I was at an interesting table earlier this week at the Eldorado. At first, it was a rather typical weeknight $1/$2 game. (You know... boring.) Then three college kids sat down at the table, and two of them were rather drunk. The Dealers knew one of the drunks by name, Casey.
The two drunks and their buddy bought in for around $100 each. The two drunks played like you would expect them to do. They played almost every hand. They called with nothing, and raised for no reason. As a player at the table, I think it was wonderful, because I can get paid when I have a big hand.
However, there were other things happening that were not so wonderful. They were openly talking about hands and their cards during a hand. They would tell each other, "Call him. He ain't got nothing." After every hand between them, the winner would toss a chip or two back the loser, and said, "Good Battle." One time, the non-drunk buddy got short on chips, and Casey tossed him five Red chips right across the table.
I was not thrilled with all the extra-curricular activities, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to "tap the fishtank". There was one player who was vocal about the circus, but he was just saying generic things to nobody in particular. Things like, "I can't believe what I'm seeing" and "I can't believe they have cameras in here."
There was one other person who didn't say anything, and that was the Dealer. Actually, of the three Dealers who sat down during while the drunks were here, and only one of the them said anything to Casey about what was happening.
Unfortunately, this was not uncommon. I've played in a lot of smaller poker rooms that cater to Locals, and the Dealers don't enforce the rules with the Locals for one simple reason. Dealers get paid with tips, and they don't want to upset the people who tip them, who are the Regulars that the Dealers are on a first name basis with. But "tourists" like me, the Dealers don't care about.
The worst Poker Room for this double standard was at Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca, NY. They were one of the first casinos in the area, and they had a decent amount of business from Cleveland, which was about a 2.5 hour drive. A few years ago, a large group of from the CPMG went up there on Good Friday. One of us, El Diabl0, was in a hand with two Locals. On the River, one of the Locals bet, and El Diabl0 called. The other Local was thinking, and the first Local said, "I got this one, Fred. Just lay it down." So he folded, and the first Local won the pot. El Diabl0 asked the Dealer, "You guys allow this in your Poker Room?" The Dealer didn't respond, but did collect the tip.
At a different table, I was sitting with two of our players, Canuck and Twitch. They got into a pot, and were the only two in the pot. So naturally, there was some table talk between them. After Twitch won the hand, the Dealer warned him that he was not allowed to lie about his hand. So I asked the Dealer, "What if he told the truth?" The Dealer said, "Well, we don't encourage that here."
A Dealer's job is to control the Deck, control the Pot, and control the Table. That doesn't mean they have to be a Bitch, and yell at everyone. Usually just a couple of words can solve a lot of problems, and it certainly would have helped with the drunks earlier this week.
No comments:
Post a Comment