full timers were asking for us to be laid off so that they could have more hours. Its a real good feeling knowing that my coworkers would throw me under the bus to make a couple more dollars. I really wish I knew which dealers were asking the manager take this action, certainly when I see them next they will be my buddies. Certainly none of them have the courage to say it to our faces.

World Series Of Poker 2006

2006-05-30T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today I processed as a dealer for the WSOP. I went down to the RIO to meet Jerome (He originally had me come in yesterday, but when I got in he told that because of Memorial Day he told me to come back today). He met with me and Nick (another dealer) and walked us up to the guy doing the hiring (there were probably 30-40 dealers in black and whites waiting for an audition). We were immediately hired without having to wait (Thanks Jerome!) and told to go over to Bally's to process.

I drove Nick over to Bally's and on the way when he found out I was single he tried to pawn off some Philipino girl looking to come to the States. I'm not interested. But it makes me wonder why the concept of a mail order bride is so acceptable here in Las Vegas. Its almost routine here.

ROYAL FLUSH !

2006-05-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

After picking up some groceries at Albertson's I threw $20 in a Video Poker Machine. I went on a little run playing deuces wild, hit 5 of a kind for $20, then a couple hands later I hit a Royal Flush with a deuce for $31.25 and then on the very next hand I get Dealt the 10, J, Q, K of spades and draw to hit the Ace of Spades for a $1,000 payoff. That helps a lot with some breathing room.

History Of America

2006-05-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last night I went up to the Summerlin Public Library and Performing Arts Center to see this local production of The Complete History of America (abridged). I'd never been to this library before, and I don't really spend much time in Summerlin. As I drove up to the Library I was impressed, it looked like it might be a very nice facility. But once I got inside it looked like every other rundown government building.

The Play was amusing. There were certainly some good jokes and quite a few groaners. The performances weren't particularly good. It felt very much like a high school drama club performance. The audience was small (maybe 20 people) and it was apparent that several of the audience members were friends of the perfomers. Often times it felt like they making inside jokes to their friends. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the evening, after all its just community theater, I don't expect professional actors.

WSOP 2006

2006-05-26T17:54:00.000-07:00

Went in to see about dealing the WSOP this year, I was already told that I'm hired if I want it, and in light of the current work situation I guess I need. I'm going in on Monday Morning to get my paperwork filled out.

The thing is that today my contact mentioned another possibility. He told me they are paying Time Clerks $10/hour plus 3% of the tokes. You ask what is a time clerk? A time clerk is responsible for making sure that the time drop is properly taken in games that pay time charges, you know basically every half hour walk over and check to make sure the correct amount is dropped. Now the cool thing about this is how many time clerks could they possibly need? (actually I don't really think they need any) 1 or 2 per shift. That means on any given day 3% of the toke pool is going to be split up by 3-6 people. If we are talking six people, we are talking about each person getting 1/2% of the total toke pool. That means the other 97% of the toke pool is being split by the dealers. Now on any given day they should have 300-400 dealers. Lets assume 300. Each of those dealers would be getting a little less than 1/3rd of a percent. That's Right if my figures are correct Time Clerks will make more than Dealers. The only problem is that during the Main Event I don't think they have any room for other games, so the Time Clerks don't work that event and that is the Toke goldmine.

I'll have to investigate this further.

Anyway its off to the Theater . . .

A Few Moments at Gene's Retirement Party

2006-05-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

Well the retirement party for our Poker Room Manager was scheduled for 5 PM to 10 PM. I had to work at 8PM so I went in to the party early figuring I'd hang till about 7PM. Well there weren't many of us there early, when I got there it was just Murph and Sandy Wilson, then Robert Thompson, next came Pat from Paulson (the chip salesman), and then Gene Showed up. At about 5:45 I get a phone call from work, they need me to come in early.

Wow, I figured the place must be packed. I get to work at 6:30 and find its only 6 games going (and they had called in another dealer) we weren't busy, they just didn't schedule enough dealers.

I had a decent night money wise, but my head just wasn't into it. I made a few mistakes that I really shouldn't have, but nothing terrible. I'll try to get some work at the other room this weekend. Also I need to follow up with Jerome about the WSOP. I think I need the money.

Its going to be a longer Journey to 200Lbs

2006-05-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Either my scale is broken or I put on 40 lbs last night. I'm opting for the former.

Tomorrow night is cheat on the diet night, as I'll be at Semi-Retirement party for Gene (my friend and former manager). I can't drink at the party because I have to be at work at 8PM, but I figure I can eat some.

Last night Rich wanted to go for Sushi, but I had to pass since I'm only cheating once a week. I met up with Rich and Dan at the Cannery for a little bit of poker. Rich writes poker room reviews and the Cannery has a new room. We sat in a $3/$6 Omaha 8 or Better game. 3 to 4 hours of play and I ended up down $18.

