deardealer

Who runs the game, the dealer or the players? It seems like a cut and dried answer, WRONG!  It really depends on where you work and then after we establish that,  it depends on who you are, which floorman is on duty and does he make consistent decisions?  Small card rooms tend to make decisions that favor their regular patrons.  Big no limit games have a tendency to use the dealer for distributing the cards and that is just about it.  Here is my question for you.  If a player asks to see another players hand in a called pot, does he have to directly ask the dealer?  What if he asks the player what his hand is and the player mucks or attempts to muck?  Should the dealer protect the muck and turn the hand over for the other players to see?  I say yes and that is exactly what I did.  It made the player who didn’t want to show his hand, very upset.  He said it was not my business and who did I think I was?  I thought I was the dealer and trying to protect the table and all the players.  It caused much controversy among the players the other dealers and the floorman, who at the end of the matter was looking quite confused himself.  Does the player in the game have to make a request to the dealer that he would like to see the hand?  
Does asking the player politely to show his hand make it none of the dealers business? Does the dealer take this request to mean that if the player doesn’t show or attempts to muck that the dealer should protect the hand from the muck.  Of course if the hand reaches the muck then the case is closed. 
What about when the player that asks the other player and then tells the dealer he has to make sure that his request is honored. I think it is a fine line depending on what and how the player requests to see the losing hand.  First of all it is not very good table etiquette to even ask to see a losing hand.  Yes, it is allowed but the rule was made for the reason to keep collusion from taking place. From putting a player in the middle of a partnership.  So this is really the only reason you should ever ask. Unless you are just trying to rile up another player for revenge or some other such reason.  of course the show one show all rule is always in effect and if the player shows any other player the at that time the dealer can just turn his cards up with or without a request from another player.  Some players just don’t want to ask BUT are curious.  Why should one player have information that he others at the table do not have?  So my friends pay attention to the table, do not read a book, do not blast your IPOD, just pay attention to the game and you will see enough called hands from the players to get your information without looking like a rookie!

                                Due to technical difficulties, wardrobe malfunction, heat stroke & falling off a 12 ft. ladder, I have neglected my daily task and pleasure to share.   Hopefully this does’t happen again anytime soon.  Procrastination will be the subject addressed because it seems to fit.  Really not,  but it could have and would have happened in the past.  When I was younger I was eager to play at any time of the day or night.  I was living in Las Vegas,  so closing time wasn’t a problem.  Now that California is loaded with Indian reservation casino’s, time is not as issue once again.  The idea of that pulling force telling you that you must drop everything else and come right away to gamble.  To the light, to the voice.  The land where you can forget who you are, what you are and how you are really feeling.  The gambler’s world is truly a world all it’s own with a very unique bunch o’ neighbors.  If you can keep your priorities straight and don’t put off your important family matters then there is a possibility that you could play cards AND have a normal life.  I don’t know too many who can pull it off and have good money management with “NO LEAKS” in their game.  You have to be really good at multi-tasking while moving in and out of the REAL world.  I really give props to Annie Duke, the way she manages to take care of her three kids and still manage to get some quality tournaments in. I have never met the lady but I do admire her. I played before I had kids and then waited 20 years to really play in anything major until now.  I plan on playing a little this year to see if I still have it.  When you have had three children it most definitely should be second nature to multi-task.  So you want to be a winner, keep your s_ _ _ together and take care of matters at hand. Keep your playing bankroll seperate from you household expenses, keep records, play with only the time and money that you can afford to lose then play good and get lucky with the key hands.

This is the month that dreams are made.  If you have played in a WSOP event then you know how thrilling and nerve racking it also is. Dream big and keep on dreaming, no matter what anyone tells you EXCEPT of course your spouse or your banker ( First National or Joey Doe).  They can’t keep you from dreaming but if you’re not doing well they will keep you without a bankroll.  Remember your bankroll is how you keep score of your winnings, besides your records.  Your rent and groceries cannot come out of this money if your broke.  Otherwise it is not really a bankroll BUT the money you need to live. You do not need poker to live and you need to keep your priorities in order. If you’re having a hard time keeping your bankroll seperated from you expense money then clearly you are not good enough yet OR your bankroll is not big enough yet. 
Remember to follow your dreams but know that you live in the real world.  If you didn’t make it this year there is always next year.  It took me many years to realize that I didn’t have to be in a hurry to get to the clubs, they were always going to be there.  If you have a family you need bot only to separate your bankroll but also, manage your time so you take care of business.  Don’t let your spouse feel single or they will start to act single.

