Having worked a 15-hour shift the day before, and getting back to the hotel at 8:30 am, I pretty much slept all day until it was time to get up and go back to the Beau.
The days are starting to run together in a tiring routine.
Despite being so weary, I was focused on being a better dealer than I was the previous night. A few quick bolts of caffeine, some ibuprofen for my ailing back, and I was ready to go!
Hey, focusing works! I was nearly flawless for most of the night, especially in the first eight tables I dealt. No exposed cards, no misdeals, no player complaints. Everything seemed to be going pretty well until...
The fight!
It wasn't really a fight, but it did involve my table. I was dealing a 10-25, mandatory Mississippi Straddle to $50, Pot-Limit Omaha HI game. This is the highest stakes game in the casino, with each pot averaging well over $500.
One guy at my table, a well-known Indian man who owns several night clubs, was talking on his cell phone in a conversation that lasted over 20 minutes. Although it is against the rules to talk on a cell during the tournament, at cash games you can talk all you want, even though it is still very bad etiquette.
All of his incessant talking really angered the player sitting to his right (and to my immediate left). First he started telling the guy to get off the phone. Then he asked me to call a floor person.
Calling the floor is a dealer's way of settling disputes at the table. Most of the time, a floor call is because of a dealer error. I have been lucky, in that I haven't made a single floor call this entire tournament.
The director of the cash game area came over and ended up telling the man that the Indian fellow could talk all he wants. This did not make the man any happier. Only one hand later, the cell-phone user hung up and immediately a war of words started. Insults, profanity, and finally, a challenge to duke it out. They both stood up, chest-to-chest and I immediately called out, "FLOOR!"
Back came the the floor manager who ended up sitting between the two combatants while they grumpily bet thousands of dollars into the pot, each trying to take the others' money. And there I was, wordlessly dealing while the war of words hung over the entire silent table like a fog. All you could hear was my shuffling. It was quite surreal.
About a half-hour later I moved to a tournament game that had blinds and antes. The purpose of both is to make the game end faster. I was starting to gather the antes and noticed one player hadn't posted his. I asked for the chip but he started swearing that he had already done so and that a player across from him hadn't posted. So I had to call the floor now a THIRD time, who admonished the player for lying and then admonished me for not watching them.
Then, a half-hour later a fellow at another one of my tables dumped an entire white russian right on the felt. So I had to make my FOURTH floor call of the night so that my entire table could be moved away from the now disabled one.
And of course, all this excitement was a distraction and my dealing became shoddy right at the end. I begged not to have to deal any overtime and they granted my request, allowing me to get back to the hotel by 4:00 for some much-needed sleep.
Side Pots:
- Oddly enough, I still have not dealt in any of the biggest tournament events that involve bracelets. There are ten events at this WPT event and each of the ten winners will receive a bejeweled poker bracelet. They are quite the goal of tournament poker players.
Anyway, these events are started during the day shift and are usually winding down in the evening. I have dealt plenty of downs in the second-chance tournaments and in tournament satellites. No worries though, I will get plenty of tournament time in the 4-day main event, which starts Thursday.
- Best tipper of the night: A little old lady at one of my cash tables gave me a handsome $5 tip for a winning hand (I usually get $1 or $2 per hand). She leaned over to me and she said, "Let's make a deal, you keep giving me winning hands and I will keep giving you $5 each." Interestingly enough, she won four more hands during my down! Funny how that poker karma is.
- Physical Malady Du Jour: I have recuperated my fingers but now my major concern is my back. It aches so much. The pain is from the lousy chairs they have us using. There is no lower back support at all. I think I will start buying ibuprofen by the gross. Every night, one of the floor men says in the microphone, "Massage therapists are in the room and can be hired for $25 per half hour. Who wants a litte rubby rubby?" To which I want to cry, "ME!"
- Funniest Line of the Night: "Oops, I better mover over. I am practically in the dealer's lap. No matter how much I drink, he aint never gonna be THAT cute." - from a male player talking about me. Hey! I'm cute!
- Bad Beat of the Night: $9000 pot in the pot limit Omaha where one fellow had fives full of sixes and was beaten by sixes full of fives.
- Anatomy of a check: The proper way to check your cards in poker (to stay in the hand and not bet) is to either say "check!" or to lightly tap the table twice with your hand. However, here at this tournament, everyone has their own, sometimes crazy, checking style. This makes it VERY difficult on a dealer to control the action. So far, I have seen:
1. the two-finger tap
2. the one-finger tap
3. the palm tap
4. the back of the hand tap
5. the little pinkie tap
6. a head nod
7. a head point to the next player
8. a ZZ-Top-esque finger twirl to the next player
9. a palm-down finger flick in my direction
10. a metronomic finger wag
11. the black jack symbol for "stay"
12. a thunderous, chip-rattling, table pound
13. an eye point
14. an eyebrow point
15. a unibrow point
16. the word(s) "check"
17. the word(s) "next"
18. the word(s) "I'm good" or "I'm fine" or "I'm ok"
19. the word(s) "on him"
20. the word(s) "shooby dooby"
21. the word(s) "please don't raise"
22. the word(s) "lets play a friendly" or "family pot!"
23. the word(s) "I hate this game"
24. the word(s) "why am I checking?"
25. the word(s) "I'm checking the best hand" or "I'm checking the worst hand" (which is always the opposite)
26. the word(s) "dealer, you are killing me"
And then of course, I have heard a LOT of "What are you looking at? I checked!"