Friday night I'm heading to the Theater . . . well the library . . to see The Complete History of America [abridged]

Dieting

2006-05-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

The year before I moved out to Las Vegas I lost 85 lbs and 4 inches on the Atkins Diet. After moving to Vegas I stayed on the diet for a while, but eventually I came off. Since then I have put back much of that weight. Its hard to stay clear of carbs with all the mexican food and sushi here. Also the Emplyee dining rooms at both the casinos I work are not consistently friendly to a carb free diet. Sometimes I can find some plain chicken, but so much of what they serve is breaded or covered in a sauce of some type.

About a month ago I returned to the diet. I have cheated on two days, and my current plan is to cheat once a week. I didn't weigh myself at the start, but I weighed myself today. 244 lbs. I'm looking to lose 50 lbs from that weight. I'll keep the blog updated. I'm wearing size 44 pants and want to return to 39-40 like I was wearing when I moved out here.

Cruisin . . .

2006-05-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

Just booked my first vacation in years. Its a working vacation, I'll be dealing Poker on a Poker Cruise
The way it works is that I pay the port charges and the cabin cost is free, I deal poker while the ship is at sea (and I'll be making money in tips) but when I'm not working I'm just like any other passenger and get to enjoy the full cruise experience. I'm looking forward to this even though its not till November.

Number 30

2006-05-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

I'm told that the Rampart has either opened a poker room or is in the process of opening a poker room. That makes the 30th new room since I moved out here (this is actually a reopened room since they once had a room before). Also O'Sheas is expanding the poker room. Terrible's has announced a casino expansion and I wonder if me might not see a poker room show up there.

Sigh of relief

2006-05-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm scheduled for another three day work week. Its tough going in worrying that you aren't going to be on the schedule at all. The Dealers below me have been cut to 2 days a week , which strikes me as odd since some of the dealers up top have gotten a fourth day.

I even ended up working overtime last night. Notable features last night, I dealt a hand in which a Queen High Straight Flush beat four sixes. Both players qualified for high hand jackpots. Unfortunately the four sixes (who was saved because the other guy had been all in before the flop) was Joe V. who doesn't tip me. The other gave me a nice tip though.

Then there was Don. I first dealt to Don in a $2/$4 limit game on table 5. He was drunk then and completely inappropriate. He could not keep up with the game and slowed it down tremendously. I kept thinking they should cut him off.

An hour and a half later I dealt to him again in another $2/$4 limit game this time on table 1. Same thing only this time he had another drunk asshole sitting next to him. Mary pushes me and I move to table 2, and thena short time later I hear Mary and Don getting into it. Mary keeps calling for a floor and noone responds. It appears that Don pushed his cards face down towards Mary and she mucked them (like she is supposed to do) only Don didn't want to fold his full house. A little while later Don is gone and I figure they threw him out. My mistake.

When i push into the No Limit game on table 9 Don is in seat 1 with $2,500 in front of him (max buy in is $500 so he has been pretty lucky). Well he is just as bad as ever, but now the players will be really upset if there is a problem and he gets kicked out. Well he puts his hands on me and I tell him not to do that. He spits on me in front of the floor (not intentional. but still pretty gross) but damn it they won't throw him out. He's still ordering drinks, but they finally cut him off. they don't tell him he's cut off they just bring him water in a glass and tell him its scotch and soda.

Full Nights Work

2006-05-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I only got to work 2 hours, but last night I got in a 7 hour shift (its not quite a full shift but its close enough).

I got into it with one of the regulars last night. The game was $2/$5 blind No Limit on Table seven. He's an older Asian guy who I think goes by Andy. He was sitting in the one seat and had the button. Action folded around to Andy on the button and he looked at the two blinds and asked "Chop?".

I hate this. This is the most stupid thing you can imagine. I understand that when the action all folds around to the blinds many players feel it is best to just chop the blinds. As a player this doesn't make any sense to me, but I go along with it just to not rock the boat.

But what I don't understand at all is why a player on the button wants to get in on the chop (he doesn't get any chips and he gives up his positional advantage). So if your on the button, bet or fold but don't ask the players after you if the are going to chop if you fold (presumably you fold if they say yes). Play your own fucking hand.

So he says "Chop?" no response, the Small Blind is a guy I haven't seem before, and the Large blind is James a regular who is also a pain in the ass.

"Chop?" again no response. Again he asks "Chop?" and then he pushes his cards into my left hand,as he does this James makes some sound to the Small Blind which is apparently an attempt to get the Small Blind to just call instead of chopping because James has a "Jackpot Hand". As I start to sweep the cards away, Andy grabs them and tries to get them back. WHY? I HAVE NO FUCKING IDEA WHY? WELL I HAVE A FUCKING IDEA WHY. ITS BECAUSE HE THINKS THAT SOMEHOW THIS WILL HELP JAMES GET HIS JACKPOT HAND because SB doesn't understand James and is motioning to chop. (James is deaf and as a result his speech is sometimes difficult to understand).

