Vegas Poker Scene (February Ante Up Column)

Here's my newest column for Ante Up.  The link for it on the Ante Up website is here.   Remember, my contribution is embedded in the entire West Coast report.  So below is just my Vegas report.  The magazine should be in your local poker room soon.

MGM GRAND: The poker room introduced a new promotion to start the year. Replacing all previous promos, it’s called Drive for Five. Players receive a card to use at the table while playing and it has five poker hands the player must make to win: two pair, three of a kind, a straight, a flush and a full house. It’s any two pair, any set, etc., not a specific rank. When a player wins a pot with one of those hands, that hand is stamped on the player’s card. When all five hands are stamped, the player receives $100. Only one card from the player’s hand needs play to qualify and the pot must contain $20.

If a player has a winning hand that could meet the requirements of more than one qualifying hand, only the best hand possible earns a stamp. In other words, if a player has a hand that makes both a straight and a flush, the player could only get a stamp for the flush.

As part of the promotion, drawings are every hour on the half-hour. One randomly selected player in a cash game wins a cash prize based on how many stamps they have on their card. If they have zero or one stamp, they win $25. If they have two or three stamps, they win $50. If they have a card with at least four stamps, they win $100.

This promo was introduced on a trial basis for January but early reports are it’s quite popular. The room may tweak some of the details going forward, but you can expect a version of this promo to be running for some time.

ARIA: Long-time Binion’s tournament director Paul Campbell has moved to Aria to manage the tournaments and he quickly made his first change.

The Friday and Saturday dailies will have $240 buy-ins. Players start with 20K chips. The levels are 30 minutes for the first 15 levels and then 40 minutes. Late registration and unlimited re-entry are available for the first six levels. The starting time is 11 a.m.

The popular $125 tournament still runs Sunday through Thursday at 1 and nightly at 7. The levels are 30 minutes throughout, the starting stack is 10K and late registration and unlimited re-entry is open through the fourth level.

BINION’S: The downtown room has changed its tournament schedule. Daytime events have moved to 1, including its popular weekend deepstack on Saturdays, which has a $10K guarantee.

The $160 buy-in event starts players with 20K chips and has 30-minute levels. Late and re-entry is open for four levels.

The rest of the week the 1 p.m. has a $100 buy-in for 15K chips and 20-minute levels, late and re-entry open for the first three levels.

The evening tournament moves to 7 with its turbo format of 15-minute levels and a 7K stack for a $70 buy-in. Late and re-entry is open for four levels.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD: The mid-Strip room started the year by announcing it was reducing the maximum rake from $5 to $4 per pot. The $1-$2 game is known for action. The buy-in is $100-$300 and straddles are allowed from any position. The under-the-gun straddle is $5, the button straddle is $10 and players can straddle from any position for $20. Every hour, pots are splashed for between $25 and $250. High-hand bonuses are $75 for quads, $150 for straight flushes and $500 for royals. A free buffet is offered for three hours of live play.

Ryan Laplante of Minnesota took first place in the December PHamous Poker Series weekend $565 main event, earning $46K. Maziar Keshavarzi of Texas grabbed $24K for second and Corey Hochman of Arizona took home $21K for third. The prize pool was $200K as 349 players entered.

The next PHamous Poker Series Weekend was scheduled for Jan. 28-30 with a $600 main event with starting days running Jan. 28-31, so if you get this in time, check it out.

LUXOR: The south-Strip room has been running a series of $100 “Preferred Players” periodically. They are $100 buy-ins with 30-minute levels and 10K stacks. In addition to the prize pool, various house-funded prizes are awarded, including gift cards, free tournament entries, free shows and food comps. The next one is Feb. 6 at 2 p.m.

BALLY’S: The World Series of Poker Circuit comes to Bally’s on Feb. 25-March 7. The series kicks off with a $250K guarantee, $365 event with six starting flights, two a day starting on Feb. 25. A $250 seniors event is March 3. The $1,675 main event has a $1 million guarantee and two starting flights beginning March 4.

VENETIAN: Deep Stack Extravaganza I runs through March 2. New for this series will be two “Double Stack” events that start players with 24K chips. The $400 buy-in event has 40-minute levels, a $100K guarantee and two starting flights beginning Feb. 11. The $300 buy-in is a one-day event with 30-minute levels and a $15K guarantee on Feb. 29.

A $250 PLO event runs Feb. 8 and a $250 Omaha/8 tournament is Feb. 22. Nightly events at 7 offer $200 and $300 buy-ins. All the tournaments and most of the satellites have guaranteed prize pools. More than $2.9M is guaranteed for the series.

The $1,600 main event has three starting flights beginning Feb. 18 and features a $750K guarantee.

GREEN VALLEY: The fourth annual Charity Poker Tournament for Kids will be Feb. 27, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Green Valley. The top prize is an entry to the this year’s World Series of Poker Main Event.

BELLAGIO: The Five Diamond WPT Classic had 639 entrants for the $10,400 buy-in event for a prize pool of $6,198,000. Kevin Eyster ($1,587,000), William Jennings ($929K) and Benjamin Yu ($607K) took the top three prizes.

