Fa la la la la la la

It is difficult to explain how I feel about my job.

Certainly I have a tendency to bitch and moan about the fleas and table captains. I also appreciate the players who come simply to play and have a good time. Their good time is not contingent on making anyone else miserable. To those players I say thank you. You make it bearable.

I honestly take my job seriously. While a poker game is not usually a life or death situation, it is a situation involving other people's money. Few things in life ignite tempers like money. It's just easier to do your job right and leave the money changing to the winds of fate and randomness.

On Saturday I worked the full 8 hours. During my last down I encountered a situation that left me with a very sour taste in my mouth.

I was dealing a hand of $2-5 blind no limit. I KNOW that as I dealt the first card to the 10 players there was no straddle. As I completed the second round of cards I saw, out of the corner of my eye, two red chips being tossed into the pot from the UTG player.

(We're pretty relaxed in our room. As long as the player hasn't looked at his cards he can straddle. In reality the straddle should be "put on" before any cards are dealt. It is possible that a player could watch a few players look at their first card and gather some information and then straddle. Whatever, we've always allowed it as long as we were sure the player hadn't already looked at his cards)

I announced "raise to $10 total". There were a few callers.

As I am putting out the flop the player who "raised" says "Murph, you are going to cost me this pot. I straddled and should have been able to raise."

WTF?

Did the cat have your tongue when I announced raise? Had you stopped me (and the action) at that point we could have determined that it was indeed supposed to be a straddle.

The action on the flop saw the "raiser" betting out and another player going all-in. The "raiser" called the $150ish all-in. Everyone else folded.

The player who went all-in had pocket 2s and there was a 2 on the flop. The "raiser" had AA and lost with them.

Obviously he would have raised his straddle...had it actually been a straddle.

My guess is that he did hear me announce raise and didn't think it was too big of a deal.....until there were a few callers and he finally looks at his cards to discover the aces.

It amazing that you can deal 200 or so hands without incident and then have one questionable hand screw up your whole day.

***

Today I would have rather been ANYWHERE besides where I was. (like home for the holidays)

We weren't overly busy but we weren't dead either.

When I hit the poker room I overheard a conversation between the two shift supervisors. It seems the MOD (Casino Manager on Duty) made a visit to the poker room and declared that players couldn't even bring in food from McDonald's or anywhere else. A week or so ago it was decided that room service would be discontinued. The official reason is the new Nevada smoking ban. I still don't think that excuse holds water because as I understood it casinos were exempt. Even if casinos weren't exempt, there is a temporary restraining order preventing the law from going into effect in Clark County.

It's some sort of political mind screw that's way above my circle of influence.

In any case, the no-food-at-all-period-end-of-story decree lasted about an hour. You can now, once again, enjoy your big mac along with your bad beats.

You wonder what pisses off customers? I'll tell you one thing. Changing the rules willy nilly and then changing them back......for one.


As I pushed onto my first game I tried to clarify where the button was and where the blinds should be. There was a gap in there somewhere that wasn't correct. I finally determined that the gap belonged to a new player who had yet to play a hand. No big deal except that it would have been nice had the exiting dealer relayed that information, not left me to discover it for myself.

apparently my tone of voice was a little harsh when I stated...

"Forgive me father for I have just sat down and I didn't know".

Jeff in the 1s asked me what was up my ass. I asked him if it was that obvious. Yes, it must have been.

It was all down hill from there.

A few hands later I dealt a Royal. 1.5% toke. Merry Effing Xmas. (I'm laughing as I type that)

The rest of my EO shortened day was like some episode from the Twilight zone.

No one knew when the action was on them.

Strangers kept asking how much they could bet in the limit games. Honestly, if you can't figure out the betting structure in a limit game with 2-3 rounds of the table maybe you shouldn't be playing poker.

During my first hand on table 6 ($4-8 limit) the guy in the 9s bet $2 on the river. Excuse me. Are you on drugs or are you really that stupid? Or both?

I told him that he had to bet $8. No more, no less.

"I don't want to bet $8"

Sir, you have to bet $8.

"I don't want to."

Sir, you can put out $8 or abandon the $2 you already put out.

He did. Abandon it, that is.


Two hands later he was asking me if a straight beat a flush. I said yes, but only on Tuesdays and today is Sunday. I then asked Ashley to go in the back and bring out a hand ranking card for the guy. At that point I couldn't suffer the fools any longer.

Mercifully, my day ended early and I headed out into the Nevada night.


It looked like any other night. The fact that it is Xmas eve was basically lost.

Inside the Palms there was no xmas music. Decorations are few and far between. Unlike years past there wasn't a single decoration in the poker room. Yes, the cocktail waitresses are clad in the Ms. Santa uniforms but that's about the extent of the decking of the halls.

I'd like to ignore the date as well because this year...........

I'll be home for Christmas

You can count on me

Please have snow

and mistletoe

and presents on the tree

Christmas Eve will find me

Where the love light gleams

I'll be home for Christmas

If only in my dreams

Merry Xmas