...MOST OF THE TIME...IT'S WORTH IT!!

As a poker dealer, you can’t win...Even though I’m the only the messenger of the cards, I’m often blamed for the message. When a decision is made against the player, it’s usually the dealers fault, but it I put out some one-out miracle, suddenly they’re the best player in the world.

Yesterday, I vented about a couple of players who didn’t know the rules trying to justify that they were right..

But sometimes, doing your job properly can be all worth it....As a universal rule, you can only speak English at the table. Even though they may be talking something unrelated to poker, you have to enforce the “ENGLISH ONLY” rule! The foreign players often get mad or annoyed by it. I remember one day, two Filipino were talking Tagalog about Manny Pacquiauo and although I knew they weren’t discussing poker, I had to enforce the rule and told them, “Look, I know your not talking about poker, but the other players at the table may not know that.”

Anyway, we had someone talking Spanish on the phone...I told him repeatedly you gotta speak English...He ignored me at first, so I kept telling him, “Gotta speak English”..Finally started questions the rule cause he wasn’t in a hand and all this nonsense, but I stood my ground...Sometimes you have to be the bad guy to protect the integrity of the game.

Apparently, another player observed this and was quite impressed..After a pushed him a pot he tossed me a Red Bird ($5 Chip), then tossed me 2 more bucks and said, “And that’s for how you handled that guy...Good job.” It made me feel good that I was appreciated for doing my job....it made me realize...yeah, Most of the time...it’s worth it!!!

THEY JUST DON'T GET IT!

I guess when someone is flinging cards at you on the first hand you deal...that should be a sign that it isn’t going to be a good day. But things got worst on the second hand....

I’m dealing the tournament and everyone folds to the small blind who throws one over-sized chip and says, “Small bump”. Now let me prep this by saying this is the same guy that flung his cards at me at the first hand...so I was already irritated by this idiot..I declare it was just a “Call” cause he said small bump. Now I pretty knew he met raise, but at that point I just wanted to be a prick and follow the rules to the letter and declared it a call..The guy goes ballistic...(of course, another sign that it wasn’t going to be a good day) I call the floor over and told him the situation and says the call has to stand....So you know what happens...CHAOS!! Two morons who weren’t even in the hand had to chime in their two cents and after I explain the rule....they wouldn’t take no for an answer kept badging the issue with...I was steaming at this point, but I kept my cool and kept right on dealing. Here is the rule...when you toss an oversize chip in the small blind without saying raise or the amount its a FUCKING CALL!!!! Now, he he picked up the small blind and tossed in the big chip..then THAT’S A RAISE!!! To me, saying “Small bump” doesn’t constitute a raise! Just imagine if Phil Hellmuth or Doyle Brunson was sitting in the big blind and not some ordinary tourist, Hellmuth and Brunson would says that’s a call…

The point is DON’T FUCKING ARGUE WITH ME WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW THE FUCKING RULE!! I’ve played big-time tournaments, and I can’t promise you 99 out of 100 floormen would say that’s a FUCKING CALL!! SO GET OVER IT!!!

I hate when players, who think they know everything, talk out their ass and think that I don’t know what I’m talking about...Look, I’ve been dealing for nearly 5 years and have been playing for longer than that..LOOK...you FUCKING IDIOTS, I know my job!

By the way....those parties involved didn’t even cash in the tournament...GOOD, NOW GO FUCK YOURSELVES!!

The Goings on in my Life

During the past month I’ve been playing more live cash games than online. I’ve been doing very well, mostly No Limit Cash Game...In the past I just didn’t have time to go play live poker, but I’ve made a conscious effort to make time for myself to play live poker and it’s paid off very well.

As a result, I haven’t played online poker is a month..I just don’t have the desire to sit in front of computer all night and playing small stakes...it just isn’t work my time or effort. I’m sure I’ll get back into it, but right now...I just can’t get myself to play online.

What have I been doing with all this free time?? For the most part, I’m just working on getting my personal finance in order. I’ve been so lazy about it that it’s hindered the development. So, I went into my garage, pulled out my personal finance books, wiped the cobwebs off and began to read up on it....Now, I’m putting the principles of a healthy personal finance. I’ve always been conscious about it, but somewhere along the way I lost track of money. Sometimes i think I working for money instead of my money working for me…

I think I lost my sense of money when I went back to Ballys. The money is much better that I was spending, spending, and spending without saving any of it...it’s finally caught up with me. I have to remember to think of my future of me and my family. I don’t to work until I’m 60...I have to start doing things now to secure my future...the small stuff like “Paying Yourself” really adds up...As long as I keep my future on my mind...I think I’ll be able to “Cure” my personal finance woes!