Well there is no way I'm giving you back your cards because you saw how the next player was going to act after you folded.

So Andy starts giving me shit telling me I should have given them back to him. I tell him he folded and the hand is dead (I wrestled the cards out his hand and got them into the muck). He tells me I don't understand. I tell him I understand perfectly and we glare at each other for the remainder of the down.

Finally get some dealing time in.

2006-05-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday I got to deal a special event tournament. There were three dealers and three tables for this tournament. Orco construction supply hosted the tournament as a marketing tool. They apparently had a series of tournaments and other contests for their customers and it culminated in this final tournament in Vegas with the winner receiving a entry in WSOP Main Event. Second place wasn't bad either, a trip to Aruba and a satellite entry for a WPT event.

They had 3 "pros" who had bounties on them (the pro's could not win prizes) but the definition of "pro" was stretched a bit. Sure they had T.J. Cloutier, but the other two pros were actually just Orco employees who may have been a bit more experienced at poker than your average Joe. All three pros survived to the final table. T.J. Cloutier "won" the tournament, but he wasn't eligible for the prize so the second place finisher got the WSOP seat.

It was a pretty decent time I think the people playing all had a good time. And the money for the dealers is nice to. I made a good days pay in 4 hours.

After the Tournament I dropped by the other room I work at to pick up a tournament envelope and they were pretty busy, so I got my shirt and got into the line up. I got in 4 hours of dealing. Didn't make much, I don't understand why that room has so many stiffs. Doesn't matter, as I got in some dealing time and every penny helps.

Next scheduled to work on Monday. Last Monday I only got to deal for 2 hours -- I'm praying for a full shift this time.

Friday Night --- No Work

2006-05-13T07:02:00.000-07:00

I was scheduled to work Last Night and was on my way. I happen to take a look at my cell phone and see there was a call from work (the call came in while I was in the shower so I missed it). Check the voicemail to find the Swing Shift manager telling me to call him. This can't be good. I give him a call but he's away from the room, I'm already there so I walk in to find that they don't need me tonight.

Its a Friday night and they have 1 No Limit game going and three limit games. This is awful

Reprieve

2006-05-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well next weeks schedule is up and no changes for me. This is a temporary reprieve. Full Timers are being asked if they want to work 4 or 5 days, and the majority are selecting 5. Probably not much more time for me.

Job Hunting

2006-05-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Went to the Flamingo looking for a job today. I had already put in a application online. Yesterday Olivia mentioned that her friend Randy owed her a favor and she would put in a call for me, but Randy wasn't in when she called. So this morning when I found out that the person I was talking to was Randy, I made sure to mention Olivia, and he responded very well to that. Olivia is calling him on my behalf as well.

Went in to work the second job today, dealing a promotional tournament for the Nightclub Industry Employees. Of course the last Promo tournament I dealt had no money involved so I figure this was the case as well. I keep thinking if I do the shit work, the manager has to throw me a bone sometime. Found out that Casino Marketing is going to pay us a little, don't know how much, but it won't hurt.

So after work I find I have a voicemail from the manager at job 1, he even left me his cell phone in case I couldn't reach him in his office. Oh shit, he's going to tell me not to come in tonight, that they don't need me. Damn this sucks, I call the office, he's gone for the day. I call the cell number, he wants to know if I will deal a tournament on Saturday . . . OH COURSE I WILL, BUT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF ME!!!!!!!!!

Unemployment

2006-05-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

Went in to speak with the new manager about what I can expect after he put up a memo that said the bottom 1/3rd of the extra board would be affected by schedule changes. I wasn't sure if this meant I would be down to 2 days a week or 1 day or . . .

Well he has a meeting with his boss today to talk about it, but lets just say that I think Monday will be my last day of work at this room. Of course I saw this coming, so I went out out and got a second job. Of course I don't get any scheduled hours at that job either.

The good news is that one of my fellow dealers is going to make a phone call for me to another casino and I think she has the juice to get me hired, of course I don't know what kind of hours I can get, but I have to make some $$$$ to pay the bills.

But this SUCKSSSSSSS

Only Getting Worse

2006-05-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last Night I got to deal 1.5 hours before I got sent home. Too many dealers not enough players. Also there was a memo that there would be schedule changes affecting the bottom 1/3 of the extra board. Not looking good.

Getting ready for a change

2006-05-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

As I said in the last post, poker's getting too saturatedto make a living at. So I'm taking steps to try to protect myself. I just registered for some classes at the Community college. Taking a Craps that starts in July. I'll start with just one class because I don't know what my work situation is. The class only costs $178 which is a lot cheaper than if I took a private class.

