The Breakroom: low-content gaming employee chatter thread

[youtalkfunny]

Originally Posted by lmcjaho

in our room we are tracked for hands/hour in cash games and these guys are a real killer for my avg so I really detest them.

I could care less about my hands/hr average. As long as everybody thinks I'm a good dealer, that hands/hr stuff is taking care of itself.

I think anyone who is lagging behind in that department probably has a lot of (more important!) leaks in their dealing.

[pfapfap]

Originally Posted by lmcjaho

These guys can be annoying yes, but no more so than those that INSIST on paying with their smallest chips, even if it means they will have none left for the ante/blinds on the next hand, meaning we need to make change for them (which they will then throw in instead of a larger chip again)

Haha, yeah, those guys are fun. Or even better is when it takes them a while to get someone else's attention to make change before they put out an ante, and don't listen to me at all when I say not to worry about it, because I can make change from the other antes.

Some tournament structures get to a level where the lowest chip is useless, but still a level or two before a break for color-up. I always suggest they keep the small chips in the back of the stack and only use them when all-in, but no... people like to put out, say, an 800 BB with quarters. Then the person who wins the pot takes a minute or two stacking it up (along with all the 100 antes paid in quarters), only to repeat the process the next hand.

The other night I was able to convince an entire table to stop doing that. Oh my, did the hand-rate soar after that, simply from people not having to slow down action to reach around the pile of green chips they had just won to look at their cards, and then be distracted the entire hand while continuing to stack chips.

Originally Posted by youtalkfunny

I could care less about my hands/hr average. As long as everybody thinks I'm a good dealer, that hands/hr stuff is taking care of itself.

I worked a room that did that, too. They also insisted that we put out the next street BEFORE bringing in bets. The punishment for an early burn/turn? Your next shift was spent as chip-runner, losing a night's pay.

That's about the most inefficient method possible. I guarantee you I'm faster if I pull in the bets first, especially at a no-fold'em SSFL game. I have to verify them before I deal the next card, anyway, and now the players are confused about who bet what, and I'm not looking at the action as I'm trying to make sure all the bets are still there as I scoop them in. Not to mention my arms are now blocking the board.

I went from 40 h/hr at my previous gig to about 35 h/hr at this one. It was a good room overall, but it had some goofy counter-productive policies.

[bav]

Originally Posted by pfapfap

Some tournament structures get to a level where the lowest chip is useless, but still a level or two before a break for color-up. I always suggest they keep the small chips in the back of the stack and only use them when all-in, but no... people like to put out, say, an 800 BB with quarters. Then the person who wins the pot takes a minute or two stacking it up (along with all the 100 antes paid in quarters), only to repeat the process the next hand.

Hence the announcement many TD's make stating "we will be coloring up the greens at the next break--if one player at every table could buy up all the greens it will make the process go a lot smoother--thanks."

[NYCNative]

I got the dealer to laugh the other day while I was playing...

Was in a tournament, blinds were 100/200. There were five of us in an unraised pot and one player used a $1000 chip so the dealer took all of the black chips from the other four players as change, leaving the pot as a single $1000 chip.

After the flop and it was checked to me, I looked at the dealer and asked with a serious look on my face if he could spread the pot.

[PAhoser]

Originally Posted by NYCNative

I got the dealer to laugh the other day while I was playing...

Was in a tournament, blinds were 100/200. There were five of us in an unraised pot and one player used a $1000 chip so the dealer took all of the black chips from the other four players as change, leaving the pot as a single $1000 chip.

After the flop and it was checked to me, I looked at the dealer and asked with a serious look on my face if he could spread the pot.

I've made the same joke while in the box:

"For this street only, the pot can be spread upon request"

Done that in a cash game as well when there was 3 or less chips in the pot...obv takes the right table to even attempt.

[youtalkfunny]

If I get involved in the first second hand of a tourney, I like to ask my opponent, "How much you got left?"

Originally Posted by NYCNative

Was in a tournament, blinds were 100/200. There were five of us in an unraised pot and one player used a $1000 chip so the dealer took all of the black chips from the other four players as change, leaving the pot as a single $1000 chip.

When that happens when I'm dealing, I don't stack the black the chips to make change, I just push 'em all to the player in question. Then, the people not in the hand get confused--they weren't paying attention, and they thought they just saw the pot get pushed, yet the dealer is putting out a flop...???

[pfapfap]

Originally Posted by bav

Hence the announcement many TD's make stating "we will be coloring up the greens at the next break--if one player at every table could buy up all the greens it will make the process go a lot smoother--thanks."

