Tao of Poker

My Last Visit to the Poker Room at the Mohegan Sun

The poker room at Mohegan Sun was crowded for a Wednesday afternoon at 1:00 PM. But enough people were leaving tables at a steady pace that the floor manager called names every few minutes. After we waited ten minutes Senor and I sat down at a new $1-5 Seven Card Stud game that had open seating. I played a couple of hands, but they called my name for a $3-6 Hold’em seat. A couple of hands later, Senor joined me... at the same table! When it’s a full house it’s rare that the same table has openings at the same time.

The game was loose and I lost a couple of close hands. I bluffed once, something you should never do in limit Hold’em. I had nothing, probably 7-8 or 8-9 (since I started reading Doyle Brunson’s Super System, I decided to play connecting middle cards like 7-8, 8-9, 9-10, and sometimes a 7-9 if there are no raises pre-flop, and I’m in the late position. The reason is sometimes 8 and 9 fall on the flop all the time it seems, and on occasion you can pick up a belly-buster straight.) Anyway, the flop came A-A-10, and I raised. The table made me for at least one Ace. The turn came an Ace (A-A-10-A) and the table looked at me like a guy who just nailed four aces. I raised and one guy called me to the river. I couldn’t believe he stayed in. Well it was the right move, because I had nothing but 3 Aces and the old guy had a full house. I seem to lose a lot of cash when I play loose in low limit games.

There was some drama involving the dealer and one player. The just before the river card, the dealer accidentally exposed one card in the deck, the Q of Hearts, which would have been the river card. If that happens, he must show it to the entire table, then place it back in the deck and re-shuffle. Well one guy had A-Q and it was a strong flop. The other guy that stayed in had a better hand and won the pot after the deal had to re-shuffle with the exposed Q in the deck. The guy with A-Q was wicked pissed and yelled at the dealer. I felt sorry for the young dealer. Shit happens. Especially when you deal hundreds and thousands of hands. Once in Atlantic City the same exact situation happened when Senor and played $3-6 at the Taj Mahal. The dealer fucked up and exposed a Q. He reshuffled and he dealt the same Q! What are the odds in that? Insane, huh? Any rate, I felt bad for the dealer, and sympathized with the player. I guess if the floor manager was called over to settle the dispute, he would have told the dealer to do exactly what he did… reshuffle with the exposed card.

Anyway, a few hands later the same dealer was involved in more drama. He almost called the pot over and declared a winner before the final river card. He tossed the remaining cards next to the burned cards. The table caught his mistake right away, and the guy who lost with the A-Q before gave the guy a hard time.

Then we had the most insane poker dealer I ever met. He was a young bald guy with pure energy. He sat down and was “on”. Senor asked if he could keep up that high level of fun, positive, energy… and he said, “Of course, all night long.” He loosened up the table for sure. Everyone was joking and laughing, and he kidded around with everyone. Taunting them to bet every time. More players seemed to stay in because of his happy attitude. He told us about his goal of dealing twenty hands in 30 minutes. At one point he bragged to another dealer that he got 28 hands in a half hour. That’s excellent for limit Hold’em games. He was a fast but accurate dealer. No misdeals when he was at the table.

I bought in for $100, and lost $95. I had one $5 chip left and cashed it out. Mohegan Sun cancelled their weekly tournaments since they were shutting down, there was no need for them to have any. I knew Foxwoods was close by and they had a Stud Tournament at 7 PM, plus random satellites (Act One & Two) for the World Poker Finals. So we bailed.