Read More

The Skunk Weed Tournament

I’m pretty sure I mentioned before that during my Vegas stay in December, I played in three tournaments and cashed in two.  I played 8 plus hours in all three of them!  Thus, I will do write ups about all three, and so I might as well do them in chronological order.  This will be the write up of my only time at Binion’s this trip.  Since I didn’t cash, I won’t give quite as detailed a post as I would want to do if I had made some money.

I sometimes amuse myself when, days, weeks or months (or longer) after a day in Vegas, I play back the audio recording I made of my notes the next day.  Playing back the notes for this tournament was one of those times.  I heard myself say over and over again that, after this experience, I was never going to play in another tournament again, that it was stupid to play in tournaments, that it was just too frustrating to play them, too inconvenient, etc, etc.  Very little of my ranting (to myself, you understand) had to do with the issues I raised in this post here, although I did hear myself say, “Tournaments are not designed for diabetics.”  So there were some of that, but it had more to do with playing so long and having nothing to show for it.

Let’s start with a pocket Kings hand in the fourth level.  I raised just under 3X with them and got one call.  There were two Queens on the flop so I had to fold to a donk shove.

A bit later, I limped/called $1100 with pocket 6’s (blinds were 200/400).  The flop was Queen-Ten-6.  I raised $1,800 to $4K.  He called, but wouldn’t call my turn shove (didn’t have enough chips to bet anything less). 

I started level 5 with $19,200, and since the starting stack is $20K that’s not good.  But the last two hands of the level I came back.  I limped in from the button with Ace-10 off, five ways.  The flop was Ace-10-x, two spades.  The guy on my right bet $1,700 and I raised to $4k and took it down.

Very next hand, in the cut-off, I called a raise to $2K with pocket 4’s.  I did that because 4 people had already called the $2K.  The flop was King-Queen-4 and it folded to me.  I bet $7,500 and no one called.

Soon after I raised to $2K with Ace-King and a big stack made it $7K.  That was not the time, I thought, to get it all in with Ace-King so I folded.

I raised with Ace-7 off, got a caller, and had to fold to his shove when the flop totally missed me. 

After a couple of limpers I made a nice raise from the button with 10-9 offsuit and took it down.

I opened to $2,700 (bb was $1k, no ante) and had a couple of callers when “Nice Guy” made it $5K.  Nice Guy is a player I see virtually every time I play Binion’s, and more often than not, I end up at the same table with.  So a total reg, pretty much an ABC player—and also, as the name indicates, a heckuva nice guy. I couldn’t imagine him doing that with a hand that didn’t have me crushed.  We all folded and sure enough, he showed us his hand—a couple of Aces.

Same level, in the big blind, no raise, I saw a flop with 4-7.  Pretty good flop for me: 8-6-5.  I led out for $4K and got a call.  I didn’t like the 6 on the turn, but I shoved, and he folded.

After one limper, I made it $3,500 with King-Jack of clubs.  A short stack shoved for $5,500, I of course called.  He had Ace-rag.  King on the flop, Jack on the turn and I was good.

At level 8 I had $28,500 (blinds are 100/600/1200).  I raised to $4K after a limper with Ace-8 of clubs from the button.  I totally whiffed on the flop, it was Jack-high, no clubs.  It checked to me and I shoved.  No call.

Then I got a little cuter.  I limped with pocket 6’s and missed.  There the flop was Queen-Queen-10.  I bet $2k to try to steal it, but had one caller (one other had seen the flop).  I bet $5k on the turn when I still had nothing but 6’s.  He called.  No betting on the river—I gave up—and he a crappy 10 to take it.

The end of level 8 meant it was time for me to get some dinner.  I guess maybe that’s why I made the two moves I just described.  I wouldn’t have minded so much getting eliminated there so I wouldn’t have to rush thru a really crappy dinner.  But it was clear I was hanging around for awhile and that damn deli next to the poker room would be closed by the next break. I would like to actually miss a couple of hands there at the end of the level so I can race to the deli before it becomes too crowded and I can’t get my food in time.  But I was stuck being the blinds. Luckily, those hands went quickly, and with just a minute or two to the break, I decided to forgo my button to get a jump on the crowd to get my dinner.  See, this is what I mean about the inconvenience of dealing with my condition in regards to tournaments.  Maybe that button hand was Aces and I would have doubled or tripled up?  Of course, it could also have bounced me out of the tournament, sure.  And actually, the fact is, we were at the point of the tournament where being in late position isn’t really that valuable.  It’s sometimes better to be in early position to be the first to raise or shove when so many others are contemplating the same maneuver.

I actually missed both the button and the cut-off but I was able to get my two hot dogs ahead of the crowd and managed to consume them during the break.  I honestly can’t tell you if they were the best hot dogs I ever had in my life (doubtful) or tasted like rancid moose meat (more likely).  I ate them too fast to notice.

Level 9 (200/800/1600), $23K.  I limped/folded pocket 7’s.  Then I open shoved with King-Queen, no call.  Open shoved with King-Queen again.  This time a short stack called with $11,500.  He had Ace-5 of spades.  I caught a Queen on the flop and took it.

It had become a running gag that I seemed to be doing much of my raising when Nice Guy was the big blind.  He started giving me a hard time about it, it a kidding way—counting how many times I had done it, “threatening” me with payback.  One time when I had garbage he was the big blind, and I looked at him and grabbed some chips and “Let’s see, since you’re the big blind so….” But I quickly mucked before it went too far. 

