I know there are about 6-7 people who I personally know who would play a 2/5 PLO game and we have tried to get it going....usually have 4 people on list....need about 6 for them to open game....if you have friends who you know would play, come on over and they will open the game....again they need about 6-7 people to start the game....maybe even 5-6...

interesting...I am going to ask my accountant if such a form would satisfy the IRS....I'll let you know what he says.

Hey wubbie...nice to see you at event!!!

Kellie was definately at the top of her game....she runs a good tournament....

Personally would have preferred making the final table instead of busting out 140th....arg!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AJ ran into AA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn.....BB should not be allowed to have AA....

I checked and as far as I know the 9/13/08 date is set....

I am going to lobby for $15K in chips....will make things a bit smoother in those mid-levels.....don't know if they'll go for it, but worth a shot....

Great to see that so many peeps were down there...

I agree I think they missed one here....but once again here is a situation where people should just keep their mouths shut about a hand in action and should not do anything until the action is completed.

One thing you didn't mention joel, did player "c" say "call" and expose his hand, or did he just expose his hand...

If Player "c" thought the $180 was a raise, wouldn't he say "call"? before exposing his hand....

It seems like everything got all frakk'd up due to two players who obviously think they are "just so cool" that they table talk and got into trouble because of it....

As for Kevin telling you to be quiet...I think that was out of line, you do have a right being at the table to let your opinion be known....unless you were yelling, which from your post I don't think you were doing...

I would be down to play in this game. If you have an idea of a weekend when this game may get going tell me and I'll come by.

I played the tournament as got knocked out in 15 minutes. I had AA in UTG plus 1. I limped. Guy in UTG plus 5 raises to 250 (blinds 25-50). He gets two callers. I make it 800 to go. They all call.

After a flope of 5-6-J rainbow. I fire out a $1,500 chip bet. The initial raiser makes it $4,000. I figure he has Queens at this point so I go all in (I started the hand with 9,800).

He is not to happy saying he thought I had nothing and calls with pocket 9s. Well of course he spikes a 9 on the river and I am done.

I would have loved having $22,000 chips by the end of level one and think I could have made a deep run because my table was a bunch of stations.

Therefore, I left for the Borgata because Showboat had no cash games of any value with 430 playing the tournament.

No he didn't say call, he just exposed his hand and said "I wasn't lying, I have a set" and the other guy instamucked. I'm pretty sure player B had 22 for bottom set, his hand flashed when he mucked it and it was either 22 or 23, he told me later he had bottom set. It doesn't matter if player C called or not, his hand is still live even if he exposes it, since the only possible further action is him calling or folding. Some places will give you a warning for this, but nobody kills the hand.
When Kevin told me twice to be quiet I got very angry and definitely raised my voice (which is loud anyway), but I didn't disrespecthim or insult him, my comments were strictly about his decision, there was a security guard right near and he was looking with interest, but never said anything or came closer. Also, another floor person came over (Hispanic guy, not Favio) and he never said a single word the entire time, not one word. I thought that was very telling because usually those guys stick up for each other, but he never backed Kevin up, not once in the entire process.

Beaudog... thanks for your posts above. I especially appreciate the advice that you and another poster had about handling the tax situation in a final table chop.

With respect to the structure, I was thinking about it since the tournament ended. The blind levels seemed ok to those who had average stacks or better throughout the tournament until right around the time that the money hit. I don't remember the levels exactly, but shortly after the bubble burst, it seemed like the blind levels really took off, especially the antes.

By the final table, the blinds left no room to play (25k/50k w/ 10k ante). Even the chipleaders with 1 MM chips had only an M of 6. Two-thirds of the table had stacks with less than 600,000 and therefore Ms below 5. There was no ability to play poker at all. It was just fold or shove, and pray either way that you were still there when it came time to chop.

Now I know that Showboat has some space issues and was looking to get the tournament finished in a day. I had two ideas that might enable Showboat to flatten the structure a little as the final table approaches.

One might be just to start a little earlier. Instead of getting the cards in the air at noon, why not start at 10 a.m.?

Another thought was simply to give a two-day tournament a try. Maybe the goal in day one (Saturday) could be to play down to two tables. Then those players might return on day two (Sunday) for the end-game. Showboat could host the final tables in its poker room on day two. Showboat must have the room to do this.