I have also registered in advance for a Baccarat class in the Fall as well as a Surveillance class.

Struggling

2006-05-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

Since I began dealing Poker in Las Vegas nearly two year ago there has been an a lot of new poker rooms opening.

I don't mean one or two I mean a lot. There is the Aladdin, Harrah's, Rio, Silverton, Green Valley Ranch, Ballys, Paris, Gold Coast, MGM, Caesars, Venetian, Treasure Island, Imperial Palace, O'Sheas, Wynn, Riviera, South Coast, Red Rock Resort, Arizona Charlies - East, Stratosphere, Golden Nugget, Tropicana, Hooters, Tuscany. I'm probably missing one or two, but still that's a list of 24 new rooms, more than 1 per month since I moved out here.

That list of rooms includes 3 of the largest rooms in town as well. The result of this is a dilution of the poker playing public among all the poker rooms in town. This has had the effect of slowing business. When I started dealing, even though I was just a "Extra Board" or Part Time dealer I was getting to deal 4 or 5 days a week and could almost always deal 8 hours a shift (not to mention that overtime was common). Now the entire extra board has been cut to three days a week and its hard to get a full shift in. Even the Full Time people are unhappy because its not uncommon for then to only get to deal 4 or 5 hours before being sent home because there are so many more dealers than actually needed.

Well that's all coming to a head, our Poker Room Manager has resigned and we have a new manager. Its obvious that there will have to be cut backs in the staff and I expect that the new manager will soon act to cut the extra board. Even though I have been with the room for almost 2 years, I'm still pretty low on the seniority totem pole so I expect that my days here are numbered.

SO I decided to be pro-active and I started seeking an additional job. I got hired into one of the new rooms as a part-time dealer. But that room also has overhired and the result is that part time dealers are not getting scheduled. I dealt the first hand in that room and I have dealt a total of about 15 hours over the past three weeks. I have not been scheduled to deal for a single shift since the first week, except that I was brought in to deal a promotional tournament that involved no money (no money - no pay). SO I have two jobs and I'm working less than I ever have.

I have been making the rounds trying to line something up so that once the axe falls I can get right into something. I really don't want to deal the WSOP, but I have it lined up anyway just in case. In the mean its really hard to have the constant threat of being laid off dangling over my head.

EDIT: I forgot three other new poker rooms -- Santa Fe Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson . . . thats 27 and I'm probably still missing some.

EDIT AGAIN: Lets make it 29, I just remembered the Hacienda and Railroad Pass.

Really Wild No Limit Game

2006-05-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Dealt a Really Wild No Limit Game today. $1-$3 Blinds and the usual open raise was $25, but it wasn't uncommon for the opening raise to be $100. Yep thats right. $4 of blinds in the pot and someone bets $100, and gets called. On one hand a player had just busted out and rebought for $500. Before his chips had even arrived he announced he was all-in for $500 from UTG and he had not looked at his cards yet. The next player to act was a fellow dealer who had just under $500 and he called ( he later told me he had pocket 7s). Everyone else folded and the UTG better won when his 8 3 offsuit caught an 8 on the flop and the pocket 7s never improved.

The UTG better later moved into a three handed $50-$100 NL game with a $10,000 buy-in.

Full Tilt Global Challenge

2005-12-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

I dealt the Full Tilt Global Poker Challenge today. It was a $5000 buy-in shootout format. We had over 100 players, and they had a US vs. World contest going on. When a person knocked out a player from the other team, their team got a point. When I left the World Team was leading by a small margin. The first table I was assigned to had seidel and Darden, the second table had the Mouth, he was loud but he behaved himself. The third table had Tony G. (captain of the World Team, Freddy Deeb, Evelyn Ng, Amir Vahedi, and Kenna James who apparently had placed side bet on Team USA and at one point began singing the Star Spangled Banner. Whenever a player was facing elimination we had to stop the action and wait for the TV cameras to show up. I had the first All-in of the day when Freddy Deeb ended up all in against Evelyn, but it was uneventful as each of them turned up AK and they chopped the pot. At the next table I had Lane Flack sitting next to Toto Leonida (at leats I think it was Toto). Lane talked non-stop and made an interesting proposal. He proposed a heads up game in which he would play with one card face up, but he would alwyas have the button. At the next table I had an interesting series of hands. Huck seed calls another players all-in bet and is left with $100. Blinds are $300 - $600 and several hands later Huck is all in for $100 in the big blind. He manages to triple up and is all-in for $300 in the small blind. He doubles up from the small blind and before the blinds make there way back around he has over $5000. He was knocked out a few hands after I left the table. I don't know how manyname players made the semi-final (only the winner of each table advanced) but I do know that Scott Fischman was one of the players who advanced. I saw Danny N. knocked out, I know Tony G was knocked out,Darden was among the last two at his table so he might have advanced. other players who were there were: Clonie Gowen, Jennifer Harmon, Jesus Ferguson (Captain of the US Team), Joe Awada, Phil Gordon. I think Phil Ivey was there but I didn't run across him. The show will be aired on one of the Fox networks (I think I heard them say it will be in February) The most stupid thing I heard during this tournament came from a name pro who i will not identify. All but two of the table went off seven handed. two tables were six handed. When i got to one of these tables the players were discussing how much of advantage this presented them (chips are not carried over to the semi-final -- all players start over at the semi-final). When thsi named pro declared that there was no advantage because the blinds came around faster . . . . DUHHHH!!!!!!!