Level 10 (300/1000/2000), $36K. Nice Guy was the BB again I raised to $6,500 with Ace-9 off after a big stack limped in.  Nice Guy and the big stack called. The flop was Ace-high, I shoved, Nice Guy folded, the big stack folded after tanking a bit, showing an Ace. The big stack said she didn’t like her kicker, but I wonder if it was really less than 9?

Then I got a much needed double up at Nice Guy’s expense.  He shoved in front of me, which was pretty cool since I had two Aces.  He showed Ace-King.  No suck out for him.  I had him covered by just a bit.

Level 12 (400/1500/3000), $65K.  After the big stack limped in, I raised to $11K with 10-9 of diamonds.  Limper called.  Flop came Jack-7-x, both the Jack and the 7 were diamonds.  I bet $20k.  Big stack tanked forever and then folded.

Then came an instructive point of rules with this next hand. I had Ace-4 of diamonds in the big blind and it folded to the small blind.  He raised to $7K.  I figured he was just stealing and I had an ace.  So I grabbed some chips and announced “raise.”  I was trying to figure out how much to raise to.  I had picked up three white chips, which were $5K each, but I really wasn’t sure what to bet.  But as soon as I said, “raise” the player shouted, “all in.”  Fine, except I hadn’t finished my action yet.

The dealer pointed this out to him and he said, “He has three $5K chips in his hand, that’s a raise to $18K. He has to put them in the pot.”  The dealer said no, I hadn’t done anything except announce raise.  The floor was called who said, as anticipated, that I was only obligated to put in the min raise.  Well, this guy had a very similar stack to mine and I wasn’t about to risk it all on Ace-4.  I made the min raise to $11K and then put on a show of how I was thinking about whether to call his shove.  I even asked for a count to make it look good.  But I never intended to call of course.  I saved myself some chips with the guy jumping the gun like that but I honestly can’t say what I would have bet if he had kept quiet.  Considering that he literally couldn’t wait to shove, I assume that he had a really big hand.

That took us to the next break for what I guess you could call “The Chinese Fire Drill.”  I should explain that for the big Saturday tournament, Binion’s has a separate tournament area a bit away from the actual poker room.  When I initially started playing in this tournament, there was an actual room they held the tournament in, which is right on the other side of the deli.  It was actually a great room for the tournament, so naturally the management at Binion’s decided to take it away from the poker dept and use it for something else, against the objections of the poker people. 

First they had an Elvis exhibit in there.  Then it was used for storage.  Recently, they turned into a (very) small showroom and they have a hypnotist act in there.  I’m not sure if this act was running when I was there last, but it was running this night and the room is right next to the tournament area.  Apparently the hypnotist act is so loud (and the guy is so vulgar) that they can’t really use the tournament area once the show starts—too loud, too distracting.  So on this break, when they are down to just a couple of tables, they move everyone into the actual poker room to finish the tournament.

For this break, players are told they not allowed to leave the table early (although I don’t know how they can actually stop anyone from doing that) and then, when all the tables are finished with the last hand, everyone takes their chips and follows their dealer to their new seating assignments inside the poker room.  It’s a pit of a pain to be sure and a nice waste of about 10 minutes getting everyone situated in their new seats.  Really shows you how casino management treats poker.

By this time, we were down to three tables and just one player away from two tables (9-handed).  There were 90 or so players, the prize pool was over $11K and first place was around $3,500.  You had to get fourth place to just barely get $1K.  The min-cash was around $250, so not even double your $160 buy-in, which I maintain should be a requirement of a prize pool for a tourney this size.  They were paying 12.

And it was also the prize pool distribution that I heard myself complaining about playing back my notes.  It was like, “And even if I had cashed, I wouldn’t have gotten enough money to make it worth it.”  Of course, not getting any money back made it a whole lot worse. 

After the break, it took us just one hand to get down to 2 tables.  So there was a redraw of course.  Now this was really annoying.  After all that we went through to get situated in our new seats because of the new location, we all had to move again after just one hand.  Frustrating!

The climate in the poker room was vastly different than the tournament area.  The former was very much on the cold side, especially since I was sitting near the door to the outside, and every time someone came in, we’d feel the cold air.  The poker room itself was very warm, almost stiflingly hot.  It was maybe the only time on this whole trip I was ever too warm.

There was another issue with room.  Every now and then, we would all notice a very distinctive scent permeating the area.  Either there was a skunk loose in the poker room, or someone was smoking marijuana.  It was a really strong odor—very unpleasant.  Presumably one of the players in a cash game was taking frequent marijuana breaks and was coming back wreaking of it.  Ugh.

So down to 18, the rest of my tournament was pure torture.  I would have expected more people to bust out sooner.  But this took forever.  We had moved to the poker room for level 13 and late in level 16 we still had 15 players—three from the money.  Meanwhile, I had gone completely card dead.  I tried shoving and stealing as best I could, but I just couldn’t keep up with the blinds.

During this period, I raised or shoved with hands like Jack-9 off, Ace-9 off, King-Queen suited, King-Jack off, King-9 of clubs, Ace-3 off, and Queen-Jack off.  Never did I get a call, so I never had the double up I needed.  All the money I was getting with these hands were not enough to keep up with the blinds and antes.