Also, took a couple of days vacation to Los Angeles for a poker and R and R...The Los Angeles Poker Scene is a such a different world than anything you’ve ever seen...it’s almost like a sub-culture. Everyone there is miserable about life and the world in general. When to play poker in Vegas, 70 percent of the players are tourists with disposable income who don’t care if they lose. In LA, the players blame everything and everybody, and the dealer abuse is so insane. It’s incredible the stuff they get away with. As a dealer I want to say something, but I don’t think it’s my place to say anything, plus I don’t want to embarrass the dealers and subject them to more ridicule...Although I loved playing poker in Los Angeles...i could do without dealing with the people...As far as I’m concern, I don’t care is half of those LA poker players get hit by a truck.

The Best Advice I ever got!

It's funny how life works sometimes. In my pursuit of being a successful poker player, I've read a lot of stuff that's aimed to stimulate the mind, and the best piece advice I ever received from the many self-help books and articles I've read is..."If you want to be successful in your endeavors, you need to follow someone who's had the level of success you want."

Tiger Woods is someone I truly admire..Here's a guy who's won 69 Titles including 14 Majors and is still not satisfied...He continues to work and work and work...he accepts anything less than the best out of himself, and when he doesn't do well in a golf tournaments, he figures out what he did wrong, and tries rectify it in his next tournament.

His persistence and strive to be the best is something I try to incorporated in my life....You can't be satisfied with what you have...you have to go beyond and keep climbing that mountain to success. Cause the moment you "Settle" is the moment you give up....

Poker Tournaments...Poker Tournament...How I LOVE THEM!!

As the minutes countdown in July and goes into August, I want to talk about my favorite subject to talk about....POKER!! Specially, Poker Tournaments!

Most of my poker playing the past two weeks have been playing tournaments....specifically online poker tournaments. Although I haven't had a "HUGE SCORE" per se, I've had consistent results. I've played 5 online tournaments the past two weeks and cashed in 3 of them. The encouraging part of my cashes is that I've improved each time:

July 12th -- $33 Buy In ($15,000 Guarantee) -- 85th out of 934 players...Good for $53
July 18th -- $11 Buy In Deep Stack -- 228th out of 1,827...Good for $17
July 26th -- $33 Buy In ($15,000 Guarantee) -- 63rd out of 786 players...Good For $56
July 28th -- $33 Buy In ($15,000 Guarentee) -- 37th out of 868 Players -- Good For $78

It's extremely difficult to get through these huge fields of players, so I'm very happy with my play...I've been played my normal game, tight aggressive, and making moves at the appropriate times against certain chip stacks. Lately I've been implementing a late game strategy I picked up from an online pro that has been beneficially, where I'm able to pick up precious blinds and antes without much resistant.

I've put a lot of effort in these tournaments, trying to make the best optimal play for a given situation without being "results oriented". I've trained myself that if you make the right play the results will take care of itself.

For August, I've going to be as many online poker tournaments as I can...I'm VERY Confident in my game right now and I feel I'm due for a huge run...I think I earned, but most of all, I deserve it!!

Need to Do Some Stuff!!

My blog entries usually are commentaries and opinions on a wide variety of topics, especially poker!

In this entry, I decided to make a list of things I need to do to improve my house:

1) Clean the garage—I don’t think I’m taken anything out in the 5 years I’ve lived here..?i need to sort out what I have and get rid and donate the stuff I don’t need anymore.

2) Fix my garage door—My garage door is busted slightly in the front. It’s more of a cosmetic fix than anything else.

3) Clean my yard—This is the biggest one. I’ve got weeds all over...especially in the backyard...I need to pull up my sleeves and pulls theses things out..I remember my brother and I had a long conversation about this...I told him I’d just hire someone to do..he says, why?? You can do it yourself....Just need the motivation.

4) Need to replace the grilling plates in my grill—My grill has a few cracks in them. I need to make a home depot run and buy a new onces..maybe I’ll go silver.

5) Need to repaint my house—Right now it’s a dull off white...haven’t painted it once since I moved...maybe a new coat of paint is just what the doctor ordered.

That’s the important stuff....I got to take one task at a time and hopefully I’ll be about to finish it…

The Deaths of Michael Jackson and Steve McNair -- MY TAKE

The biggest stories of the past two weeks have been the deaths of Michael Jackson and Steve McNair.

