The First Robvegaspoker Blog Post in Over Two Years? No Way!

Let’s see if I remember how to do this.

As I was saying……

I wasn’t expecting to ever do another blog post but the poker session I had this past Saturday just seemed to have a few elements to it that reminded me of the exact things or the kind of things that I used to talk about in the glory days of this blog. Things like poker etiquette, poker room policies, dealer errors and of course, the Dreaded Pocket Kings.  Also, the fact that I won and in fact had my best poker session in over a year and half gave me some enthusiasm for reporting on it. Oh, and yes, it turned out that I actually won my biggest pot with the aforementioned dreaded hand!  Sorry, but there are no salacious stories, which is also something the blog was somewhat famous for way back when.

What made this session sweeter was that I came thisclose to not playing at all. The really rainy weather we’d been having for more than a week was gone, replaced by extremely high winds. It gets really windy in the area where the room I play in now is as it is in the desert, and it makes it a bit treacherous for driving. But I decided to give it a go.

In the past half year or so, I’ve been playing at a new (to me) room here in Southern California, a very small room called Diamond Jim’s, which is in Rosamund, CA but really it is in the middle of nowhere. If it helps, it’s very close to Edwards Air Force Base.  It’s about an hour’s drive for me which isn’t really much different than the Ventura poker room I had been playing at, or for that matter, the Bike, which shouldn't be an hour away from me, but it is (or longer) because of downtown L.A. traffic even when I go on a Saturday.  On Saturday afternoons when I go to Diamond Jim's, I’ve never seen more than two 1/2 games going plus sometimes they do get an 8/16 Omaha 8 game running. I believe it gets busier in the evenings.

I’ve known about this place for years but until recently I avoided it because their 1/2 game had a $40-$100 buy-in.  That’s just not enough of a max buy-in to make a decent game. The 1/2 game in Ventura has a $50-$100 buy-in and I tried that and it was a terrible game.  The buy-ins for 1/2 are even worse at Commerce and the Bike, maxing out at either $50 or $60.  I think you need to buy in for at least 100 big blinds to make a game playable.

When I noticed that Diamond Jim’s had changed the buy-in max for the 1/2 to $200 (still $40 min), I decided to take a chance and drive up there one Saturday. I found the game to my liking and it’s been my “home room” pretty much ever since. It is also a more pleasant drive (less traffic) than the drive to Ventura and there are no parking issues like there are in Ventura.  And 1/2 with a $200 max as opposed to 2/3 with a $300 max means I only need $400 in my pocket to walk in with two buy-ins, as opposed to $600 for Ventura.

The one negative is that for the $40-$100 they used $1 chips (the same at every Southern Cal casino I’ve played in) and they didn’t change it when they added $100 to the max buy in. They still play the game with $1 chips. In Vegas of course, you wouldn’t see a 1/2 game like that, it’s played with $5 chips everywhere I’ve played it. It is so much better that way. When you buy in for $200 they give you two racks of $1 chips. It’s a royal pain in the ass. I always ask for one stack of red with a rack of blue (the $1 chips). Yeah I could ask for all red but with everyone else using the blue chips it would be awkward to be the only one using red. So, if I still had my full buy-in in front of me, and I want to bet, say, $40, I’d push out two stacks of $1 chips instead of using eight $5 chips. And then if you are running well and you have lots of profit in front of you, you just have a ton of $1 chips which is just a mess. You can rack them but that takes up so much room.  The only racks I want in front of me in a 1/2 game are ones filled with red (or dare I say, green?). Unless of course Sydney Sweeney visits the room. I am not holding my breath for that to happen.

Before I get to the three poker hands that made my day, I want to discuss a poker room policy, specifically rules for “must move” games.  I never dealt much with “must move” games before. I had only seen that with games that have bigger limits than I play (like 2/5 or 5/10).  As best I can tell, if they open a second 1/2 game during their first hour after they open (11am), the second game is always a “must move.” Which means that if anyone leaves the first game they started, they take a player from the second game and move them to the original game, in order to keep the "integrity" of the first game intact, so that players who get there early and start the first game always have a full game.

I suppose that makes sense but sometimes I’ve seen it where they have an open spot in the first game, they have a player on the waitlist ready to play, and they insist on taking one of the players off the must move game and putting them in the “main” game, sending the new player to the must move game.  What is the point of that? As long as they have a player ready to go, why not send the new player to the main game instead of disturbing a player at the second game, making him pack up his chips (racks of $1 chips!) and move and have the new player replace them in the secondary game? It seems to me you are playing musical chairs for no reason. Of course, anyone in the secondary game could always be put on the transfer list if they wanted to move to the main game.

Can anyone out there who works in a poker room or in poker room management explain to me why they would insist on putting the new player in the secondary game when the main game would have a new player anyway? Why not just put the new player in the main game, when they would be able to keep the main game full off the waitlist?

The first big hand I had was based on dumb luck and a dealer goof, tho I didn’t really see what happened so I dunno how much the dealer was at fault. (The dealers in this room are really good, by the way.) But as I was moving my first card closer to me, my second card hit my hand and flipped over (maybe it was my fault, but I don’t think so). The flipped card was the 6 of hearts. I took a quick look at my first card and it was an Ace. So when I got the replacement card for the 6 of hearts, I was delighted to see that it was another Ace. I can only remember situations when that kind of thing hurt me, not helped me. One time a flipped card was 10, my other card was 10, I ended up with a garbage hand and the final board had two more 10’s on it. I would have had quads if not for the flipped over card! This time it was obviously to my benefit.