I started level 16 with $41K, where the blinds were 1500/5000/10000.  So I was beyond desperate.  I kept stealing blinds and antes, but not enough to even keep that stack. Three away from the money, it was not looking good for me to hold on and cash.  I had been playing over 8 hours.  I’m pretty sure that any similar tournament I have ever played I would have been in the money by then.

I was under-the-gun and I had 10-9 offsuit.  Knowing that being the big blind next hand meant I would pretty much have to shove with whatever two cards I had, I figured 10-9 was more than good enough to open shove.  Sadly for me, the big blind had Ace-Queen and called with his big stack.  I caught a 9 on the flop, but then an Ace hit the turn and I was out.

It was 10:20PM, I had been playing since 2PM and was extremely frustrated leaving empty-handed.  I would have been slightly less frustrated taking home the $350 min cash.  I really couldn’t believe that I was there so late and didn’t get a penny, the last few levels had been painful to play, the lack of players busting was excruciating.

And thus the vow to never play in tournament again.  Of course, I’ve already given it away that I didn’t keep my vow very long.  Not sure if it will be my next post or not but I will tell you about the next tournament, one with a better ending, soon.

Read More

"Have You Ever Had an Asian Boyfriend?"

This took place just two days before Christmas, last year.  I wanted to check out a store that was part of the Linq Promenade, so I figured I’d try to play at the Linq. But when I got there, there was no game going and no one was on the list.  So I headed over to Harrah’s.  There were two games going, but both were shorthanded.  I think I was the 6^thplayer at the table they sent me to, but there was a missing player. I was thinking that if I hadn’t shown up, they might have soon combined the tables.

The table I was at was pretty tight, not exactly an action table.  I think under different circumstances, I might have headed for greener pastures.  But this was during the time that my back was acting up and I just didn’t feel like I could walk to the Venetian or Caesars across the Strip.  Of course, I could have gone back to my car and driven somewhere else, but I figured that would be just as much walking as trekking to the V, so I decided I’d gut it out at Harrah’s.

It turns out that not only did both tables fill up, but they were actually able to start a third 1/2 game before I left.

One thing that usually impresses me at Harrah’s is the cocktail service.  It may be as good as any poker room in Vegas.  The waitress, a cute young girl I’ll call Rachael, seemed to come back for orders every 10-15 minutes. There was an Asian man at my table (shocking, I know), who I believe was a regular.  He was wearing a baseball cap.  I couldn’t really tell his age, but he was definitely old enough to be Rachael’s father.  And in saying that, it’s entirely possible that I may be understating that by a generation.

Well, at one point, as Rachael had her back to our table while she was tending to the other table, this Asian man leaned back, and without really looking at her, asked, “Rachael, do you have a boyfriend?”

Rachael stopped what she was doing and responded, “I do not.”  I thought it was a bit odd the way she answered. Not “no.”  Not “I don’t.”  But “I do not.”

The man then asked, “Have you ever had an Asian boyfriend?”  Rachael laughed, and I just totally cracked up.  That was an interesting approach.

Rachael said, “No, I never have.”

The Asian gentleman said, “Well, you should try it some time.”  She didn’t respond, and left to get her drinks. I believe the Asian man had left the game before she got back.

It took quite some time for me to get any cards worth playing.  I did call a straddle with pocket deuces.  Three of us saw a flop of 6-6-2.  I called a $10 bet and it was heads up.  The turn was a 5, and when the other player bet just $10 again, I raised to $25, but he folded.

I called $7 from the big blind with Ace-9 of clubs.  Four of us saw an Ace-high flop that had two clubs.  I called $15 and it was heads up.  I called another $15 on a Queen of spades turn.  The river was another Ace and I bet $35 and took it down.

So I guess I was a bit over my $200 buy-in when the first really interesting hand took place.  In middle position, I opened to $8 with pocket Jacks.  A big stack called, and then a new player in the game made it $35 from the big blind and it folded back to me.  Hmm.  The guy had only been there for a few hands. He had been fairly active right from the start, definitely on the aggro side.  Still, I didn’t think I had enough information to peg him as a maniac.  He might have just gotten an unusual amount of decent hands to start.  It happens.  He had a similar stack to mine, perhaps a little less.

Well, I’m not going to four-bet Jacks unless I think the three-bettor is a total maniac.  Does anyone think a fold there is appropriate?  I mean, if I was purely set-mining, the potential payoff isn’t enough to justify it.  But you know, sometimes a pair of Jacks is a winning hand.  I decided to call, the other player folded.

The flop was 10-9-5, rainbow. To my complete surprise, he checked. It was hard for me to come up with a hand he would three-bet with (from the big blind, no less) that he would not c-bet that flop with. He’s either got an over pair (maybe Queens, most likely Kings or Aces) or maybe Ace-King.  At least that’s what I assume from players who three-bet in a Vegas 1/2 game until I see something to convince me otherwise.  I know that if I had raised with Ace-King and it was heads up, I’d definitely c-bet that flop. 

I know that Ed Miller would be saying that since he checked, I should bet.  I did have an over pair.  But I didn’t, I checked.  So I have to admit that I played the hand badly. Really no reason not to bet there.

