Speaking of Gossip...

We have a link (on our link page) to a web site www.pokerworks.com (http://www.pokerworks.com). It is maintained by a Bellagio poker dealer and has something called Dear Diary, which is this person's impressions of poker at The Bellagio. I think if management read it they would be quite surprised at its content. Anyway, some of you who like this sort of thing might want to look at it.


Also, I'm wondering if we should drop the link. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

I'm stunned at how poorly this lady appears to be doing her job. She spends all this time ragging on the other lady, who might very well be a bitch, but she's quite a kitty kat herself. Meowwwww! Some advice to her: Sit down, shut up, and deal!

It's an interesting site- certainly unique among poker sites


Also, I'm wondering if we should drop the link.


I don't see any reason to do this. Some of the information on the site is valuable, especially the tournament information. The "Dear Diary" section may be controversial but that's no reason to drop the link.


Why are you even considering dropping the link?

well mason, with mat taking over as chief censor, i guess we'll soon look back on the glory years with mason at the helm...gr8 job and gl in your new positions,,,,

Hi Mason- I think the site is fine. Babe. P.S.

Is Sharon the very talkative Asian girl, about 35 to 45 years old, with big rabbit like front teeth? Just curious.

I think it is interesting, I would keep it.


Bob T.

... or perhaps a soap opera. The dealer actually writes pretty well. I wonder if the characters in the diary are described by their true names? - Sharon G. - complaining dealer, Suzie I. - poker room manager? Is there a Karate Don that plays 150 - 300 Omaha?


My vote is to keep the link.


Thanks

Yes, all these people are real.

I took it to be Sharon from Brooklyn (so sez her name tag) but I could be wrong. If I'm wrong, I'll just blame Sharon from Brooklyn for singlehandedly running action players into the pit because the pace of play got so slow with her incessant talking. Never heard her talk about her physical problems though. I am patient, but she exceeds my limits. Games just die when she's in the box. I am surprised management lets a dealer run down fellow employees like that. I didn't think employees had rights in Nevada. ;-)

Interesting stuff from an alternative viewpoint. Better than 99% of the stuff on RGP.


Surprised she ain't been fired/killed yet.... /images/smile.gif

The dealer who writes that column is talented, funny, insightful and entertaining. Whyever would you want to drop such a delightful link?

Mason,


Keep the link. It is interesting to read. Maybe all poker room managers should read it, because they may learn something.


Good Luck


Mark

Oh yes, these people are real. Karate Don and the Babe once got into a "kung fu" fight at the table when he started needling and badgering me because I moved a stack of his chips. It's a long story, so I won't bore with the details. Suffice it to say, he's intense as hell and can get downright MEAN. /images/angry.gif I'm not sure if Sharon is the blond one, but if so, she's a piece of work for sure. Babe

I am assuming you could take anybody named "Karate Don" in a fight at the poker table. :-)

Desire:


The reason for possibly dropping the link is that I have trouble when people get personal about other people. However, in this case I do agree with most, but not all, of what she says.


By the way, you state: "The dealer who writes that column is talented, funny, insightful and entertaining." That may be true, but she also, probably because your description is accurate, often doesn't pay attention when she's dealing and is prone to make errors.


It's my experience that many poker players, especially those who seem to dislike dealers, overreact to their errors. I suspect that's why she appears to dislike so many players. If she paid more attention and made less errors, her attitude might not be as negative.


Anyway, the concensus seems to keep the link, so it will stay up.


Best wishes,

Mason

She is the loud mouthed red head from N.Y.

Loud mouth from New York? Isn't that being redundant? LOL

Ok, I don't know the Sharon under discussion. Is she a swing or grave dealer?

Swing, the blond I think that you are thinking of is on grave and she is a real charmer too

I'm inclined to view the author's opinions on players as typical of the majority of dealers.

Dealer errors not being uncommon, albeit small in many cases, as well as the universal feeling that tokes are inadequate, must put many dealers in this state.

You must not be putting the face with the name. Everyone knows it's a bad time to be at the table when she sits down. The only dealer I know of who talks more in the box is not employed at Bellagio any more (Razzo).

dealer chatting with seat 1, who happens to be a real estate agent, house seller, whatever, and dealer goes, im looking to buy another house. she asks him about selling his current house and he goes, no, i think ill keep both of them.


i may never tip again.


brad

Mason, you're getting personal.

