08-11-2002, 11:28 PM
Friday, I was headed up to Seattle to attend a family reunion that wasn't expecting me, so when I turned around on I-5 to come back home, nobody would really miss me. Afterall, I didn't decide to go up to Washington until 45 minutes before I left L.A.
And traffic was mostly lousy. And I got back to L.A. late. And so I went to Commerce, where a friend of mine, Duke, was playing some 9-18. I played, dropped a quick $500, and was a bit ired. So, I left...
...
...and went and played 15-30, where I won a quick $700, which was cool, cuz winning is cool. I like it. Lots.
But while playing, I noticed that Duke had a stack of three or four $20 Commerce Casino Chips. I asked him what they were for, and he has this plan. It seems that when he cashes out, anything over an even $100 amount, he cashes out in smaller chips (i.e. $1 and $5 chips), and works those up to $20 chips. He never cashes these in, and once he gets 100 of these chips, he's gonna play 60-120 (taking a stab, of course). I don't know how serious he is about this, but hey, it seemed like a fair idea, so I'm doing it now too. Just because. It'll take a few months, of course, but oh well, I'm in no rush.
Then, on Saturday, I had the plan. THE PLAN. I had it. Only me. I was going to play 9-18 during the morning and early afternoon, then head to the Bike, where I was going to play in the 3:15, $540 buyin No Limit hold'em event at the Legends of Poker. Just because. Who knows, maybe I'd make the money, but I knew it would be fun, because playing NLHE against a world class lineup is fun.
I started off by playing 9-18 again (a mainstay in my diet, though I wonder why), was up a little when I flopped a flush w/ an openended straight flush draw, turned a straightflush, and an opponent with the nut flush thought he had a good hand. But then, I lose on two fairly lousy beats (such is life), and I'm a little upset. I'm not upset that I'm down $100, I'm upset that I'm not going to be able to freeroll into the tourny.
So, I decide not to go. Duke was going to go to, but he was also having second thoughts. However, since he conveniently snapped me off on one of the two aforementioned hands, he was happy, giddy even. So, he changed his mind, and wanted to go. And who was I to say no?
So, we racked up (got another $20 chip), and headed down to the Bike.
The tournament was fun. Duke doesn't have a ton of tourny experience (this was the fourth ever he had played in), whereas I play in a large number of tournaments.
All the big names were there, and I played with many at my table (note that they were at my table...I wasn't at THEIR table). Huck Seed, TJ, Allen Cunningham, Vince Burgio, and many many others played at my table early on. Phil and Phil, Ferguson, John Juanda, Daniel, Melissa, Scotty, and tons more were there, in the 210 player field. Cool beans. If I made the money, I'd be ecstatic. But at the same time, if I didn't, I'd be disappointed.
I didn't get any big hands during the tourny. I came over the top early in the tourny w/ KK, and won a chunk. I slowplayed aces heads up, but couldn't bait him. And those were my two big hands. I had AK twice in the whole tourny, won one pot, and stole the blinds once. I was 2/4 w/ AQ, 0/0 w/ QQ and JJ, 0/4 w/ TT. Nothing. But KJh was a big hand.
See, I moved to this new table. Tons o' chips on my immediate right, and tons more on my immediate left. Rock and hard place. I bust a player when he runs his AJ into my AQ. I have a healthy stack, then the dude on right raises w/ 35o and beats AK on teh J87 flop, 6 turn, 9 river. AK was the huge stack. Now, it should be noted that 35o came in raising, and AK was calling the whole way.
I was concerned. I knew I'd struggle to put dude on right on a hand. So, the very next hand when I raise w/ AK utg, and he calls in the BB, I was concerned. K22 flop brought a T1000 bet from him (50-100 blinds). I called. Turn 4 brought another bet. He didn't have a 2 I didn't think (he was betting too quickly, like when he raised w/ 35o). He bet 1000, I raised allin to 1600, and he had to muck. Ni Han.
So now, I'm the chipleader (which I kinda sorta like). Massive stack on my left is hindered, and big stack on my right has nearly as much as me (5500 to 4800ish).
Very next hand, all fold to Mr. T4800 on button, who raises to 300 (50-100 blinds, again). I have KJh in the SB, and call as I think I may be ahead, want to be cautious against the other bigstack, and am not too worried about dropping 250.