Well this is a day of brand new ties or golf clubs if you’re lucky and maybe a little poker later after you have fulfilled your obligations to thanking your family for whatever they have put together just for you.  relax, some years are actually fun.  I want to thank all the dads reading this because I applaud you.  Thanks for sticking around unlike allot of kids that never had or knew their dads.  Being a dad is a wonderful thing and being a good dad is a lot of work but will pay off in pride.  Parenting is a long and sometimes tedious struggle but it was the choice of those parents.  For all you dads who really are, happy day to you and I hope it is a great one.

 Too much t.v. for our adult players means just that.  Don’t you have anything else to do with your time? I can see watching the late night poker for a bedtime story.  You will fall asleep waiting thru several minutes of commercials before you can see the river. But if you are a true hard core t.v. poker watcher, or if this is how you are learning the game of Hold-em-BEWARE!  Reality t.v. is just that T.V.  Even though it says reality it is edited and dramatized to keep you, the audience, somewhat entertained as they drag out 6 hands in an hour and fit in 57 commercial breaks.  I guess if you record it and forward thru the breaks it would be a little more tolerable to watch.  If you are fairly new and trying to emulate the players my one word of advice to you is DON’T!  You are not supposed to be worrying about your acting skills, there is not a talent scout at the table. Nobody including the dealer, wants you to take 2 minutes looking at your cards everytime it is up to you. You are not Doyle Brunson or Phil Ivey.  None of the players are giving you respect because you copied a high profile player.  It is clear to most that you are stalling because you believe the whole game is about you.  You might be the player who looks for sympathy or whines for the next 10 hands about a river card that beat you with 6 players in the hand.  They were also trying to win the pot and are really not concerned at all with your grievences. had you been a better player you could have picked up on what was happening in the game with the players and you wouldn’t have lost as much money.  Now the more you lose the worse you play, the more you whine, the more you lose,the worse you play, the more you whine, etc. until you’re broke and exit the table.  This will be the only good thing you will be remembered for…LEAVING.  I am certainly not saying that you should never take your time playing your hand, of course you need to calculate your odds and possibilites BUT NOT EVERY HAND. If you watch every player view their hole cards and you hold up the game when it is your turn then you need to develop a little more skill in this area.  You can still watch the entire table as they look at their card and still get a peak at your own.  It really isn’t a difficult move. My point being play cards not I’m the next American Idol.  We don’t want to see how well you act, we would just like to be able to respect you as a player and vice versa.  Now if your plan is to be drunk and slow and give away all your money then everyone will geve you alittle more time but alot less respect.  It is up to you what kind of player you intend to be, a winning player or a clown.  If you become a serious, money making, well respected player than you too may be on t.v. showing us your style.  It only take two things to make these poker dreams come true; talent & sponsorship.  So if you fine tune your game and money management, the sponsorship is out there waiting for you for the next big tournement.  So speed it up and pay attention to the game as much as you do to the travel channel.

Today is the ladies event at the WSOP.   Barbara Enright (pictured here) is the only female & my personal favorite, to make to the last table at the main event. The funny story behind that is that she won it in a satellite and tried to sell the entry but couldn’t.  so it was late and she just played her best.  A friend of mine was watching the event at the time and told me that A K was a discarded hand for her. In the biggest game of the year you have to really pick the spots that you play your hand, Position becomes more important in a gmae like this then at any other time.  Of course it is always important but in the big one it is crucial.  You are sitting at a table with the best players in the entire world. I have dealt to Doyle Brunson and many of the old time greats and he may have named the  10 -2  hand after him but I gaurentee you that this is not his average hand.  I have seen him games where he didn’t really play a hand for hours. The no limit games were big back in the day but very dry until a tourist hit the game with more money than brains. Of course he would leave the table talking about what a nice bunch of good old boys he just played with.  The only nasty high roller at the table would be Puggy.  This guy would say the most crude things to dealers while they were just doing their jobs. Unbelievable things would come out o his mouth like “Hey kid are you married”? If the reply was yes, then he would continue with, “I hope your wife and children all get cancer and die a slow death.” After he got a reaction from you he would blow cigar smoke in your face.  Only the dealers would really know these kinds of things about people like him who are revered in some circles. Some of these so called legends are really low lifes in high rollers clothing.  In those days, back in the 70’s, there really were no great women players. They might have been hiding out somewhere but they were not in the Las Vegas poker rooms.  Of course women played but just not in the high stakes games.  Women were scarce in the poker room, I know because I became the first woman poker dealer in Las Vegas.  Johhny Moss was the first to hire women in his card room at The Alladin Hotel & Casino.  People say alot of harsh things about Johnny but I just didn’t see him that way.  He could be gruff and grouchy but he was an old man who stayed up sometimes for days playing poker.  I had seen many times where some of the dealers with families had a hard time making money that night and Johhny would just hand him $100 or more and say “Take care of your family”. He would sometimes stake the dealers when they weren’t dealing and tell them I am not going to give you my money to play with if you’re not going to gamble. I think he was having the time of his life then. He was my hero and had a kindness that he didn’t show because gamblers cannot show weakness.  Some people hated him, I loved him and he will always have a great place in poker history. I am proud to have known him. I could tell you some old stories but this site is called today.com so I will sneak them in a  little at a time. 

