Frustration

Today was not a good day at the Casino.

I arrived to work and before we started the live game the dealers were sitting around the table talking. The poker manager was talking about the new $2-$4 Limit game and how we were to approach taking the rake.

During this time he informed us that he had just completed the employee evaluations for all of the dealers. We have a new General Manager and he had a say in the evaluations as well. No one got a good evaluation and the reason for that is we are not bringing in new players.

We as poker dealers are supposed to bring in new players. When we do bring them in we are to notify the management that we brought in the players. This will help keep our jobs. The General Manager wants to replace all of the dealers. Wow, I am just stunned.

I have been there since October and I am getting more comfortable dealing in the tournaments. Now all of a sudden I am a salesman in trying to keep my job. I guess I will need to think about this and decide what I am going to do. My circle of friends do not play poker and getting them involved is not want I want to do if they don't want to play the game.

What happened to enjoying the game? Maybe going back to just being a player is what I need to do. We will have to wait and see. Two posts in one day is new for me.

Have a good day........

Changing the Game

Yesterday was my day off and guess where I spent my time? Yes, at the casino.

The dealers try to support each other on our time off to help keep the game going and bringing in the players. As soon as we have a full table then the dealers start to back out of the game and let the players go from there. I was not on the clock yesterday so I stayed in the game.

During the early morning session I was holding my own and came out of the session down a little bit. When the next session started, after the tournament, my chipstack started declining again. I was just missing the best hand by one card. A8 vs A9 type of stuff for two pairs.

On the last few hands played before the next tournament started I got AA. Now if I got them cracked I would get $25 with the Monte Carlo. If I played them aggressive I could possibly get myself back to even for the whole day.

I had two callers and they were playing their hands aggressive so I joined in to see if I could win this big pot. As it turned out my Aces held up and ended up back in the black for the day. Good positive day.

Starting today we will no longer play the $1-$6 spread game and will be changing it to $2-$4 Limit. Hopefully we have the players supporting this. Our new GM wants us to rake another dollar and this is his way of doing that. Hope it works.

Now I start my three day stretch of dealing poker. Let the fun begin.

Have a good day......

Deal the Cards

We had our Thanksgiving yesterday with the family. It was nice to have everyone together. The only one missing was Mom. It would have been nice to have her here but she is safer in the Alzheimer Care home.

Today was back to work in the Casino. I dealt two final tables today. It just seemed like it would never end. Especially with the Rebuys. There weren't very many of them so it wasn't really that bad.

I was nearing the end of the final table today with three players remaining. The poker manager had come over to the table and was preparing to pay the next person taken out.

I burned the card and brought out the flop and then one of the guys said All-In. I looked at him and of course it wasn't his turn. I turned to look at the other guy in seat 10 and was waiting for his action. He looked over at the guy in seat 2 and had that look on his face like what are you doing? The poker manager started laughing and looked right at me and said that one of the other dealers that has been there a long time does this at least two times a night.

I couldn't figure out why the crowd around the table was laughing. Then it hit me. I had brought the flop and never dealt the cards to the players. The player in seat two noticed first and that is when he said All-In. It was a nice break for everyone to get a good laugh before I could redeal the cards.

When everything was all done and the next tournament was set up I was able to go home. Before I left I sat down in the eating area. The Poker Manager walked by and noticed that I was sitting there and told me I had done a good job today. He also said he was happy that I had made the decision to stay at the casino. My first 3 weeks were not very good but I feel I am getting the hang of it and the players are getting used to me. That was a good pat on the back.

I did play a little in the $1-$6 game today and donated my $20. I need to get more serious with my play. We are expected to be butts in the seat and I guess my mentality is to donk off the money to the customers. I can't play like that. I need to stay away from playing when I am working and go play on the nights that I have some time to really play the game. I have to work on that one.

Today was the Memorial for a good friend. I wasn't able to attend but my thoughts are with the family. RIP Betty "Boop".

Have a fun weekend......

Turkey Day

Yesterday was the actual turkey day for a lot of americans but for my family we are having the celebration of food today. Since I worked thursday in the casino we are waiting.

We did have our usual tournaments during the day and we had about half the normal people show up. I use the word normal very loosely here. We play the freerolls to get customers in the door. I have gotten change from them to pay the one dollar and play for an opportunity to get part of the $200 prize pool. Some of them can't pay the $4 for the dealer add-on so will pay the $1 to play in one of the tournaments. We get 40 to 50 people playing per day. Not bad.

On this day we had a couple come in and they payed the one dollar to play. What a lot of them will do is ask for the Double ticket and take it to the blackjack table and then try to get the next buy in and then bring over the money for the next tournament.

On this day the guy decided to take his $15 over and try to double his money at the blackjack table. You know the rest of the story. He lost all of it and was very upset. He stormed out of the casino and slammed the door and it broke something on the door when he did that.

I get a telephone call at the podium and then find out he has now been 86'd from the casino. Maybe that will be for the best if they can't afford the money to play. They have to realize the consequences of their actions and what they are doing.

The cable guys have shown up this morning to rehook up our cable. I hope everyone has an enjoyable holiday.

Gobble Gobble........

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my Dad's 81st birthday.

After working today I went over and picked him up and brought him home with me. We fixed Enchilada's and Chile Relleno's. He really enjoyed them and it is something we have made in our family for many years. My Mom would make this meal and I learned from her how to prepare them.

He enjoyed the time here and talking with one of our sons. The quiet time listening to christmas music and relaxing was good.

It has been a busy couple of days in the casino. People are coming home from college or having the time to play right now. The rest of the week is expected to be crazy. We will have our Thanksgiving on Friday when I have the day off.

Have a good turkey day.....