In any event, I think the 25 minute levels are fine, and in general, the blind increases are not too bad. But I just recall some point at which there was such a serious escalation in the combination of blinds and antes that it becomes a card-catching contest.

One story from this weekend that perhaps makes the last point. Two of the top 3 finishers this weekend were down to felt with three tables left. The player who finished second told me that he had 23,000 chips (when the blinds were at 10k/20K or so), when he caught Aces three times. By winning just those three hands, he vaulted to over a 1 million in chips.

The number 3 finisher was seated next to me. He had lost a big hand, and could not post a full big blind. He went all-in blind from the SB with 95o v. AK. He caught a 5 on the river to survive. He moved all-in on the next hand with TT against A9 and won that hand, too. He started the final table with 800,000 chips.

Obviously, these runs are only possible because just the total of the blinds and antes are enormous compared to stack sizes. Maybe Showboat needs to get a little creative about how to smooth out the structure near the end so that if you have an average stack at any given point in time, you don't have to play "all-in or fold" poker.

It's a great tournament run by really nice people. I hope Showboat runs this tournament for many years to come.

That is the rule at showboat...first exposing of hand is a warning...second offense is to kill the hand....(in tournaments its kill hand and 1 orbit penalty) Lots of casinos are amending their showing hand rules, even heads up in cash games....not sure I agree with that in cash games....

The whole situation just seems so weird...why would the guy show his hand without saying anything first. If he thought player B had indeed raised, what was he doing????? trying to get a "read"?, Folding?, being an idiot? If he wasn't sure, then I am even more confused....

So back to the new room.... I finally got by the Showboat for a brief stop last Thursday 7/10. I must say that other than being bigger I much preferred the old room. I suppose drink service was faster but, meh. Basically it was cold as ice in there and on a Thursday night the place was pretty empty. We couldn't even get a 2/5 game off the ground. That being said what action there was was quite juicy. I also found the staff to be a little more clueless than my last visit. Maybe it was the "B" team.

AW

AW

You're right about the space issue. Since the showboat doesn't have "conference room" space, they kind of have to "get in & get out", almost all the floor people were up real late Friday getting the room ready for Saturday.

I like both ideas (either an earlier start) or the second day in the poker room....

And I hear you about the 25K/50K with 10K ante...I think though if they start the antes two rounds later and move to 15K in starting chips, that will put enough chips in play that at 7 handed there will be enough play left for those who have the bigger stacks....

nope.. Table 12!

Yeah definitely! Look forward to next time.

One of my dealers (don't remember who) said they definitely plan to have a 2 day event at some point. It's just a matter of finding a time the space is available.

1) Showboat has a betting line, they take it seriously. The chips cross the line and its a bet, they don't cross the line, it's not a bet. How much simpler can it be then to have a literal line on the table that differentiates it.

2) Don't show down until the dealer says showdown. How much simpler can this be?

3) Call means call. No where in any poker rule book does "I'll double you up" legally bind you to a call. Does it make you think that he will call? Yes. But the rulebook has to define it binding words somehow. Protect yourself and don't react until the dealer tells you to showdown.

4) Is Player C the guy people call Big Paul? Cause if so, he is a notorious angle shooter and probably should have known better to protect himself. If player B was shooting an angle, then the Shooter got shot. Karma is a bith.

Kevin is a Pitboss/Manager, Favio(Flavio?) is a dealer/floor person that started like a week or two ago.

There's no need for the new floor to come in and get his manager's back. The Pitboss's word is law in the room. Don't like the ruling? Play else ware. But you are going to see alot worse rulings than this one.

As for kevin telling you to keep quiet... a player has a responsibility to provide insite on a hand in order to help the ruling. I can imagine that by the tone of your email, you were just hostile and argumentative. So I can see why he just told you to stay out of it. If you were calm and professional, he might have listened to what you had to say. Please feel to berate me if I am wrong.

The Borgata has a betting line (first house in AC to implement it) and they are serious about it, but there forward motion is a bet and the reason is simple-it stops angleshooting, which is bad for the game and bad for the house. In rooms with frequent bigger games, like 2/5 and above, limiting angleshooting is very important, since the more money there is on the table, the more likely it is that folk will try to scam, cheat or angleshoot. In this case going with the letter of the law only benefits cheaters and is a case of being penny wise and pound foolish.

