LA trip part 1: screw the Bike.

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This week is the first time I've ever been in LA and had time to play cards.

I flew down on Thursday and some friends picked me up from the airport and we hit the Bike. I got seated in a 20 move game about a minute after I walked in, and the game itself was great. The players all seemed to know each other, though, and were doing all sorts of shady stuff. I'm not used to people chipping or checking down so openly when they get heads up, and it made me a bit uncomfortable, but hey, when in Rome.

Then a seat opened up in the substantially worse main game. Somehow, despite that I was the newest player at the table, the regular players had managed to stay off of the move list, and I was the one who had to move. The (brush?) who asked me to move didn't speak English very well and I dind't really understand her, so I ended up letting it go. I guess I could have made a bigger stink about it, but I decided it wasn't worth it.

The main game had a hard time staying in action, since everyone seemed to spend more time lobbying than playing. Every time someone got up to use the restroom, four other people sat out, too. Meanwhile, the move game I had left was staying in action much more consistently, and was a better game.

On the other hand, the fried shrimp that I got were a cut above any cardroom food I've had before.

My friends and I were only planning on staying for a few hours, so when the game went out of action again right as I finished my food, I racked up and went over to sit with my friends at 6/12.

I got on the list for the game second up, and a seat at my friends' table opened up as I got back from cashing my checks. I expected the dealer to call the board for the seat, but instead a player who was clearly a regular waved at a friend of his, who came and sat down in the seat.

The dealer clearly knew him and asked if he wanted a hand. My friends objected and asked the dealer to go to the board for the seat. He called for a chip runner instead. I called for a floorman 3 times, and the floor for the area, who was standing near the table, refused to make eye contact with me until the regular player had posted and received a hand.

When I complained that the player had not been on the list for the game, the floor claimed that the player was a transfer, despite the fact that he had clearly not been playing before he sat down. The floor didn't speak English well either, and just blew me off and walked away after claiming again that it was alright the player had jumped the list since he "was just switching around."

I was irritated enough with the floorperson that I found the shift manager, who gave me the usual "I'll take care of it" line, which was all I was looking for. I'd be surprised if the Bike cares enough about customer service to log complaints like mine, but I figured I'd take a shot at getting something on the guy's HR file.

Maybe this kind of stuff is par for the course in LA, but coming from the East Coast and northern California, I'm not accustomed to being shafted so flagrantly in favor of the regulars at a room.

Anyway, I played at Commerce last night and was treated much better, so that's where I'll be playing from now on when I'm in LA. Any cardroom that I can't trust on the small stuff isn't a room I'm going to trust on the big stuff.

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