Same. (rob and I are both limit players.)

But in a tournament I can see how maybe it would get ruled as a raise, but I would hope it would not.

I also think it would barely ever work (limit players tend to know what the bets are, but maybe being in a tournament where the blinds are ever increasing this would not be the case), and if it did work it would usually not be material until the middle or end of the tournament, when the blinds are a large fraction of the stack sizes.

Good on you for pointing it out right away though!

Assuming no action after the second guy, that sounds like the perfect spot to break from a strict following of the rules and simply ask the second guy if he meant to raise, not teach him a lesson about falling for scummy angles.

The most frequent debate I have at the tables is defending Lebron James against people who say he "sucks" or is "soft" or "chokes".

My most frequent debate is w/ that one waitress who never gets my order right. It's uncanny.

Let me guess:

Plain omelette, no potatoes, tomatoes instead, a cup of coffee, and wheat toast.

What sort of super-complicated orders are you making to confuse the poor girl, HB?

You must be a busy guy at the tables.

At a place that doesn't have wheat toast?

The fact people can't be objective about Lebron James is a good indication that humans are bad at being objective. Live poker will always be profitable.

You're including yourself in that statement, of course?

I'm on a moderate low carb diet and it turns out that the latest is that tomatoes are bad for you bec 'lectins.' I've lost 55 lbs and it would be more if I could just stop running to the gas station mart and buying ice cream late at night.

Congrats on the weight loss!

Maybe you need to put a bounty on yourself for the ice cream purchases like you did with blackjack a while back.

Thanks! A few weeks ago a woman told me that I look scrawny. As if! I'd like to lose another 20 lbs. I did an ice cream run last week at midnight. At the counter I joked that 'this right here is a good demonstration of a lack of willpower.' Counter person says 'you're allowed a treat every now and then' to which I said 'that doesn't mean I have to buy 2 pints.' Tried to eat just one, couldn't do it. Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia should be illegal, that's what I think.

I've never played at a room that allows players to phone in to get on the seating list, and was just wondering how that actually works. When you call in, is your name just put on the same list as those people who sign up in person? What happens if your name is called before you get there--go to the bottom, stay on top, get deleted? How long are you allowed to stay on the list before you are deleted? Does Bravo have a way to record whether you are a call in who hasn't showed up yet vs an in person signup who just decided to quit waiting and leave?

Seems like in a busy room it would be unfair to tourists who sign up in person if they keep getting bumped for regs who call in. Just curious how that all functions.

Thanks.

Typically you go on the list marked as a call in. You then typically have a set amount of time to check in. If you are not checked in when you are at the top of the list ... You just stay at the top until you check 8n and get seated or your time limit expires

The Bravo board where I play has a phone icon next to the name of people who have called in and have not arrived yet. The icon is removed when you check in. Pre bravo the room I played in just did this by hand.

psandman pretty much answered your question, but in my room if you call in you go on the same list as those that checked in in person. We mark you as a call in and you keep your spot on the list until you get here. If a seat opens up and you are on top of the list we just skip you until you get here. If you don't show up within one hour your name gets taken off the list.

Pretty standard procedures, just make sure you know the time allotment. I usually call when 45 minutes out to allow 10-15 minutes to park/walk. Rooms with Bravo will know how long you've been on the list via timer, but you may need to have your cell phone handy if you've been dropped off the list too soon ... not that it would ever happen in Suit's room!

Very few rooms allow 'bumping', but there are some properties that allow Diamond cards to jump to the top of the list when they check in.

The one thing you also need to be aware of is if the room texts/pages you or if you need to be standing right there when you are next and a seat opens. I play in one room that will call your name twice ... sometimes only 10 seconds apart ... and then drop you off the list if they are super busy. GL

Didn't want to start a new topic because this seemed pretty mundane, but all you industry know-it-alls and insiders are always hanging out around here, so I figured I'd piggyback this thread--

Had a pretty typical player / dealer dispute the other night where a player to my left was messing around with a stack of chips when action checked to him. This player, who we can call IWC, was making a move that was nearly completely identical to a checking motion while playing with his chips. The dealer noted the apparent check, and the player behind, last to act, checked in time with this motion so the dealer rolled off the river card.

Player IWC declares "Wait, I wasn't checking!" right as the river card hits the table, so pretty immediately. Dealer looks confused, players look confused, IWC shows off his checking motion that he does with his off hand, the hand that wasn't playing with the chipstack and declares that hand to be his checking hand. Dealer realizes this isn't going anywhere good and calls for the floor.

Floor comes over, listens to IWC, watches IWC display his check and his not-check, and immediately confirms that they are both checks. IWC becomes agitated, declaring that they are clearly different and this is ridiculous and he can't believe the dealer and floor are telling him otherwise. Floor sticks to his position, telling him that they are both checks in every casino and would never, ever, be ruled anything but a check, very firmly, and they spar for another 20-30 seconds before IWC begrudgingly accepts the ruling and we all get along with our lives.

Turns out IWC turned trip Kings and rivered the case King. IWC bets river, everyone folds, IWC reveals and mutters some more about the ruling. A few minutes later he 4 bet shoves against a reg and loses everything and gets up and storms off.

IWC, up to that ruling, was a pleasant and gregarious player, he wasn't a great poker player and I think the thinking players around the table were happy to have him there.

This is, obviously, all very mundane. But I was curious, how much training goes into dispute resolution and de-escalation for dealers and, especially, floors?

Maybe nothing could be done and this guy was going to be unhappy no matter what, but I do think that the floor could have left him some ground to stand on while still backing up the dealer and the casino rules.

I thought about talking to the floor afterwards and asking about why he used the words that he did, but i figured no one likes a backseat driver.

And, after typing all this out, I certainly wonder if it's worth the effort and the post. But hey, I wasted my time, so why not yours?

Cheers!

I'm interested in hearing what this would look like. Do you have a suggestion for how the floor could have accomplished both?

I think it'd be something along the lines of...

"I understand what you're saying and I see the difference in what you believe is a checking motion and what you believe is merely riffling chips. Unfortunately, because the rules of our room don't make the same distinction you do, we have to call both of those actions a check. I understand you're disappointed and I'm sorry about that. Hopefully the information I've given you that both of those actions will be ruled as a check going forward will help to avoid this issue going forward."

I know that looks long, but spoken it's probably between 5 and 10 seconds.

I like it. Should be the default mode for floors, and there should be training if it's not.

Sorry OP, I didn't realize you were giving a verbatim account.

Sure and this sounds very reasonable...... But my general experience is that the reasonable player already understands this ...... The guy who is arguing about it doesn't listen to the 5 to 10 second explanation .... He just heard it as "wah wah wah wah wah wah wah ...."

Sure their is value in trying to be tactful but let's not pretend that if we said it this way the player was going to all of a sudden believe he wasn't getting screwed over or that he should consider trying to not make checking motions when he didn't want to check.

For me personally, it would be equal parts being genuinely empathetic for the offender's circumstance, getting the other players and the dealer on my side by treating the offender with empathy but also upholding the rules, and covering my ass by making sure it's clear that future violations will be dealt with consistently and possibly even with increasing punishment, like a tempban.

In other words, it's OK--and of no real consequence--if the offender hears "wah wah wah."

I had a player make a big stink that my playing with my chips was a check and didnt argue when the dealer agreed.

I did lose my **** on the guy after he accused me of angle shooting afterwards though.