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It's a long way home
Apr. 3rd, 2005 03:56 pmWell, I’m back in one piece, slightly richer, slightly jet-lagged, slightly older.
One of the problems of going away and deliberately not keeping up-to-date with things back home (and thus following the recommendation of all these people on how to avoid stress) is that all those matters with which you have not kept up-to-date come back to haunt you big-time when you return (including ironing). One reason that many people admit to “checking their business e-mails” when on holiday is not that they are workaholics, but because they know that, if they don’t, they will have to work 16-hour days for a week just to catch up. And that’s the kind of situation that I now find myself.
I can get round this minor irritant simply by not playing any online poker. This immediately frees up half my day, perhaps more, and makes me wonder whether I am not playing too much. It was already beginning to feel a bit like work. But, hell, even if I don’t actually need the winnings, they are a nice thing to have. It’s a conundrum. I know that I have an addictive personality and, if I am going to be addicted to anything, then it might as well be to something that does not destroy my liver (or any other bodily organ) and which actually makes me money rather than the other way round. I would imagine that there are a number of attendees at various “-aholic” meetings who would give their right arm for such a problem (I except members of Dartaholics Anonymous and Onanists Anonymous from this generalization, for obvious reasons). But when it comes to a situation where the thing is beginning to take over your life, the time has to come to try to restore some balance. So, less of the 100-hour months online and a few more 50-hour months. That, at least is the plan. It should also mean more time for decorating (which really DOES need doing) and reading and, well, other generally life-ish things.
Andy Bellin wrote very astutely about this problem in Poker Nation, where he recounts the story of a professional poker player who got to the state where he was incapable of doing anything without thinking that just by not playing cards he was costing himself $50 an hour. I hadn’t quite got to that stage, but it was getting close.
Some interesting tales of Vegas will follow bit by bit. I’ve got at least three poker-related articles in my head, one of which is a guaranteed money-maker at low-limit hold’em in Vegas (there, salivate on that). For the moment, I have to catch up on 16 days of insurance news in preparation for work tomorrow. Oh, and for the first time, I am suffering from nine-hour jet lag. I managed to return from the US at a time when clocks had gone forward in the UK, but not in the US. If anyone tells you that there is no difference between eight-hour jet lag and nine-hour jetlag, then they are a fool.
The major news in Vegas while I was there was the opening of the MGM card room. It’s right at the front, by the Centrifuge bar, the sports book, Studio 54 and, of course, the lions. Yes, pull to an eight-card “wrap” while a lion potters about not 30 feet away. I can’t imagine Gutshot introducing that innovation just yet, even if they do have a nightclub and a betting shop just up the road.
That aside, and forgiving the MGM for some inexperienced card dealers (there is one godawful shortage of dealers in Vegas at the moment, what with Wynn’s room opening at the end of this month and the Caesar’s card room opening sometime in June/July), it is clear that card rooms have moved to a new level. The MGM 23-tabler has plasma screens all around (I watched the England-Azerbaijan game there) with waiting lists for all games displayed electronically (plus “interest” lists). The limit runs from $2-$4 (always) through $4-$8 (most of the time), and $6-$12/$10-$20 (evenings to small hours). Apparently there was a $20-$40 game, but I didn’t see it. No limit was equally popular, with a $1-$2 blind game having a $40 minimum buy-in and $100 maximum, leading one wag to call it “unstructured limit $2-$100”. The $2-$5 game (buy-ins of $100 to $500) ran continuously from opening night to the Friday that I left.
The MGM is the new standard for card rooms and the Rio and other rooms not refurbishing will have to watch out. Oh, and the rake was good as well, with a dollar being taken at $10, $30, $50 and $90. This is even better than Bellagio’s (where the fourth dollar kicks in at $80). I spoke to Alan, the poker room boss, and he insisted that this was not a promotional rate. That’s good news for poker players on the strip, since I was worried that Bellagio might be increasing its rake in line with the 10% up to $4 charged in the low-limit places (Flamingo, Bally’s, Aladdin, Monte Carlo, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Stardust) on the Strip. He also wants to get Omaha running, both PLO high and limit 8-or-better.
One sad thing that I noted among the increasing number of new players was a tendency not to tip the dealer. I rememer reading an article by legendary tightwad Mason Malmuth who attempted to justify that "non-tippers" were good for dealers because they kept the games going and that dealers should therefore be nice to non-tippers. Pure tosh. Dealers get paid between $5.50 and $7.50 an hour. If they didn't get tips it would be of no importance to them whether the games were kept going or not -- they would have to work elsewhere. In one game I sat with increasing frustration as winner after winner failed to tip the dealer Patty, whom I have known for years. Needless to say I couldn't win a pot to save my life, so I couldn't ostentatiously throw a couple of bucks her way until I did. Most of these players weren't mean, they were just new, and didn't realize that you tipped the dealer a buck if you won any pot over, say, $20. For big pots it would be a couple of bucks and for humungous ones, three bucks.