Sometimes they make me want to bang my head

2005-12-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

Playing $2/$4 at the IP yesterday, a dealer announced that he wasn't giving a missed blind button to a player who had just missed his blinds, because he was going to dinner. I asked what difference that made and he told me the player would be gone for a long time. I asked what difference that made and the dealer told me that when the player came back he would have to post his blinds. So I asked why he didn't get a button was there a button shortage? and the dealer got all snippy with me. Just then the player came back (turns out he wasn't going to dinner) and the dealer gave him a button.

The scary thing is that this dealer just doesn't understand that it doesn't make a difference how long a player is leaving for, he gets a button. And besides how much work is it to give him the button?

A Fancy Suit and an Expensive Watch

2005-12-05T19:55:00.000-08:00

Headed over to Wynn for some $8-$16 today. There was a short list, but when they opened a new $15-$30 table seats opened up and I sat down in the 10 seat. Just as I was sitting down there was a hand finishing up which had three players in it. The Guy in the Five seat is a guy I've seen around and I guess he is a local or at least a part-time local. He's wearing a suit (i never understand why these guys dress up to play poker) and an expensive watch (its a unusual design where the numbers are jumbled around the dial and not in order), he speaks with an English Accent. Seat Five, Seat Seven and Seat 9 are in the hand, Seat 9 is all-in. Seat Seven shows a Jack High straight, Seat Five mucks his hand and Seat 9 mucks, but before the dealer gets the cards we hear from Seat 5 "I want to see those cards". This is a classless request especially since this guy just lost his last chips. There is some grumbling, but the rules permit it so the Dealer flips over Seat 9's pocket Aces. Now Seat 7 says to eat Five "You Didn't Know?"

Seat 5 to prove how smart he is decides to chime in that he could have had Kings. DUHHHH!!!! If you knew he had KK or AA why ask to see the cards. So I chimed in now "What difference would it make?" Seat 5 is now angry and tells me he wanted to knwo if he had him beat, so I couldn't resist : "So you could beat Kings but not Aces?" and the whole table burst into laughter.

I wasn't trying to show the guy up, but he left himself wide open and I thought it was funny. He got quite and I thought it was over. So during the next 45 minutes I made small talk with the guy next to me (8 seat moved to the now empty 9 seat). The Seat 5 was apparently paying attention. Later on when I made a joke about the guys watch (and lets face it you wear that watch to be a conversation piece) the guy guy shot back calling me a part time dealer and telling me to get a job and that I should ironmy shirt. He told me the watch cost more than I make in a year and that I shouldn't talk about what i don't know. I told him I knew what his watch was and he gave me one of those "Yeah What is it snarls?" I told him it was Franck Mueller and he looked at me shocked and shut his mouth for a while. A half hour later he slow rolls the player in seat one, and I announce that for a guy in a fancy suit and expensive watch he lacks any class. He again makes some crack about my being a part time dealer and tells me to get an education. I tell him I have a doctorate and all he can do is tell me to get a job.

I'll see him again andI will push his buttons just for fun.

Fantasy Camp Day 2

2005-12-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well Saturday I again dealt for the Fantasy Camp. This time they had a $40,000 tournament going on and as players busted out they entered sitn' gos. After breaking a table in the tournament I started up a $10 sitn'go with Clonie Gowen in the 5 seat. Nothing real eventful happened, and I got pushed along before the tournament ended. I finished my shift dealing to a $50 sitn'go table that had featured Howard Lederer. He had been knocked out earlier but he stayed at the table to watch and comment. Pretty uneventful day. Now its back to the daily grind.

