It's just money

Apparently even when people buy-in for 1,000 or more dollars, have 1 hour rounds, and blinds that start low.. they still play crazy and reckless. I thought the all-in fest was just for these silly bar tournament and low buy-ins, but even at the top levels it is craziness. I saw a guy CALL an all-in with top pair, *10* kicker. WTF! Another one call an all-in with a pair of 10's on a 7 high board. This was within the first 5 freakin minutes!

It is amazing how many things you can find to do when you aren't careful... I have another week of the WPT, Might and Magic V is coming out for the PC, TitanQuest is due out in 2 weeks, Rio is having another 80 hour free roll so I need to find 80 hours of time to play there, and I just finished qualifying for the Red Rock freeroll. Sheesh... I am just swamped! Not to mention moving, World Series of Poker, and apparently I need a bed to sleep on. Hmmph.

Red Rock went well last night, it is obvious I CANNOT play with friends at the table. I completely lose track of the game and give my money away. Ended the night up 28, but it should have been more but I had WAY to much fun... the good news is that having a good amount of money coming in has improved my poker game 2000%! Not NEEDING the money I am winning or losing has made me a much better player... thank goodness I predicted SOMETHING right.

I stopped by class real quickly yesterday and gave an update on what was going on, what to expect, etc. My instructors were very impressed with how much I have learned so quickly... It is amazing what you learn and how fast you improve when you are enjoying yourself and WANT to get better. Everyone keeps telling me that it won't be as much fun in the future, etc... but I just don't see that. There are some very bitter, angry people in this industry. I just have to stay away from those and hang out with the positive ones like Susie Lederer and some of the other dealers I am meeting.

They pay me for this?

OK... so dealing poker *IS* actual work. My arms hurt, my shoulders hurt. I sweat, I am fatigued when I get home, I want to put my legs up and watch TV... just like a real job. However, the next morning I can't wait to get back to work. I come back from break and am just waiting to get back into the box and deal another down. I can't even describe how much I enjoy this job... Even more.. they pay me for this!

I had my best day to date today, dealing 6 tournament downs, and 6 no-limit cash games including a 5/10 no-limit game with one of the shift managers in it. I got rave reviews from everyone, made a killing in tips, kept the games running and made no mistakes. I even had one customer request me to come BACK to their game as I was the best dealer he had had all day long.

After work I went by the Poker Palace to pick up my paycheck and then over to South Coast to cash it (they give you free stuff when you cash your check at the casino. Silly gamblers.) I spent some time talking to my old boss about the WPT and dealing, etc. And he paid me an amazing compliment without even knowing it. He was talking about another dealer he knew who was just awesome, and said "You are a good dealer now, and will be amazing in 2-3 years and then someone will take you to meet this girl and you will know just how good she is". This guy has been dealing for 20 years and a floor/manager for 5... I was really happy to hear he thinks that I am going to be that good.

I am making it a real point to network while I am working this WPT and WSOP events, I want everyone to know who "That bald guy Lawson" is, so when I call for a job they find one for me... I am still debating if I want to get a 3-4 day a week job so I can work on playing as well, or get on with the WPT and WSOP tour events and work 2-3 weeks with 2-3 weeks off.

We will just have to see how it all shakes out.

Hello my Name is Lawson

OK fine... I give up. Over the years I have not worked very many places with name tags, so it was very simple to introduce myself as "Richard". I have always gone by Richard or some variation of that, and it was never a problem. Unfortunately with playing poker and everyone seeing my comp card, and working and them putting my legal name everywhere... My name is now Lawson in Vegas. I have just given up... Lawson is more unique, more memorable, and actually gets my attention when I hear it.... I guess I will get used to it one day.

Friday was the first day of the WPT at Mandalay Bay. It was also my first REAL day dealing for 8 hours. I got 7 30 minute tournament downs in dealing the 330+ person 1,000 dollar buy-in event that started at noon, and 5 30 minute downs in the regular games. Only 2 breaks, and 2 turns on brush... So it was a REAL day and a REAL job, I haven't work an 8 hour day in 3 months... ouch.

The tournament downs were nothing exciting, no major issues, no major excitement. I got to deal to Kathy Liebert who was very nice. The cash games were a TON of fun... I loved it. It was my first time dealing a live game with rake, and I was rocking the house. The game was running smooth, the tips were awesome ($122 in 2.5 hours) and I even managed to handle the 4/8 game with 10% rake, 5% jackpot drop by quarters, 1/2 blinds and a half kill. So the pots were always small, rarely capped and often folded before the river. One of the hardest games to deal in vegas... so I felt good being able to handle it.