But the turn was a Jack.  This time, he bet--$50.  Also interesting.  Did he have Ace-Jack?  Was he taking a stab with nothing since I had checked behind?  Did he now have some kind of draw?  Well, of course, he could have had King-Queen and just filled in his gut-shot when I caught my set.  I really dismissed that.  I just didn’t think it was very likely he would three-bet from the big blind with King-Queen, even if it was sooooted.     

I raised to $125.  He snap-shoved, and I snap-called.  If I was wrong about him not having King-Queen, at least I had outs.  The river was harmless looking low card.  He flipped over pocket 9’s!  I showed my over-set and took down a very nice pot.  I had him covered by just a few red chips and he left the game.  I counted $455 in front of me when I finished stacking.

So he three-bet with pocket 9’s from the big blind.  He was indeed an aggro, huh?  He got real unlucky with his decision to slow-play the flop.  And he got unlucky because I misplayed it by not betting.  I’m guessing he might have check-raised me if I had bet the flop.  And then I likely fold.  And so he would have won a decent pot instead of losing all his chips. 

Back to being card dead.  It was quite a few orbits before I played the other interesting hand of the night.  I had Ace-3 of hearts in the big blind.  The button raised to $12, the small blind called, I called, and it was three-way.  The flop was King-Jack-5, all hearts.  I recommend flopping the nut flush whenever possible.  Knowing that many players won’t c-bet a monotone board (especially three-ways), I donked out $25.  The button made it $75.  Sweet.  The small blind quickly got out of the way.  I made it $200 which was essentially putting him all in to call.  He snap called.  What did he have?  A set?  A smaller flush?

We didn’t show.  The final two cards were total blanks leaving me with the stone cold nuts.  He showed his hand: King of diamonds, Queen of hearts.  OK, top pair, decent kicker and a draw to the second nuts.  Did he play that well?  Or did he just give me $200 due to bad play?  Either way, I was glad to take those chips off his hands.

The only other hand I noted was another suited Ace, this time A-4 of clubs in the small blind.  I called a small raise and the flop was 7-4-4.  That time I checked and the preflop raiser checked too.  I bet $25 on the turn and took it down.

Before I left I decided to take a picture of my stack.  I tweeted out the pic and also posted it on Instagram under the title “Chip porn.” 

My back started telling me it was time to go, so I left up $460.  It was my most profitable cash game session of the trip.

Read More

Follow Up To The Exposed Hand Story

Last week, I published a post about an incident at the Venetian where a player intentionally exposed his hand after going all-in even though there four people left with live hands.  You can—no, you should—read that post if you have somehow failed to commit it to memory. You can find it here and while you’re enjoying it all over again, as if it was the first time you read it, please note the comments from the esteemed Tony Bigcharles and an anonymous lurker right below claiming to be an ex-dealer.  

They felt that the dealer should have told the player whose action it was on what the exposed cards were when asked.  Now, he wasn’t specifically asking the dealer, he was asking everyone at the table, or should I say anyoneat the table to tell him.  Everyone kept quiet; a few said that it would be wrong to tell him. In my post, I expressed surprise that in fact no one did tell him, which I maintained was the right thing to do.

At the time, and even as I was writing the post weeks later, it never occurred to me that a case could be made for making the player show his cards a second time.

But I thought about what Tony and the ex-dealer said, and figured I would do a little research. 

You know, they don’t call me “Robvegaspoker” for nothing, and as Tony himself has stated, I have more juice than anyone in the Vegas poker community.  So I contacted a bunch of folks who work in poker rooms in Vegas for their insight.  This included dealers, floor people, tournament directors, and poker room managers. 

Most responded, for which I am very grateful.  There was some disagreement. A few agreed with Tony, most did not.  Basically, the higher up on the poker food chain the person was, the more likely they were to say the hand should not be re-exposed.

I didn’t ask any of the people I contacted if I could quote them, so I will not attribute any of the quotes to the person who said it.  You’ll just have to take my word for it that these are quotes from people who know their stuff.  I’ll start with the two who thought the hand should have been re-exposed (or the dealer should have told the player what cards were flashed).

A dealer/floor person said this:  “You had the information available to you to make a decision, the other players in the hand should have had that info available.

“I would have had him turn it up. I may have called the floor. I would call the floor if there was any sort of protest or resistance, if the player was drunk, or if the player was a problem in any way. If it was just an oops sort of thing, I wouldn't call the floor. Just because someone doesn't see someone accidentally flash their cards doesn't mean they aren't paying attention. What if it's the player in the 1 seat and the player in the 10 seat doesn't have a view of them?

“Sometimes players will hold their cards in a way that their neighbor can see. Does that mean that the player next to them is privy to the info because they are sitting close enough to pay attention? This is why there aren't always 100% black and white rules in poker. Sometimes you have to take other things into consideration.”

Another person who has dealt, floored, occasionally filled in for shift managers said this: “It's a tough decision because if a player exposes his hand with action pending and if you are certain a player that has action pending has seen the hand, then you pretty much have to turn the hand face up for all to see. Especially if it’s more than one player left to act. It's almost like if a card gets exposed on the deal but maybe only one player sees it. If there is any doubt then you turn the card face up and expose it to all the players.

