Yes, I was just a little puzzled as to why he wanted five 1k chips when he was just in the Blinds and had a few hands to work with .. unless an (old style) Ante was in play. Also, I'm of the mindset that anything I put in the middle is coming back my direction, so why worry about what I'm putting in. GL

Had a first yesterday. Five way limped pot, checked the whole way, straight on the board made a five way chop, and all five players gave me every dollar of it. I should try that more often.

Unfortunately, the house did not give me the rake.

I actually had something similar the other day at $1/$3. Raise to $10 preflop. 8 players to the flop, AJ10 (rainbow) on the flop. A bet and a few calls. Turn K. River Q. Nuts on the board. 5 players and the river and everyone checks (with rake already maxed). They all flip their hands and I chop the pot 5 ways.

I look at the last player to act kind of funny because he is a reg who should know better.

After I get tapped out I talk to him and ask why he didn't bet/shove. He said he knew it was a chop so why bother. I told him a 4 way chop was better for him than a 5 way chop. He started arguing with me so I said ok and walked away.

Is a 1% chance of a 4 or 3 way chop that takes X longer to finish the hand actually better? Esp if someone you count stacks and maybe even try to insist you make the 3 side pots right. That assumes there is even a 1% chance someone folds.

Also if the reg does get a rec to fold, how does that rec respond when everyone points he folded a chop?

Def for one hand fewer to the chop is better but maybe not for the long run.

I played my first WSOP employee event yesterday. Finished with a min cash when I called an all-in on the flop with 75ss on a T74 board with 2 spades against the opponent's 98. Jack on the turn and my dream was over.

No complaints about luck, though, as I cracked aces 3!! times, getting the money in behind each time.

Other thoughts...

The players were all exceedingly friendlyvand well-behaved. No trash talk. No angle-shooting. Just friendly conversation all around.

The dealers were raw, as expected. The players were patient, and let the dealers do their job, only stepping in to help avoid disaster. For instance, one of the times I cracked aces the villain bet around 100K and my stack was around 68K. The dealer was going to push me all of his chips but the table stepped in and reminded the dealer to count my stack and to return the extra chips to the losing hand.

The line to register was a joke. If you can pre-register, definitely do. If you can register online, even better.

Cashing out was an ordeal too. Especially considering that my meager winnings had zero tax implications.

Jack Effel paused the tourney around lunch time and led a video tribute to Doyke Brunson. Very tasteful.

Overall I'd enthusiastically play in this event again.

Sort of an AITA question from my dealer friends, and I feel like the answer is "Yes YATA." Still curious if any of y'all handles this differently.

PLO, I lose in a moderate surprise (~$450 all-in pot at 1-2) to the one combination of QQ that beats me. Fine, stuff happens and no sense getting upset about it. I visually confirm it's two queens and muck my hand.

Then I remember my big leak in these spots, forgetting to note the sidecards. "Hang on!" I say. "I want to see the hand that beat me, all four cards." But the dealer has now interleaved the winning hand with the board to make room push the pot (which is totally normal) and doesn't want to put the cards where I can see the entire winning hand. Everything is face up, but cards are on top of other cards.

In retrospect I wasn't very articulate and probably made it sound like I wanted him to reconstruct the board from his own memory, which isn't a reasonable request. What I really wanted was to see all nine cards clearly so I could figure out the winning hand, since I remembered most of the board.

So yeah, 5 seconds more would cost him time and all that. I was asking for a courtesy, not an entitlement. But given the cooler and my obvious surprise at the shown hand, I think my request was reasonable. Let's suppose my request had been clearer -- are any of you actually extending the courtesy to spread out the cards and giving me a second to figure out the sidecards?

Congratulations on the case, bolt.

What kind of proof do they need for the casino employee event? I deal in a bar poker league. So, not a casino by any means, but in the poker realm. Sounds like it might be somethng fun to try.

If you got any pushback it might be that they thought you were about to pull some angle or whine about an undeserving hand winning the pot. That, or the dealer wasn't sure the cards in their hand were actually the board+winning hand. Flipping up some random cards could create a mess.

I've gotten requests like yours, especially in PLO, and never thought it was a big deal. I'd spread it for a second and say I'm not sure which cards are which. Usually another player will chime in and say what the other cards were. NTA other than maybe a poor choice of words.