I also managed to get 4 more hours in at Red Rock and only need 6 more to qualify for the freeroll. 4 Hours and I was up 159, I played pretty darn well and felt like I was close to 95% correct for the night which is very good considering how tired I was after dealing all day. Apparently this big bald head of mine makes an impression as several people now know who I am and that I am a decent player as I am starting to get some comments like "That guy is tricky" and "He rarely loses a hand" or my favorite "God that guy is lucky".

Time to head off to work.... bah this having a job thing!

Sir, come with me please

I am going to try to update the blog more often, with shorter posts... I find I wait to long to post, then there is to much to say, then I put it off because I am too busy, etc. I played my longest session in a good long while, 8.5 hours of solid poker. No walks, no breaks, no fooling. I managed to finish up 243 and felt I played pretty decent. No really huge hands of note, just solid play and solid equity calls and raises. I did find it extremely funny when the guy next to me won a 4 way pot with bottom pair (he had a flush draw and caught a pair), and another guy won a hand against a caller, the caller had 7 high. Now I understand calling for information, or if he might be bluffing.. but he had 7 freaking HIGH! (btw, this is the same guy who called my bluff with Ace high and won.... so maybe he couldn't read the cards.. he wasn't very young).

One of the more interesting events of the day came as I was leaving. Security surrounded a table and escorted a gentleman from the 5/10 No-limit game for refusing to pay a river bet. Apparently he went all-in and a guy called and he didn't want to pay the whole thing. They spent 20 minutes negotiating and eventually read the guy the trespass act and escorted him from the casino.

I turned in my notice at Poker Palace since I can't fit that AND Mandaly Bay WPT into my schedule. The boss was very nice and told me he wasn't surpised, he knew as soon as I auditioned for him I was too good to work there and would be gone very soon. That was a nice ego boost for me... I also got some nice feedback from my instructors that they were not worried at all about me in these upcoming events, and that I was good enough to be working on a strip casino now.

One thing that is very frustrating is the more I learn about the dealing the more it upsets me to watch bad dealers. It is absolutely stunning to see how bad they are. I mean the simplest things, making sure everyone called a raise... making sure everyone got a chance to bet... making sure everyone got 2 cards. I watched one girl give BACK money to a guy telling him he had bet to much, then having to go get the money back when we pointed out she was wrong. It is just sad how bad some people are, but I guess in any industry not everyone really belongs.... I just thought in a place where you have to AUDITION for a job, it would be less frequent to find people who sucked at that job.

I think I win

It is amazing where the time goes. You pick up one little job for 10 hours a week and suddenly you have no time for ANYTHING. It is hard to believe I have been going non-stop for a week now, but it has been a good time to say the least. Dealing is going great! I had one of the instructors and some other students come play on Monday and had great feedback from them. I am really starting to settle into the box and picking up speed and personality in the box. The tips are really good, and I am averaging $40 an hour even just working part-time. So it is hard to complain at all about that. I went to dinner with 2 of the other dealers on Monday night and one of the players picked up the check for us... So that was pretty cool.

Last week at the Red rock I hit my first straight flush in a casino. Too bad it wasn't a bad beat or high hand house... it was still a really nice pot, snapped off Aces with it :) He seemed less pleased than I was for some reason.

One of my friends from class got a job dealing the WPT event at Mandaly Bay starting May 25th and talked me into auditioning. I called up Monday morning and talked to the manager who said I could come in for the last audition on Tuesday at 2:30 if I could get all my app done before then. I rushed around, filled out the app, rushed it through processing, did my drug test (who came up with this stupid hair sample drug test! It is a direct attack on the bald people of the world! We will NOT discuss where the hair sample came from EVER!)

I managed to get everything done, and got to the audition early. There were about 18 people auditioning and it had to be one of my worst auditions ever. It is true what they say, just jump right in and don't think about it. I was 6th up, so I had PLENTY of time to get nervous... and get nervous I did. My pitch was horrible, I was shaking, messed up the shuffle, everything I could do wrong just about. I was sure I had bombed it, I just knew I had... when they called me into the office to discuss my audition all she said was "You were a little nervous, but good job. Come in on Monday to do paperwork". Holy cow... 2 other guys from class came in as well and neither one got it. I guess I am pretty good at this after all, it was very encouraging to have a sub-par performance and get through anyways.

Playing wise it has been pretty good lately, running up a couple of grand to get back on the positive side of things. I have not played anywhere near as much as I wanted to so far only getting in 80 hours in over 2 weeks and only up 750 so far.. but that is a recovery from being down until just a week ago.

The station freeroll is in early June just after the WPT ends, first prize there is 60,000 dollars... so I will save all my good luck for that. Only 1800 other people to contend against, let's see how I can do in that one.

I could've been a STAR!

You know they say timing is everything... the company I used to work for was sold, and all the employes got a nice bonus from the former owners in the multiple thousand dollar range, and now I found out that MTV is PAYING people to move to Las Vegas to become a dealer for a new reality show! DOH!!!!!