“Of course the player (who didn’t see the hand) has a responsibility too but I can't completely punish the player. If I'm in seat 1 and I’m thinking about what to do and he's in seat 10 and exposes it and seats 7,8.9 all see it and they all have hands as well, I'm not going to punish seat 1 for information that was freely given.

“I also could be confusing it with a decision where a player shows another player their cards to someone that has a hand themselves when there are more people involved in the hand. In that situation, you would expose the player’s hand that had shown their cards to another player.”

Everyone else took the other side, my position. 

From a current room manager: “I don't make the dealer expose the cards. Everybody had an equal chance to see them when they were exposed, for those that didn't see them, tough luck, pay attention. I don't let the dealer say what he thinks they were because he could be wrong and we know that doesn't end well.  Like you I am amazed nobody spoke up during the hand. If they had I'd have given them the most minor of warnings.”

From a long-time, former room manager: “Yeah. Everyone should follow the action. It's your responsibility as a poker player. The guy handed out a gift and if someone didn't see his hand it's their own fault. I'm surprised nobody asked for the floor. You might get a show one show all ruling because there were multiple players left in the hand but I don't agree with it. Then you affect the outcome of you winning the hand. Floor’s job is to not affect the outcome of the hand with their ruling.”

From a former room manager, current floor person: “The dealer is not part of the game and should absolutely not state what the cards are. Further, when I’ve dealt and had a player accidentally flip his hand over, I've covered it and then not let the player touch it until all the action is done. I keep my hand on it the entire time. The last part of this is, had the player stayed in the game, he should be told the next instance of this in a non-heads up situation would result in a dead hand. You are not allowed to expose your hand in a multi-way pot.”

A poker buddy of mine who briefly dealt himself contacted one of his pals who has managed rooms all oover the country.  That person came back with this: “He said he's made this decision several times in his career. He would not make the player turn over KK because even though it was turned over, it’s now protected with action pending, so he can't make a player turn over a protected hand until the action completes.”

Now the last person I consulted with I can’t quote.  He is a poker room manager and when I emailed him, he actually took the time from his busy day and called me to go over it, feeling that it would be easier to talk through than write down.  So I have to go from memory.

He immediately mentioned the “show one, show all” rule—but said it would only be relevant after the hand was over.  In other words, had the player who exposed his hand won the pot without being called, he would have insisted that everyone saw his cards at that point, when the hand was over.

But he was adamant that the dealer do nothing to influence the action at all.  In fact, he said the dealer should do nothing, period.  The dealer is not part of the game, the dealer only controls the game.  He said what many of the others said, if that one player missed the opportunity to see the hand, that’s on him for not paying attention.

He also made a point of not punishing the player who exposed his hand any more than necessary.  Suppose the player who didn’t see the hand was the last player to act?  Or, suppose neither one of us had seen the cards?  In that case, making him expose his hand is basically taking his money and giving it to one of us (if one of us could see that we beat his hand).  That certainly isn’t fair. 

He went on to say that the ruling would be the same for tournaments or cash games (I only asked because he has a lot of experience running tournaments).  He said that had it happened in a tournament, and the player still had chips after the hand, the player who flashed his cards would have been penalized by having to sit out a orbit (unless that would have blinded him out of the tournament, than an exception would be made).  In a cash game, if he had stuck around, he just would have received a warning.

Well that’s basically it.  I’ll try to summarize. I think to some degree, the way I told the story influenced the thinking of those who felt the cards should be exposed.  They were looking at it as if it was accidently exposed card during the deal, or when a player folds and his hand is accidentally exposed.  But those are dead cards, not cards from a live hand.  Big difference.

As noted, the player who exposed his cards should not be automatically punished with the loss of his stack unnecessarily. That player on my right would have still been asking what the hand was even he was the last player to act.  Think of it that way.  In that case, you don’t have to worry about another player (me) having the advantage of seeing his cards, it’s just a case of that one player left—if he missed seeing the cards, why give him that information that he would otherwise not be entitled to.  Those thinking it should be exposed again are considering that another player, again, me, had information he didn’t have.  But at the time the action was on the other guy, no one knew that.  The dealer didn’t know that I saw the hand. 

Suppose neither one of us saw the hand.  And then suppose the dealer did reveal the hand again to us. Now further suppose that the player in front of me would then fold because he could not beat the hand.  And I didn’t see it originallyeither, but after the dealer told me what I had, I now knew that I could beat the hand.  So if the hand wasn’t exposed a second time, we both would have folded and no harm to the player who had a brain fart.

The player has to do everything in his power to protect his hand, right?  That includes paying attention, sorry the guy didn’t see it, but that’s life.  He wasn’t supposed to see it anyway.  I wasn’t either, but I did, and I got a gift.  I’m not returning it. 

Once or twice playing poker in the past, when I still had live cards, I’ve accidently exposed my hand.  I immediately covered the cards with my hands and turned them back over.  Did anyone see them?  Did everyone see them?  In those cases it was clearly an accident and no one said anything about my hand being exposed.  But it is possible somebody with cards saw them and another person with cards did not.  Should I have been ordered to expose my hand again?  I surely was not told to do so.

Slightly different in this case only in that the player, in a moment of incredible brain-deadedness, flipped them over on purpose, and it was obvious that many players saw the cards.  But the principal is the same.