I'm still a little pissed about something that happened last Sunday. We run a Football promotion on Sunday and Monday, and last Sunday as Pushed into table 2 for my first down the game was heading into halftime. At halftime a lot of players get up and walk since the drawings only occur during the game. I sit down and there are a bunch of players missing from the table. I deal a few hands and there are a bunch of chops (Why people chop in a short handed game is beyond me) and the blind comes around to player in seat 10. By now most of the players have returned to the game but they have missed their blinds and are going to wait until the blinds come around to them. Now the guy in seat 10 won't put up his blind until I tell him how many players are in the game. DUH!!!!!! Look around at the situation. None of the players will commit to being in the game until others commit to being in the game. If this guy doesn't post his blind no one is going to play. Well the player is unhappy with my response and I'm going to hear it from him all night. We finally get the game going again. Almost a full rotation around the table and the guy in seat 10 wins the pot. I push him the pot, move the button and he posts his blinds. I deal the cards and it is discovered that I didn't take his two cards from the last hand back. We use a Shufflemaster machine so there are two decks in play alternating each hand. So I take back his two old cards open the shufflemaster and place the cards in with the deck being shuffled. Now this guy says to me isn't that a misdeal. No sir, those cards are from the other deck, you see they have different colored back you can't confuse them. "That should be a misdeal I had 4 cards." I keep going and there is a raise, it gets around to him and he flashes his cards a trey and a seven offsuit and declares this should be misdeal. I tell him its not a misdeal and he asks for the floor, so I call over Donny. I explain what happened to Donny and I fully expect Donny to tell him that it is not a misdeal . . . But what does Donny say . . . he says there has been "too much action to correct it now" WHAT?????????? Now the player thinks that I screwed him over by continuing after he told me it was a misdeal. Later Donny told me that he knows its not a misdeal, its just easier for him to say that there was two much action. Way to support your dealers Donny.

Catchin Up

2005-12-02T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well its been a while since my last post. I'm going to start trying to keep up to date with stuff.

Fancy Feast

Last week I had a comped dinner at Wynn's Country Club Grill. I usually don't eat at these high end restaurants, but I had a comped meal that I couldn't ignore. I brought my old roommate Valerie with me, I hadn't seen her in a while and I figured it was time to catch up. She had invited me to Thanksgiving Dinner, but I was working that day.

The meal was good. I had a lobster bisque, 9 oz. Filet mignon, and mushrooms on the side. Valerie had an asparagus salad (it looked real good which is amazing since I don't like asparagus), Lamb Chops which she was unable to finish (either her husband or her dogs were going to be the beneficiary of that) and creamed spinach (she did not like the spinach -- she said it had an aftertaste of something she called smelly foot cheese). We each had a glass of wine and for dessert we had these chocolate filled doughnut holes with chocolate and vanilla dipping sauces. I had a cup of coffee with dessert. Total bill (not including the tip) was $186. That's why I don't eat at these high end restaurants. I left a $60 tip which is more than I am used to paying for an entire meal. Actually this cost me a bit more since I had to buy some nice clothes. Since I quit practicing law I have only worn a suit once (that was for Valerie's wedding) and this was the first time I had worn a sportscoat in years. I'd love to do this again (comped of course) but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

Poker Content

Last night I dealt for Howard and Annie's Fantasy Camp. The photo above was taken at last years event and that is Eric Seidel in the two seat, and me in the dealer's seat. The participants were there to play with the pros, and the pro's included Howard Lederer and Annie Duke (obviously), Robert Williamson, Marcel Luske, Clonie Gowen, Amir Vahedi, Eric Seidel, Huck Seed, Phil Gordon, and a bunch of people I am now forgetting. We had 15 tables and 15 dealers so we were all locked in the whole night. We played nothing but sit'n gos. The first one I dealt was a $100 buy in and we did not have a pro at the table, but later in the tournament Robert Williamson was brought over (he must have busted out of his game) to sit with the players and talk. The players seemed thrilled to get to talk with him and he seemed like a pretty nice guy.

The second tournament I dealt was a $50 sit'n go which had Marcel Luske in the mix (we were 11 handed to make room for him). He's a chatty fellow, and even though from what I had seen of him in the past on TV I expected him to be a complete ass (I mean why do you wear sunglasses upside down) he too was a pretty friendly guy and everybody playing with him seemed thrilled to get his advice. One problem I had was that players who were busted out refused to leave the table. Even after I asked them to just back up a little bit so that I didn't deal them cards they wouldn't move, and of course several times I dealt them hands and had to declare a misdeal. Marcel came in third place in that tournament for a whopping $30 profit.

I'll be dealing this event again on Saturday, but tonight its back to the Palms Poker Room.

Thought I'd Seen it All

2005-08-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I had made just about every error a dealer could make until last night.

I feel bad for this dealer, he was obviously new and they sent him home after this, I don't know if he is fired.