Sadly I didn’t take good notes because I never imagined I’d be writing a blog post again.  But I did raise with my bullets and got a bunch of calls and won a nice pot on a board that had two flopped queens.  That kept me from getting the most value from my hand because in this room players love to play face cards.

That was early in my session and the first pot I won. I kept most of the profit from that for a long while, winning a very small pot with something or other.

Eventually it was time for me to get the dreaded hand. If you remember the blog from the old days you remember that I have an issue with pocket Kings, having taken some of my worst beats with what is supposed to be the second best starting hand in Hold’em. Again, forgive the lack of detail but I can tell you this, I raised with them, I got a bunch of calls, and I flopped a set! I do have stories where my flopped set of Kings was taken down by a straight or a flush, so I wasn’t counting my money yet. I slow-played the flop and didn’t bet on a non-scary board, then one guy bet the turn, I raised him, he called.  He bet the river, I went all in, and he tanked and called. Turned out he had King-Jack and was afraid I had Ace-King (there was no Jack on the board, he just had top pair, decent kicker). I mean, he even said, I guess you have Ace-King when he called!  It’s great when you get called by players who think they are beat but call anyway!

I was paid off in all $1 chips so when all was said and done, I had three racks of blue chips, about $30 in loose $1 chips plus my original stack of red.  Thus, I had more than a double up, which was very nice indeed.

I went back to being card dead and was thinking of calling it a day.  It had been a long time since I had a double up and I didn’t mind having a short day if I could leave with an extra buy-in in my pocket for next time. I had stayed long enough after the big Kings hand so it wouldn’t be like a hit and run.  I was dealt what I thought would be my last hand, which turned out to be pocket 8’s.  I had just had that same hand about five hands ago.  And I had the same thought. “I’ve already gotten a set of Kings today, no way am I flopping another set.”  But….well, yes, way. My previous pocket 8's hand had crashed and burned, but this time the flop was King-8-x, and I had my second set of the day.  I had called a modest raise to see the flop. I don’t remember the betting action until the river, but I’m pretty sure there was money in on both the flop and the turn, but not big bets. Again, I took no notes. I do know that on the river, another King hit, giving me a boat. I bet $40, and the one guy left first put out $80, which he did by putting out a rack of $1 chips which had one column empty. But then, he started to put the rest of his chips in the rack, which seemed like a string bet unless he said “all-in” before he put out the initial $80.

Instinctively, without really thinking, I asked the dealer, “Did he say all-in?”  The dealer said no, and told the player his bet was $80, no more. He actually took the extra chips out of the rack and put them behind it. I’m not sure exactly why I didn’t shove there, I guess I was still thinking about his string bet and also the thought did occur to me that he might have King-x with x being one of the other board cards for a bigger boat than mine. I couldn’t imagine he would have played pocket Kings the way he had played his hand, so I wasn’t worried about losing to quads.

I guess I was thinking that his raising me on the river might have meant he had a bigger monster than my monster, so I just called.  He did have King-x but he hadn’t paired his “x” and my boat was plenty good. This added over $100 to my stack. I was happily stacking my chips and was looking for a chip runner to get my $1’s colored up to $5’s when someone pointed out that the other guy wanted to bet more and because he made the string bet he couldn’t. That reminded me of something I remembered from the Ventura poker room.

I asked the dealer, “If I hadn’t said anything, would you have called the string bet or did I have to call it out myself?”  He said that it was only because I had said something that he prevented from making the string bet. “Heads up, I’m staying out of it.  If the other player doesn’t call it, we don’t say anything.” I knew to ask because I had seen the same thing happen in Ventura.  I guess this is true in all Southern California rooms?  It’s only a string bet if the other player calls it out. The house won’t intervene.  That’s certainly not the rule in Vegas.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen dealers call out string bets long before the other player(s) question it.  I’ve seen dealers actually push bets back to the player on their own. But in CA the other player has to call it.  What about where you folks play?  Is a string bet always a string bet or is it only a string bet if the player bet into calls it out?  I’m curious. And do you like that rule? I'm thinking it is bad for newbies who might not know to call out a string bet.

I stayed a few more orbits and by then I had colored up to red and cashed out $536 for a $336 profit.  I guess that’s not quite a sensational enough result to cause me to do a new blog post in and of itself, but I thought there were enough interesting things about it to for me to get off my ass and publish my first blog post in well over two years.

Can I ask you folks a favor?  It’s been so long, no one would be expecting a new post from me, so if you found this and liked it, please spread the word to anyone who you think might be interested in this material. And if you didn’t like it, tell people you hate about it to get even with them. Thanks.

Emily, This Repost is For You!

Emily, are you still out there?  I hope so.  One of the stories you told me the other night reminded me of this incident I first described in a post I did over ten years ago which described an incident similar to the one you told me.....but with a very different result.  So I thought you'd be interested in reading this while you are patiently (I hope) waiting for me to write up the post about the session we had together.  This post was one of the most popular posts from the early days of my blog and in fact I've already reposted it once already!  

You are of course invited to comment on this and perhaps reveal to all my readers the details of your similar situation that had a vastly different result.  If you do want to comment for public viewing, I would prefer that you not mention the name of the poker room your story took place in; remember I keep a good relationship with all the Vegas poker rooms for my work.  Thanks!

One of the rules of the poker room is this:  “Verbal is binding.”  This means that if a person says “call” instead of putting out his chips in front of him, he is obligated to put his chips into the pot.  If he or she says “raise” he must raise the required amount, regardless of any action he takes with his chips (in a no limit game, without stating an amount, the person saying “raise” would have to put out the minimum required to raise).

But that’s not where it ends.  If a person has yet to act, and the person who will be acting next says something about calling or raising, that too is binding.  Even if he doesn’t realize it.

