Event #3, $1500 Pot Limit Holdem

Sue Phillips, the lead dealer coordinator addressed the nearly 250 dealers on day shift today and tried to ensure us that there would be more opportunities to work and make money as things shake out this year.  I have my doubts.  There are way too many dealers, and because they did a better job screening applicants this year, we are not seeing the same large number of "deer in the headlights" break-in newbies that are obviously not ready and likely to be released during the first week (there are a few).  Last year, there were probably around 150 dealers that were sent home or fired during the first few days.  Not so much this year.  I still feel like my skills and rules knowledge is on par with all but the very best dealers here, but it is clear that the overall quality of the dealers is much better this year.  Sue also reminded us that in a few days we will get another 70 or so tables in the mix and that some dealers who see their first checks will either leave (because they are not making as much as they can elsewhere) or choose not to work (sign the early out list, because now they have enough money to play instead of deal).  After the last two very short days, where I only accumulated 5 and 4 downs respectively, and the number of off days I have been given, I am very concerned that I will not make enough in the early going to cover my expenses.

Dealer assignments today are being made alphabetically, and since they started at the top of the alphabet, all of the tournament tables are given out well before we reach the "P"s.  A dozen or so dealers are given satellite assignments and about that many more are sent to live action.  About half of the room remains when the initial assignments are complete and the rest of us crowd forward a bit as the dealer coordinators discuss break table options.  They choose to try and avoid up-downs and set the break tables so that most dealers will get at least two consecutive downs and start assigning the first break dealers.  My new dealer friend Andrew, who worked last year's WSOP and stayed in Vegas permanently, securing a sports book job at the Hilton, anxiously predict our chances of picking up an assignment as the names roll through the "M"s and "N"s on the list.  We pick up two of the very last tables (his might have been the last one), they are very high numbers in the blue section, so there is a fair chance they will break even before we take a seat.

An hour later as I push into Blue 48, I am feeling a bit punchy and not very well.  I honestly think it is harder to wait for work than actually perform the dealing duties, and not spending more time in the break room over the past few days than actually dealing has worn on my nerves and prevented me from feeling like I am getting in any sort of groove.  I show up a little early and chat with the young floorman, Jason, who's energy and excitement about the job is quite infectious.  I notice that the first two tables, 49 & 50, have already broken (sorry Andrew) and figure that mine might not even last until my down starts.  Jason assures me that I will start my down, but admits that I might not finish it.

When I do push in, I immediately notice that the chair at this table has no escalator.  For some unknown reason, Harrah's doesn't have enough adjustable dealers chairs and still continues to put stubby ones in the string.  Many dealers carry around two and three pillows to raise themselves up to a decent dealing level.  It is very hard to deal from your chin while sitting on the floor.  There are health and safety concerns, in my opinion, but even worse I would think that Harrah's would prefer not to have their professional dealing staff carry these damn pillows around.  It looks silly, sloppy, amateur and not at all befitting the most prestigious poker tournament in the industry.  Even though I am six feet tall, last year I carried them around as well, but so far this year I had avoided doing so.  Then I recognize Men "The Master" Nguyen in seat 7, and he is nursing a severely damaged chip stack, just a couple of hundred chips remain from the 3,000 they started with less than half an hour ago.  On the very first hand I flash the first card to the three seat, and even though I acknowledge this, hold it back and announce that it will be replaced, Men makes a gruff comment and declares that it is the "ten of spades".  Ok, rough start for me.  It is starting to feel like this will be a pretty tough day for me.  I am extremely uncomfortable in this damn chair, and now embarrassed about my somewhat trivial flaw because its my goal to string together several days in a row without turning up a card and I didn't even make it through the first hand.  When I turn over the card, it is indeed a black ten, but its a club, and Men grumbles again.  On the second hand, Men is all-in for a raise of four times the big blind.  Almost everyone else folds to him, but the big blind makes the modest call, presumably just for the chance to knock out Men, who shows A-9 offsuit.  The big blind shows J-6 offsuit.  The flop missed both of them and Men survives the turn, but the river is a six and Men is eliminated from the event during the first level of play.  As he gathers his things, he states that it is better to be out early and go do something productive than sit around for eight hours and still not get paid, like the rest of the players at this table.  While he is quite correct, and I don't know how he lost most of his stack, many of the top pros take big gambles early on hoping to double up quick, stay ahead of the blinds and punish the soft/dead money stacks at the table.  If their gamble doesn't pay off, they are happy to find another game to invest their time towards, the buy-ins just aren't that significant to them.  But, the implication in Men's statement is clearly pointed at the other players at the table and the lack of respect that he has for their chances in this tournament.  He is a classy guy (..... not!), and then he snorts "Thanks, Dealer" sarcastically in my direction.  I make a quick glance at him with all intention of giving him a consoling look and nod in agreement with his time efficiency logic, but he's giving me evil eyes and I just divert my attention back to the table.  By the anger in his look, I presume that if I had expressed any sort of reaction to him, he'd follow up with something like "Do you think that's funny?"  He has a reputation of abusing dealers and taking out his frustrations on others at the table.  I can't wait to tell my dealing friend, Dusty from Chatanooga, who has had several ugly run-ins with The Master, about the bust-out.