Tired and Tilted

It gets old just saying that I am working at dealing the game. I have been doing the same stuff and then today I got the day off.

I have been wanting to learn the Omaha Hi-Lo game and have been putting some time in the books. The Casino is trying to get a game started for the last 2 weeks and at some point I will sit down and play some when it gets started. No one has showed up for the game yet.

This evening I figured I would take some time and sit at the table and play whatever was going on. It was the usual $1-$6 Limit game. We had a new person at the table and she was doing well. One of the last hands I played and the hand that basically took me down to the end was a hand that I just couldn't believe happened.

I was holding KJ and on the board showed up 10-3-Q. All I needed was the Ace to show up for the straight and stay away from someone hitting a flush. The turn was the Ace. I hit my straight. I raised to $12 and got three people following. What were they playing or where they on a draw for the flush. I said give me a red card to stay away from the club and spade flush and sure enough the red card came on the river and was a 3. I felt good about my straight and someone said that three may not be what I wanted to show up.

Turning over the hands were my straight and then the new person turned over the pocket 10's for the Full house. Tens over threes. That hurt.

It happens and I basically gave back the money I won the following day so it was alright. At least a new person took the pot and maybe some day she will play again. Always like to see new people get involved in the game.

Right now I am having a real hard time sleeping at night. With everything that is going on with the job and learning the new routine of dealing and then making sure my Dad gets over to see my Mom. I haven't said too much about her on my blog. She has Cancer and Alzheimer's as well. The cancer is progressing now and she is in some pain and being taken care of by Hospice. Watching my Dad deal with what is happening is hard. I had to separate them into different facilities because Mom needed the Alzheimers care and Dad was unable to take care of her like he wanted. I keep telling him we will get through this together and I am sure we will. I use poker right now as a way to get my mind off of what is happening. I guess I didn't realize how hard this was going to be on me.

Have a fun week. I will be working in the Casino the next three days and will have Thanksgiving on Friday when I am off.

I love my job!!!

On Monday morning I got up and got myself ready to work. I arrived at the casino about 9 AM and I started to deal the live $1-$6 Limit game.

Just before the 10 AM tournament started I was at the podium and the poker manager came up to me and asked me why I was there. Monday was my day off. I guess one day looks like another. Well, at that point I went home.

I did go back in the evening and played a 2 1/2 hour session of $1-$6 Limit. The game was good in that we had a person that was drinking quite a bit and he was winning but we all knew that if we were patient he would return the chips. He didn't let us down. Near the end of the session he was spewing off chips and most of us were getting our chips back. Too bad the game had to stop due to the tournament starting.

Working Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Putting a lot of time dealing the live as well as the tournaments. Trying to get myself better by staying longer in the tournaments at the #1 or #2 tables.

I have noticed my hands are hurting more. I have arthritis in my fingers and it is really bothering them. I don't know how long I will be able to keep this up.

Have a good week.....

Learning

I haven't been blogging as you notice. I have been one busy person now working days. I had been working 3 days and 2 evenings until I finally quit for the second time working a Saturday evening/night.

I was put into a situation where I was out of my league as far as dealing the poker game. Playing the game is one thing but by putting me into the game on a Saturday night was way beyond my level of comfort. I ended up letting the poker manager know that I had enough.

I was not making the customers happy and I was slow enough that it frustrated them as well as myself. I felt the only thing I could do was go ahead and leave and then get back to my time playing the game and building my bankroll that way. He wouldn't have it and so he changed my schedule so I would work 5 days during the week.

I am now dealing the early live game and then two tournaments as well as dealing a sit-n-go inbetween. Getting these hands in is helping me to deal with less pressure and stress. I hope to keep gaining the experience and learning this new skill. I am a very visual person so watching the dealers helps my game as well.

I do need to gain some thicker skin. Listening to some of these people complain is something else. Get this. They are playing a freeroll and paying anywhere from $1 to $4 to play. This is with add ons so they pretty much get to play for a chance at $200. I get the chance of learning and we all should be happy. Not this group.

In the meantime since I am not playing very much I am building my bankroll for another chance at playing some live cash games. I do enjoy the chance and am learning to be patient.

On the personal side my Mom is not doing very well and that takes up my time with Dad as well. We will get through this together.

Have a good week.....

Friday

What a week it has been. I was asked to come in on Monday this week was my day off. That meant I had worked from Saturday through Thursday.

It is not so much the time at work as it is not being home to take care of other things. It is nice to have a job to go to though.

As I said earlier I haven't been playing very much poker since I started dealing. It has been time consuming for me since I am trying to do a good job at breaking up the chips and trying to get it out as fast as I can. Sometimes I feel like I am moving too fast and need to make sure I am doing a good job first.

Thursday morning I was able to get into a tournament and I got to the final table but was taken out when my two pair AQ got beat by J10 and a straight. This morning I went back and played in another tournament and got to the final table and this time cashed. It felt good to get to the end of a tournament again. I played live $1-$6 Limit and came out positive cash as well.

The Casino started a new game this evening and it is $2-$100 with a maximum of $50 buy in to the game. You have to be down to $25 before you buy in again and can only be $50. I put up the $50 and played for an hour and 50 minutes and was positive cash before I got AK and a K came on the flop. One caller and on the turn I went all in and she called with KK. That was not good. I would like to play this game again but will need a better bankroll for this one. I was being patient and then I must have had a brain fart to not recognize something was wrong. Put this in your memory bank and refer to often.

Tonight I played one last tournament and went out early. I am tired and since I have to go back in the morning to deal two tournaments I will head off to bed.

Have a good weekend......

Working

Sorry for not updating the Blog. I have been working every day since Saturday and will get a day off tomorrow.

Not playing much poker just dealing at this time. Miss the action.

Have a good day.....