Hard Rockin' Jacks

Table 13, Main Event of the WPT, dealing the table with Mike Sexton (host of the televised WPT events) in seat 6 and after putting out a flop I notice that the Jack of Diamonds looks a little odd.  He's holding a guitar, wearing sungalsses and flashing a left-handed ASL, "I love you."

Sexton says, "Hey! You're at the Hard Rock.  You gotta expect the Jack to be a rocker."

For all the other tournaments we have used the normal, every day, Copag cards used by the Hard Rock in their Poker Room.  For the $10,000 WPT Main Event, the Seminoles went to the trouble to have custom cards manufactured.

The custom cards are very different. First, they are narrow, 2.25" wide "Bridge size" instead of  2.5" wide "Poker size".  These are easier to pitch.  They are also significantly thicker and stiffer than the Copags.  This helps them retain their shape - they stay flat and don't curl up with use - which also makes them easier to pitch.  Being so much stiffer, they are a lot harder to shuffle.  One of our dealers was seen in the break room frantically filing her nails saying, "I can't shuffle these cards.  I just can't bend them!"  They also are a little heavier, so when they are pitched across the table, they stay flat and have less of a chance of being flipped by a blast from the A/C vent or the wake from someone running past the table.  Hopefully they will continue to retain their shape after days of heavy tournament use.  All in all, kudos to the Hard Rock manager that decided to buy these new cards for the tournament.  Good choices for size, weight and design.

WPT in Hollywood

Hollywood, Florida

The FBI doesn't need to look in my iPhone to see where I've been, just follow my blog!

The Seminole Indians have built a truly spectacular resort down here in south Florida.  Not only is it a hotel and casino with a huge theatre, it also has a shopping mall with a bevy of restaurants, bars and night clubs.  This is thee place to be on Saturday nights.

This is the first WPT (World Poker Tour) event to be held here since they changed the laws to allow a more "Las Vegas" like casino experience here in Florida. 

The WPT is similar to the WSOP Circuit in that they will have events during the year at different venues with a series of poker tournaments featuring a "Main Event" with a $10,000 buy-in and a multi-million dollar prize pool. 

I suppose it is testament to the popularity of No Limit Hold'em that of the 34 tournaments in the "Seminole Hard Rock Showdown" all but 4 are No Limit Hold'em.  There are two Omaha 8 or Better High-Low tournaments, one Pot Limit Omaha tournament and one mixed game tournament, H.O.R.S.E. (Hold'em (limit), Omaha 8, Razz, 7 Card Stud, Stud 8.  The H.O.R.S.E. tournament is the only event that plays any 7 Card Stud. 

I was rather disappointed when I looked at the schedule and realized that after today (day four since I started) I would have no opportunity to deal anything but No Limit Hold'em for the rest of the job.  It is just more interesting and challenging to deal the other games.  Deal Pot Limit and you, the dealer, needs to keep track of the pot on every betting round and also do the calculations for how much the raises will be limited to.  For Omaha 8 you need to stack the pot during the course of the hand, read the four-card hands and then split the pot for the high and the low hand winners.  And because 7 Stud players each get dealt their own down cards and up cards, it is a very different dealing experience from Hold'em or Omaha.  Variety is the spice of life.  Oh well.  When in Vegas for the WSOP,  I will ask for the afternoon shift that deals all the different tournaments.

The plan is for the WPT to run another tournament here in Hollywood in August and if they are successful, they may also add a tournament or two at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa.  Yipee!  I might get to deal a professional Poker tournament without having to travel or rent a hotel room! Cool.

So far, lots of locals, lots of WSOP grinders but not too many celebrities for the preliminary events.  I think John Racener (last year's WSOP Main Event runner-up from Tampa) is here and I saw "Miami John" Cernuto and Allen Kessler playing the Omaha event.  All those guys have multi-millions in tournament winnings.  I wonder if they were able to hang onto them?

Chicago Poker Classic

Spent Feb 23 to March 7th just outside Chicago in The Horseshoe Casino - Hammond, IN dealing the tournaments.  Had a great time and made a little money.

Bayou Poker

The 2010 Bayou Poker Challenge turnout was a little bit of a disappointment for some folks.  The Poker Tournament was scheduled opposite the WSOP Circuit Event in Atlantic City which is a "Regional Championship" carrying Player of the Year Points coveted by the top players.  Harrah's (owners of the WSOP brand) decided that they didn't want the Bayou to compete with AC so they didn't support it with any advertising money.  They didn't even include it on the WSOP Circuit schedule posted at the official WSOP web site.  I found it interesting that Nolan Dalla, the Media Director for the WSOP spent his time in New Orleans rather than AC.  He sat in a booth in the middle of the tournament area pounding out press releases during the event.

However, the week was not without well known knicknamed celebrities such as "Miami" John Cernuto and defending champion Alan "Chainsaw" Kessler.

Miami John used to be an air traffic controller at Miami-Dade airport, but I haven't figured out how Kessler got his knickname.  He is more of a nebbish than a "Dog the Bounty Hunter" type, but he sure can play poker.  He won this tournament last year and defended his title this year making the final table and finishing 8th.  He has won about $2 million playing in poker tournaments according to Bluff Magazine.

There were also several players that I recognized, but couldn't name, from the World Series of Poker tables over the last few years.

There were 15 events and 4 Super Satellites with between 75 and 200 entries into each event.  First Prize for many events was over $10,000 plus a championship WSOP ring and the Main Event winner, Tyler Smith took home $66,488 for his excellent play.