From what I've heard the cashiers are pretty lax about it. Anything that remotely suggests you work in the gaming business should work - name tag, badge, gaming license, pay stub, etc. Some cashiers might not even bother to verify. A number of pokernews reporters are able to enter (and one won in 2013) even though I don't think they're actually employees of the Horseshoe/Rio or any other casino.

Thanks!

Zero proof required. You should be fine.

The reporter who won it back then was seated next to me for most if the day. Plenty of other people who don't directly work at a casino but are associated with poker also entered. Nobody ever asked to see a gaming badge, asked where I worked, or even questioned if I was at all a part of the industry. They just gave me a ticket and wished me luck.

Yes, Chad is 'great people' and loves the poker industry for sure. (You can use his name here, he's pretty public and still has an account in these forums!)

While the word 'casino' is in the event name, it's not a mandate. We've had plenty of Charity Room Dealers head out and play in this event. Similar to the Ladies Event, the intent is to celebrate a select group of Players and anyone who enters and is 'found out' would receive plenty of flak for doing so.

There are plenty of poker champs that have come from inside the ropes .. which from my immediate area is specifically Joe Cada and Ryan Reiss. While I can't confirm that they entered this event while still dealing, I'm sure that Cada would've caught some flak for entering the event while his family still operated a charity poker room AFTER winning the ME, eh? GL

There must be a greater than 1% chance someone would fold.
And hopefully no one would make the worst player in the game feel bad by pointing that out.

It wouldn't even have to be the worst player in the game folding. We have all seen good players fold in this situation, some of us might have even done it ourselves once or twice. All it takes is one player only paying partial attention to the game to fold. Someone who is distracted by their phone or a game on TV who mentally checked out on the flop when their small pocket pair missed hitting a set. They see someone bet and they are folding.

Sidepots should not be an issue either. The dealer shouldn't be bringing in any bets until at minimum everyone has acted at least once and even then only if a player requests it. No player who knows what is going on will request it.

Yes, it might not be the worst player in the game, but folding when you have the nuts is an awfully big mistake. Anyway, that wasn't really important to my point. More generally, no one should be saying anything about the fold that might make any other player feel bad.

Question--How does your place handle meal tickets**? Had a guy show up at a 1/2 table with over 2x max buyin saying he came back from a meal ticket and that's what he had when he left. They don't note your chip count when you take a meal ticket. The floor said that's the rule, he has to come back with all his chips.


**Just in case it's not a universal thing, its where you pick up your chips, leave a game and have 2 hours to get back and be put at the top of the waiting list to re-enter a new game.

Rooms vary .. meal tickets usually have an amount on them .. only allow for one hour .. and may get their seat back

Lots of rooms if you're gone 2 hours you come back as a new player

So totally room depending but if you typically have to remain at stack you left with .. GL

We have no such policy. Food service is offered tableside but we don't have "dinner break" options for players, no play-over boxes (lol does anywhere still have these), etc.

I always thought the reseat list was a good idea but few places offered it and few players wanted to avail themselves of it. It really came into its own post-COVID.

Many rooms have stayed 8 handed, so often they have more aggressive rules than before about players away from the table. My local room won't even let the first player be away for more than two orbits iirc, so the (new) reseat list is a must unless you eat table side.

But most players prefer to eat tableside.

My room if you are less than 30 minutes they hold your seat. Meal tickets are only for when you are gone for more than 30 minutes and you just get list priority. You don't get your old seat back. Does that change anything? To me, you are rejoining the game fresh from the list.

We call it a dinner list. Most of the floors aren't even sure what the rules are so it's a bit of a free for all. You're allowed to come back with your full stack but the amount is rarely tracked so it's basically up to the players to police it.

The exception to that is if you're on a must move/main game. Players who didn't want to be in the main game were using the dinner list as a way to jump back to the start of the line or go South. So now we track stack size and you retain your position on the must move list. You must re-enter with the amount you left with and must go to the game you would have been at when a seat opens.

