Why do people have a problem with AA?

Went to Wheeling again and had a friend tell me that they would never play AA there. Never. Just would flat out fold those bullets before the flop. All I said was "WTF??" You just want to fold the best hand in poker without playing it?? And the thing is, they're not alone. All around the tables you hear the same complaints about getting their Aces cracked. But to me, it's not that their Aces were beat, it's that they were beat bad (but not necessarily a bad beat though).

To be a good poker player, you have to understand where your hand lies in relation to what other people may have. The fact that you have AA just means that you have a better starting hand than the other players at the table, but the flop can quickly take that away. I saw a hand one time where a player with AA ended up having the 5th biggest hand after the flop after 3 players flopped flushes and the 4th flopped 2 pair. He just misplayed the hand and because they were Aces, he stuck around with all the betting all the way to the river (even when a 4th club came and he did not have the Ace).

So right after my friend tells me that they won't play AA, I am sitting with them at a 1-2 NL table and I get dealt 2 red Aces (very pretty looking). A player raised to $11, I called, and there were a couple more callers after me. Flop came with an A, which I really don't want to see. This means I am almost guaranteed to win the hand, but since there is only 1 more Ace left in the deck, it is unlikely someone else has it and so all players may fold to any bet. So I let the original raiser bet for me, called again, and had a couple players fold. Turn was a blank, checked all around. The river gave a 4 card straight on the board (3,5,6,7) and I doubted there was a 4 out there so I bet, got one caller, and took down the pot. I show the Aces and tell my friend that you can win with them...

The very next hand I get AA again! This time, I initiate the raising making it $15. Get 2 callers. And once again I spike an Ace on the flop. Crap. I know I won't make any money this hand. Check to me, of course. I make a $15 continuation bet, knowing that there will probably be 2 folds and am not disappointed. But it would have looked too fishy if I had checked. Showed my Rockets again and got some ribbing from the players. Mucked around for a bit and left even. At least I didn't lose any money...

Casino Tipping 101

I've been working as a blackjack and roulette dealer for a couple of months now and have heard some varying opinions about tipping in casinos. I have heard some people say that they never tip when playing BJ or any other table games and I have to wonder HUH??? Their excuse is that the dealer has no say in the outcome, it is the player's money at stake, and the casino pays the dealers a wage anyways so why should they tip extra. You tip extra because, just like when you go to a restaurant and order food or when you take a taxi, the person you tip has provided a service. And you tip based on the quality of that service. So if a waiter forgets part of your order or if a taxi driver is rude in conversation, you tip less, if at all. The same holds for casino dealers. A dealer's job is to make the players time at the table as enjoyable as possible while they take your money. That's their job... to take your money. And you know this when you sit down so don't be surprised when it happens. But if you win money, and the dealer has made your stay at his/her table enjoyable, then give them a tip. And the amount is not set in stone like in a restaurant. I don't ever expect 15%. But if you walk up to a roulette table and throw $100 on black, hit it, let it ride, and get hit againg, throw the dealer $5 or $10 as you are walking away with your $300 profit. I know you may be down a couple grand already, but now you are doing a little bit better and the dealer had a part in it.

Roulette is a tough game for tokes if a player is not tipping until they leave the table. Players often sit too long (they get up big, keep playing, and get knocked to nothing) so when you have a big hit (3X or more the total amount wagered... i.e. if you are playing 20 $1 chips on the number and hit 2 or 3 straight up on a number and win $70 or $105) toss the dealer a dollar or two. Or, if you want, play a bet or 2 for the dealer. Tell the dealer you would like to play for them and give them the chips. They will convert them to another color or value chips, and then have them place them on a couple of your bigger bets. This way if you win, they win. Dealers will appreciate being part of the game and will root for your numbers to hit and they will probably be more fun to have around (it gets pretty tedious spinning a ball all night).

With blackjack, the play is more steady so the tipping should be more steady. And the tipping can depend on the size of your bet. If I'm playing BJ and win a few hands in a row, I will play a little bit for the dealer. This way when the player wins, the dealer wins. If I go on a losing streak I might throw a tip up to try to get the streak to go away. But when I'm dealing and I have an entire table not tipping, you are going to have me tight-lipped and dealing as fast as I possibly can in the hopes that you will lose your money and someone who will tip will sit down in your place. And if you get a Blackjack and are given a $2.50 chip, don't play it on your own stack. Stick it out and play it for the dealer or give it to them outright, but you will just annoy your dealer if you get blackjack again (you figure out what 1.5 times $27.50 is... some of us are really good at math, but it is still annoying).

