TALES FROM BEHIND THE BOX: AN EXCERPT FROM MY NEWEST BOOK

I'm working on my 2nd book. This will from the world I know very well: Poker dealing! The synopsis of the book will be tales from the box. Stories from the world I see as a professional poker dealer. The idea of this book is a elicit an emotion from my stories: Happy, Anger, Sympathy, Love, and Sadness! I've written 50-70 stories, but I'm trying to condense it into 50 best of the best. In fact, I want to share a part of my creativity: so here's an excerpt my newest book:

“What is the difference between a puppy and a poker dealer? – Eventually the puppy will stop whining.

Sitting in the box (it's where a poker dealer works), I watch the diverse personalities at the poker table interact. On one side, a retiree Calgary who spends 8 months of the year in Vegas to get away from the cold of Calgary, Alberta Canada. He has to be helped to his chair from his motorized cart – one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life. Very likeable guy, who's never said a bad word about anyone, who takes his bad beats like a true gentleman (no matter how bad those bad beats are), and a guy I generally root for. One another side, is a retired Army helicopter pilot from Arizona, who frequents our poker room 2 or 3 times a month – a tall imposing fella,who loves the game of poker, plays a tight game and has been friendly to me and everyone I've worked for – also our liaison for the Arizona Lottery along with Mega Millions, which we still have won...yet!!! This Arizona gentleman is so loyal to our room, he'll sit at an empty table for a hours until a game is started – all poker rooms need people like him. In the center is another retiree from Texas, who's apparently been poker his entire life, strolls into our poker room at a snail's pace, pushing his glasses up the rim of his nose at any moment, “Seat open??” he speaks in a soft Texan accent. Unlike, the other two gentleman, my Texan friend takes some horrible bad beats that I seemed to deliver at a frequent pace. He's a table-hopper, trying find the right combination of a good table draw and a good run of cards – all of which he does at the aforemention snail's pace...nothing is rushed with him. He is a true definition of a grinder. Tipping is not one of his strong points, despite it all, I generally like this man. I generally root for him to win......

To be continued...

There you have it. I'm really proud of what I've written, and I think this will be one of the best things I've ever written. Hopefully, when I complete this book, you'll enjoy these poker dealer stories as I enjoyed writing them.

REDBIRD CENTRAL -- NOW I KNOW WHY!! -- A Story About one of the most Generous Gentleman I ever met....So I thought.

Poker dealers see alot. Poker dealers think they know their customers. Poker dealers speculate about how their customers live their life away from the poker room, but as I'm about to show you...you never truly know..

Case in point...Here's two links to a very important legal case that got a lot of attention here in Las Vegas..please read it before you read the rest of the blog, because it'll all make sense in the end...


Stem Cell Con Game

They Called him Dr. Frankenstien

Why do I care about a crazy Romanian Doctor who defrauded senior citizens and performed his "research" on unsuspecting victims? And what does it have to do with poker?

His name is Alfred Sapse, he doesn't have a lot of ethics, he'll probably die in prison, and he's a GEORGE!

George, in the poker dealer world, is a term for a good tipper. They don't come around very often, but when they do, the poker dealer prays he pushes every big pot to him/her. When a "George" is playing a big pot, and he/she is betting/raising a pot, you get a warm fuzzy feeling inside because if you push him a pot, you'll be sure he'll toss you a redbird...ALFRED SAPSE was that person.

Three years, Mr Sapse used to play in our room every day. When I first met him, he was your typically bumbling 85-year-old, wearing these thick glasses. He seems so absent minded about everything. He insisted he sit in the middle he couldn't see the flop, and don't dare ask for his players card. I remember asking for his player's card and he would wave it off and give me "Are you kidding look?" He was the worst player I've ever dealt too. Talk about a guy who didn't have a clue about the game of poker. If he had any part of the flop, any type of draw, and sometimes not connected to the flop, he was going to the river. As a result, he would put some horrendous beats on the players, and the players would go absolutely nuts, calling him the worst player ever...Mr. Sapse would never say a word as he scooped up a pot. Occasionally, he'd glanced at one of his many poker victims and give them a sly smile.  Another thing about Mr Sapse, I don't think I've ever seen him cash out! No matter how may big pots he won, he would always lose every dime and more...I don't think I ever saw him rack up chips and walk back to the cashier...NOT ONCE!!!

But there was one consistent trait, he ALWAYS tipped the dealers a Redbird, whether he won a $15 pot or a $1,500, he would toss you a redbird, so even though he was a terrible poker player, it was a race for the poker dealers to push him as many pots as possible to they could get those coveted Redbirds. As a poker dealer, putting Mr Sapse on a heater could potential make your day, week, month, and year.