Dear Mason,


I am unable to place this dealer in my mind and so I don't doubt you and the other players when you complain about her style or lack thereof of dealing. I was only speaking in context of her column which I found delightful. It cracks me up when the lightbulb goes off overhead, blinding me, because I recognize what player she is referring to at the moment.

Maybe she can be approached and induced to work a bit more diligently at dealing professionally.

She obviously possesses more intelligence than the mere act of dealing can indulge, hence I think the behavior you and others cite.

As for ppl that dislike dealers, they are in every card casino in the world and if I were running a room, I would not tolerate dealer abuse. The worse dealer abuse I've witnessed has been at the Commerce. I've watched and heard dealers cursed at, cards fired back at their fingers with stinging force by a disgruntled player and tourists being told not to tip them. The dealers either don't know any better or remain silent because the house won't back them up. Vegas comes in a close second. Regulars actually leaving their seats every time a certain dealer comes in the box. EVERY TIME. And when you get a player that has several dealers he/she wont take a card from, this can pose quite a frustrating situation for the other players who watch the player walk more than is necessary, leaving a game short-handed.

Anyway, if anyone could persuade a dealer to tighten up their delivery, it would be you, Mason. I know I would respect and digest any advice in the area of poker that you would approach me with.


Here's hoping your buy-ins stay low and your stacks stay high.


desire /images/smile.gif

There are certain ppl that look for a reason to assauge their guilty conscience for not tipping. Others are void of a conscience, period. If you're not gonna tip, just be man/woman enough to say, "I'm too cheap and I don't mind everyone knowing I'm cheap and I'd rather save up these many undelivered tokes to maybe obtain a professional removal of the excess nose hair that I have been plagued with all of my life."

i just didnt realize dealers made enough to afford to buy 2 houses.


brad

Speaking as someone who's investment portfolio resides mostly in real estate, it doesn't take an abundance of wealth to start investing in real estate. Just a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

good for you. however, if i were you i would research credit bubbles and historical crashes, in particular the real estate bubble bursting.


brad

Yeah, I'll do that...as soon as I'm finished counting my money.

well, people thought the stock market would continue to go up forever. it was a new era, etc., remember? people tend to have no historical perspective at all.


brad

Better than almost anyone, you should realize that what goes up must come down. But I am very satisfied with my income/debt ratio on all of my investments. My grandmother drilled into my head from a very early age on that debt sucks, and I have always adhered to a policy of rarely paying interest to anyone. But thanks for the heads up.


Now...back to about you never tipping...wtf is up with that?

"As for ppl that dislike dealers, they are in every card casino in the world and if I were running a room, I would not tolerate dealer abuse."


I agree that there is no excuse for dealer abuse. However, what I have noticed over the years is that many players over react to dealer errors. Thus if the error was not made in the first place there would be no abuse. (Of course this does not excuse the abuse.) I have also noticed that most dealer errors are usually caused by a dealer not paying attention usually because they are talking. That's why in The Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook we emphasized "no extraneous talking when in the box."


Our diary writer gives Sharon as an example, and everyone that I know has complained about Sharon over the years for non-stop talking (even though she does not seem to be quite as bad as she use to be). In fact, I have complained about her when she was dealing at a table next to me -- she can be that loud.


However, our diary writer is also guilty of these same problems and is known to make numerous errors. So it bothers me, perhaps because I've been personally attacked more on these Internet/poker forums than anyone else, and much of what I've read about myself simply isn't true. So when I read these same sort of attacks from someone else about other people (even though I happen to agree with much of what she says) I find it disturbing. (I also can't help but think that our diary writer would be fired from her job if management at The Bellagio became aware of what she was publicly saying about some of their customers and other employees.)


"Regulars actually leaving their seats every time a certain dealer comes in the box."


I agree that this can be very annoying, but on the other hand, this is another example of some players over reacting. They usually do have a legitimate reason, but it still doesn't call for their behavior.


"Anyway, if anyone could persuade a dealer to tighten up their delivery, it would be you, Mason."


Thanks. My opinion is that the dealer situation is slowly improving. Dealers at both The Mirage and The Bellagio are now much better than what we had in the old Mirage room before The Bellagio opened. I liked to think that our book (written with Dan Paymar and Donna Harris) has had something to do with the improvement. However, all cardrooms need to address this problem on a continuing basis and in time it will eventually be solved.