One other thing to remember is that most poker dealers keep their own tips, but table games tips are usually pooled for a 24 hour period. So if you see a full toke box, it is going to get split between every single dealer who is working that day. All of the dealers make the same amount per hour in a casino regardless of whether they are dealing in the High Limit Blackjack room or spinning the Big 6 Wheel. This makes it more fair and allows the casino to find people to work the graveyard shift when many tables are dead. Poker dealers usually get tipped at the end of every hand so they have incentive to get as many hands per hour dealt by keeping their own tips, and this helps the casino by bringing in more rakes.

Don't get me wrong. I don't expect a tip from every person who comes to my table, but if I'm friendly, doing my job, you are enjoying my dealing, and you are winning some, be courteous and toss me something. Hope to see you at the tables!!

Why do the Poker Gods do this to me?

So after work one night (or morning considering it was 5 am) I went down to Wheeling with a couple of other dealers. They mostly play blackjack and craps but I was there to play poker. When I got there there were three 1-2 NL tables going and nothing else. Sat down at one with $120 and won the first few hands I saw (AQ, 77...). Got moved to another table and grinded it out for a bit. Was up to about $200 and decided to take a break to go see what was going on upstairs. My buddies were messing around at a blackjack table so I told them I would be up in a minute. On the way down I threw $20 in a $1 slot machine and hit it up to $50. Walked by the Wheel of Fortune game and threw the $50 in it and hit it up to $140 in about 5 spins. Stuck that in my pocket (it was my poker and slot buy-in so I was even there..) and went back to the table.

At this point, the one crazy guy was gone and a couple people had moved spots. I decided to play around to the blinds and caught KQ clubs. Raised to $15 and the guy to my left raised to $30. Everyone else folded and I made the call. Flop was KQJo. Yay! Or so I thought... I checked, and he bet $70. I raised All-in. He made the fastest insta-call I had ever seen and flipped over his pocket Q's... I was just getting ready to push my chips to him and walk back upstairs when the two-outer King hit the river. The guy was shocked, I mumbled something about sorry for his bad luck, and collected the pot. Had over $400 in front of me and should have quit. But no, I stuck around because, like an idiot, I feel bad when I bad-beat someone and want to at least give the appearance that I am staying at the table to give them a chance to get their money back. So when I call a small raise with 10-7 hearts, flop a flush, raise, then get put all in on the flop and make the call, I have to expect the guy to have trips and make his boat on the turn. It's what the Poker Gods do.

Dallas Cowboys Misery

Preface: Excuse me for the Bill Simmons-esque rant that is forthcoming. I've held it in for too long...

I am a big Cowboys fan. Always have been. When I was about 11-12 years old I had not yet "chosen" my favorite teams in any sport and my parents were divorced so my father was not influencing me on my choices. I also lived in western PA about equidistant from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo so everybody rooted for different teams (giving the edge to the Steeler's because of the home state favoritism). My backyard had the perfect boundaries for the neighborhood football field and every weekend there were kids playing. One of the neighbors was about 5 years older than me and often came over to throw the football around and I remember many times playing 1 on 1 football between the 2 of us. He had me beat by almost a foot in height, but I could still throw the ball high enough and long enough to be able to run underneath it (or go for the quick dump off passes and hope he slipped). But during these 1 on 1 sessions we gave running play-by-play and since he was the older (and bigger) one of us, he always was the Steeler's and, because we were archrivals, I was the Cowboys. I had to find Cowboy football cards just to figure out who was on the team. Since this happened in the very early 80's, he had the advantage of 4 Super Bowl wins and many of the superstars were still playing. I was left with Danny White, Tony Hill, Drew Pearson, and Tony Dorsett. Not a bad bunch but it did not have the prestige of the Steeler's.



Regardless, it stuck with me and I became a die-hard fan even though I have migrated closer to Pittsburgh over time (and now live within fireworks distance of Heinz Field). I stuck with them through the 80's and the end of the Landry era, through the dismal first seasons of the Jimmy Johnson era (including the 1-15 season), the exhilaration of 3 Super Bowl victories, then the slow disintegration of "America's Team" with aging superstars, drugs, poor coaching, and crappy drafts. The team always had hope, but the swagger was not there anymore. They were good but not great and I always expected the worst (and was always correct). But at the same time my hopes were never too high or never too low so I was never really disappointed. And so it continues this season...

