[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
The Bike

...I jumped right into an 8/16 game and was very surprised at how tight it was playing. It was easy to see that they all knew each other, but it smelled real fishy when it was folded to the cutoff in the 8 seat (I was in 6) and he showed AQ to the 7 and mucked it so the blinds could chop. I was just about to go seek out a game change when the floor came over and said we were breaking. He said, "I definitely have a seat for you sir," while looking at me apparently, which was odd because I was the newest player. I got into another 8/16 game and asked the guy next to me if I was playing with all props. He laughed and said "yep, every single one of them!"

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I was in charge of the 3/6 to 8/16 level props for about 2/3 of the four plus years I worked there (that part of my reign ending about three years ago). I constantly fought with poker room management to avoid starting or maintaining games with too many props. IMO if you need more than three (or perhaps four) props to start or hold a game it's usually wrong to start or maintain it. One of the main reasons is too many people run into something like the experience you did and it hurts the Bike by being part of the reason it seams to have a reputation for having tighter games than some of the others clubs in town. You often see that mentioned on this board (i.e., the games at the Bike being somewhat tighter).


[ QUOTE ]
The biggest difference I saw in LA was the latitude given to the players. Setups were called for every hour on the hour, which was painful to me. But more than anything, the dealer abuse that was tolerated was just ridiculous. One older lady was playing good poker but hit an unlucky stretch. It is LIMIT poker, and you have to love six to the flop for two bets, but that is sometimes going to result in some ridiculous river beats. She had five hands in a row where she lost on the river. (One was my QT cracking her KK on a T98 flop, J river.) She was cursing and MFing and flinging cards and the dealer was handling it as well as a person could who probably knows the floor doesn't have his back. A buddy of hers is walking by and she is complaining to him and his advice, while standing behind the dealer: "Just kill him. Just get him in the parking lot and (making a two-handed sword slash motion) whack the chinaman's head right off hahahahaha" Wow. Just wow.

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When the management cartel came up with the "Zero Tolerance" (for dealer abuse) campaign a few years ago I knew they wouldn't stick to it with any degree of seriousness. That said, the Bike is about in the middle on this with Hustler and Hawaiian Gardens probably being among the best (and Commerce the worse).


[ QUOTE ]
The funniest thing is how about two out of every three players is extremely superstitious. The seat-changing was head-spinning. I said something once about it, and another guy jumped in with "that's true, the seat doesn't matter." I'm thinking good, I'm not the last intelligent person on earth. Until he continues with "it just matters if the dealer likes you or not. If he doesn't like you, you won't get the cards." More wow.

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That guy must not have heard the story of the dealer who "dealt a jackpot" to the player who stole his wife and destroyed his marriage.

But don't be fooled by some of the superstitious comments; I use them routinely to justify seat changes. Of course the real reason I want the seat change is comfort/tactical but is someone asks I usually say that the seat I'm leaving has been unlucky (after a run of normal to bad cards) or about to run out of luck (if I had a run of good cards). The last thing I want to do is discuss a concept such as tactics or sensible thinking at the poker table. I also often switch a recently vacated seat with a fresh one from an empty table, especially if the seat was recently occupied by someone I suspect having poor hygiene. If someone asks better to say "He must have left because it's an unlucky seat." rather than "He looks like a guy who listens to Sheryl Crow's advice (regarding using only one sheet when wiping after serious bathroom business)."

Anyway, good report; glad you found some use for my traffic advice. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

~ Rick