BB also calls. Flop came JT2, w/ ten, 2 of hearts. I have top pair w/ kicker, and a 4flush.
I check, BB checks, button bets 1000 (pot is 900 now). I checkraise to 2000, BB mucks. Button thinks, then moves allin. I call when I know i have him covered. I thought he thought I had a naked draw, and put him on QJ or AT (or a hand in the range).
I was wrong.
he had AA. But I caught a K on the turn for two pair, and I win, and am not the tourny chip leader.
That's it. I chose to not get another card bigger than 7 for the next 3 hours, and maintained my stack by blind stealing. Seriously, not a pair, no AK, AQ, etc.
I've spend all day today on the phone. I've talked poker with lots of people who don't know poker. I've bragged, been humble, and tried to be gracious. I've recounted stories aplenty of hands that went down in the next 6 hours of the tourny. Yep, I was there for about 6 more hours. I played the last hand that was played.
See, when we got down to 3 handed (Vince Burgio, Sam Sanusi, and myself), I was critically short. I doubled up on Sam on consecutive hands, thus giving us chip counts for 93.5K for Sam, 63.5K for myself, and 54K (I think) for Vince. We decided upon a deal by chipcount, and went our ways.
Duke stayed and watched the whole event, which was nice. It was nice to be able to look up and see a fan, whereas many of the players (i.e. Sam) who are more well known around these parts had large cheering sections. It was nice to have somebody to run and grab me a Pepsi. And, it was really nice just to talk to somebody when I made good reads but got snapped off.
Like I said, we made a chipcount deal which landed me my largest payday yet. A few players that I know knew I was in the tourny, and when I turned off my phone for 30 minutes, then went to check messages at the break, and I had 7 new messages, I thought "Man, this rocks". And when I woke up this morning with 6 more messages from players, that, too, was cool.
After the paperwork was filled out, Duke and I headed back to Commerce.
Here, I ran into SodaPop. I should say, I've played with Soda before, but didn't know that HE was Soda. We went for a brief stroll (it was late...3:30 a.m.ish now), and just talked poker. Great guy who seems to have his head on fairly straight about the game of poker. Best of luck to ya, Soda.
Then, I went back to my game, played for a few minutes, then got up. And now, I'm mad. See, I played both of my blinds (BOTH OF MY BLINDS) but not my button. I got up for about 3 minutes, then came back. I asked to be dealt in, but didn't sit down immediately, as I went to talk to Duke briefly). I returned as the cards were being dealt, I was UTG, and mucked.
I then started to rack up my chips.
Everything seemed fine, until the dealer informed me that I owed $3 chips. What? Why?
They claimed (incorrectly), that I missed my blinds. I played my blinds, but not my button. A lady on my left was unfamiliar with the game structure and said that she remembered I missed because she had to pay twice. In reality what happened was the button skipped me, so after I took my SB, they went to "Small Big Big" blinds (w/ small on the button), then "Small Small Big" (w/ small on the button again). Nobody, of course, had to pay double.
And the dealer didn't give me an "OUT" button. Why? BECAUSE I DIDN'T MISS MY BLINDS. As such, I didn't need to post, and thus didn't owe three chips. Simple, right? Right. Wrong.
Even though i didn't miss, and even though the dealer didn't put an out button, I still had to know it was my obligation to post since I looked at my cards. I explained that if that was the case, I would have not been dealt in, as I was leaving.
The floorman insists that I pay. WHAT????? Quite frankly, I didn't care about the $9. Really. I didn't. But I did care about the fact that the dealer was insisting that I Missed the blinds, when I didn't. When the floorman asked the dealer why I didn't have an out button if I missed, the dealer claimed that a different dealer forgot to put the out button there, which was bunk, as the dealer who was in the box dealt me in when I TOOK BOTH MY BLINDS.
So I talked to the shift supervisor. Don't know why I made a big stink out of $9. I really don't. But it wasn't the money. People were saying I was wrong when I wasn't. Don't know why that upset me so much, but it did. I knew they wouldn't go to the camera over something so trivial, but I wish they would. I'm 100% certain of what was going on. I have more newfound sympathy for those unjustly found guilty.