'Better than almost anyone, you should realize that what goes up must come down.'


you must know me for real (not from poker room).


as for the not tipping, that was just a joke about dealers being able to buy 2 houses. (first thing i thought of when i read the post i replied to.)


brad

http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2002/2924fannie_mae.html

Mason, I am one of the best dealers in town. I do not haggle or irritate players, I see to their well being in getting player's checks, a chair for their 'sweater', cocktails, remember seat change requests, know the house rules, have excellent mechanics, get along with players and my fellow employees (although I did irritate Sharon by running to the bathroom on her break time :-), and most importantly, know what it takes to make a poker room run and a game good. I very seldom ever make a mistake in the box and if I do, I apologize with sincerity.


I also play poker and know what it's like to sit on that side of the table. I go out of my way to make people - new and experienced - feel comfortable when they play at my table...other than take abuse and blame or credit for a win or loss.


My Dear Diary is not a viscious rip on anyone, other than J.C. Pearson, and I believe he is the walking dead when it comes to players. It is, however, a story of what happens at the table, what people say, how they react, the play of a hand, the room in general, all of which are never captured in a poker book. Someday I will write a book on it but it will still be 'the people side of poker'.


You can remove the link to my site without a 'poll'. I will still retain a link from my site to yours because I want to educate people about the world of poker. We need more players and the more knowledge they have, the easier it is for them to walk into a casino for the first time and take a seat.


As far as Bellagio management knowing about my site...they do.


Have a great day!

Linda Geenen

http://pokerworks.com

If you don't read Linda's site regularly, you should. It's the only poker site where I read everything that's posted, and I find almost every entry entertaining and original.


Why am I not too surprised that 2+2 would consider removing the link?

[ElyJon]

Since I know Linda the diary writer, having worked with her and counting her among friends that are worth having, I would like to add my thoughts to this thread.
Linda is an excellent dealer with an attitude that is above the fold. What she writes is just the plain truth about the players, dealers and others.
I am glad that Mason decided to leave the link up. It is worthwhile reading at Linda’s site. However, more then that, what she is doing is very important work. It is an uncommon glimpse in to the day-to-day world of someone in an uncommon occupation. Linda is not writing in the abstract, she is painting in words the experience of anyone who has been around poker. I have dealt with most of the players she has written about and worked with many of the dealers, her work is not biased, she is not player bashing and she is not trying to make some kind of abstract point about things, she is simply reporting.
Linda has done a brave thing by placing her observations online. Linda depends on her job at the B for her livelihood. Like Mason, I am surprised that she has not suffered any consequence from management. It had been my experience working with Doug Dalton, (The current poker executive at MGM), that he was sensitive (to put it lightly) about what was written about the Mirage. I commend Doug for biting the bullet, and not harassing or terminating Linda for placing the truth online. For Doug Dalton I am sure that this was an experiment in tolerance. His experience with dealers with web sites had not always been a pleasant one. Him and I never had a problem with my site, but Razzo was a pain in the ass and source of constant surprise for Doug.
What Linda does is helping to make poker a better industry. Poker has improved dramatically in the last twenty years. However, it is still far from perfect. Dealers take far to much abuse and heat, management is still lacking in support for dealers in disputes with players, dealers are still not trained to the level they should be, floor people are not competent enough and a small handful of players are still allowed to make time spent in a poker room miserable for everyone. In order for the poker industry to improve, it must look at itself. Linda provides us that look and contributes greatly to the dialogue of change for the better.
Linda is my hero. It is brave people like Linda, who stick their necks out, at some personal risk, that prompt the world to change for the better.
Jon Wetzel

[rkiray]

Thank you for bringing this thread back from the dead. I really like the pokerworks.com site. I would not have found it if not for this thread. I was in a serious time warp when I read this stuff. I thought all the posts were new. Then I found I link she posted to this thread a year ago. Suddenly I noticed the years on the date. I can be really dense at times.

[**MR.MANHATTAN**]

I found it funny. I thought that the bellagio wouldve canned her to. She never said nothing about you though mas,u know her?

[**MR.MANHATTAN**]

but razzos ex I@#$ is superrrrr fine. WOWEE,,, /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

[**MR.MANHATTAN**]

HOw come no entries since nov 2002......?