My 2nd night of dealing went even better than the first. I am starting to settle in and get used to everything there. It is amazing how all the little things they mention in class becomes HUGE in the real game. Keeping control of the situation, moving cards out of the way before pushing pots, etc, declaring all actions, etc. It is amazing how many things there are to do, and how important all the little things are in the long run.

I got my tips for Saturday night. Worked almost 2 hours and got $31 in tips. Not to shabby since I also get $10 an hour base pay for working the tourneys... Tuesday night I get to deal the final table, so it will be more like 2-3 hours.

After work I went by the Red Rock to play and ended up staying until 1:30 AM and finishing up 107. The bad thing though is that I was playing SOOO well and was up 200, and then got rivered and before I knew what happened 2 hours had gone by and I was back to even. I really have to stay focused at the table and pay attention to how I am feeling and when I am not playing well get up. I can't afford to keep learning these same lessons over and over again...

There's an 8 *AM*?

Thursday when I went to the audition I was told to come in at a quarter till 8 on Friday. My first thought was "Sure.. I will grab some dinner and head over there after class." Then I realized he might mean 8 *AM* since he was talking about Human Resources afterall... Holy cow, I didn't realize how EARLY 8 AM *IS*. To make it to North Las Vegas I had to get up at 6 AM to leave by 6:45 and make the drive in traffic. It turned out traffic was good and I got there 30 mins early... After Paperwork, orientation, some videos on problem gambling and safety regulations at the casino I made it to class the earliest I have been in a month (11 AM).

Friday night a bunch of the guys from class and I all went to the Orleans to play in the $65 165 person tournament there. It was a well run tourney, definately worth playing again. 1st place paid $4500 so doesn't take many wins to make it a good idea :) I ended up busting out around the end of the 2nd hour after making two poor calls which really cost me some chips. They weren't really POOR calls, they just turned out VERY poorly. I made one call against a documented idiot (He had the papers to prove it and everything), but turns out even an idiot can have a hand :( and another call against a guy who played it very well.

Saturday was laundry day and a little bit of warcraft, before heading to work for the first time. I got there around 5:30 and got situated. I was on table 3 of the 5 table tournament. They only had 42 show up so table 5 didn't go at all. They break down the tables in order as people get knocked out, so I got to deal for an hour and a half before my table broke, at which point I was done and out the door. I headed over to the Red Rock where I played until 2:30 in the morning. Egads! I started out really well, then got sucked out and tilted badly.. after a few walks I settled back in and ended up getting back everything I lost except 10 dollars.

My schedule at the Poker Palace is M-Th and Saturdays. So I took advantage of my off day by sleeping until 1 and going to see Mission Impossible III. WOO! Good movie, lots of explosions, and shooting.. very action packed. Now it is back to work... 6 PM tonight. WHEE. Only on table 3 so I should be out by 7:30 again.

Oops I did it again....

(WARNING! This is a long one as I am catching up!)

Oh what a week+ it has been... Between Ken and Estie visiting I was worn out and haven't stopped since then. On Monday I went and watched the WPT Championships final table. You will get to see my bald head on TV in the 3rd row behind Klaus when it airs in July on the Travel channel. Good god is live poker boring, bet - Fold, bet - fold, bet - raise, fold. I was there for 4 hours and I swear I saw 4 rivers... it was brutal, but interesting at the same time.

Tuesday I played a little blackjack after going to see V for Vendetta (GOOD movie... wow) and started out very well before the dealer just flat out kicked me square in the face. I dropped my profit and 500 more before crawling back to only down 280 and going home.

Wednesday I went and checked out the new Red Rock casino and quickly discovered that I was not in the frame of mind to play so I dropped 250 before I managed to crawl away. Red Rock is a beautiful casino at the foot of the mountains. They spent 1 BILLION dollars to build this place which is a solid 20 minute drive from the strip.... and I wouldn't be surpised if they got it all back in 2 weeks as busy as that place was.... They have also hired the best poker dealers in town and have a 20 table room that is flat out full every night so far. After dropping 250 at the poker tables I decided to get it back at Craps. So now I am down 750 and decided to get it back at blackjack. So now I am down a grand and see an empty double deck 25 dollar table. I decide to go heads up against the dealer, so now I am down 1200 for the night and not in a terribly good mood. I play a little longer and finally ALL the bad luck from the rest of the night caught up and I ran an entire double deck heads up against the dealer without losing a hand. I wish I had been betting more, but even at 50 a hand I was up 500 on that shoe alone and managed to leave only down 880.

2 bad days and a little over a grand down is not how I wanted to start month 3, but I have learned not to panic and not to try to get it all back at once. That only makes it worse! I booked a modest 42 dollar win on Thursday night and a nice 206 on Friday before heading down to Phoenix to visit Trevor who was in town for business until Monday. Saturday I drove the 5 hours to Phoenix. Did you know Phoenix is in a desert? And there is not much IN the desert except sand, cactus and a "Forest".

