Rants & Raves: Why I Will Never Play At Eldorado Again

I've never played much at Eldorado for a couple of reasons. Going downtown is a bit of a pain for me, as well as their parking garage being so far away from the poker room. I've also had trouble getting a seat, and it was not uncommon for me to simply leave and go to other room.

I have blogged about some previous issues with the Eldorado. In How Much Tolerance Do You Give A Drunk?, the Dealers allowed some drunk kids to do whatever they wanted because one of the kids was a regular in the room. In Honoring Washington, Lincoln, and Jackson, they gave an open seat at their only $1/$2 table to one of their Dealers rather than a paying customer like me.

But the Final Straw for me was last week (Wednesday, Sept 7). I had a rare day at work when I got off at 5pm. I decided to head over to the Eldorado and play in their 6pm $55 tourney because I haven't play in that tourney for a long time.

The tourney had 15 players. It was the 4th level, 200/400, and our table had seven players. I was the BB in this hand. UTG folded. For whatever reason, UTG+1 paused, and went into thought. During the delay, the SB said Call, and tossed out a 500 chip, in addition to the 200 that was already in the pot. The Dealer told everyone to hold on, and the action was still on the UTG+1 player, who eventually raised to 1600. It folded around to the SB, and the Floor was called over by the Dealer. The situation about the SB acting out of turn was explained to the Floor, and the Floor gave his ruling.

In most poker rooms, there would be one of two rulings. Either the SB can pull his 200 call back because "action out of turn is not binding", or he has to leave the full 400 in the pot because "any money put into the pot must stay in the pot".

I said "most poker rooms" because the Floor of the Eldorado came up with a 3rd option. He said that the SB must call the full 1600 because the SB said "Call". At the start of the tourney, one of the rules that the Floor mentioned was, "Any action, physical or verbal, is binding whether it is in order or out of turn."

To me, this was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. This goes against any logical set of poker rules, including the TDA and Robert's Rules of Poker. It's also a terrible rule because it punishes new/bad players, as they are the ones most likely to act out of turn. It also seems like a great way to angleshoot because you can act out of turn. Any rule that creates more angleshots than the rule eliminates is a terrible rule.

I wasn't the only one who was dumbfounded by this as the entire table reacted quite loudly to this ruling. We all said that it was bullshit, and asked various questions. Most of the Floor's answers were, "He shouldn't have acted out of turn." "He did say Call." "I said the rules at the start of the tournament."

This conversation between us and the Floor lasted for quite a few hands, and I ended up asking, "So if another player had moved All-In after the UTG+1 raised, then the SB would have had to call the All-In?"

"Yes, he said Call. Verbal is binding."

Now, this silliness is enough for me to never play a tournament there again, but unfortunately, it wasn't the end of sideshow by the Floor.

At the Final Table with about five players left, I was sitting in the 6 Seat. There was a Kid in the 8 Seat who pushed All-In. The noteworthy part of this hand was the Floor, who was sitting right behind the Kid. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Floor react surprisingly when the Kid pushed All-In. The Kid was called by another player, turned over K8s, and was eliminated.

This reaction by the Floor surprised me for two reasons. First, I'm not the most observant poker player, and I really don't see things like tells. So for me to have noticed the Floor's reaction, it means that the reaction was rather dramatic.

Second, what the fuck is the Floor doing looking at players' cards, let alone reacting to them? As it turns out, this wasn't the only time he did it. For the rest of the Final Table, he kept hovering around the table, peeking at players' cards, and making comments like "Give me some chips, and I'll show you guys how to play a Big Stack."

I kept my mouth shut during this pathetic display of professionalism, which wasn't easy for me. Fortunately, I was sitting against a wall, and he wasn't able to hover around me. If had tried to look at my cards, I would have gone postal on him, saying something like, "If you try that again, I will call the Nevada Gaming Commission on you." (I would do it, too).

As it turned out, I ended up finishing 2nd place for $202. (I had the chip lead heads-up, but lost a flip, A9 v QJ.) For the first time ever in Reno, I grabbed the $202 chips, and walked out of the poker room without leaving a tip.

The complete lack of professionalism of this place doesn't deserve a tip, and they will never get my business again until I hear about some major changes in how this room is run.

The manager of the poker room is Margie Heintz. I'm not sure I've ever seen her at the Eldorado, and I doubt I could pick her out of a crowd. She has been in the poker industry for a long time, and is very well respected. She was even inducted into The Women in Poker Hall of Fame earlier this month.

Unfortunately, I have to say something rather mean about her now.

Either she is unaware that her poker room is being run with a complete lack of professionalism, and therefore has no business running a poker room. Or she believes this is the proper way to run a poker room, and therefore has no business running a poker room in 2011.