Wednesday night was the last night of qualifying before Thursday's Main Event. The crowds were a little larger than the previous day, but mostly the event is still gearing up for it's big finish. It doesn't cost anything to go into the room where the tournament is being held, so I expect there will be quite a few more onlookers this weekend.
From a dealing perspective, I was very steady. After almost 80 hours of continuous tournament dealing, I feel that I have mastered all of the mechanical and mathematical skills of a pro dealer. Chris Moneymaker agrees.
For those of you who do not know of him, Chris Moneymaker, an accountant from Tennessee, was the winner of the 2003 WSOP Main Event, in which he won $2.5 million.
What made him special is that because he was an Internet player who had never been in a casino, Moneymaker captured the hearts of American TV viewers during ESPN's first broadcast of the tournament. It was that coverage that launched the world-wide poker craze and made Moneymaker famous.
I dealt to Chris for about two hours last night. He was constantly bombarded with an unbelievable amount of attention. Everyone else can sit at a poker table, barely speaking, quietly making decisions about hands to play. Not Chris Moneymaker.
All night long it was, "Chris, want a drink?", "Chris, want to buy a horse?", "Chris, can I sit next to you?", "Chris, will you stake my $10,000 entry into tomorrow's tournament?", "Chris, can I have some of your chips for free?" Chris, Chris, Chris. People were talking to him literally every moment of every hand.
The only person who wasn't talking to him was me. Other than to announce his bets to the table, which is my job.
The amazing thing about him is that he's a super-nice guy. He banters with the other players and answers every question. "No, I don't dip Skoal", "No, I don't drink", "No, I don't want a horse, sir", "No, I don't think I should give you $10,000 to play poker tomorrow."
I have to say that I was impressed with his ability to deal with the suffocating notoriety that he gets when he enters a room. He really is a likable guy, and a smart fellow who enjoys the game and is very down-to-earth.
As a poker player, he's pretty good. Probably not the best in this room full of great poker players, but he'd readily admit that. Nonetheless, he can definitely hold his own.
The funny thing about having him at a table is that all of the other players attack his bets constantly. A normal player will make a $20 bet and have three or four callers. Moneymaker makes the same bet and gets eight or nine callers. Every hand.
The good news is that it makes the pots big, which are good for the game (and very good for the dealer). The bad news, for Chris anyway, is that he rarely gets to win any marginal hands and rarely gets to make a bluff stick. At least at these lower limit tables. But, he also reaps the benefits too.
Chris was playing at a $2-$5 No Limit table and pots that are normally about $100 were now around $300 to $400 per hand. One hand in particular, Chris led out with a $25 bet and got eight callers. At the flop he led out with $125 bet and got four callers. At the turn, he threw out a stack of hundreds totaling $1900. No callers this time. Sometimes, if you poke the big dog with a stick, you get bitten.
Anyway, Moneymaker is a good guy and he tipped well. He commented that I was a great dealer (perhaps it was tongue-in-cheek, but I'll choose to believe he meant it!) and played until 5 am. I truly hope he does very well in the tournament.
Side Pots:
- Worst Beat of the Night: A guy lost $2,700 in pot-limit Omaha when he had a full house beaten by the first straight flush I have dealt in the tournament.
- Funniest table: A very drunk and gregarious man was at the Moneymaker table and his name was also Wade. So for a half-hour I was freaking out because everyone was constantly saying Wade-this and Wade-that, but not talking to me. I guess people named John or Bill are used to this, but I am definitely not.
- Tipping 101: The way dealer tips work at tournaments is two-fold. In cash games, I carry a locked box with a slot in the top that hooks to the rail of the table. Players toss chips to me as a tip and I put it in the box. At the end of the night, the cage (where the money is held), opens the box and pays me for my tips, of which I keep 100%.
In the tournament, however, the chips carry no cash value. So the players will occasionally tip the dealers in cash, usually at the end of the event when the prize money is given out. These tips are divided equally amongst all of the dealers on staff and paid back out as part of the check at the end of the tournament.