And that little rule created quite a ruckus at BSC last week.  And it was your humble correspondent who was up against the guy who didn’t know the rules—or at least, claimed not to know them.

I was sitting in seat 4 and had about $250 in front of me.  A brand new player took seat 5 immediately to my left and bought in for $100.  This was his very first hand.  He was coming in right behind the button. 

A bunch of limpers in the pot, the action went to me holding 6/7 suited, so I limped also.  Seat 5 raised to $10.  Two or three called in front of me, so I called as well.

The flop was 865, rainbow I believe.  It checked around to the new player, who had last action from here on.  He bet $30.  A guy in early position called as well.  I had him covered but he had close to $200 in front of him.  I felt with the pair and the open ender it was enough to call, so I did.

The turn card was a beautiful 9, given me the second nuts.  Only a 10-7 could beat me.  First guy checked, and I decided to check too.  If I bet there, it would scream “straight!” and I probably wouldn’t get a caller.  If I checked, I thought the new player might bet and then I could figure out what to do based on whether the other guy called and how much the bet was. 

But the guy disappointed me, tanking for a bit, saying, “Wow, you put a straight out there huh?”  After thinking about it some more, he finally said he was just gonna check.

Oh well, I knew that was the risk.  The river was a totally harmless deuce that didn’t change anything (and there was no flush possible).  First guy checks, and, I knew I had to bet to try to get any more value for my hand. 

I started counting out chips and was trying to figure out what bet would be called. Before I got very far in my thought process of what the right amount to bet would be, the new guy, seeing me reach for chips, said something like, “Oh if you’re betting, I’m gonna call whatever you put out.”

OK, if that’s the case, no more calculating on my part was necessary.  The third guy was a good player; I didn’t figure he’d call the two of us unless he had a 7, or worse for me, 10-7.  If this guy was gonna put his last $60 in the pot, I was satisfied with that.  So I said, “In that case, all-in.” 

The dealer was Brent.  Brent is not just a dealer pal of mine but the very dealer who gave me the great story about “protecting your hand” that resulted in my all time most popular post, located here.  Now, we were about to get yet another lesson in poker rules and etiquette courtesy of Brent.

Brent immediately took out the “all in” card and threw it in front of me, and took out the “call” card and threw it in front of seat 5.  Seat 5 said nothing. Brent posed stoically and the action turned to the third player.  But nothing happened for awhile and I looked at Brent and he was still frozen.  So, for a nano-second, forgetting about the third player, or perhaps thinking he must have folded as I assumed he would, I grabbed my cards and said, “Is that in then?”  I hadn’t come close to exposing my hand tho, when Brent stopped me and pointed to the third guy and said he still had to act.  I immediately slammed my cards face down, no one had seen them.  I had barely gotten them an inch off the table.

I then looked over to the third guy for a second, and he was still tanking.  I looked away.  During all this time, seat 5 said absolutely nothing, made no motion, was totally still.  He was definitely not acting like a guy who had a decision to make.  Finally the other guy says, “Well, I guess at least one of you has me beat,” and mucked.

Brent looks at both of us and says “lets see ‘em” or whatever.  I show my hand, he said, “straight,” and then, and only then, did seat 5 speak up. 

“Call? Who called?  I didn’t call.”  Brent told him he most certainly did call.  He told him that what he said before I bet was binding, verbal is binding, and that he said “I’m gonna call whatever you put out.”  That’s binding.

No, seat 5 said, he didn’t say that.  “I said, ‘I’d probably call.’  I said ‘probably’.  I didn’t say I’d call.”   Brent said he didn’t hear him say “probably.” Anybody hear him say “probably,” he asked the table?

No.  A few people shook their heads and said definitely that they didn’t hear him say “probably.”  I said what I knew to be true, that he never said probably.  The rest of the table said nothing, presumably not hearing what he said.

The guy insisted he didn’t call, so Brent held up the action and called the floor over.  We’ll call the floor person “Bill” and like most anyone who works floor this time of day at BSC (or evening, actually), he knows me by name (and has helped me a few times on comps issues, among other things).  He even knows my last name, which surprised me because I didn’t think he’d ever seen my players card.

Seat 5 started making his case and Bill silenced him.  He got the story from Brent first, who accurately re-enacted what happened.  He also pointed out that his comment affected my action, which was true—just not the way the guy had hoped for.  Brent said he was trying to get me not to bet.

Bill turned back to seat 5 and said that “verbal is binding” and that since he had made the call, he had to put all his chips into the pot, as I easily had him covered.  The guy continued to protest, and rather loudly.  He said, “Why would I call when there was a four-card straight on the board?”

I didn’t say anything, but of course, that four-card straight was on the board when he said he was gonna call whatever I put out.  He had noticed the straight on the turn; that’s why he didn’t bet.  But he still said he was gonna call me.

He continued to talk.  He said, “I’m a man of my word,” and thus was trying to act insulted that he was being questioned like this.  He insisted he said “probably.”  Then he went on to say that this was his first time in Vegas and he just came into BSC to see the show in the main showroom and was trying to have a little fun before the show started. 

Somewhere along the way, Bill took the same survey of the other players that Brent had and found no one who recalled saying “probably.”  When Bill once again asked him politely to put his chips into the pot, he again refused and asked to speak to someone else.

Bill said fine, he would call the Shift Supervisor over.  Which he did.  Of course, “Nick,” the Shift Supervisor, knows me too.  I should point out that during the entire discussion, Brent, Bill and Nick referred to me only as “seat 4” and never by name, even tho they all know it.  I assume this is standard operating procedure, and it is an excellent idea.  Since they were siding with me, it only would have made things worse if the guy knew that I was a regular in the room who everyone knew.  He might have felt that as a regular, they were giving me preferential treatment, although that wasn’t true.  They were calling this one by the book.