Anyway, thanks to all my friends and associates who responded to my request for the review.  I really appreciate it!

Read More

Stan Lee, Steven Spielberg & The Truck That Ran Over Me

Yesterday I returned to Player’s Casino in Ventura for my first poker session since returning from Vegas at the beginning of the month.  The way things went, it might be my last for awhile.

I had to wait a bit for a seat.  As the list grew, it was beginning to look like they’d have enough to open a new 2/3 game shortly.  While I was waiting, I noticed the fellow I dubbed “Director” in the post here was also waiting to get in a game.  For the purpose of this post, I’m going to change my mind from that post and let you know that the director this fellow looks like is actually Steven Spielberg.  Keep that in mind.

But there was another guy waiting for a game that caught my attention even more.  He was, ahem, an older gentleman.  And I did a double take when I first saw him, because he really, really, really looked a lot like Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee. You all know who that is, right?  If not, I’m sure that by now, at least 60% of you have figured out how to use Google. “Stan” was waiting for either a 2/3 game or a 3/5 game.  It never occurred to me to tell Stan that he looked like Stan Lee, that’s just something I almost never do. 

It didn’t take long for the new game to be called, and both “Stan” and “Spielberg” as he will now be referred to were there at the start.  Most of the players and all of the dealers knew Stan and called him by his real name.  I assumed the reason I didn’t recognize him was that he is usually playing the bigger game. I took seat 9 right next to the dealer.  Stan was in seat 5, across from me.  Spielberg took seat 7. The guy in seat 8 didn’t look familiar to me either, but it was obvious he was at least a semi-regular in the room.  He probably wasn’t familiar with Stan though, for the same reason as me.  Anyway, I’m not sure there had been a hand dealt when seat 8 said to Stan, “Have you ever been told how much you look like Stan Lee?”

I cracked up, and immediately said, “Yeah, I thought the exact same thing.  Totally.”  But Stan denied knowing who Stan Lee was.  Seat 8 gave him a brief primer, and said how glad he was that they were finally making movies out of the comic books.  I added, “Yeah, and most of them are good.  In the old days, the ones they made sucked.” 

And then seat 8 turned to the guy next to him, Spielberg, and said, “And this guy looks like Steven Spielberg!”  Spielberg just kind of groaned and nodded.  “Yeah, I get that all the time.  I just wish I had his money.”  I said, “Just 1/10^th of his money would be more than enough.”

I whispered to seat 8, “I’ve thought that since the first second I laid eyes on him.”  He responded, “I guess we’re both revealing our nerd side.”  Note:  I was reading comics long before it was cool to do so.  And now that it is cool, I no longer read them.  I was about to ask him if I looked like anyone famous (like Gabe Kaplan, or Costanza), but we got sidetracked.  He would have said something if he had noticed though, for sure.

The dynamic of the game was impacted almost immediately by a couple of incredible luck boxes at the table.  One was Stan, the other I’ll get to shortly.

Stan opened the first two pots with huge raises, and at least one shove on the flop.  But he started showing his hands when he wasn’t called, and he always hit something.  If he only had top pair, it was a poor result for him.  He’d hit two pair with two crappy cards time and time again.  If there was any way he could make a straight, he’d do it.  At least once he played two really crappy suited cards (not even close to be connected) and turned a flush.  Once he hit two pair with Jack-4 (he had limped in) and said, “Doesn’t everyone play Jack-4?”  We were all in agreement that he should play any two cards, they were all like Aces to him.

He would raise big preflop.  At first he wasn’t called very often, but then players had to start calling.  Frequently then, he’d shove on the flop, always an overshove.  Sometimes he would get called by a smaller stack; other times he wouldn’t, but he’d show a good hand.  He was kind of surprised himself, saying he couldn’t remember having a run like this.

The shoves were interesting.  I think most of the time, he was actually shoving so that players wouldn’t call and loss their chips.  Seriously.  Although there were other times when he was shoving to prevent a draw from hitting.  One of the oddest times I recalled was when there were a bunch of limpers (he did limp quite a bit after all, but very rarely didn’t enter a pot at all).  The flop came 9-8-7, rainbow.  It checked to him and he said “all-in.”  It was an $18 pot and he had by this time around $600 in front of him.  No one called and he said, “I had to shove, I had to prevent any draws, I had the bottom end,” and he showed 6-5.  So it was an interesting playing style to say the least.

After about 20 minutes, he was called to the 3/5 game.  To no one’s surprise, he turned it down, preferring to stay put, where he was catching cards like nobody’s business.

I’d only played a few hands, one was a pocket pair that missed, and I think I raised with Ace-King and whiffed. There were many callers and I folded to a donk bet.

So it was still early in the session when I was dealt two Aces in early position. I had around $260 when the hand started.  I opened to $15.  That’s actually more than my standard open here ($12) but bigger raises were being called.  I probably should have made it $20 or $25.  Only 4 players called me. The flop was 10-8-2, two spades (no spade in my hand).  I led out for $50.  It folded to the button in seat 6.  I was very relieved Stan had folded, I would have bet that he had at least two pair or a set or the flush draw.  Now set 6 was yet another look-alike.  It took me awhile to figure it out but I eventually realized he looked like Prudence’sex, Tom, if Tom had a beard.  So let’s call him Bearded Tom.  Bearded Tom took a long time to decide, and then finally called.  His stack was pretty close to mine, probably just a few bucks more.