Eventually the shift supervisor tries to tell me that IF I MISS THE BUTTON, I HAVE TO POST A BLIND WHEN I RETURN. Now, when the house take was a button drop, this made perfect sense. Really, it did. But now, with a pot-rake, it seems unimportant. In fact, in all my history at Commerce since they changed the drop, it has NEVER once been enforced by a dealer or floorman. I'm very very convinced that the shift supervisor was just trying to cover his employee's back, and wasn't sure of the rule. And IF that was the rule, that begs the question, (besides why it's never ever ever enforced) why didn't I have an out button?
Eventually he decides that the dealer owes the three chips, not me. Fair enough. But I'm a little peeved now about this "if you miss the button, you have to post" rule that just materialized out of thin air. After the shift supervisor leaves, I pull the floorman aside, and have the following conversation:
Me: Now, I'm not gonna run to Randy (the shift supervisor), but are you going to tell me that if you miss the button you need to post?
Floorman: He wouldn't lie to you. He has nothing to gain by doing that.
Me: But isn't it possible that he just doesn't know?
Floorman: Yes, that's very possible.
Either (A) every dealer and floorman in the largest poker room in America is wrong about the rules, or (B) the graveyard shift supervisor is wrong.
Any Commerce regulars that are still reading at this point....wow. Anybody who is still reading. Wow. Really, wow. But Commerce regulars, can you comment on this ruling? Have you seen enforcing of this 'rule' ever in you life?
That's it, except for one more comment, which is going to be a long comment.
At my first table, I played with Huck Seed. He was caught bluffing huge early on, and thus shortstacked. There were two times when he'd limp, and somebody would just say the word "raise" behind him, and he turbo-mucked his cards at the dealer, well before the action was complete.
Another player at the final table received numerous complaints for his antics. When he won a pot, he yelled and screamed. And if his opponent was allin, pleading for his outs on the river, if the opponent missed, this opponent would taunt, saying "Yeah, you'll get a king.....TOMORROW".
And I was bothered. I really don't like these antics, although they are commonplace (and as such, I shouldn't single out two examples, I don't think).
But when the tourny ended, and we were waiting for the paperwork/money to be handled, I was talking with Duke. Five feet away, with his back to me, Vince Burgio commented to somebody that it sure was enjoyable to play with that young kid at the final table (me).
And for a moment, the money, the prestige, the bragging rights didn't matter. I'm far from perfect, and the first one to admit it. But right then, at that moment, I felt like I had the right to hold my head high, for the first time ever in a casino. Best feeling yet.
Thanks for reading.
Josh
And traffic was mostly lousy. And I got back to L.A. late. And so I went to Commerce, where a friend of mine, Duke, was playing some 9-18. I played, dropped a quick $500, and was a bit ired. So, I left...
...
...and went and played 15-30, where I won a quick $700, which was cool, cuz winning is cool. I like it. Lots.
But while playing, I noticed that Duke had a stack of three or four $20 Commerce Casino Chips. I asked him what they were for, and he has this plan. It seems that when he cashes out, anything over an even $100 amount, he cashes out in smaller chips (i.e. $1 and $5 chips), and works those up to $20 chips. He never cashes these in, and once he gets 100 of these chips, he's gonna play 60-120 (taking a stab, of course). I don't know how serious he is about this, but hey, it seemed like a fair idea, so I'm doing it now too. Just because. It'll take a few months, of course, but oh well, I'm in no rush.
Then, on Saturday, I had the plan. THE PLAN. I had it. Only me. I was going to play 9-18 during the morning and early afternoon, then head to the Bike, where I was going to play in the 3:15, $540 buyin No Limit hold'em event at the Legends of Poker. Just because. Who knows, maybe I'd make the money, but I knew it would be fun, because playing NLHE against a world class lineup is fun.
I started off by playing 9-18 again (a mainstay in my diet, though I wonder why), was up a little when I flopped a flush w/ an openended straight flush draw, turned a straightflush, and an opponent with the nut flush thought he had a good hand. But then, I lose on two fairly lousy beats (such is life), and I'm a little upset. I'm not upset that I'm down $100, I'm upset that I'm not going to be able to freeroll into the tourny.
So, I decide not to go. Duke was going to go to, but he was also having second thoughts. However, since he conveniently snapped me off on one of the two aforementioned hands, he was happy, giddy even. So, he changed his mind, and wanted to go. And who was I to say no?
So, we racked up (got another $20 chip), and headed down to the Bike.
The tournament was fun. Duke doesn't have a ton of tourny experience (this was the fourth ever he had played in), whereas I play in a large number of tournaments.