I'm on the button with Q2 of diamonds and I fold. I wasn't paying attention and I happen to turn to see him put the flop out. Three diamonds --- I'm kind of pissed because I folded two diamonds and would have had the flush. But wait a second, is that the 2 of diamonds on the flop? IT is. Didn't I have the 2 of diamonds? I start to think that I am mistaken about what I have, when the player next to me (who is still in the hand) starts screaming that the dealer put my cards on the flop. He hadn't seen my hand so I didn't know what he was talking about. but then he said that the Dealer picked up my discards and put them on top of the deck. He burned my Q and put the Deuce out as the first card on the flop.

Further thought on the Greg Raymer Incident

2005-06-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

The more I think about, the ruling in the Raymer Incident was the correct ruling. Though I wasn't there and haven't heard anymore detail, as I reread the report I am ceratin that Raymer tabled his hand face-up, but because the dealer didn't hear him say "Call" and he didn't actually move his stack in, the dealer thought it was a face-up fold, and mucked the hand.

Of course the correct ruling in this case is that the hand is live. Some people think the Muck is a magical pile which can somehow kill live hands merely by touch. More on that later.

Still though I wonder if the same ruling would have been made if it were not a name player. I have seen floor get this one wrong all the time (because many floormen believe the magical muck theory)

WSOP bending rules for name players.

2005-06-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Card Player Magazine has reported the following:

After the entire table folded around the small blind pushed all in. Greg Raymer announced, "I call." The dealer however did not hear Raymer and mucked his hand. Raymer and the rest of the table alerted the dealer. Raymer's cards were retrieved from the muck and the hand was played. The small blind showed A-7, while Raymer held Q-J. The flop was no help for either player, but the turn and river were both queens which gave Raymer the victory and eliminated the small blind.

Does anyone think they would do this for me? It's pretty clear that you can't go digging in the muck to retrieve a players hand. Its the players job to protect his hand. I thinks its really safe to say that Greg Raymer was being shown some favoritism and in this case it lead to the elimination of another player. I wonder what would have happened if the situation were reversed..

While at the Rio Pavillion I also heard players complaining that some well known players were allowed to register/pay without having to wait on the long lines. I don't know if this is true or not.

WSOP F-Bomb Rule

2005-06-03T08:40:00.000-07:00

At the start of the event it was announced that any player using the "F-Bomb" (which I assume to be the word Fuck and any of its varients) regardless of circumstances would receive a 10-minute penalty.

This is of course a FUCKING STUPID RULE. I spend a lot of time at the poker table as a dealer and as a player. I'm all for trying to keep the table civil. But this rule fails on several levels.

1) Why is the "F-Bomb" the banned word. Shouldn't the rule apply to all vulgar language. Why is saying "Oh! Fuck" worse than saying "Oh! Shit?". At one table I played at one player would say "Cheese and Crackers" whenever he took a beat beat. Now "cheese and crackers" may not be widely considered a vulgarity, but I can assure that when he said it . . . It meant the same thing as "Oh! Fuck." Which are we banning . . . the form or the substance?

2) "Regardless of Circumstances" -- Why do they focus on the word as opposed to the context. Which is worse a player who takes a bad beat and lets out an "Fuck" on a single instance, or a player who sits there and continually insults the dealer or another player even if not using vulgarity? Why penalize the former but not the latter?

3) Unequal enforcement. During the course of the tournament I heard the F-Bomb on several occasions and no penalty was imposed. The last time I heard it it was done several players shouted for a penalty. The dealer didn't even call the floor. There are some dealers who will call the floor for this and some who will not.

55th Place in WSOP Event #1

2005-06-03T00:59:00.000-07:00

I cashed in my first WSOP event ever. OK, so it only paid $595 and the buy-in was $500. Actually I took down $120 in last longer bets as well, so I made some money.

The end came for me when short stacked I moved in with AK suited and ran into pocket Aces. It was a good run anyway. First place paid $83,000.

After playing this tournament with its 60 minute levels I am spoiled. I can't imagine playing 20 minute levels again.

Follow-up to Dealing the WSOP

2005-06-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I was told that I didn't have a job, then I was told that I probably would have a shift, then I received a phone call confirming that I would have a shift and that I should come in today to find out what shift. I came in today to find that I could have a shift if I was willing to wait for an chance to audition (I have already auditioned twice). Finally I told them to give the shift to someone else. The reason I gave them was that there were people who had quit jobs to deal the WSOP and they needed the work (I still have one of the best jobs in town). I told them to keep me in mind in the future if something opens.

Really the reason I walked away was that they are simply to disorganized. I need some lead time to coordinate schedules on two different jobs and I could tell that there was no way they would be able to give me a schedule far enough ahead to get things worked out. The first event is tomorrow and they don't have dealing schedule.

Dealing the WSOP

2005-05-31T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well I have my badge, my uniform and my name tag, but I don't know if I have a job until tomorrow.