 

My table breaks about a half of dozen hands later and it is back to the break room.  No assignments for almost an hour, then the 1:00pm dealers are given restart tables for the combined second day of event #2.  I wait patiently and finally get one of the last few tables in this section after all other dealers who have yet to work pick up an assignment.  Tournament restart assignments are awesome, they are the best games to deal.  Most all of the donkeys have been eliminated from the event and the remaining players really know what they are doing.  There seems to be a lot more poker being played, and position is key, so hands go pretty quickly as very few players enter pots during these levels.  They are either in the money, or close to it, so the player's are more geared up and the intensity is clear.  Their are wide spreads in stack sizes, so tactical strategy is much more complex than during early stages of the tournament.  I've considered volunteering for swing shift, even though I prefer days due to the Vegas heat, just so that I can more often land second day tourney restarts which are typically later in the afternoon and early evening.

As I setup my table, I notice two names that I think are top online players, Chris Vaughn and Chris Savage, who has the biggest chip stack at my table, but it turns out to be a different person with the same name, not the player known online as "brsavage" and there is some talk about that fact among the players as they gather ahead of him.  Since there was a redraw for table/seats, none of them had been playing together when their respective first days were suspended.  There are lots of recognizable players left in the field of about 550 players.  The lovely Erica Schoenberg is right behind me.  I see Aaron Kanter on a nearby table and John Murphy, who both have experience surviving very large fields advancing to main event final tables in recent years.  The hippie from Full Tilt (I won't use his name anymore, to be explained in a future post) is roaming around.  John Phan and Jon Hennigan are immediately recognizable and Houstonian Ayaz Mahmood is at a table in the string of tables ahead of me.

They are paying nearly 400 players and there are many, many short stacks and players are being eliminated right and left.  There is a small army of floor persons on staff ready to handle the money bubble, which of course is the largest in shear number of tables and players of any tournament that I have worked.  The staff is poised and professional though, many of them have handled this situation in previous main events, which have paid down to several hundred more places the last couple of years.  When we get within about 40 players of the money, assistant tournament director Jimmy Sommerfield starts making announcements to the players.  Everyone has a card with a four digit identifier on it that they are to keep with their chips - this assists the media representatives giving live chip counts and updates online.

When we get within 20 players of the money bubble, hand-for-hand dealing procedures commence.  At each table, we spread the deck face down and stand up when our hand is complete and wait patiently for all of the other 40-some tables to complete their hand.  When all the dealers are standing, Jimmy Sommerfield announces how many players have been eliminated and we sit back down and deal the next hand.  Everyone wants to make the money, so the action is ridiculously tight and there are many, many hands where no one is eliminated, but eventually we get down to about a half dozen from the money.  Sommerfield explains that anyone who busts out now should stay near their table, because if for some reason more players bust out on this hand than are necessary to be eliminated before reaching the money, then all of the players busted out on this hand will split the proceeds from the pertinent tournament positions.  

A player at my table bluffs off about 70% of his chips at a double paired board, but he was called by a slightly larger stack with a dry ace.  It was a huge call, out of position, for a significant share of his stack, that impressed most of the table.  The bluffer had bet the flop and the river, but checked the turn, which confused his opponent and probably induced the very dangerous money bubble call.  I think it was a real good bet, with play so tight, by the player, but if he had not checked the turn, it might have worked out for him.  Had it worked, he would have had enough chips to go deep into the tournament, and even though it didn't, he had enough to limp along through the bubble and still get paid.

During hand-for-hand, there are no dealer pushes, so I accumulate a few more downs, which I need dearly after the last couple of days.  Unfortunately, I am at another chair with no escalator, so I spend about two full hours nearly sitting on the floor (when I wasn't standing patiently, anyways).  The current tournament blind level expired while we were in hand-for-hand, but the tournament director announced that we would stay at these blinds until we reach the money and then we will have a short break.  This is a great compromise procedure in my opinion, as the players get nervous about the tournament clocks ticking away and blind pressure increasing during this tenuous period.  I have experienced tournament directors add back in a couple of minutes of play for each hand dealt during this delayed procedure to compensate the players for the lost time, but that approach seems pretty klugey to me.  I like this better and the players seem satisfied with the instruction regarding it.  Of course, during the delays, many of the players are roaming around trying to find out where the real damaged stacks are in relation to the blinds and who will be forced to put their tourney life at risk.  Sommerfield constantly begs them to return to their seats so that he and the floormen can more easily and accurately assess the situation.  Finally the last few bubble players are eliminated, the players congratulate themselves for making the money and we have a very happy group of winners left.  When they go on break, dealers are instructed to count their chip stacks and submit a form to the press representatives.  We aren't supposed to touch their chips, just eyeball the stacks and give reasonably close estimates.

After the break, John Friedberg joins my table with a decent sized stack.  I never quite get to Ayaz Mahmood's table before my shift ends, and although some of the faces seem familiar, I don't deal to any more notable professionals.