All the big names were there, and I played with many at my table (note that they were at my table...I wasn't at THEIR table). Huck Seed, TJ, Allen Cunningham, Vince Burgio, and many many others played at my table early on. Phil and Phil, Ferguson, John Juanda, Daniel, Melissa, Scotty, and tons more were there, in the 210 player field. Cool beans. If I made the money, I'd be ecstatic. But at the same time, if I didn't, I'd be disappointed.
I didn't get any big hands during the tourny. I came over the top early in the tourny w/ KK, and won a chunk. I slowplayed aces heads up, but couldn't bait him. And those were my two big hands. I had AK twice in the whole tourny, won one pot, and stole the blinds once. I was 2/4 w/ AQ, 0/0 w/ QQ and JJ, 0/4 w/ TT. Nothing. But KJh was a big hand.
See, I moved to this new table. Tons o' chips on my immediate right, and tons more on my immediate left. Rock and hard place. I bust a player when he runs his AJ into my AQ. I have a healthy stack, then the dude on right raises w/ 35o and beats AK on teh J87 flop, 6 turn, 9 river. AK was the huge stack. Now, it should be noted that 35o came in raising, and AK was calling the whole way.
I was concerned. I knew I'd struggle to put dude on right on a hand. So, the very next hand when I raise w/ AK utg, and he calls in the BB, I was concerned. K22 flop brought a T1000 bet from him (50-100 blinds). I called. Turn 4 brought another bet. He didn't have a 2 I didn't think (he was betting too quickly, like when he raised w/ 35o). He bet 1000, I raised allin to 1600, and he had to muck. Ni Han.
So now, I'm the chipleader (which I kinda sorta like). Massive stack on my left is hindered, and big stack on my right has nearly as much as me (5500 to 4800ish).
Very next hand, all fold to Mr. T4800 on button, who raises to 300 (50-100 blinds, again). I have KJh in the SB, and call as I think I may be ahead, want to be cautious against the other bigstack, and am not too worried about dropping 250.
BB also calls. Flop came JT2, w/ ten, 2 of hearts. I have top pair w/ kicker, and a 4flush.
I check, BB checks, button bets 1000 (pot is 900 now). I checkraise to 2000, BB mucks. Button thinks, then moves allin. I call when I know i have him covered. I thought he thought I had a naked draw, and put him on QJ or AT (or a hand in the range).
I was wrong.
he had AA. But I caught a K on the turn for two pair, and I win, and am not the tourny chip leader.
That's it. I chose to not get another card bigger than 7 for the next 3 hours, and maintained my stack by blind stealing. Seriously, not a pair, no AK, AQ, etc.
I've spend all day today on the phone. I've talked poker with lots of people who don't know poker. I've bragged, been humble, and tried to be gracious. I've recounted stories aplenty of hands that went down in the next 6 hours of the tourny. Yep, I was there for about 6 more hours. I played the last hand that was played.
See, when we got down to 3 handed (Vince Burgio, Sam Sanusi, and myself), I was critically short. I doubled up on Sam on consecutive hands, thus giving us chip counts for 93.5K for Sam, 63.5K for myself, and 54K (I think) for Vince. We decided upon a deal by chipcount, and went our ways.
Duke stayed and watched the whole event, which was nice. It was nice to be able to look up and see a fan, whereas many of the players (i.e. Sam) who are more well known around these parts had large cheering sections. It was nice to have somebody to run and grab me a Pepsi. And, it was really nice just to talk to somebody when I made good reads but got snapped off.
Like I said, we made a chipcount deal which landed me my largest payday yet. A few players that I know knew I was in the tourny, and when I turned off my phone for 30 minutes, then went to check messages at the break, and I had 7 new messages, I thought "Man, this rocks". And when I woke up this morning with 6 more messages from players, that, too, was cool.
After the paperwork was filled out, Duke and I headed back to Commerce.
Here, I ran into SodaPop. I should say, I've played with Soda before, but didn't know that HE was Soda. We went for a brief stroll (it was late...3:30 a.m.ish now), and just talked poker. Great guy who seems to have his head on fairly straight about the game of poker. Best of luck to ya, Soda.
Then, I went back to my game, played for a few minutes, then got up. And now, I'm mad. See, I played both of my blinds (BOTH OF MY BLINDS) but not my button. I got up for about 3 minutes, then came back. I asked to be dealt in, but didn't sit down immediately, as I went to talk to Duke briefly). I returned as the cards were being dealt, I was UTG, and mucked.