As a society, we tend to look to enhance and give more attention to the bad side of people when they have passed away especially when talking about celebrities. It’s human nature, it’s easy to pile on the negative in people when they can’t defend themselves. We bring up all the negative aspects of their lives because it makes us feel better about ourselves…when in reality it a way to cover our own insecurities.

With Steve McNair’s death, a lot of his personal life is coming to light about him have a extramarital affair, while still being married with 4 kids. Look, have an affair doesn’t make you a bad person. Maybe there was something in Steve McNair’s marriage arraignment-wise that we didn’t know about that allowed him to have a girlfriend. Again, that doesn’t make him a bad person. From all I’ve read and heard, Steve McNair was a good, giving, and charitable man. He personally went to Louisiana during the aftermath of Katrina to personally had out supplies to those who lose so much in the hurricane. He’s involved in numerous charities, which he not gave his money, but gave his time..something most athletes don’t do. I watched him play for nearly 13 years as one of the toughest quarterbacks to play the game and was the ultimate competitor and teammate…that’s what I want to remember him for…

With Michael Jackson, I’ve read a lot of people thinking that there has been excessive coverage of Michael Jackson’s death…and bring up his pedophile charges…that we should this much coverage to a “Pedophile”…Or his different idiosyncrasies like dangling his baby over his hotel room and his numerous plastic surgeries. As for me, I’m a BIG BIG MICHAEL JACKSON fan. Ever since I saw the “Billie Jean” video, I’ve been a absolute fan of his music. I think he’s a greatest entertainer who ever lived. He’s the King of Pop whose influence so many future artists. When I heard about Michael Jackson’s death was a saddened. I felt like one of my own family members died, because he was a big part of my growing up. When I was kid, I thought the “Thriller” album was the greatest thing in the world. To this day I think the Thriller is the greatest music album off all time!! Yes, in later years, Michael Jackson’s behavior came into question, but there is no denying his musical talent and how he left a legacy in music that can never be or will be duplicated…that’s what I want to remember him for.

So when you remember those who pass on in our lives celebrate the good they did in their lives and their contributions to society, and not dwell on the negative.

Ron's Latest Poker Results and Commentary

I’ve had good results playing live and online poker…First some my online results:

I cashed in a $80,000 Guarantee tournament with over 2400 people…I finished 45th for $221..pretty decent for a $50 tournament…I had a ton of chips for a long time in that tournament..At one point, I had over 200,000 chips..I got most of my chips playing positional poker and not going to showdown if I can help it…I was playing a lot of pots in position and calling a lot of small raises against similar of bigger stacks, trying to use my ever-improving post-flop skills to my advantage..The undoing was I rarely won a race! Whenever I had a pair against two over cards..the over cards hit and when ever I had AK against a pair..I never paired up..it was frustrating, but they’ll come a time when I’ll win those at crucial moments…Overall, I was very happy with my play.


I also had small cashes in a $30 and $20 buy in tournaments…so it’s I’ve been pretty consistent


As far my live play poker..I’ve had 3 sessions: One 10-20 Limit sessions and 2 No Limit:

A co-worker has been telling me about the 10-20 Limit games over at the Mirage….Before I go on, let me tell you..that before the “Poker Boom” of 2003..I played strictly Limit Poker…and specially I logged a ton of hours playing the Mirage 10-20 Limit Game. But I hadn’t played the Mirage game for 4 years because of combination of not having the money to play because of my family obligation and the fact, that I’ve been playing mainly No Limit Cash games. Lately I’ve been getting the itch to play Mid Limit Poker so 2 weeks ago, I decided to play in it again. I started a new game and bought in for $300. I always bought in for $500, but my wife was with me so she took $300 and played No Limit.


Immediately I was down $150 bucks after my Pockets Kings were cracked on the river my Pocket 9’s…after that..I was able to go on a nice run…remembering all the fundamental Limit Hold Em concepts I learned 6-7 years ago…and was able to walk away winning $500!! Not bad!! I’ll definitely play that game more often..it was fun going back to my roots.


I played 2 No Limit Sessions last Friday..First, it was Ceasars Palace..I totally hate that room..I cannot stand playing cash games there..not sure why..just hate the vibe and the clientele are some of the worst I’ve played with. The reason I played was my wife was playing a tournament…But After an hour, I left the table up $101! My wife was still in the tournament, so I decided to walk across the street and playing at Harrahs


It was the first time I played there. The Room was nice, but there was too many locals to my liking. I played for 3 hrs and made $130...I was lucky to make that much because I was completely card dead the entire sessions. I basically had to manufacture winning pots with timely bluffs and precise value bets when I did pick up a hand. I probably play too many sessions there, but I don’t have a bad thing to say about that room.