Now in Georgia a forest would be something you could not see through, around, or over. A bush is something that you CAN see over. Apparently that is NOT what a Forest, Bush or Tree means in Arizona. A bush "only" comes up to your knees. Anything taller is a "Tree". Whatever you do, do NOT call any of their Trees a bush! That is a hanging offense... and they still do that there. (Luckily they ride camels and a Taurus *IS* faster than a camel). So I am driving down the road to Phoenix and I see a sign "Now entering the Joshua Tree Forest". So I look around for this "Forest" of theirs and I see nothing... a few bushes and some green leaves (unusual for here) but nothing higher than my CAR and nothing closer together than spitting distance... but you know, use whatever terms you want to use. Forest... tree... road... hmpph.

I finally get to Phoenix and after buying a map (I knew ABOUT where I was going, but the roads didn't agree.) and finally found the casino. 3 and a half hours saw me up 162 and Trevor had arrived from California where he was earlier in the day. He had been up since 4 am so for some reason we went to sleep... No idea why, it was only 1 AM. Sheesh, babies.

Saturday we managed to get up before breakfast was over downstairs. (I know it amazed me too... but we DID go to bed early) and met up with Scott Goodrich to head down to Tucson for the Full Metal Alchemist tournament that Trevor was in town to "promote". It was a sealed deck pre-release for the next set, and they had *27* players show up to a store that can seat MAYBE 16...so they got all 27 to sit somewhere (wow it was crowded, and hot,and in arizona). I played fairly well and only lost 1 game to the eventual tournament winner. By the time we finished the tournament, had dinner, and got back to Phoenix it was almost midnight. Another early night and Monday morning we didn't make breakfast. (They really should serve breakfast until 2 PM.... it would help a LOT)

Lunch at the mall and Trevor was off to the Diamondbacks game and to visit some stores in the area and I had the long drive back. Luckily the Braves game was on XM and kept me company and finished 5 minutes outside of Vegas. Hudson pitched a masterpiece... it was a good game to pickup on the way back. I caught a movie and dinner at South Coast and a little blackjack to keep my pit boss happy and giving me free meals. Nice little +65, free dinner, free movie, and an early night.

Tuesday it was back to Red Rock and another 250 drop at poker. I really need to learn not to play when I am in a testy mood. I did manage to find the patience for some double deck as I found a $10 table with a complete moron who somehow managed NOT to go bankrupt. I kept from getting distracted, played well and booked enough of a win to get back to +135 for the night net. I also picked up free dinner for Thursday.. good night indeed.

The weather has started to warmup around here and I have discovered that I like peace and quiet as well as a cool room at night. None of which are available where I am at now.... 7 AM garage opening (loudly), a sustained indoor temp of 80 degrees, and loud construction trucks all morning... It is time to find a new place to live.... So I spent some time looking and researching and driving, etc. I settled on a few things I wanted. An open floor plan (something with a kitchen that is open to the living room, like a bar/etc type), a garage or covered parking (it gets hot and sunny here), 2 bedrooms, nice exercise room, and a good pool. Everything I found that fit the bill was either 1000+ without a garage or 1400 with... way to much. I finally found a place out in the Lakes area of west Vegas which had everything I wanted,and only 1100 a month. Absolutely gorgeous and perfect... so I signed the lease to move there June 10th.

Wednesday I decided I had done enough for the week so slept in, ate at Pizza hut and took a nap. Ahhh what a nice day. Didn't make any money,but that was just fine. I even went to bed early so I could get up in time for class on Thursday. I did manage to get up close to on-time, but not really ONTIME. I got to class around 12:30 only to find out that a guy from a casino had been there at 11 AM doing on the spot auditions! What a day NOT to get to class on time. Apparently the guy was going from school to school and was ready to hire someone RIGHT NOW. About 3 PM the guy called back to the school and said he had not found anyone and if any of their top students wanted to audition to come by the casino at 6 PM for an audition. I finished my time in the box, had to run to West Vegas to drop off the apartment deposit, back to South Vegas to change clothes, and then through rush-hour to north Las Vegas to interview... Oh what a rush job that whole time was.

I managed to get to the interview 15 minutes early and meet up with Joe who got there just after me and we went in together. I got to deal 1 hand in a live tournament and was offered a part time job on the spot. 10 hours a week... averaging 30 dollars an hour. Perfect experience, and good money... Joe also got a job offer so we will be working together there. I fought the traffic to Red Rock and managed to hit some nice hands including pocket K's twice in 2 hours and cashed out up 118 and am turning into bed now. I have to be at HR at 8 AM in the morning! EGADS! Who makes these hours!