We started with too many dealers for the size of the fields but after limiting the use of the local "On call" casino dealers and some attrition from circuit dealers who could see that hours might be limited, we got a reasonable amount of work.  The supervisors tried to even out the hours when it made sense and I wound up working a full day most of the time.  I had one really short day and one day where I dealt 13 hours before breaking a table and calling it quits.

In all it was an enjoyable work experience.  Management was fair, food in the Employee Dining Room was good as well as inexpensive and I had some time to take in a little of the sights of the city.  While I missed getting a Po Boy at Mother's, I was able to treat myself to an order the famous Cafe du Monde Beignets.

New Awlins this year - Bayou Poker Challenge

Just got back from a whirlwind round trip to New Orleans to apply for a gaming license so I can deal the WSOP Bayou Poker Challenge December 2nd to the 12th.

Expanding my part time Poker Dealer career a little with this gig.  I tried to get into the Chicago WSOP Circuit Event this year but the tournament director never answered my request.  Interestingly, when he found himself short dealers in New Orleans he added me to the offer list.  New Orleans is tough because the state of Louisiana makes it more difficult for out-of-state dealers to get the required gaming license.  I suppose it is their attempt to keep as many jobs as possible for the locals.   Hopefully, by helping out in New Orleans I will get an invitation to deal Chicago next year.

My little "Part time" retirement career would work out nice with 3 gigs a year:  two months in Vegas mid-May to Mid July, two weeks in Chicago in October and two more in New Orleans in December.  Of course, it probably will not work out that neatly in real life.

I think the scheduling is interesting because the Bayou Poker Challenge conflicts with the WSOP Regional Championship in Atlantic City this year.  I suppose it means fewer big names will show up to terrorize the local players.  The other scheduling challenge is the larger WSOP Regional Championship in New Orleans which is scheduled for May 2011 - butting right up next to the WSOP Vegas starting dates.  The timing is not real good for that one.  I would rather see it in the San Diego slot in March or Tunica's in February.

One step at a time.  We'll see if we can make N.O. a success first.

I drove the 10 hours each way to complete the application process but to deal it may be better to fly.  Parking anywhere near the casino or at any downtown hotel is twenty bucks a day.  With accommodations in walking distance to the casino, I should be able to make out just fine without a car.

Application complete.  If all goes as planned, in a week or two, I will get my gaming license approved and the Tournament Director will send me a real job offer with all the details.  My hope is that the details include the information on local accommodations for out of town dealers.  I worry but I do have some confidence that everything will be fine - if only because I know that there is a crew of dealers roaming from venue to venue dealing each of the tournaments.  They all need places to stay and I have heard about people staying in the local hotels, getting "random" roommate assignments and so forth.  I just need to be patient.

Results log

I kept a log of my Poker results on a spreadsheet for every time I played.  It shows that I had gotten up to over $1700 in profit playing Poker in my off hours before losing all but $185 of it.

Looking back on my notes I see that I make a lot of my No Limit Hold'em profits by raising pre-flop and betting out at the flop, taking the small pots more often than not.  I also see that the biggest consistent leak in my game is from losing my stack with just one pair - usually middle pocket pairs like 88 through JJ.  I can attribute $800 in losses just in the last week to overplaying pocket pairs.  If I can learn to keep those pots small or simply fold them in response to large raises I might be able to keep some of my profits.

That's a Wrap - for me

I turned in my badge and my vest to the Rio Uniform Shop.  For me the WSOP is over - even though it continues.  The Main Event continues with over a hundred players left out of the original 7,400+ entrants.  They are now in Day 6 and will play until they get down to the final nine players, then they will take a break until November and the final nine will play down to a winner.

A break?  Sounds odd.  Here is the deal.  ESPN has found that WSOP broadcasts hold a larger audience than any other ESPN show outside of football.  ESPN decided that showing all of the episodes when everybody already knows the outcome is sort of anticlimactic.  To improve the show they came to an agreement with Harrah's that they would film all of the WSOP, create the television shows, broadcast them as a series throughout the summer and fall, then, in November, bring back the final nine and broadcast the final table and decide a winner with a "near real-time" telecast.  ESPN figures to boost their ratings by keeping the suspense up.  The Final Table will be played, not in the Amazon Room where most of the tournament was held, but on the big stage in the Rio's Penn and Teller Theatre in front of a packed live theatre audience with everyone miked up and the latest in ESPN's video technology in use to create the show.

I find it interesting that "final table" Poker is very different to the Poker played for most all of the event.  The Main Event is a "deep stack" tournament.  Players start the tournament with $30,000 and with the blinds set at $50 and $100.  The blinds escalate very slowly to put pressure on the smaller stacks.  The style of Poker played for most of the tournament is very different from what you will see at the final table.  On television you will see a series of hands played out where a player is "All In" and there are more cards to come.  Announcers will describe the probability of their survival or double up depending on how the cards lie and what cards they need to make a winning hand.  They will show every bust out.

During the course of the tournament, however, while yes,  players are busting out regularly, the vast majority of hands are decided without a showdown.  Players bet, raise and re-raise until they figure out they cannot make their opponent fold and they will likely lose in a showdown, so they fold their hand and the pot is pushed to the winner who is not required to show the hand.  It is quite possible to deal 20 or more hands in a tournament in a row without ever seeing a showdown - just a series of bets, raises and folds.  The essence of deep stack Poker is in the decisions made on every street:  Should I check, bet, raise or fold? As opposed to short stack poker where the decision is limited to:  Do I shove it in now or should I wait for a better spot?

Deep stack Poker is much more interesting and I hope ESPN shows a lot of it as opposed to just the "All in and a call" hands.