Unfortunately the players who need the dinner list the most aren't the type to use it. They're happy to just leave their stack on the table for 90 minutes knowing their chips will be conveniently bagged for them if

3 missed BB is a 'pick up' (if list) .. so leave table/eat at your own risk of how fast the game is moving .. must work off the missed BBs

1 hour dinner request will get you your seat back at 'full' stack .. sometimes a Player will 'play over' in your seat while gone. I believe if you go over an hour you go to the top of the list as long as you come back within 2 hours at full stack

Another room has 90 minute dinner break with top of list and full stack upon return

Any break over 2 hours is standard 'new Player' rules .. bottom of list and table stake buy-in .. GL

Crazy frickin night.

I tap into a tournament string. Very first table a couple hands in, there is a situation where one player is all in. Another player is considering a call. The 2nd player realizes there is a long list of alternates waiting to play in the tournament. He asks me how many alternates there are I tell him that do not know, but that last I heard it was an hour wait.

This is not good enough for him. He insists on knowing how long he will have to wait to re-enter. I try and call over a floor, none to be found. Player refuses to act until a floor gets there. Finally a floor comes over. It is a substitute floor running breaks. When the player asks how long the wait lost is, the floor does not know. The player refuses to act until he gets this info. They player and the floor are going back and forth, finally another player calls clock. The floor then tells the player he does not know how many alternates there are, but he will find out in 5 minutes when the tournament director comes back, in the mean time he has a minute to act.

The player argues with him, but the floor just gives him a countdown. With one second left he calls. Player loses and is out of the tournament unless he rebuys.

Of course he complains, but the argument takes place away from my table so I put out the seat card and go on.

Interesting question (is a player entitled to knowing the wait list when making a decision), but effectively answered for me (No).

Tap into the next tournament table. Pretty uneventful for most of the down. Only notable thing is the player in seat 4. When he is waiting to act he will violently wash his cards back and forth. When I say violently, it is only partially hyperbole. He will literally wash his cards back and forth from the rail to easily a foot in front of the betting line. He will do it very, very quickly. Sliding them back and forth.

Sure enough, one hand he is doing this motion with his cards and seat 3 folds tossing his cards forward. They land a few inches past the betting line. I go to grab then, meanwhile seat 4 is violently washing his cards. Just as he moves them forward he loses control of them and they slip out of his grasp. They mix with seat 3's discards just as I grab them.

I muck all four cards. Everything happened in the blink of an eye. I wasn't even trying to muck seat 4s cards, he just sort of threw them into my hand as I pulled in seat 2s discards.

He immediately, says that he wants his cards. He was going to raise.

I stop the game and call over a floor and explain what happened. The floor starts to declare seats 4's cards dead. Unfortunately he waivered a bit. He allowed seat 4 to convince him to allow seat 4 to whisper to him what cards he had and them pull them out of the muck. To be fair, there were only 4 hands in the muck (8 cards). So when he properly identified his cards, the floor allowed him to have them back.

He then raises. Another player reraises. Seat 4 goes all in. Other player calls. Seat 4 turns over AQ of spades, other players turns over AK offsuit.

Sure enough there is a Q in the window. Board runs out and AQ wins. Of course other player is furious. Him and the floor have words. Eventually they take it away from the table, so I continue.

Again, strange situation. I can obviously see all sides of this.

I tap into a 3rd table in the string (again a tournament table). Mostly uneventful. A hand comes up between seat 4 and seat 5. The heart flush draw hits on the turn. Seat 4 bets, seat 5 raises. Seat 4 tanks for a while and folds. There is some talk between the player about who has the best hand. Finally seat 5 says I had you crushed. He then shows seat 4 his hand. He has both cards in his hand and literally puts his hand in front of seat 4s face at eye level.

He tries tries to muck his hand, but i catch the cards before they hit the muck. As inam clearing the board and pushing the pot, seat 9 asks to see the hand I turn over AJ of hearts.

Seat 5 suddenly says "Don't do that".

I look at him to see if he is joking or not. He isn't. He says that I should never show his hand. He is serious. I tell him that since that he showed his hand to seat 4, everyone is entitled to that information. I had to show.

He says that he only showed one card to seat 4. Therefore I should only show one card to everyone. I tell him that both cards were in his hand. I was pretty sure I saw him show two, but even if he didn't, both cards were in his hand, show I had to show both.

He then continued to berate me. He said I was terrible and that I should have asked him first before showing. He then continues going on and on about how inam terrible and I needed to ask.

