Friday, October 31, 2014

Across the Finnish Line

This post is basically just a shout out to Willie, a blog reader I had the pleasure of meeting a couple of nights ago.

I was sitting in a game at MGM, seat 4.  I had been there awhile and then a fellow moved into the just-vacated seat 2.

After a few minutes, he looked at me and asked, “Are you Rob?”

I didn’t recognize him, so I was surprised, but I managed to give the correct answer.  “Yes.”

“I read your blog.  I recognize you from your blog.”

I admit, this is still a big kick for me, having people tell me they read my tiny little corner of the internet.  I was thrilled.  I asked his name and then I asked if he had ever commented on the blog.

He told me his name is Willie and that no, he had never commented.  By this time I had noticed an accent…..European-ish, I thought.  “Where are you from?”

“Finland.  I know you check where your readers come from, so when you see someone there from Finland, that’s me.”

“That’s great.  Although it is possible I have more than one reader from Finland.”

He acknowledged that was possible.  I asked him how long he was in town for.  Just a few more days, and then he is heading back east to catch a couple of NFL games before heading home.  Sunday he’s in Foxboro for NE vs Den and Monday nite he’s in NY for the Giants and Indy.

I was surprised.  “Is American football popular in Finland?”  No, he said, he’s the only NFL fan in the country (probably a bit of an exaggeration).  I asked him how he got into it.  He lived in Montreal for a time, got into Canadian Football, and then got into the NFL from there.

I asked him if he read other blogs, and he specifically mentioned the blogs of Lightning, PPP and of course, TBC. I mentioned that I had dinner with Tony earlier that night and then introduced him to Alysia Chang when she showed up to play later (spoiler warning:  Alysia and I never got into a hand together).

We had a fun conversation, talking about the weather in Finland, poker there, and various other topics.  He is a very nice guy, and obviously has great taste. When I left, I did warn him that he would appear on the blog—I didn’t realize it would be so soon.

The next day I tweeted about running into a reader from Finland, and even went out of my way to point out that Willie also reads the blogs mentioned above.  So Lightning, being his usual smart-ass self (because, let’s face it, he just can’t help himself) tweeted back, “Please say "hi" to Willie for me. He must have TONS of time on his hands if he reads your posts.”

So I tweeted back, “And he has to have them translated into Finnish first!”  That was a joke, Willie spoke perfect English and I’m sure he can read our blogs just fine in English (he also speaks Canadian, and French).

But a little while after tweeting that out, I received an email from Poker Grump.  Apparently, Grump has a lot of time on his hands now that he no longer is bluffing people off the dreaded pocket Kings on a daily basis.

He said, “Just for funsies, I used Google Translate to turn your last blog post into Finnish, then from the Finnish back to English. Amuse yourself with this however you wish.”

So, I present my previous post for you, as washed twice by the Google Translator.  As you can see, sometimes things get lost in translation. This is for Willie.  Thanks and keep reading.

Note, I didn’t take a pic of Willie, so I hope this pic of Miss Finland will do.


Karma Bitch

As those of you who follow me on Twitter (or follow my Facebook page) know, I am currently Vegas. I came here last Thursday and will be staying through the weekend, returning on Monday, just before the election. Now I'm not one of those people who says "Vote" or "Everyone should vote." To be quite honest, if you do not intend to vote the right way, I do not want you to vote. Why should I want people who are in the wrong voting and canceling out the sound of my voice? However, to keep my policy to keep politics out of this blog, I will not reveal what I believe to know the right way to vote is so, point really is ... .You can not get any pressure to vote for me.

I have collected a lot of new blogging material here in Vegas so far; I just need the time to write a message, which in most cases will have to wait until I get back home. But now ... ..

I was playing the MGM last Monday night, when a new player took the open seat at my table. I had never seen him before, but I did a double-take. This guy looked remarkably like Pete Peters. I mean, he really, really looked at him. He was wearing a baseball cap (the right way), and I can easily imagine a PPP wearing a baseball cap, is a huge baseball fan that he is. He had a goatee, but unlike Pete. Other than that, he could have been Pete Peters.

Except that, in contrast to the PPP, he was the son of a bitch. This became clear at once. He was of the view, two on the left side of the large sokea.Jälleenmyyjä took care of him a card,, and then the second card, and the other player raises, he told the dealer, "I said I wanted to be at the back of the button."

Now, almost every poker room in Vegas (Bellagio is the only exception I know), you do not need to send a blind when you first come to the table. You have the right to expect the button to move and to come in for "free" on the back button (the cut-off point). Some people do this all the time, others do not, depending on how close they are to the button. But a lot of people take the big blind immediately, although they may take almost the entire course for free, instead of sending it. It's all to the player.

The shopkeeper said she did not hear him say that. No one else was myöskään.PPP-look-alike insisted he had said sen.Kysymys was that, as he had dealt with the hand, he would be the big blind and then a small hand, one hand had been dealt with.

The dealer was a dealer during the day, which was working overtime, and maybe an extra tired. Still, I'm sure that did not hear the guy say he wanted to come to the back of the button (even though I was far away and have missed it). However, the dealer very politely pointed out that he had accepted the first card. He could not tell the dealer as soon as he got his first card he wanted to come back and the dealer should have slid the card over the next pelaajalle.Pelaaja did not say anything until the hand was fully processed.

Now, despite the fact that the player has had sufficient opportunity to rectify the dealer an "error", a merchant, a good guy to be sure, said the player, "Do not worry, sir, I'm sorry, and I put my blind you." With one hand, when it was new player's turn to be the big blind, the merchant picked up two $ 1 chips from his shirt pocket and placed them in front of the player to pay for his blind.

