Just When I Thought I Had Seen It All!

I have been lucky enough to be in Las Vegas many of the past few Wednesdays, so I have been able to attend the regular WPDG (Wednesday Poker Discussion Group) meeting. During the recently concluded BARGE (Big August Recreation Gaming Excursion), more than 60 people attended the lunch/meeting. We spend an hour socializing and eating lunch, and then talk poker for about two hours. We talk about everything – how to play A-K in middle position, when to "push it all in," and so on – and we exchange odd stories or funny things that have happened to us in games or cardrooms we have visited. My good friend Tim Singleton, a Las Vegas resident who deals all games, including tiles, told me a funny thing that happened to him in a new cardroom in the Midwest. In his own words, Tim said:

I was recently on vacation in the Midwest visiting my parents, and my dad told me that poker had just been legalized. I thought I would go down to the local casino and see how good the action was. I got there and found that they had a little three-table poker room in the back of the casino. Arriving at about noon, I walked into the poker room. There was one dealer at a table and one floorperson, as well as a list on a white board of three names. I asked the floorperson, "What do you play here?"

She said, "$2-$4 Texas hold'em."

I thought that would be fun, so I asked her to put my name on the list. She told me that the three ladies on the list were just waiting for a fourth. So, she paged them, and in about two minutes we had a hold'em game going. While waiting for the ladies to arrive, I asked the dealer, "How long have you been dealing this game?"

She said, "This is my second day."

"Well," I thought, "this should be fun," and we got the cards in the air.

We started to chitchat, and they all seemed very impressed that I was from Las Vegas and played poker there. Soon, a very interesting hand came up. I was dealt A-K under the gun and raised, and all three of them called. The flop came down K-5-2 rainbow. I bet, and one of them called. The turn was a 7, I bet, and was called. The river was a 10, I bet, and was again called. She showed K-Q. Good for me, or so I thought. The dealer started chopping the pot!

I was taken aback at first, and then I spoke up: "Uh, excuse me. I win the pot."

The dealer looked at me and said, "No, sir, you both have a pair of kings, and it's a chopped pot."

Another lady in the game said, "Yes, I played this last night and the second card doesn't play." Oh, boy. So, I called for the boss to come to the table. The floorperson came over and said the exact same thing. "Yes, sir, you both have a pair of kings."

I literally had to give them the rundown (on a napkin, as they wouldn't let me touch the cards), and asked, "Now you understand it's the best five cards, right?" I had K-K-A-10-7 and the other player had K-K-Q-10-7. At this point, they shoved me the pot! I tried to explain a little better, but I think they took some offense to the fact that some kid from out of town was telling them how to do their jobs.

Five minutes later a similar hand came up that I wasn't playing in. The final board read Q-J-10-K-5; one player had A-J and the other player had A-5. I had to ask the dealer, "Why are you pushing the split pot to one player?"

She said, "Well, she's got a straight with a jack." I had to tell her about that one, too. There were several other funny situations that arose, and they deferred to me. It was very amusing, but they took it in stride and seemed to have learned something. I just thought it was funny, and I had a great time playing!

I'm not really sure if there is a point to this story besides amusement, but in these days of poker expansion, lots of places are hiring lots of poker dealers right out of school. Many still don't know how to read a hand. Don't get me wrong, I totally believe in letting a dealer do his job and not interfering, but you are responsible for your hand and making sure you get what you have coming to you. It is great to have someone in the game who can assist without becoming overbearing. This is what I tried to do, and believe I succeeded. I left smiling and giggling. I also can't wait to go back and play some more, and enjoy that part of the country where poker is newly born.

Anyway, as Tim said, there isn't much point to the story except that it was very funny. It is good to remember that poker is in its infancy in many locales. Be a good sport, and be part of the solution and not the problem. That kind of good behavior will help grow the game for which we all have such passion.

Class dismissed.

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