One of the problems of going away and deliberately not keeping up-to-date with things back home (and thus following the recommendation of all these people on how to avoid stress) is that all those matters with which you have not kept up-to-date come back to haunt you big-time when you return (including ironing). One reason that many people admit to “checking their business e-mails” when on holiday is not that they are workaholics, but because they know that, if they don’t, they will have to work 16-hour days for a week just to catch up. And that’s the kind of situation that I now find myself.
I can get round this minor irritant simply by not playing any online poker. This immediately frees up half my day, perhaps more, and makes me wonder whether I am not playing too much. It was already beginning to feel a bit like work. But, hell, even if I don’t actually need the winnings, they are a nice thing to have. It’s a conundrum. I know that I have an addictive personality and, if I am going to be addicted to anything, then it might as well be to something that does not destroy my liver (or any other bodily organ) and which actually makes me money rather than the other way round. I would imagine that there are a number of attendees at various “-aholic” meetings who would give their right arm for such a problem (I except members of Dartaholics Anonymous and Onanists Anonymous from this generalization, for obvious reasons). But when it comes to a situation where the thing is beginning to take over your life, the time has to come to try to restore some balance. So, less of the 100-hour months online and a few more 50-hour months. That, at least is the plan. It should also mean more time for decorating (which really DOES need doing) and reading and, well, other generally life-ish things.
Andy Bellin wrote very astutely about this problem in Poker Nation, where he recounts the story of a professional poker player who got to the state where he was incapable of doing anything without thinking that just by not playing cards he was costing himself $50 an hour. I hadn’t quite got to that stage, but it was getting close.
Some interesting tales of Vegas will follow bit by bit. I’ve got at least three poker-related articles in my head, one of which is a guaranteed money-maker at low-limit hold’em in Vegas (there, salivate on that). For the moment, I have to catch up on 16 days of insurance news in preparation for work tomorrow. Oh, and for the first time, I am suffering from nine-hour jet lag. I managed to return from the US at a time when clocks had gone forward in the UK, but not in the US. If anyone tells you that there is no difference between eight-hour jet lag and nine-hour jetlag, then they are a fool.
The major news in Vegas while I was there was the opening of the MGM card room. It’s right at the front, by the Centrifuge bar, the sports book, Studio 54 and, of course, the lions. Yes, pull to an eight-card “wrap” while a lion potters about not 30 feet away. I can’t imagine Gutshot introducing that innovation just yet, even if they do have a nightclub and a betting shop just up the road.
That aside, and forgiving the MGM for some inexperienced card dealers (there is one godawful shortage of dealers in Vegas at the moment, what with Wynn’s room opening at the end of this month and the Caesar’s card room opening sometime in June/July), it is clear that card rooms have moved to a new level. The MGM 23-tabler has plasma screens all around (I watched the England-Azerbaijan game there) with waiting lists for all games displayed electronically (plus “interest” lists). The limit runs from $2-$4 (always) through $4-$8 (most of the time), and $6-$12/$10-$20 (evenings to small hours). Apparently there was a $20-$40 game, but I didn’t see it. No limit was equally popular, with a $1-$2 blind game having a $40 minimum buy-in and $100 maximum, leading one wag to call it “unstructured limit $2-$100”. The $2-$5 game (buy-ins of $100 to $500) ran continuously from opening night to the Friday that I left.
The MGM is the new standard for card rooms and the Rio and other rooms not refurbishing will have to watch out. Oh, and the rake was good as well, with a dollar being taken at $10, $30, $50 and $90. This is even better than Bellagio’s (where the fourth dollar kicks in at $80). I spoke to Alan, the poker room boss, and he insisted that this was not a promotional rate. That’s good news for poker players on the strip, since I was worried that Bellagio might be increasing its rake in line with the 10% up to $4 charged in the low-limit places (Flamingo, Bally’s, Aladdin, Monte Carlo, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Stardust) on the Strip. He also wants to get Omaha running, both PLO high and limit 8-or-better.
One sad thing that I noted among the increasing number of new players was a tendency not to tip the dealer. I rememer reading an article by legendary tightwad Mason Malmuth who attempted to justify that "non-tippers" were good for dealers because they kept the games going and that dealers should therefore be nice to non-tippers. Pure tosh. Dealers get paid between $5.50 and $7.50 an hour. If they didn't get tips it would be of no importance to them whether the games were kept going or not -- they would have to work elsewhere. In one game I sat with increasing frustration as winner after winner failed to tip the dealer Patty, whom I have known for years. Needless to say I couldn't win a pot to save my life, so I couldn't ostentatiously throw a couple of bucks her way until I did. Most of these players weren't mean, they were just new, and didn't realize that you tipped the dealer a buck if you won any pot over, say, $20. For big pots it would be a couple of bucks and for humungous ones, three bucks.