The player refused to let the dealer the big blind with him, saying it was not a big deal, and that he had to pay his own blind. And so he put his own chips out there. Initially, the dealer insisted that pushed the player's own chips back to him and said that he would feel better if he paid for the blind. But the dealer said no, he did not feel right, if the dealer had to send him blind, so in the end, the shopkeeper took back to his two-dollar chips and processed by hand.

That should have been the end, but it was not. Again, someone lifted and the player folded. And then he proceeded to bitch about the blind again. He said the merchant, "You should have asked me if I wanted to trade."

Retailer to apologize again, but reminded him once again that he accepted the first card (both cards, really). And the player muttered a little under his breath, and felt pretty drunk. Well, some of the dealers always ask for the player, and some do not. And it depends on where the button is. If a player should be under the gun, they usually ask. And if the player says he wants to wait (without being asked), all dealers will tell the player they do not need to send to come, and then they usually do not take the hand (I guess a lot of room outside Vegas to make you send).

Actually, the dealer had good reason to believe a player would want to trade immediately. This happened in the middle of the Monday Night Football game, when the room goes to the NFL promo. I have written about this promo before. During Monday night's game (also now Thursday night and the game on Sunday afternoon), each time a team scores, the occasional seat is selected and that the player gets to choose a prize between $ 100 and $ 500.

In order to be eligible to be selected, you have to be active in the game and is not "in the lobby area." The dealer is supposed to put the player in the lobby status as soon as they are processed by hand. If a player gets from the table and held hands, they are in the lobby status and get drawing. This means that you need to schedule bathroom breaks carefully. You do not want to be going to the toilet, when the team scores a goal. And, of course, the player is in the lobby status when they first come to the table until they are treated in the first hand. So if you play football in the room during the promo, it's really stupid to try to save a few dollars blinds and the risk of improper drawing that could be worth as much as $ 500.

Well, it does not come into play, when the player was bitching must not become the back button. This was a pitifully low scoring game (Washington-Dallas), and no one made ??during this period.

The player remained there for some time, and finally there was actually some scoring. Note: to save the excitement, had never been humble blogger ever selected for this award for the nite.

But when the same dealer was still on our table, the PPP-look-alike was misfortunate to lose "all-in". He got up from the table without saying a word. But football game, someone had just teki.Vuoropäällikkö made ??the announcement that he always does, which is to remind dealers to make sure they have the players who are left from the lobby space, so Bravo random seat selector program can not choose a place that is empty or station in the lobby, and thus are not eligible for the award.

The worst part was, the dealer was currently dealing with a new hand. And when he was dealing with, he noticed that the PPP-look-alike was missing. He did not stop to do to put the guy in the lobby status; so of course he waited until he dealt with all of the cards to press the button to take the player out of the game.

And in a few seconds delay, guess what table / seat were randomly picked the seat switch?

Yes, you guessed it. It was the PPP look the same, the guy who had this same dealer such a hard time about to deal with him too soon. All of a sudden, jerk who had left returned to the table, saying he just left to get more chips, and that he won the prize. Nope, the merchant said, sorry, no noppaa.Pelaaja said he had dealt with that hand, but of course he was not ... .he did not have chips (or location) .Soitin is complaining and pissed and moaned, but left.

Dealer's actually got a bit of trouble is not refined player of the game fast enough, so that the program does not select him, that is not supposed to happen. But the shopkeeper explained that the player went all too quickly and exactly like the manager pushed the button to start the program selector to the seat.

And then we all had a good laugh at the expense of a jerk. We all agreed was a cosmic right to a rude way to the dealer's dealt with the mistake, which was not actually an error (and, as I said, could have been corrected immediately). It was especially satisfying to the dealer, who reminded us that the player was gone and even after the dealer had tried to play with a friend suck two dollars to blind himself.

Karma, as they say, is a bitch. And jerk got what he deserved. Every once in awhile, there is justice in this world.

18 comments:

  1. I suppose that was a bit hasty. I guess I owe any apology.

    I apologize to any smart-asses out there who may be offended by the comparison with you.

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  2. LOL! Awesome! Lost in translation...

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  3. Hello Miss Finland.

    Rob hopefully you will have the fortune of playing with a few more Fins so we can see some more pics.

    ohcowboy12go

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, cowboy......I was actually disappointed with the pic. I wanted one that showed the sash, and all the ones I found had the sash covering the cleavage.

      I figure that's why anger hasn't commented yet.

      Delete
  4. Rob, if you get a chance please write a post about the Turnberry Towers gathering with TBC!

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    Replies
    1. Xdex I sent out the following treat that I said was my post about the event:

      " 1. The food was excellent. 2. Tony talked non-stop. 3. Vince didn't show up."

      Now, I haven't decided if I'm going to do a whole post about the evening or not. I really don't know how much I want to do an entire post that is all about Tony.

      Delete
    2. THAT POST WOULD B DUMB AS FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

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    3. that would b dumb as FFFFFFFFFFFFF

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    4. Looking for an entertaining story. TBC's lack of social skills combined with Rob's blogging expertise equals laughter!

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    5. Thanks, we'll just have to see if I think I can add anything. Did you see Alysia's report on Lightning's blog:

      http://lightning36.blogspot.com/2014/10/bbq-dinner-by-pool-with-tbc-alysia.html

      Delete
    6. I did, she did a good job. Do you have anything entertaining to add from your point of view, as a guest?

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    7. Well, we'll see. Still catching my breath from my last Vegas trip.

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  5. apology accepted. u can make it up 2 me by buying me a fried oreo/twinkie

    ReplyDelete