I had hopes for this season... but not too high. This team was different than ones from the past few, but not by much. It still had T.O. (which in itself has given every team he has been part of pause in their hopes), shaky coaching, a young QB, and a running back-by-committee. But the drafting seems to be better recently. I like the focus on defense over the past few years in Ware, Canty, Carpenter and Spencer and the free agent acquisitions of Hamlin and Henry. But overall there were still many suspect moves (signing Leonard Davis), a tough schedule, and a relatively young team led by a quarterback who had less than 10 career starts to his record. The questions far outweighed the known and going into the season I could have seen the team self-destructing just as much as I could have seen them going 13-3... So I was as glad as anyone when they were undefeated going into their week 6 game agains the Patriots. But after watching them trip all over themselves in Buffalo the week before, I was not as pumped up as I shouls have been. They played well against the Pats for a while, but ended up making enough mistakes to get blown out by 21.

To their credit though, they kept playing good football. T.O. was a non-factor in the distraction department, their defense was playing well, Romo was a Pro Bowler, and the RBBC was working well with Jones and Barber. But cracks were showing and when the Boys played Detroit the week after Thanksgiving their faults were brought to the forefront. They let Kevin freaking-Jones run well and had to use a last-minute drive to beat a team that was in complete disarray. Then they lost to the Eagles at home, barely got past a injury-riddled Panthers team, and lost badly to the Redskins in the final week.

At this point the warning bells were going off and I had no doubt that they were going to have their hands full regardless of who they were playing. And when the Giants manhandled Tampa to move on, I knew there were going to be problems. Even with Eli Manning the Giants had been playing well and hadn't loss on the road since the week 1 loss to the Cowboys (which is pretty crazy when you think about how important home field advantage is around the league). But the Cowboys had beaten them twice already by double-digits each time and the game would be at home and the ream would be rested so everything should be pointing to their favor. But with T.O's ankle and with the media evening things out by beating the Jessica Simpson thing into the ground and turning the weeks leading up to the game into a circus, I was really wondering if the karma was gone.

But the real reason the Cowboys lost was coaching decisions. I love Marion Barber, but I loved him coming off the bench a lot more than I like him starting. By not starting him, he was able to be fresh in the second half of games and beat on defenses late when it mattered most (and when it could be most effective). Instead, he started the game, had a great first half, but slowed down in the second half when it mattered the most.

And the whole Terry Glenn thing mystified me. How can a team suddenly thrust a player into a prominent role on the offense after sitting out 16 weeks? Was Sam Hurd a worse player than Glenn in that situation? And did Romo feel obligated to try to ge the ball to Glenn in the game at the expense of players like Witten or Crayton? I would rather they had just gone with the players who had gotten them there rather than bring back a player who hadn't played a meaningful snap in over a year. But that's just me.

I guess there is always next year. The team is still young with only a few players on the downside of their careers. Let's just hope they don't screw up and let Jason Garrett go to become a head coach in Baltimore or Atlanta without giving him a chance (or promise) to be the head coach-in-waiting of the Cowboys (which I think he would be favorable to). The team is close, real close, to competing every year, and maybe soon I won't continually think the worst of the team before they actually play the game.

Steeler's Recap... at least we still have the Pens!

Well, the Steelers' season is now over and looking back it was probably a better season than most people expected. Most people have selective memory when it comes to the Steelers and do not remember that many pundits (and local fans) did not have high hopes for the black and gold. I remember hearing predictions anywhere between 6-10 to 12-4 (from the crazy folk!). My personal prediction was a not-so-daring 9-7. But the team got off to a great start (against some lackluster opponents) which gave false hope to the masses. Now people are complaining about missed opportunities and how the team did not live up to its potential. That's a bunch of crap. The team had issues that became more evident as the season went along. There were offensive line issues that led to additional carries for Willie Parker (he still got his yards but would have approached Jamal Anderson/Larry Johnson territory for his carries if not for his injury). There were also other injury problems throughout the season to Polamalu, Holmes, Ward and others (Aaron Smith was especially devastating at the end of the season). Add to this a new coach who is learning the ropes, a semi-progression from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense, and getting almost no production at all from the rookie class, it all leads to a 10-6 season and a first-round playoff loss. Be happy and look forward to next year!