As a man, I don't have respect for him because of the terrible things he did. He stole over $1 millions dollars from these patients, and according to the story, he used that money and lost $700,000 in gambling loses...most of which was probably done at the casino I work at.

Here's my theory of why he was such a terrible poker player..he didn't care about the money. I think he was using the poker room to launder the stolen money through the poker players, and in some sick way, he was tipping redbirds, we the poker dealers became unknown, unsuspecting assailents to his cycle of crime. The thought cracks me up.

When I read the story of Alfred Sapse and his crimes, I was surprised and appalled. I never in a million years with this man I've dealt many hands too could do something this dispecable, but it made me realize you  truly don't know anyone even if you think you do.

Well, I hope he enjoys his last years of his life in prison, and maybe saved a few Redbirds so he could buy favors from the guards....lol

Poker with the Bloggers -- LIGHTNING36, PLEASE FOLD!!!

Poker is a social game. Poker is a people game. More importantly, poker is a "take as much money from your opponent as possible" game. However, there are times where you play people you don't want to take money from, but the circumstances drive you too....

Few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of playing $1-$2 No Limit at the Luxor with 3 bloggers, who I have the absolute respect, admiration, and huge fans of their particular blogs: Lucki Duck, Robvegaspoker , and Lightning36. The 3 bloggers arrived at the Luxor about 20 minutes after I was there. I was sitting in a very very very extremely extremely tight tight table!! (Did I mention the table was very, extremely, tight??) Lightning said they had enough to start a new game. At first I was apprehensive about joining the game because I have this thing about playing people I like cause I really don't want to take their money, and in the case of Robvegaspoker and Lightning36, they've been very generous tippers to me whenever I've dealt then, even tipping in small pots when they didn't have too. It was a definite quandary, it's the reason I don't playing where I work, and if I do, I NEVER play at the table if I've dealt it already. It's my belief you shouldn't play at poker room if you work there...it's a "conflict of interest" rule. Yeah, I know it might be a little paranoid, cause in 99% of cases, your regular players really don't care if you play with them, but I usually am uncomfortable if I'm check-raising a guy who tipped 15 bucks the week before...lol

The only reason I decided to join the new table was the table I was at was very very extremely extremely tight tight table!! (I have mention how tight my table was??). The first hours, the table really played tight, but I was enjoying the conversations with my fellow bloggers. We talked about an array of interesting topics, one of which was the whereabouts of "Backpack" Steve, a leech who used to hang around poker room begging for money. When I told them what happened to him, the bloggers, particularly Robvegaspoker was shocked yet not too surprised. It was definitely a delightful time, to the point where I sometimes forgot were in a card game..it was like we were sipping a cold one and shooting the breeze in a bar. But alas, the game of no limit Texas Hold em took hold of two of the us...one of which was me...the other was Lightning36.

Like many no limit poker hands, the hand started out nonchalantly, A player opened for $12 from a $90 or so stack....I'm sitting two seats later with Pocket 10's and call. My stack was a little over $200. Two more callers behind me, and Lightning in the Small blind calls. So we take the flop five-handed...The flop comes A A 10 A. I actually did a double take...did I just flop a boat?? Lightning, first to act checks, the initial raiser bets $20. Quickly, I raised to $40. I acted quickly because I'm a believer if you flop a monster you act the opposite of what you'd normally do. I see it too much as a poker dealer, when someone flops a monster, they put on the "Hollywood" Act as if they a tough decision to make. I can pretty much tell they have a monster by this act, and I'm almost always right. It's actually helped in my poker playing in identifying big hands and being able to either get away from them or lose the minimum. The 2nd part of this hand is why did I raise on the flop with a full house. My goal to extract maximum value for my hand and with 5 players in a raised pot, there had to be an Ace somewhere with my 4 other opponents, and I wanted to get that Ace to commit this stack to the point as early in the hand as possible where he is forced to put the rest of his chips in the next two streets.

Two players behind me folded quickly, the action was now on Lightning, who tanked. At that point, I knew he had an Ace, and I thought, "Dammit, this is not what I wanted." I wanted one of the other guys sitting with an Ace and Lightning would insta-fold his hand. Lightning hemmed and hawed for a long time, starting at me, playing nervously with his chips before sliding the $40 towards the pot. the initial raiser were all in for another 18 bucks or so. Since it wasn't a full-raise I could only call as did Lightning. The Turn was a 3...Lightning check, I instantly go all-in for around $140. I actually was hoping Lightning would see this as a sign that I had the goods and he would fold, but when he asked how much I had...I knew there was no way he was folding his hand. AFter another minute, Lightning calls....River was a 9....I announce "Full House" and turn over my Pocket 10's...Lightning shows AJ and the other player mucks claiming he had an Ace too.

