The Name Game

There have been many changes in the poker world over the last three or four years and most players would agree that, all-in-all, we should be happy that they have occurred. Some of the changes I have noticed have been in the terminology that is used in the industry and, I must admit, if many of these new terms were not annoying to me, I probably wouldn't have taken the time to write a column concerning them.

Let me start with terminology that really doesn't bother me that much but is more of a gentle lead in to the point I will be trying to make throughout the writing.

Having lived in Southern California for the past 30 years, I played poker while I was running my construction business. I frequently played in places like the Normandie Club, Bicycle Club, Commerce Club and others that have gone, and still others that have come into existence. They were, as you notice, "clubs," and if someone would ask you where you were going, if you had a favorite place like the Bicycle Club, you would just say, "I'm going to the Club."

Then, a few years ago, these clubs all changed and became "casinos." The change was so subtle that I don't even remember noticing that it had changed. My guess is, as a marketing tool, it was a good decision and it probably brought in some extra people. After all, would you rather go to a club or a casino?

Now, they are still named and called casinos except, and here is my annoyance, if you are talking with Internet people or talking about places to play poker in general, then these former clubs (which became casinos) are now referred to as, get this, "brick-and-mortar" poker places. Now, I was in the masonry construction business for 20 years and, let me tell you, I don't know any of these places that are brick and mortar. Most are lathe and plaster or block and mortar. Besides, I think the Internet companies started the whole thing by giving every place to play poker that wasn't on the Internet an ugly name, like "brick-and-mortar." Who the hell wants to play amongst brick and mortar?

Another example of terminology that has either changed or crept into the poker jargon is the word "cut-off." I remember cut-offs were when you had worn your jeans several years and they were beginning to look raggedy, you would cut them off and make shorts out of them. The first time I heard the term in poker was when one of the new pros was talking about a hand where he was in the cut-off position and everyone passed, and he continued the story "… only problem was, he had left me back at the cut-off position."

I've been playing poker longer than I care to admit, and professionally, off and on for a long, long while, and I had never heard the term "cut-off." Later, after the new pro left, I asked the other remaining player and he explained the cut-off position was the player (or seat) one off the button. So, I guess if someone says there they were one seat off the cut-off, it's like back in the olden days you would have been two seats from the button.

Next, let me mention another poker term that crept into poker lexicon, that is, the word "domination." It is used when comparing hands such as when one player has A-K and the other A-Q. The A-K has the player with A-Q "dominated." In years gone by, we had different terms for the same concept. Back then was a time when almost all the players were males and there were no penalties for inappropriate language and now having one player dominated was then having that player "by the you-know-what's." I actually prefer the new word usage, dominated over having him by the you-know-what's. It is more titillating, not so direct and to the point.

Now here is a change in terminology in the business that has annoyed and confounded me. It was brought to mind several ago months ago when my daughter started playing poker. She got started by going to the Ladies Only tournaments at the Bicycle with my wife and then opened an account on one of the Internet sites and started playing - first with play money and freeroll tournaments, and then gradually playing small tournaments and in small limit games.

One day I asked her how her poker playing on the Internet was going and she said, "good." She went on to explain she really liked the sit-and-gos. "Oh," I said, "must be something new. What's it called again?" She said, "Sit-and-gos." "How do they work?" I asked. She explained how they worked. "Gee," I thought, amazingly similar to a one-table satellite that pays three spots in cash. I was satisfied with the whole thing, except I began to see that it was not quite as clear cut as I had thought.

In the following weeks, while attending poker tournaments, I sometimes drifted into the satellite area, where I noticed that they too were conducting satellites or sit-and-gos. The more I listened and watched, the more I got confused. I heard one place announce, "One-table satellites paying three spots. Another poker room announced sit-and-gos, the winner receiving a buy-in to that day's tournament. I asked my wife about the difference, as she plays some small or freeroll sit-and-gos on the Internet. She explains, some sit-and-gos are only for points into other tournaments and have just one winner, others pay two or three spots.

The more confused I got, the more I wanted to make some sense of the whole thing. I wondered why they changed from using the word satellite of different kinds to sit-and-gos. I decided to ask people who were running the satellites or sit-and-gos. So, for the next few tournaments I attended, I headed for the satellite or sit-and-go area. First of all, for some of the tournaments I attended, it was my first time being in that particular casino so I usually stopped the first poker player that I recognized and asked where the sit-and-go area was. Most of the players looked at me like I was crazy. They usually would say, "you mean the satellite area?" "Oh," I would reply, "Yeah the satellite area."

Finally, when I got there I searched out the person who ran the satellites or sit-and gos. I just wanted to know what significance the term sit-and-go had. I was way past trying to get an exact definition of what a sit-and-go and a satellite was, I just wanted to know what sit-and-go meant.

Some satellite directors said the name sit-and-go came from the fact that players start taking their seats in these satellites, oops, sorry, these sit-and-gos, and then, when all eight, nine or 10 players are seated (or maybe more aptly put, when all sit), they go. Others contend that when all have sat (or sit) they commence play and when someone loses all their chips, they go.

My solution, go back to calling them all one-table satellites. Just pause after saying one-table satellite and explain the payout.

My daughter also said she liked the $2 and $4 "fixed" games on the Internet. That was another annoying change the Internet sites started. They couldn't just have $2 and $4 games or $2 and $4 no-limit games, they had to make sure everyone knew the limit was "fixed."

So, in case your Rip Van Winkle and you have been away from poker for the last four or five years and now you have decided to return to play, let me tell you that you're not in the twilight zone or losing your mind, it's just that we have just changed the way we say the same old things.

For what it's worth …