Pretty much the same thing happened, Nick asked the other players after hearing Brent’s version of the facts.  Then, after hearing seat 5 tell him he was a man of his word several more times, and how this was his first time in Vegas, and how he said “probably” and why would he call a four-card straight and he was just there to see the show…..Nick very, very politely and calmly told him that he had indeed called my bet and to please put his chips into the pot.

Now I must admit, at some point I seriously considered just saying, “It’s ok, let him keep his chips.”  I really did.  The guy was clearly upset and who knew what would happen if this situation was allowed to escalate.  And it was only $60, even if it was $60 that was rightly mine.

But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. As Brent had pointed out, his words had indeed affected my action.  Plus, he had all kinds of time before seeing my hand to say something about not calling.  The “call” card was sitting in front of him for a couple of minutes. Then he saw Brent remind me that another player, the one following him, still had to act.  Why would we be waiting for him to act if seat 5 himself had not already acted?  Of course, even if he protested as soon as he saw the “call” card placed in front of him, there still would have been an issue as to whether or not he had called, but at least it would have been adjudicated before he saw my hand.

So I said nothing.  My only contribution to the discussion was my statement, several times, to several different people, that he didn’t say “probably”.  He said he would call whatever I bet.

The guy was very agitated and repeated all the things he had been saying several times.  Nick once again told him to put his chips (which he had been holding onto tightly since the ruckus began) into the pot.  He said he wouldn’t because he hadn’t called.  Then Nick said he would have to call security.

“Security?  You’re gonna call security?  Are you serious?” he said.  I envisioned this guy hurriedly getting up from his chair and bolting the room (and casino), chips in hand.  Meanwhile the rest of the players were getting impatient, some complaining that this was holding up the game. Finally, he took his chips and flung them towards Brent.  Most of them landed in the rack in front of him. I don’t think any of them hit Brent. Brent calmly and professionally took them all out of the rack and placed them into the pot, which he then pushed to me.  I tipped Brent $5 for his troubles (it was a nice pot, but it didn’t really justify that kind of a tip—I was tipping him for the aggravation and for taking my side—which of course, was the correct side).  I dunno if the guy saw the tip, as he immediately got up and stormed out of the room, presumably to see his show.  But in hindsight, I shouldn’t have given that big a tip in front of the guy.  I should have given him a normal tip and then given him the rest later in the evening, when the guy was long gone.  I suppose he might have thought there was some collusion going on when he saw that tip.  But in fact, nothing was said, or even noticed.

That was the end of Brent’s down, and he moved on.  The new dealer saw just the end of what happened and asked what all the fuss was about it.  We all filled him in, and of course he agreed that the guy had called my all in bet. It took about 20 minutes for anyone to talk about anything else.  One guy expressed concern the guy was gonna come back later and gun us all down!

In fact, that’s not the last I saw of the guy.  Hours later, I noticed him talking to Nick peacefully, away from all the tables.  I saw them talking calmly for about 20 minutes.  I had already had private conversations with Bill and Brent about the incident, both of whom thought the guy was just angle-shooting and was just trying to pull a fast one.  Bill saw me in the Mens Room and asked, “What were the chances that guy said ‘probably’?”  I told him that the guy definitely did not say “probably.”  Brent said that he said to the guy “that’s binding” when he heard his initial comment and threw the “call” card in front of him.  I didn’t remember that and I didn’t remember if Brent had told that to Bill or Nick.

So I asked Nick if that was the indeed the guy I thought it was and he confirmed it.  He had calmed down considerably, he said, but he still didn’t agree with the decision.  Further—and I have to admit, this bothers me a little—he didn’t think the guy was a sophisticated enough player to be trying to angle-shoot.  He actually thought the guy was totally ignorant that he had done anything wrong or that his comment was even intended to affect my action.  But Nick did thank me for my concern, and I thanked him for making the right decision.

I’m glad he calmed down, but I do feel a little badly if he really wasn’t trying to pull a fast one.  But still, he had more than enough time to correct things—or at least to attempt to—before he saw that he was beat.

Near the end of the night, Jack game to deal.  I asked him if he had heard all the commotion and he said he had, he was actually at the next table over at the time.  He didn’t realize, however, that I was the other player involved in the controversial pot.  Since he hadn’t heard the whole thing, I explained it fully to him.  By now, no one at my table was left over from the incident, so they all chimed in.  Jack said that the decision was an easy one, he makes that ruling every night.  He recalled one time it cost someone over $500.  He said the guy was angle-shooting even if he never heard that term.

And hat-tip to Jack, he reminded me that from the next table over, he heard the guy say, “I’m a man of my word” at least three times.  I had actually forgotten that by this point.  He even suggested I use that phrase as the title of this post (and give him a credit for the suggestion), but, while I liked that idea, I decided to go another way, to make sure that the real point of this post is reflected in the title.

Just another fun night of poker at the BSC.

Yes, I've Played This Game Before, Honest!

So I actually played poker this past Saturday.  First time in like four months.

The thing is, no one who saw me play this particular hand—the one hand I actually won—  would ever believe I’d actually played poker before—ever.

My excuse is that it had been four months since I’ve played poker.  And also, well, I’ve played poker only eight times total (including this time) since early March, 2020.

My  last session before Saturday was in late June.  Why haven’t I played since?  Several reasons, but the main one is the damn mask mandate.  Last couple of times I played at the Bike, there was no mask requirement.  But soon after my last session there, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, in their infinite wisdom, brought back the mask requirement for all indoor activities.  Whether you are vaccinated or not.

