[beetyjoose]

A few weeks back I was on a business trip in long beach and had asked for some advice from 2+2ers about card rooms in the Long Beach/LA area. The general consensus was to go to Commerce. I just wanted to thank everyone for the advice.

I ended up mostly playing the 200NL game which was excellent. Very loose, high action, etc. I was able play two sessions and ended up winning about $800 after all said and done. Everything was pretty standard as far as card rooms go, however one thing I found very odd was the amount of rabbit hunting going on.

I had only been playing for about an hour my first night there, and there was a little rivalry going on between two players next to me. Pretty standard stuff. Player 1 outdrew player 2 on a couple flush draws and won about $200 over the course of a few hands. Naturally player 2 is frustrated and the two of them are taking verbal jabs at each other. All standard stuff except for what followed.

Flop comes with two hearts and player 2 bets out. Player 1 calls. Turn comes a spade, player 2 bets out a very large bet relative to the pot. Player 1 thinks about it for a while and ends up folding. Player 1 looks at me and says "I had two hearts, another flush draw". Just as the dealer is about to scramble the deck player 1 exclaims "let me see that last card" and reaches for the deck and goes to flip over the last card himself! Player 2 yells "Don't let him see it!" The dealer stops the card from being turned over and player 2 demands for the floor to be called.

The manager comes over and hears what occurred, he tells player 1 very apologetically that he has to leave. He tells him there is no rabbit hunting allowed and if another player calls him over he has to make him leave. I thought the situation was handled well by both the dealer and the floor.

I had never seen someone take a card and flip it himself at a casino. I was a bit surprised by this and was talking to a regular about it the next day. I told him the entire story and he was really surprised too. The only difference was that he was shocked that they threw him out. I admit that it sucks to be tossed out, but at the same time you can't be having people grabbing cards from the dealer.

Before I can even finish my sentence another player does the same exact thing. This time neither the other players nor the dealer try to stop the player. He continues to flip over the turn and the river. Play continues and now this rabbit hunting is occurring literally every other hand that is not making it to the river. Every time the same thing: the dealer leaves the cards out for the player to sift through.

I don't really mind rabbit hunting but this was getting ridiculous, especially for a place that has a rule posted that states "no rabbit hunting". It got to the point where players were rabbit hunting five cards when the action never made it to the flop. This may sound a bit over the top but it was starting to create a feeling of lawlessness at the table. It was as if the dealer wasn't in control at all. If nothing else it was slowing down the game considerably.

I play regularly at Foxwoods. I've played at a handful of casinos in Vegas. I wouldn't consider myself a seasoned veteran by any means, but I've played quite a bit and never seen anything like this.

Is this something that happens all the time at other casinos? Has anyone else had an experience like this before?