I then started to rack up my chips.
Everything seemed fine, until the dealer informed me that I owed $3 chips. What? Why?
They claimed (incorrectly), that I missed my blinds. I played my blinds, but not my button. A lady on my left was unfamiliar with the game structure and said that she remembered I missed because she had to pay twice. In reality what happened was the button skipped me, so after I took my SB, they went to "Small Big Big" blinds (w/ small on the button), then "Small Small Big" (w/ small on the button again). Nobody, of course, had to pay double.
And the dealer didn't give me an "OUT" button. Why? BECAUSE I DIDN'T MISS MY BLINDS. As such, I didn't need to post, and thus didn't owe three chips. Simple, right? Right. Wrong.
Even though i didn't miss, and even though the dealer didn't put an out button, I still had to know it was my obligation to post since I looked at my cards. I explained that if that was the case, I would have not been dealt in, as I was leaving.
The floorman insists that I pay. WHAT????? Quite frankly, I didn't care about the $9. Really. I didn't. But I did care about the fact that the dealer was insisting that I Missed the blinds, when I didn't. When the floorman asked the dealer why I didn't have an out button if I missed, the dealer claimed that a different dealer forgot to put the out button there, which was bunk, as the dealer who was in the box dealt me in when I TOOK BOTH MY BLINDS.
So I talked to the shift supervisor. Don't know why I made a big stink out of $9. I really don't. But it wasn't the money. People were saying I was wrong when I wasn't. Don't know why that upset me so much, but it did. I knew they wouldn't go to the camera over something so trivial, but I wish they would. I'm 100% certain of what was going on. I have more newfound sympathy for those unjustly found guilty.
Eventually the shift supervisor tries to tell me that IF I MISS THE BUTTON, I HAVE TO POST A BLIND WHEN I RETURN. Now, when the house take was a button drop, this made perfect sense. Really, it did. But now, with a pot-rake, it seems unimportant. In fact, in all my history at Commerce since they changed the drop, it has NEVER once been enforced by a dealer or floorman. I'm very very convinced that the shift supervisor was just trying to cover his employee's back, and wasn't sure of the rule. And IF that was the rule, that begs the question, (besides why it's never ever ever enforced) why didn't I have an out button?
Eventually he decides that the dealer owes the three chips, not me. Fair enough. But I'm a little peeved now about this "if you miss the button, you have to post" rule that just materialized out of thin air. After the shift supervisor leaves, I pull the floorman aside, and have the following conversation:
Me: Now, I'm not gonna run to Randy (the shift supervisor), but are you going to tell me that if you miss the button you need to post?
Floorman: He wouldn't lie to you. He has nothing to gain by doing that.
Me: But isn't it possible that he just doesn't know?
Floorman: Yes, that's very possible.
Either (A) every dealer and floorman in the largest poker room in America is wrong about the rules, or (B) the graveyard shift supervisor is wrong.
Any Commerce regulars that are still reading at this point....wow. Anybody who is still reading. Wow. Really, wow. But Commerce regulars, can you comment on this ruling? Have you seen enforcing of this 'rule' ever in you life?
That's it, except for one more comment, which is going to be a long comment.
At my first table, I played with Huck Seed. He was caught bluffing huge early on, and thus shortstacked. There were two times when he'd limp, and somebody would just say the word "raise" behind him, and he turbo-mucked his cards at the dealer, well before the action was complete.
Another player at the final table received numerous complaints for his antics. When he won a pot, he yelled and screamed. And if his opponent was allin, pleading for his outs on the river, if the opponent missed, this opponent would taunt, saying "Yeah, you'll get a king.....TOMORROW".
And I was bothered. I really don't like these antics, although they are commonplace (and as such, I shouldn't single out two examples, I don't think).
But when the tourny ended, and we were waiting for the paperwork/money to be handled, I was talking with Duke. Five feet away, with his back to me, Vince Burgio commented to somebody that it sure was enjoyable to play with that young kid at the final table (me).
And for a moment, the money, the prestige, the bragging rights didn't matter. I'm far from perfect, and the first one to admit it. But right then, at that moment, I felt like I had the right to hold my head high, for the first time ever in a casino. Best feeling yet.
Thanks for reading.
Josh