I hate wearing a mask, I hate other people having to wear a mask.  Masks are for costume parties, that’s it.  They are uncomfortable, annoying, and make it harder for me to breathe. I had played a few times at the Bike without a mask and it was so much better than the previous times when I did have to wear a mask. Knowing I would have to wear a mask for two, three, four hours was more than enough to keep me out of the poker room.

Especially since the drive to and from the Bike is so unpleasant for me.  The older I get, the less tolerant I get fighting bad traffic, and the traffic down to the Bike (and in Southern California generally) seems to get worse every year. The players at the Bike are not as pleasant as they were at the old Player’s Casino in Ventura, and for whatever reason, I have worse results at the Bike than I did in Ventura.

However, after four months of abstinence, even an old curmudgeon like me had to relent. It was time to put on the stupid mask and play with some chips and look at some cards.

To enter the casino, I had to present my player’s card (which they recorded) and put my mask on. I was relieved that they didn’t ask me about my vaccination status.  But I’m sure that will happen soon.  Both the county of L.A. and the city of L.A. have some extremely restrictive rules coming down the pike, and between the two of them, it will be almost impossible to go inside anywhere without proving you have had the jab.  Or two jabs.  Or three. Although the dictates are in place, I guess the actual enforcement isn’t quite in effect.  Soon.

Thanks to the excellent PokerAtlas app, I was able to get on the waitlist during the hour-long drive down there.  As a result, I only had to wait about five minutes before getting called into the game (as soon as I arrived, I pushed the bottom on the app notifying them of my presence and was immediately number one on the list—sweet!)

The tables are still eight-handed, and thankfully, no plexiglass.  Even better, unlike the last time I played there and had to wear a mask, you could drink (and even eat) at the tables, as long as you pulled your mask back up as soon as you finished putting the food or beverage in your mouth. Even better, they had folks patrolling the room frequently with a beverage cart that had coffee, water, beer, energy drinks and even sodas.  I soon had a can of Diet Pepsi to nurse during the session, at a cost of two bucks (plus a buck tip).  Honestly, I would have gotten something to drink even if I hadn’t been thirsty, just so I would have a legit excuse to lower my mask from time to time.  As it was, I did take a break once to go outside and catch a few breaths of fresh air.

To start, I was totally card dead.  For an hour, I practiced the fine art of folding.  No pocket pairs, no Ace-anything good, suited or not, no big face cards, so suited connectors (unless you count 4-3 of hearts once), basically nothing to play.  Somehow though, I had managed to lose close to $50 of my $300 buy-in for this 2/3 game.  Blinds mostly, but I must have played something else; I didn’t record what.  It wasn’t with a good starting hand, I can assure you of that.

Then, in the small blind, I had Ace-Jack off-suit.  This was the closest thing to a good hand I’d seen all day.  And of course, it ain’t that good.  Not out of position, as I was.  I at least remembered that much.  Up until then, my rustiness hadn’t mattered, as I wasn't getting cards that even made me think of what a decent starting hand was.  I knew I’d have to let it go if anyone raised.  But no one did.  A bunch of people limped (as was not unusual for this table, it was a pretty tame bunch).  I knew the big blind had become more interested in waiting for his table change to come through than in playing.  I knew this because he had stopped straddling my big blind as he had been previously doing.  I didn’t expect him to raise unless he really had something.  Besides, when the small blind is ⅔’s of the big blind, it makes sense to play it raither than fold for a buck, right?  At least, that’s what I recalled from many months ago.

I tossed in a buck and the big blind checked behind me.  It seemed like at least five of us (maybe six?) saw the flop.  It was King-Queen-x, rainbow.  I checked the gut-shot and someone bet $21.  A couple of more callers and so it seemed like I was getting decent pot odds to chase the straight.  Four of us saw the turn, another brick.  Some low card that put all four suits on the board. I checked, and this time it checked to the button, who bet $20.  Well now, depending on how many calls and if no one raised, I’d be getting reasonable odds to chase, plus there were some implied odds to consider. Then too, if the 10 came, it would give me the stone-cold nuts.  The board wouldn’t be paired, and there was no chance for anyone to make a flush.

Well, two more did call, no raise, and then the dealer put out the river card.  Yeah, it was a 10.  Yes, I had the nuts.  I had to decide if I should bet it.  I knew that if I bet, when all I had been doing was calling, it would send up a red flag. Especially since I had been in so few hands.  I just kind of felt that someone would likely bet.  I checked, the next two players checked, and in my mind, I was suddenly sure I had blown it. I was convinced the button would check too, and I was preparing my speech as I prepared to show my cards. “I was hoping someone would bet!”

Instead, the button announced “all-in.”

Holy shit!  I looked at his stack (not that it mattered), it looked very similar to mine, so I didn’t even consider asking for a count, although of course I should have, as you will see. 

What happened next was probably the lamest five seconds of my poker career.  I had not one, but two brain-farts in a record amount of time.

Instead of pretending to tank, I shouted, “Call” as loudly and as excitedly as I possibly could. How loud was I? Pretty sure they heard me call over at the Commerce.  I have a vague recollection of someone saying something like, “Wow, now that’s a call.”  That would have been bad enough, but it got worse.

Without thinking (obviously), I flipped over my hand!  I heard the button groan, but I somehow managed to forget that there were two players left in the hand with both cards and chips.  WTF?  I dunno where my mind went, but the dealer immediately told me that there were still two players left to act.