That's nice when players know how to do it. Very often the entire game slows to a crawl as players throw chips back and forth. Either UTG has a bunch he tries to sell to the other guy, or everybody tries to sell to the guy in the middle of a big hand. I do what I can to stop it, but yeesh. I can't very well force someone to stop trying to count out green chips and play his hand, especially when the transaction is half-way complete.

I had a guy the other day who very quietly bought the chips from the antes when he wasn't in the hand. Even better would be had he used big chips for antes so I could give them as change, but it only took a few hands to complete.

[youtalkfunny]

Anybody ever do this?

It's time to chop a huge pot. Before I start stacking, I separate the pot down the middle into two piles, and see how close I can come to splitting it perfectly that way.

I just started doing this, and every time I finish stacking, I need to move one chip from the right pile to the left pile to make it exact. Why is that??? Big pot, little pot, doesn't matter, I'm always two chips high on the right (and moving one to the left will balance it).

In other LC news, player pushes all-in in tourney last night, he has about 24 or 25 T1000 chips in one stack, and a virtually equal stack of T500 chips. Another player asks for a count.

"I'm going to guess 37," I announce before counting it down. He had T36,000. The players were impressed. I shrugged it off with a "Meh."

Later, another all-in, this time a single stack of T1000s. While everyone went into deep thought, I had time to visually count it. When finally asked for a count, I announced, "I'm going to guess 18." It was exactly 18, of course--but nobody was wowed this time. I guess you need a second stack of a different color (even if it's the exact same size).

[pfapfap]

I do that all the time. Usually I'm watching the person think about shoving, so I've already counted. It's best when it's a mix of chips. "Eh, it's about 23,175, but let me check..." and it comes out exactly.

The beauty of this is that when it's right, the players are impressed as hell. When it's off by one chip, they're STILL impressed as hell. When it's off completely, I'm headed to a new table soon anyway, so they won't know the history.

For split fixed limit pots, I would do that sometimes, too. You can do it because you're good and you know what a pile of chips looks like. Either that or you've split many baggies with buddies. "I split, you pick."

[NYCNative]

Originally Posted by bav

Hence the announcement many TD's make stating "we will be coloring up the greens at the next break--if one player at every table could buy up all the greens it will make the process go a lot smoother--thanks."

In my room, they just announce a color-up and do not ask to have the players make change for it.

Actually, I can get reprimanded if I facilitate the color-up in this way.

If the players choose to do so on their own, I don't stop them but I cannot actively encourage it. I will step in if they try and bother a player in a hand, but otherwise I appreciate the players making the color-up easier and it hasn't caused major problems. If it does, I shall reconsider but it's hard for me to tell players "no, you cannot make change" since we ask players to make change all the time.

This reminds me of this past weekend. Someone got felted and he didn't get his rebuy money out until I was already dealing so I announced he was playing x-behind. He wanted to call the blinds, the guy next to him folds so I ask the guy next to him to please sell him the chips and I'll get him the chips back after the hand.

Dude looks at me and says "No" with a "go fark yourself" look on his face like I asked him if I could see naked pictures of his daughter or something.

Yes, the guy can play the hand without chips and we can reconstitute the amount he owes when he gets them. A little more work for me but not a big deal. And yes, I can sell chips in the middle of a hand in my room (I thought I couldn't but a floor told me to and when I balked she thought I was saying I was incapable of it physically, which wasn't the case).

But I never had someone refuse, let alone so acidly, such a simple request.

[pfapfap]

Yeah, don't ask someone specifically to sell a stack. Tourney change is different, but cash is theirs. Ask the table aloud if someone wants to sell, but otherwise just sell it immediately, or track 'til the end of a hand. To do this, just keep a stack of whatever the bet is separate from the pot, and remind people that this is what's owed.

[Dealer-Guy]

As silly as it sounds, some people are superstitious of their chips and chips from other people.

Some players will not let another player loan them chips while they wait for chips to come from the cage (dealers do not sell chips at the table)

Others do not want to give up their chips they even though they are getting paid for them.

I point out that it is bad luck to be superstitious but they don't seem to get it.

[RR]

Years ago I was called to the table because a well known tournament player had all the small denomination chips on the table and refused to make change.

[venice10]

Originally Posted by Dealer-Guy

Others do not want to give up their chips they even though they are getting paid for them.

The first time you get burned for counterfeit $100s that you picked up from some stranger at a table will be the last time you sell chips at the table. If I was forced, I'd insist that the chip runner immediately convert it to chips and tell the floor he has to guarantee I get paid if the bill is bad. If he can't, no deal.

[Shiftyeye7]

Originally Posted by RR

Years ago I was called to the table because a well known tournament player had all the small denomination chips on the table and refused to make change.

ruling?