I had mixed emotions scooping that pot. On one hand I was happy for winning such a monster pot, but felt bad that it had to come in the expense of Lightning. But I don't blame him, he played the hand very well. I probably would have played the hand the same way.  It was just a "cooler" hand that comes up from time to time where hands kind of play themselves. Lightning took the beat very well, and I  was happy when he texted me the next day saying he won his money back at Ballys.

Next time, Lightning comes to town, and stiffs me, believe me I will not be angry about it. I'll shoot him a sly smile and wonder what would have happened if he paired his Jack on the river :)

UPDATING MY BLOG!!!! NOW!!!

Been telling myself to update my blog, update my blog, update blog. Met a couple of bloggers at a Luxor on Thursday, and it made me realize, I need to continue this. Well today, I'll do just that. I'm not going to talk about one specific topic, I'll let my fingers to the walking and let the words flow...

I've been increasing my cash game poker play the past few months and other than a blimp at Harrahs about a month ago, I've done very well. I don't play as much as I would like mainly because of my family obligation and that fact that I work in a casino for 8 hrs, and I don't feel like spending my free time in a casino. Lately though, I've been consciously trying to play more. Rust is definitely a factor in my early sessions, but the past 3 of 4 sessions, I've found my groove and a comfort zone similar to the one I had when I was playing a lot a few years ago. More importantly, I've been self-analyzing a lot of the hands I've been playing seeing if I could have played them better, both winning and losing hands alike.

My tournament play has been very scarce which is completely by design. I hate playing long sessions but tournament poker you have to dedicate a lot of your time and concentration to thrive in them. I actually playedthe FIRST EVENT of the Binions Open (Where I sat next @Robvegaspoker for most of the day) and chopped up the final table for 2K,  but it came at a price...The tournament started on Saturday 2PM and we completed the deal at 6AM...Too top it off, I had to work at 11AM!! Needless to say, I was a complete zombie and it took me 2 days to completely recover physically. Poker tournaments are taxing, tough, and rough on the body/mind. Although it's the probably the most lucrative time to play tournament poker (WSOP time!!!), I'll probably only play 1 or 2 more tournament this summer.

Another aspect of my life which I've been giving a lot of my concentration as been betting Major League Baseball. I've been fascinated by the game cause it's the only sports where you can beat the game cause you can isolate certain statistics to correctly predict the outcomes of the game...The term is called sabremetrics, and I've been a student of this statistically science since the end of last year. This year, I've had some incredible winnings streaks and some tough losing streaks, but overall I am ahead. But with each passing game, I'm learning what statistics are more important than others -- (EXAMPLE, RBIs and ERA are not true measures of a baseball player.)

Well, that's a start...Once again, just wanted to get this blog updated and maybe it'll give me momentum to write and write and write...

I HAVE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS....WHAT A ____!!!

I absolutely believe that there's more good than bad in people....

In the industry I work in, you see a lot of bad in the people. Most of the time, I believe people who get angry at the poker table are not showing the true barometer of character they really are. One-outers, bad calls by their opponents, and horrible river cards leads to "out of character" reaction like snapping at the player or worst, at their dealer. I usually shrug it off and give them the benefit of the doubt and in most cases, you ultimately see the good in people....

But sometimes, you meet someone who's just a bad person...and you can tell...

So, I'm dealing the typical $1-$2 game, full of tourists, locals, funny-loving people who don't care whether they win or lose. But there was this one guy who brought a lot of tension to the table...Forget the fact, he was playing and raising every-hand, and losing every hand....dumping about $1,000 bucks in the 30 minutes I dealt, but it was the way he interacted with the players that showed he had a deep character flaw. Here's some examples:

After losing yet another gigantic pot, he pulled out his load of hundreds, peeled off yet another buy in and said to everyone at the table, "I have millions and millions, so this doesn't mean anything." First of all, when you tell people, unsolicited, that you have money, if shows the true character of a man. I believe it shows insecurities because you're trying to make yourself look good, but making others look bad...Not a charater train that I, or any sane person really wants.

Again, after losing another pot, whenever someone tries to make small talk, he's responses was always, "I don't care what you think! You hear me, I don't care what you think" I just hate it when people put up their nose at you like your high-and mighty....

I felt very uncomfortable dealing to his guy because I had absolutely no respect for this person as a man, and you could feel the absolutely uneasiness hovering over the table

But on the flip slide, like I said, he dumped a lot of money in this game, so no one wanted to leave which leaves me with this saying...

 That folks, in a nutshell, is how it works....