Shit.  How dumb could I be?  Have I ever played this game before?  I gave no evidence of it right then, that’s for sure.  The other two players folded.  Note:  I had them both covered, one of them had less than half my stack and the other one about half of mine or a little more.  Other players commented, “Well they wouldn’t have called anyway.” One added, “Unless they had the bottom end.”  Yeah.  If someone had Jack-9 they likely would have called.  Except with two all-ins in front of them, including me, the tightest player at the table, I think even Jack-9 might have found a fold. But then…..well, this is the Bike.  But another thing makes me think neither of the other guys had Jack-9.  They would have told me.  I really can’t imagine a guy with Jack-9 there, waiting to act, not telling me—hell, not showing me—that he had Jack-9 and sarcastically thanking me for saving him money.  Also….I bet anyone with Jack-9 there likely would have bet out instead of checking.

So my double brain-fart likely didn’t cost me money.  When the dealer counted our stacks, the button was left with about $13 and he took off to get more chips.  When he came back, he seemed fine, albeit muttering about the damn 10.  Much later, when I left the table, he was real nice and quietly kvetched about the straight I caught.  I insincerely apologized and he said something like no problem, that’s poker.  A good sport at the Bike?  Who’da thunk it?  Then he said that the 10 gave him two pair (most likely Queen-10 because if he had top pair I think he would have played the flop and the turn more aggressively) and he was actually value betting.

On the way home, I pondered that.  Value betting? Was that a value bet?  I mean, if he was value betting, wouldn’t he have bet a lot less?  An over-shove when he had the biggest stack is not a value bet, is it?  Or have I forgotten more about poker than I thought?  No one is calling his shove unless they have two pair beat, not with the obvious straight on the board.  A value bet should have been much smaller to get a top pair or a lesser two pair to call.  Am I right about that?

But at the time I just nodded.

I seemed to have digressed—that is so unlike me.  Let’s go back to the five seconds where I acted like I had never even heard the word “poker” before. I dunno what happened.  My initial reaction, after I was reminded that there were two players still in the hand, was to mutter something like, “Homina, homina, homina…...this is the first time I’ve played in four months.  I’m rusty.  But I swear I’ve played poker before!”  Yeah, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  In truth, this was only the eighth time I’ve played poker in some 20 months, as I’ve mentioned.  Of course that’s no excuse for my actions, it really isn’t.  I don’t think I did two things in a row that stupid any time while I was learning to play in a live poker room. Sigh  At least I remembered what a straight was, and that it didn’t beat a flush!

I had never felt so embarrassed, so humiliated after actually winning a pot—a big pot at that. I can only remember feeling that embarrassed after doing something dumb and losing a big pot.  I wanted to run away and hide instead of stacking my chips.  I assumed the player who had given me most of those chips must have felt especially bad, having lost money to a guy who had seemingly never played poker before. As I was stacking my chips, I felt like saying, “Honest guys, I’ve played this game before.  I mean....I  work in poker.  I write about poker.  I’ve had a popular poker blog for over 10 years!  Really.”  Of course I didn’t say any of those things and in fact was quite happy that I was totally anonymous and no one there knew who the hell I was. The last thing I wanted was for someone to recognize me.

And I had to stay there with all those fellows for a while.  My first instinct was to pick up my chips and take off, or at least go to another table where no one knew I had acted like the newbie to end all newbies. But I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t do what would look like a hit-and-run.  No way.  That would be wrong, plus it would make me look like even more of a newbie, right? I had no choice but to keep playing with these guys.

Here’s what my stack looked like after I stacked my chips:

I had over $280 profit for the session.  Again, I wonder if I left money on the table?  I honestly don’t think so but I’ll never really know.

For the rest of the session, I went back to being totally, totally card dead.  I didn’t play another hand.  I finished the day never having seen a pocket pair or an Ace-King or Ace-Queen or a suited connector. I swear I never had a hard decision to even play a speculative hand.

As I was getting really uncomfortable having that mask on all the time (though I did take frequent small sips of that Diet Pepsi so I’d have an excuse to at least pull it down), I really couldn't last more than two hours.  I needed to breathe.  Besides, it was a pretty unpleasant experience. With masks on, there was virtually zero conversation at the table. Those masks are such a great inhibitor to socializing.  I switched to poker from table games years ago because I loved the social aspect of the game.  That is gone.  Everyone looked miserable too.  Of course that could just be because I couldn’t see half of their faces.  Maybe they were smiling or laughing underneath those masks?  

So I racked up and booked a $250 win.  I played exactly one hand post-flop, won it, and that was the entire win, right there, that one hand.  Where I acted like a guy who had never played poker before.

It Was Only Three Bucks

How much responsibility does a poker player have to maintain the integrity of the game?

I mean, if you are playing in a brick and mortar room, there's a dealer, and a floor person, and a shift manager to make sure the game is handled properly.  But what if you see a dealer make an error, or think you do, and it doesn't involve you? Should you say something?  Should you get involved?  Or should you mind your own business?  If the dealer goofs and costs one of the players money, isn't up to to that player to speak up for himself?  But anyone can make a mistake, and maybe the player who was "cheated": made the same mistake in his mind that the dealer did.  Or is a newbie?  Shouldn't we protect newbies so they keep coming back and playing?

I've seen some discussion quite recently about this very subject.  And I've heard varying opinions.  Where do you stand?

The simplest example would be the dealer pushing the pot to the wrong player.  The dealer misreads the hand.  And sometimes, even though the player who really won the pot thinks he really won the pot, he might be too embarrassed to speak up.  This would be especially likely if he was a new player.

Of course, if you are just observing, you might be afraid to speak up because it would be embarrassing if you were wrong and the dealer was right.

Well, I'm pretty sure I saw the dealer make an error at my most recent visit to Ventura.  And I didn't say anything.  You'll see why.