Palms Poker Room Goes No-Smoking

2005-05-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Effective Today at 8 AM the Palms Poker Room went no-smoking for the duration of the Palms Summer Series. My guess is that the move will be permanent (unless they allow smoking on graveyard).

As much as I don't like no-smoking poker rooms (I am a former smoker), I have met to many people who tell me they won't play at the Palms becuase of the smoke. I even know smokers who complain about the smoke.

Some of the smokers have already told me they will play at other places, but I think we will gain more than we will lose.

Registered for WSOP Event #1

2005-05-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Today I registered to play in the WSOP Casino Employees NLHE Tournament. Tournament starts Thursday at Noon. Last year they had 479 entries (I think it was limit HE last year). Last year 1st place paid $40K. I wouldn't be surprised if there are over 800 entries this year.

"I PUT HIM ALL IN"

2005-05-30T05:15:00.000-07:00

There is an annoying habit that many new players seem to have. (to me a new player is anyone who started playing after the WPT began).

It is the use of the phrase "I PUT HIM ALL IN"

You can't put him all-in. Only he can put himself all in. The only person you can bet for is yourself. These players seem to mean I that they bet as many chips as the other player has. This is needless if you are heads-up. If you have more chips than the other player and you want him to have to bet all-in in order to call -- Just put yourself all-in.

Of course today I had some idiot in a no-limit game announce that he was "putting him all in." Problem was that the game wasn't heads up. There were four players in the hand and this guy says "I put him all in." -- anybody got any idea how big that bet was. There were three different "hims" with three different stack sizes.

Viewing Mucked Cards At The Showdown

2005-05-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

The other day while playing $4 & $8 Hold’em in a Las Vegas casino, I came across an interesting rule. Play had come down to heads up between the player in Seat 10 and the player in Seat 2 (Button). Seat 10 bet his last 5 chips all in and the button called him. Seat 10 then showed his hand and the player on the button threw his cards face down to the dealer. Immediately the player in seat 4 (the big blind) told the dealer she wanted to see the hand. The dealer had not yet mucked the hand, and I expected the dealer to tap the cards on the muck and expose them, the way they do in every casino in which I have played. Instead the dealer informed the player that the casino’s rule was that you had to be involved in the pot to see the hand.

This strikes me as a very curious rule. First off the dealer’s description of the rule leaves something to be desired. After all in this case the player who asked to see the hand “was involved in the pot”, she was the big blind and as such contributed money into the pot. In actuality what the dealer seems to have meant was that you must be involved in the showdown in order to request to see a hand mucked at showdown. But even putting that issue aside, the rule which they follow seems to make no sense. The rule generally used (at least in low limit games) in Las Vegas is the rule described in Robert’s Rules of Poker Section 3.6(5):

“Any player who has been dealt in may request to see any hand that has been called, even if the opponent's hand or the winning hand has been mucked. However, this is a privilege that may be revoked if abused. If a player other than the pot winner asks to see a hand that has been folded, that hand is dead. If the winning player asks to see a losing player’s hand, both hands are live, and the best hand wins. "

Personally I hate this rule. The rational for the rule has always been that it is a tool to uncover collusion. However this doesn’t make much sense since if two or more players are colludingthe player with the worst hand could simply muck his hand prior to the showdown. In all my experience as a player and dealer I have never seen this rule invoked in a suspicious circumstance. It is almost universally used by players who want to see what kind of hand was folded for informational purposes or curiosity. Sometimes it is invoked just to annoy a player. If in fact two players are colluding this rule is not going to be all that useful in uncovering that collusion. Many players ask to see hands without even pretending to be concerned with collusion. Often an ugly scene is caused when a player asks to see a mucked hand and the player involved takes it as an accusation of cheating.

The rule that you must be involved in the showdown in order to ask to see the mucked hand, however makes even less sense. If the purpose of the rule is to uncover collusion, then why would you require a player who suspects collusion payoff the suspected cheaters in order to confirm his suspicions. The most effective form of collusion is running the “best hand play”, and this form of collusion can not be detected by looking at a hand mucked on showdown.

I propose the following rule: No player will be shown a mucked hand. If a player or dealer suspects that other players are colluding he shall advise the floorman of his suspicions. The floorman may at his discretion view any mucked cards (not just at showdown) in order to insure the integrity of the game.

Your thoughts and commenst are welcome.

Welcome to the Laws of Chance Poker Blog

2005-05-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be using these pages to map out my thoughts on Poker. Not so much on playing strategy, but on the rules policies and procedures. I play and deal in Las Vegas so that's what I'll be talking about. Prior to dealing Poker I practiced law for 10 years and that influences the way I see the game, so you will often see me dissecting rulings through a legal analysis.

Your comments to my posts are encouraged, but NO BAD BEAT STORIES. I might tell one once in a while, but I don't really want to see this become that kind of forum.