A red 9 hit the turn, and I really wasn’t concerned about filling in a gut-shot.  I led out with $100, with maybe $95 left behind.  Bearded Tom immediately announced all-in. 

Ugh.  Well, I knew I might be behind and possibly even drawing dead.  But based on the size of the pot and the amount I had left, I couldn’t see folding.  I had made that bet of half my stack prepared to get the rest in anyway.  With stack-to-pot ratio of just a bit over 3 on the flop, that’s what should happen, right?  I called.

The river was a meaningless deuce or something.  He showed pocket 9’s for a turned set.

Pocket-freaking-9’s?  I said nothing.  I rebrought, and just simmered.  As soon as I got my chips, I took a break and walked outside.  Ugh.

He called $50 on the flop and then hit is god-damned two outer.  Yeesh.

So I’ve been trying to figure out if I made any mistakes on the hand  Would welcome feedback.  The problem is that the pot was so big preflop that I almost had to bet enough to commit me if the turn wasn’t scary. At first, I thought he just made a bad play and got lucky.  Well the lucky part is true, but calling me on the flop maybe not so much.  I could have just been making a c-bet with an Ace-King type hand. Although with four players, including luckbox Stan in the hand, that seems unlikely.

I know, for this table, I should have raised more pre.  But even if I had opened $25, I’m sure that Stan would have called it with any hand that he’d call $15.  Bearded Tom almost certainly would have called with 9’s if Stan had called. So even if it was just the three of them, the pot would have been the same, and could have been more.

I think my flop bet is ok….2/3’s the pot?  In hindsight, a few bucks more may have gotten a fold, but I think that was a good size bet, no?  Maybe a pot-size bet would have discouraged his float there?

I really wasn’t worried about the gut-shot.  But should I have checked the turn just to avoid getting it all in?  I thought I wanted to get it all in.  And if he was on the flush draw, I wanted to charge him.

So any thoughts would be appreciated.

As a result of this hand, Bearded Tom became luckbox number two.  He also started catching cards, just like Stan. He rivered a straight flush against Stan, but Stan didn’t call his bet.  He flopped a boat.  I mean, for awhile there, they were just taking turns hitting flops.  The rest of us were basically spectators to the show.

What do you do in a situation where two people are getting hit by the deck like that?  I mean, if there are obviously better players than you at the table, you should ask for a table change. But if they’re just lucky, the luck should even out eventually, right?

I figured I’d wait for that to happen.  In less than 10-minutes after returning from my cooling off break, I found myself looking at the dreaded pocket Kings in the big blind. OK…..

An early position player made it $10, and then Stan bumped it to $45.  I made it $100, which was too little.  It made absolutely no difference as it turned out, but I should have made it more.  I guess I was just thinking about how lucky Stan had been, and how it was so likely he’d smash the flop if he didn’t already have pocket Aces.  The first guy thought for some time before folding, and then Stan called.  I had decided that I would shove over a raise from him and call his shove if he had shoved.

Do I have to tell you that the flop was Ace-high?  I don’t remember the other two cards, but neither of them was a King.  Before I even had a chance to act, Stan, totally acting out of turn, announced all-in.  Well that made it easy for me.  There was no way he didn’t have at least an Ace.  I checked and folded to his shove.  He showed his hand…Ace-King.  So I’m rather certain there was no four-bet I could have made that would have gotten him to fold, though I suppose he might have thought twice if I had shoved initially.  But that wouldn’t have been the right play.

I guess I got off lucky. My too-small four-bet ended up saving me some money.

I got Kings again not too long after.  Stan limped in from early position and it folded back to me.  I made it $25.  This time, everyone folded including Stan.

I might have won another small pot when I raised with Ace-King after a few limpers and no one called.

My stack had dwindled down to about $120, and I was about finish, time to leave. Actually, a bunch of players, including Stan, announced they were about to leave so the table was likely to break. I called a $6 straddle with pocket 7’s. It was like 6-7 of us seeing the flop, including Stan.  The flop was all hearts, something like 10-7-3.  Stan led out for $40.  It folded to me.  Well, if I lose the rest of my chips on a flopped set, so be it.  I shoved, sure that Stan would call and hoping he didn’t already have the flush.  It folded back to Stan, who had announced that this would be his last hand and had already racked his chips.  I was sure he’d call, it wouldn’t have been all that much more and he had had a great day.  But he said, “OK, I’ll let you have it.”  He showed a 10.  So I got some money there, just not that much.

Actually, it was a very friendly table, a lot of laughing (mostly in awe of Bearded Tom and especially Stan) and tons of politically incorrect jokes (so extreme I can’t relate them here). At one point, Stan asked a dealer if he had seen the Asian lady he was playing with the day before.  He had not.  He said, “She had tits that wouldn’t quit.”  Who wants tits that quit?  He claimed that he told her that he couldn’t play at her table, she was too distracting.  I think there was more to the story, but he got distracted by another flop he had just smashed and never finished.

And that was it.  I cashed out down over $400.  I think I would have been better off playing with the real Stan Lee and the real Steven Spielberg.  The tits wouldn’t quit, but I did.

Read More