Here's the situation.  It was either the flop or the turn.  Player A made a bet, and Player B announced all-in.  It was quite an increase over the original bet, which was less than $50.  Player B had at least $400-$450.  Player A had two stacks of what looked like $100 each and three $1 chips.  This was after he made the initial bet.  I'm not sure if the street started two-handed but by the time it got back to Player A, it was definitely heads up.

Player A thought a bit  and then finally said, "call."  He pushed out in front of him the two stack of yellow chips he had (in the L.A. rooms, the $5 chips are yellow and the $1 chips are blue).  He did not push out the three blue chips he had, but of course, his verbal call and the pushing of any chips out in front of him clearly meant he was calling.  It was obvious that Player B had him well-covered.

Player B won. The dealer did not count any chips, as it was obvious that Player B had a lot more than Player A.  The dealer took the two stacks of yellow chips and pushed them to Player B.

And that was it.  He didn't grab the three blue chips that Player A had left over, or ask him to put them out for him to push to Player B.  He totally ignored them..  Player A rebought, but he kept ahold of those three $1 chips.

I knew this wasn't right.  He was covered, and the only way to continue in this hand was to put all his chips in play.  Including those three blue chips which he (apparently) forgot to push out.  The dealer should have caught it and insisted he pay the winner his last three bucks.

The only possible exception I've seen is in Vegas (never L.A.), where sometimes a player puts a dollar chip on the rail if he orders a drink.  That signifies he is holding back a buck to tip the waitress when he gets his drink. On very rare occasions, I've seen a player either call or move all-in and pick up a single chip from his stack and tell the dealer and his opponent that he was holding out that chip for the waitress.  He is kind of asking permission to do that and I've never seen anyone object.

But this wasn't the case here.  Player  A had not ordered a drink.  He didn't have those chips on the rail.  They were part of his stack—the part he didn't push out with his big stacks of yellows.

I couldn't think of any way this wasn't a mistake and that Player B wasn't getting short-changed $3.  But after thinking about it for awhile, I decided to keep quiet.  For one thing, by this time I knew Player B was an experienced player.  He surely knew that he was entitled to the three bucks.  It was on him to speak up, and if he didn't want to—or didn't notice—it was on him.  I suppose it was possible he did notice and didn't want to look cheap or even like he was rubbing it in by insisting on getting the guy's last three dollars.  But that's the rules, right?  He's entitled to those three dollars.  He surely would have had to pay the guy that extra three bucks if he had lost the hand.

The other reason I didn't speak up was….well, it was only three bucks.  Right is right and all, but to get involved in a hand I wasn't a part of for a lousy three dollar mistake—well, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

What do you think?  Should I have said something?

As to the game, there was one memorable hand that made it a nice session.  I had won a couple of really small pots from the blinds, then opened to $15 with pocket Jacks and didn't get a call.

Finally, down to about to about $245 or so (from my $300 buy-in), I looked down at pocket Aces.  I opened to $15.  It folded around to a guy who made it $35.  Everyone else folded and I thought for a bit before making it $90.  This guy had me covered but not by much.  He didn't waste much time before announcing "all-in."  To say I snap-called would be an understatement.  I don't think he'd finished saying the "n" when I said "Call!"  After the hand, the guy on my right commented on how fast I called.  "You called so fast…."  I said, "Well, there was no one else in the hand, there was no point in Hollywooding."  And of course by that time he knew I had Aces. Why draw it out?  Still, he seemed either surprised or impressed by how fast I called.

Obviously the other player wasn't pleased by my insta-call.  He said, "You have Aces?" as he turned over—you guessed it—two Kings.  Ah, the dreaded hand.   But would it be dreaded for him or me?  It had been awhile since I'd been involved in the classic Aces vs. Kings match-up.  It's always memorable, no matter what the result.

The flop had a lot of paint, but it was Queen-Jack-3, rainbow.  But the turn card really was interesting—and by interesting I mean scary as hell—a 10.  So he had an open-ender.  Six outs.  But only six.  Because if he caught his set on the river, I would have Broadway.  OTOH, if I caught my set on the river, he'd have the straight to crush my set of Aces.  So neither one of us wanted to catch our set.

The turn was another 3, totally harmless.  And I had my double up.  Suddenly there was nearly $500 in front of me.

I bled some chips for awhile and finally cashed out with a $160 profit.  Those cooler hands are nice when you are the cooler and not the coolee. 

OK, so what does the pic above have to do with this post?  Well both of us had really big pairs, so.....

"You Want to Give Him Money?"

This was my first night in Vegas and my first session of the trip.  It was most notable for an incredibly stupid play I witnessed, followed by a hand with pocket Kings and what I think is a gaming violation.

I was at Caesars playing 1/2.  I bought in for $200 as per usual.  I'm sorry to report that Caesars is still using those damn $2 chips I've bitched about in the past.  I hate them.  And their usage seems to be spreading.  Later in the trip I played at Venetian and they are using them there now too.  My guess is they bought a ton of them years ago to use for the rake, but now that the rake at virtually every Vegas poker room maxes out at $5, they really don't need them for that any more.  So rather than retire them, they are using them in play.

Anyway, it was a rather dull game, not too much action but it was just what the doctor ordered.  I was really tired from the drive up and from the packing and unpacking for the trip.  The act of packing suitcases and packing the car really takes a toll on my chronic back issues.  And that long drive to Vegas isn't as much fun as it used to be.  So I knew it was going to be a short session.  In fact, if not the fact the fact that I was only going to be there seven nights (a short trip by my standards), I might have decided to skip playing that night.  But I couldn't afford to waste a night.  So I picked Caesars because of all the rooms on the Strip, I figured that one required the least amount of walking from my car to the poker room.  Since I was tired, I appreciated the fact that it wasn't a wild game that would require more concentration than I could produce this evening.

