Very early round of the nightly donkament. I got one guy who insists on being last to ante. He's paying attention, he *hears* me calling for the antes, but he not only insists on going last (I don't mind that, it has been pointed out to me that anteing last ensures you'll never be forced to ante twice after losing the "who didn't ante?" debate), but he waits another 3-5 seconds after THAT before finally relinquishing the min-chip.

Then, every time the action gets to him, it's a 10-second run-off before he'll act on his hand. Again, he's not distracted by a phone or tv. It looks like he's in Operation Slowdown. I can't understand it, there's no tactical advantage to this, given the stack sizes and tiny blinds.

"Is he HIGH?", I consider? He sure doesn't seem the type, middle-aged white guy, conservatively dressed and groomed. But "tripping balls" is my best guess. It feels like that CAN'T be it, but absent other possibilities, it's all I have to go on.

This goes on for half my down, then the tournament goes on break. When the players return and wait for the game to resume, his neighbor engages him in conversation:

NEIGHBOR: Sorry about that earlier.

SLOWPOKE: (tone indicates he's blurting, after biting his tongue a long time) I just went to the bathroom, and I didn't want to slow down the game! I can't *believe* they called me for *that*!

Oh, NOW it's clear. This guy abandoned his hand preflop to get a jump on his bathroom run. Neighbor called the floor to deal with this wantonly-criminal act. Floor assessed the TDA-mandated penalty. And this guy thinks, "I did what I did for the benefit of all, to keep from 'slowing the game down', and this is the thanks I get? Ok...I'll show THEM!!!"

At least after the break, he stopped with the slow-down nonsense...but two minutes later, he busted out overplaying a terrible hand. After he left, the guy who busted him (who called with not much of a hand) showed off his great brain by boasting that he called light because he knew slowpoke was frustrated.

It really is an Adult Daycare center, 24 hours a day.

That sounds like someone you just aren't going to please. I spin out on that stuff sometimes too - the most tilted I've ever been was from a guy who went off on me when I asked him for change during a tournament. He had most of the small chips at the table and had been volunteering change before that. I know he was frustrated with himself and I just happened to be in the way when he blew a gasket, but something about it still bugged me for a while. My brain just couldn't process it because it made no sense.

Try not to worry about it. Like others here I try to kill them with calmness. They want you to blow up at them because it gives them ammunition when they later try to prove that you're the bad guy. They can run to the floor and complain how you tried to steal their money then yelled at them. If you give them nothing to work with they usually give up quickly. The guy in the story above loves me now.

Overheard at the $40-80 table the other night: "I'll give you $20 if you can NOT talk about bitcoin for 30 minutes!"

I hear it finally, inevitably, crashed this week, down over 33% in a week. LOL late-comers.

Down 33% in a week is a correction, not a crash.

A correction to an observer

A crash to an investor.

https://youtu.be/UG7zLhEWanc

Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

Worth a click.

Time once again for this annual post:

Room where I work is open 24/7/365, with one 24-hr exception: it closes at 6pm on Christmas Eve, reopens 6p Christmas night. To get the players into the room immediately, they host a freeroll tourney for the first 200 people to show up. Folks line up outside the main entrance for their chance to play in this event.

It's -2 degrees outside right now, and the sun is about to set. When I arrive tonight, about 30 mins before the event, there will be at least 100 people standing outside in line.

These are the folks I will be dealing to tonight. The EV for each of them is about $5-10, for the hours spent standing in this line and then playing in the event. It's the poker version of Black Friday, you see it, and you wonder what makes folks interested in participating in something like this, and why it's wildly popular.

My favorite part: the guy who's first in line. The only thing he gets that someone 150 spots behind him will miss out on, is a longer wait in the cold. I never understood that guy.

Jesus christ that whole thing sounds like a parody of the fleas. But to think it really exists!

I was mistaken, the freeroll was limited to 100 players. When I arrived 30 mins before the doors opened, it was -4, out, and I'd guess 50-80 folks outside in line. I wanted to snap a picture for you guys, but it was way too dark to get a good shot--and I certainly wasn't getting out of the nice warm car for a pic that probably wouldn't come out.

(I'm sure our players don't want their pics entering the cardroom on the internet, too.)

I also forgot: we made it a one-hour shoot-out, chip leader at each table after 60 mins went to the final table...and the Dealer Appreciation add-on made it a Merry Christmas for those of us who got a down or two.

After that, it was weird to have a Saturday-sized crowd for most of the evening, and suddenly losing a bunch of games after 11 PM as folks realized they have to work tomorrow.

IF and only we could lose a bunch of games after 11pm. This place has been bananas everyday of the week since the BBJ reached 100K and changed qualifiers

Interesting with a room that busy that they would shut down. Perhaps the room is so busy normally that they don't want to stay open for 2-4 tables due to staffing structure? It sounds as though the interest may be there for at least that much play.

'Bananas'? How long has the BBJ been growing? We do have one casino that has a AAAJJ BBJ that went to $140K. They kick in a room share at $75K so that's when an extra 1-3 tables start to pop up.

How drastic of a qualifier change was it? GL

Hmmm, a room where the owners care about their employees enough to let them be with their family on Christmas... They do exist!

Hey now ... I am one of those owners! I admit that the business side of me kicked into gear with the comment as well. Anytime you can get 50+ people to line up in the cold like that might mean they were wiling to be there all along. I did peek at Bravo yesterday morning to find above average tables in most of the casinos compared to a typical 'Sunday' morning. But those are casinos, not 'rooms' like this one must be. (Or perhaps the whole casino was shut down.)

But I also can flip it around ...

I know of a gas station in our town where the employees are more than willing to work the Christmas shifts since they don't get the make up hours anywhere .. and I'm not so sure they get OT either unless they get to 40+. Of course they aren't expecting tips to carry the wage either.

As you all know by now, I try to see both side of every issue and sometimes that clouds my true own opinion. GL

Maybe you missed the "Freeroll" part. These people would miss their kids graduation for a freeroll. I manage a small room in a casino and I don't do any promos on xmas eve or xmas and I could barely justify being open, but the powers that be say we never close so there's that.

Resets to 50K, from 50K to 75K it's A's full of tens FLOPPED!

At 75K-100K is A's full of K's beaten by quads any street.

Over 100K A's full of 10's beaten by quads any street.

The rake is changing!

Tournament structures are changing!

THE SKY IS FALLING AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIEEEEE

In which direction and by how much?

I know how you feel. Our joint just spent 10's of $1000's replacing all the players' chairs. The old ones had three adjusting levers (height, tilt, back), and it was tough to find a chair where at least one lever didn't work any more....

"When are you gonna replace these chairs???"

We replaced them this week. The new chairs do not have three levers, just one, for height.

The players love the new chairs!

RON HOWARD NARRATOR VOICE: They do not.

8-16 Omaha

Had a player who was stuck tell me to "come on, speed it up".
With a big smile on my face, replied with "We're hiring and having auditions, if you wanna give it a go". He shut right up.

Turns out he's a dealer at another room and is horrible from what I heard.

I wasn't slow either, he was just stuck and in a foul mood. Granted I was on Overtime and tired, but I never get that comment.

I always feel like saying that to the other Omaha players.

I have only one question at the table when it comes to Bitcoin. Will you pay taxes if you make a profit. I think you can guess the consensus.

4-8 plays slow but 8-16 plays fast in my room.

How are you supposed to respond if a pissed off thuggish black guy gets stacked for the second time only halfway through your down and says "deal me better cards... f***ing white boy"...???

By calling the floor and having him removed from the room. How else do you respond to that?