I then literally look him in the eye and tell him that this conversation needs to stop. If he wants to continue it, I can call over a floor and he can decide if what I did was wrong. He says that a floor doesn't need to be called, but that I am an idiot for showing his hand.

Literally at that moment, the head of the poker room is walking by the table. Not just a normal floor. Not even just the tournament director, the absolute head of the poker room. Someone with the power to do whatever the Frick he wants.

A literal God in this situation.

I call him over and ask him if he can make a floor call. He walks over and asks what I need. I explain the situation and tell him how seat 5 is continuing to berate me.

Seat 5 tries to explain how he only showed 1 card. Poker room manager asks seat 5 if he had both cards in his hand. He meekly admits he did (he had to, there were many witnesses).

Poker room manager explains that I was right to show both cards. By having both cards in his hand, he had effectively shown his whole hand.

Seat 5 starts to argue with him. Really hard. Like saying he doesn't know what he is talking about. It is pretty clear that seat 5 thinks this is just a run of the mill floorman that he can intimidate.

The poker room manager finally tells him to shut up. Literally. He says that his decision is final. If the player wants to continue to argue against either of us (me the dealer, or the poker room manager), he will receive a one round penalty. If he chooses to escalate his complaints he will be kicked out in the tournament.

He asks to speak to his manager. The poker room manager then explains that he is literally the highest authority. The poker room manager is clearly annoyed by this player.

The player then says a few more words then shuts up. The poker room manager looks at me and says, "Let me know if you have any problems." and walks away.


The player was not a problem the rest of the down.

What was interesting though was there was a hand where he folded early (Maybe UTG+2). He then walked away from the table. It was clear he had gathered up some garbage and was walking to a garbage can to throw it out. Strangely enough, the table we were at was in an odd location. There wasn't a garbage can immediately nearby. It was maybe 50 feet away, but also hidden by a pillar.

The hand went very fast. There was a preflop raise and everyone else folded. I push the small pot and start to shuffle. I get out the hand quickly.

I see the player running back to the table from 50 feet away. He was UTG.

I could have easily mucked his hand. He was late enough to give me time to think about it.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have a soft spot for players who are willing to go to a garbage can to throw away their garbage. If they don't, I would have to do it on the tournament break. It sucks.

So I literally slow down my dealing, and toss the last card to the button when he is a few feet away. I let him look at his cards UTG.

He folds, but he acknowledged what I had done with a look. All was forgiven both ways after that.

Just a strange start to the day. I didn't do anything wrong on any of the tables, but just had a couple of crazy situations that made it unique.

Funny how AK guy is only mad AFTER AQ hits a Q.

I hate pulling cards out of the muck like that unless the player was in no way at fault. Even then it's risky.

I don't know why players refuse to change bad habits like that. The worse they are the more they dig in.

I had a older guy in seat 5 once. Guy was a mess - drinking heavily, angrily texting and yelling at whoever it was who kept calling him at 2am. "I'm fine! Quit calling me or I'll block you like I did your sister!" - I think that was his daughter. He would randomly blow up at other players and at the waitress if she took too long. He looks at his cards and pushes them forward, well over the line. I muck them and action continues. After 4 players acted he goes "raise!" and I inform him that he doesn't have any cards. "Why did you take my cards! I just set them down right here!" and he points to the area where everyone else puts their cards to fold. He says he always puts his cards there while he's deciding what to do. I tell him to stop doing that but he won't have it. He keeps doing it and I keep asking him "Are you folding?" "No I'm not folding!" "The don't put your cards there."

Finally he moves to the 3 seat which has a lot more room behind the line and apart from general grumpiness we do ok.

Later on seat 5 leaves and he announces he's going to move there. I say "Are you sure you want to sit there? I might take your cards again."

He immediately fumes up, thinking I'm mocking him. I am, kind of, but also trying to be helpful.

"If you were me, you wouldn't be in that seat!" I exchange chuckles with a reg and we agree that is a true statement. "I make more in an hour than you do in a day!"

I think he was trying to put me in my place and make me jealous but the whole night I was feeling sorry for the guy. No amount of money would make me switch places with this angry, decrepit little dude who's life seems to be falling apart.