Early on I had pocket 6's in the big blind and called $10.  It was three-way. The flop was King-high and I whiffed.  But no one bet.  The turn was a second spade and still not a 6.  Again, no one bet.  The river was the King of spades.  The preflop raiser bet $15.  It smelled fishy to me.  If he had a King, why didn't he c-bet the flop?  Surely he would have.  And did he really luck into a back-door flush?  I suppose it was possible but it seemed unlikely.  So I thought it was worth a call.  He said, "I have nothing," and waited a few beats before finally showing his hand, Jack-8 offsuit, which matched nothing on the board.  My 6's were good.  Also worth knowing he raised preflop with Jack-8.

To introduce this next hand, I have to describe I hand I wasn't involved in.  There was a guy at the table I had already thought was a bit of jerk and this hand totally proved it.  I don't really know why I had already come to that conclusion but there was just something about him, the way he was reacting to results that seemed off.  And he had lost a big pot where he got caught in a bluff and didn't reload.  So he was playing with about a $25 stack for awhile, but he was able to win a pot or two to get up closer to $100.

Anyway, this hand was heads up.  I can't remember whether he had raised or the other guy had, but there was some king of raise preflop and so after the flop the pot was like $13-$15.  The flop came Ace-King-Jack, rainbow.  Neither player bet.  I noted that Queen-10 would be a pretty good hand to have.  The turn was a 10.  Neither player bet.  In my mind, for some reason, I was rooting for a Queen to appear so that Broadway would be on the board.  Don't ask me why I was rooting for that, I just was.  I guess I thought it would look pretty. 

Well, sure enough, a Queen did hit the river.  Damn it.  Apparently wishing for a certain card to hit the board only works for me when it doesn't actually matter to me, never when it does.  Anyway, there was no flush possible and so both players were obviously going to be playing the board.  There was no way anyone could beat it.  It was destined to be a chopped pot.

So the aforementioned jerk goes ahead and bets $10!  See, I told you he was a jerk.  The other player was steamed.  "Why the hell did you do that?  You want to give him money?"  He was pointing to the dealer.  Of course the dealer wouldn't get the additional rake this idiot was creating, the house would.

Then he said, "I suppose I should re-raise?"  But he didn't, he just called, they both showed their hands and of course they shared the pot, each playing the board.

Rarely have I seen such a bone-headed play.  So in this hand I'm about to tell you about, I knew I wasn't up against a rocket scientist.  It was finally time for me to get the dreaded pocket Kings, first time for this trip.  I opened to $10 and got three callers.  Considering this table, that was a lot of callers.  The flop was Queen-9-x, rainbow, and I bet $25.  Only the aforementioned jerk called.  The turn was a 10 and I bet $40, and he called again. 

Now looking at the board, with the Queen, the 10 and the 9, I started thinking that the last thing I wanted was to hit my set.  A deuce would sure look nice to me.  I mean if this guy had a set or two pair he would have raised for sure.  So I was wishing for a low card, the lower the better.

Of course, I only get the card I want when I'm not in a hand (see above).  Sure enough, a King hit the board.  I was confident I was ahead before, but now I wasn't so sure.  All he needed was a measly Jack and he had a straight.  Queen-Jack was certainly in his range.  I didn't have to worry about a flush at least, that was not possible.

Now his stack was up to around $120 when the hand started.  Between that and the hand where I saw him bluff off most of chips earlier, there was no way I was going to fold if he shoved (his likely play if he bet at all).  I'd pay him off.  So I guess I should have bet.  He might very well have paid me off if he just had a Queen.  But it was pocket Kings and with him only needing one card to make his straight, I couldn't bring myself to bet.  But he checked behind.  I showed my set of Kings and he reacted with disgust—like maybe he was mad at himself for not betting/raising an earlier street—and just mucked his cards.

I would be surprised though if he ever had a hand that could have beaten my overpair.  I suppose it's possible but I think more likely he was mad for not trying to take a stab at the pot earlier by raising me when I just had a pair of Kings.  But I'll never know.

I won a few more small pots and was able to cash out after two hours with a $100 profit.  And a 1-0 record with pocket Kings for the trip, so it was a good session indeed.

Now after I cashed out, I headed over to the Sports Book. I had been watching the Dodgers on TV in the poker room and when last I looked they were trying to rally from three runs down with a couple of men on base and a run in.  So I figured I'd find a seat and at least watch the rest of that inning.

But by the time I made it over to the book, I noticed the inning was over and they had failed to score any more runs.  So I kept moving.  But I did see something that I thought was unacceptable in the book.  There, in the front row, was a woman sitting there, watching the screens.  To her left was a small boy, no more than 6-7 years old, asleep.  And the woman had a smaller child, a little girl, lying on her in her chair, also asleep.

Now the book was closed for the night, so there were no ticket writers at all in the place (is that the right phrase for them?  I don't think they like being called "bookies.")  But it is my understanding that children are not allowed in the gambling areas of a casino.  They can just walk through a casino swiftly (accompanied by a parent, of course) but not loiter at all.  These kids were doing more than loiter!

Or does the fact that the book was closed make it alright?  Technically, at that particular moment, it wasn't really a gambling area.  You couldn't place any bets.  As opposed to say, sitting at a slot machine which would of course be a gambling area.

I guess I don't know if that changes anything, but it seemed wrong to me.  But then, I always wonder why parents bring kids to Vegas anyway.