No one disagrees with this, in fact I've already said I thought player C deserved a warning.

No one disputes the meaning of the word call, but players often verbally affirm their bets using other language. Good dealers usually ask the players to confirm the action, but that wasn't possible in this situation because it happened so fast. Most rooms in AC have a rule that ALL verbal statements made in turn are binding, and the Taj used to have a huge sign that stated such (they took it down when they remodeled) so you're just flat wrong about this. At any of the rooms which have had poker since before the boom, there wouldn't be any question about the statement being binding, even at the Borgata this would be the case and it is written into their rules. Under no circumstances should a player ever be allowed to make an ambiguous statement about a bet and then say I was just kidding, especially about being All-in in a No Limit game. This is always bad for the game and only benefits cheaters, this is where the spirit of the law becomes important.

Whether it was Paul or not is irrelevant. There is no question player B was shooting an angle (I saw him today at the Taj and he apologized and admitted as much) that's why even though the ruling went in his favor, he asked player C "what do you want me to do?" and gave him the $60 he asked for. He said if Paul had asked him for the whole thing he would have paid him, he also said he was shocked that the ruling went in his favor. You know a ruling is bad when even the guy who benefited from it, disagrees with it.

Player C thought player B had put him all-in, so he was just showing him his hand, before he called to prove he wasn't lying about what he had. It all happened very, very fast and was confusing to all involved.

It wasn't Favio, but was a new guy.

Whether there's a need or not is irrelevant, they usually do it anyway. Floor people usually back each other up. I didn't like the ruling and I'll play where I damn well please. I play in all the rooms, good rulings or bad, I follows the fishes.

Somebody just got cheated out of hundreds of dollars and had a moron allow it to happen, of course I wasn't jovial or open-minded about it. His actions and statements were very unprofessional though, he should have just said that whether I liked it or not that was the ruling and it would stand. Telling a grown ass man to be quiet is generally not going to work, especially if that man is me. He never even tried to defend the ruling, he just kept saying be quiet, which just pissed me off more. There is no need for me to be professional, I'm not working, he is. You can check my posts, I don't berate people.

Don't be surprised if you don't get your way then. That's only human nature.

This is just silly. No matter how I expressed my discontent, he wasn't changing his ruling. I've been playing poker in AC for over 11 years and never once have I seen a floorperson change their ruling because a player disagreed with it. I have gotten rulings changed by calling for the shift manager many times (Borgata, Trop, Taj, Caesars), but I don't even know if the SB shift managers are competent or not. Unless I know who the shift manager is, I usually don't ask for them. In my experience several of the SB floor people don't have a clue about basic things, but most of them are pretty good. IMO the quality of the dealers is much better than the quality of the floorpeople.

Yeah, those dealers ARE pretty good, generaly speaking.

I played with Big Paul at the Plaza's electronic tables last week.

If he is a notorious angle shooter, why would he play at electronic tables, where angle shooting is reduced to a bare minimum, if not completely? From what I gathered, it seemed like he and a couple other players had been at the Plaza every night that week.

Since I don't play poker online, nor do I hit a casino often, I would be considered a prime fish. I had the opportunity to play at the Showboat last Friday playing in the 2 pm tournament.
First, the new room is awesome, bright, airy and roomy. The previous room was a little tight. Couldn't see the boardwalk as the blinds were closed, which was a good thing as the sun would have made it uncomfortable.

I did last over two hours, which was good for me. But... same dealer I busted out on when I visited last year, busted me this year... So its her fault
One hand I did win, the dealer pushed me the chips and started shuffling. He forgot one thing... My cards. I had to say something three times before he woke up..
Another dealer misdealed three times via flipping over cards or tossing one on the floor. That was strange.
Serious though, the dealers were very good, very personable, and very speedy. I was impressed.
Oh and the young woman who colored up the chips was the most attractive female I saw my entire trip.

Had a good time, played bad, but I was there for fun.

Glad to see you met Kellie.

If it was the 2pm tournament it wasn't Kellie....she works later...was probably Jacklyn