   Getting back to today, I would like to wish my friend Rachel Tuttle,  great luck at the WSOP today.  She is a member of our womens poker league and we are all rooting for her. Rachel you are a very good player, may the force be with you!!

How did Shannon Elizebeth do it? She was just a novice and now she is kicking butt.  A young, pretty girl with her heart full of dreams from a muti-ethnic,  average family,  broke her way in to acting by capturing a hot role in “American Pie” After a taste of Hollywood and special invites to a  couple of hold-em tournaments she decided she enjoyed the game and the challenge. She was again invited (and sponsored) to play in a televised celebrity tournement. I admired her plan of action as she stated to “Poker Pro” the top magazine for sophisticated and novice players alike.  She hired a poker pro to teach her at home and give her all his tips which he drew from his own style of play.  She later went on to play him at this celebrity gig.  After she knocked him out she went on to win the tournement by watching several hours of video with the players that she would be playing with.  Seems simple and so smart. She then did an amazing  job as a celbrity on “Dancing with the Stars this season. Hats off to you Shannon! Now that the WSOP is going on, I hope the lady is sighned up for more than just a couple events and works her way up to the top of the poker ladder.  We need some fresh blood, as they say.  Some bright new faces with personality and attitude and most importantly the brains to go with. It’s not that this author favors women players over men, ( I would much rather play in an all mens game anytime), but because we have always been the under dog in this game and so many others. It   was only because we were busy having babies, changing diapers, making dinner,   and washing toilets and were not invited to boys night out at the poker game. Oh,   we were of course invited to make one of our lovley recipes for the guys and some    of us were allowed to stay (when the game was at our house) and sit behind to watch and fetch.  Some of us graduated or left the bum that made us sit behind him and learned the skill of poker by watching and playing ourselves. So to all you guys that play hold-em seriously,  you should give credit were it is due.  I give this advice because the typical man will not take heed or ask for directions especialy from a broad. So dawg , remeber who the real underdog is and always has been. Now let’s play poker!

Play

Play like a man has lost it’s original meaning.  Does playing like a girl mean playing like a sissy? Not any more it doesn’t. Women are becoming less intimidated by a hands on human game as opposed to playing the slots.  You may see a lady at a movie or at dinner by herself but she is no longer a wallflower.  I have been on many a date that I would have had more fun if I was alone. Females are taking risks that we have never taken before.  We still feel guilty when we do things for ourselves but we now take classes and read books to cope with these negative feelings. We now (most of us) know that it is o.k. to be good to yourself and put yourself first once in a while.  The female has morphed into a cunning and sophisticated poker player ready to stand her ground at all levels of the game. You will see more and more talented ladies at the last table in the next 10 years and I’m hoping, at the top o’ the heap.   Let’s not be spoiled, irratating, boys and girls at the tables but poker players . One of the most annoying occurances at a table is the player who is constantly whining and letting everyone know why he is the only guy in the world that this bad beat  has ever happened to.  You know the guy, he whines when he loses but he can’t keep his sarcastic quips from spewing even as he stacks. Remember that it is better to be quiet and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.  All you horney guys out there, do yourselves a huge favor and do not hit on us in the middle of the playing field. Thats what they have lounges and breaks for, if their happens to be that very rare connection.  Gamibling joints are the worst possible places if you’re looking to hook up. If we have our money invested, be it cash or tournament, we have come to win so let’s all enjoy the game and may the best (wo)man win. More poker talk at www.mydeardealer.blogspot.com