blonde poker forum

HI....
         been browsing the forum for a while but never felt enough to warrant a post before today. 


Today i was in attendance at Blackpools Big weekend 2 300 double chancer and witnessed scenes tha made me cringe.
 Firstly before i begin dont get me wrong the competition was well run throughout by the team on the floor and the dealers all put in the effort expected but the behaviour  by certain individuals was appauling to say the least.


Apparently the Casino has been experiencing some issues regarding a lack of cash game dealers recently ( hasn't everywhere? ) and from what i gather this is relentless of the best efforts of the floor staff ( NO not the girls serving drinks either ), however cash game dealers were laid on throughout the night as much as a few of them made it very clear they didnt want to be doing it (another problem i feel). An incident occured where a few players asked if it were posssible for a 4th cash game to be started as reserve lists were long and players were rooted to their juicy seats. The supervisor at the time sai it was unlikely due to the fact it was getting late into the night and staff were due to be going home shortly and the demand didnt really justify anothe rgame starting.  I and a few others agreed with this but 1 individual as always decided to have a word in the shell like of a casino manager who immediately came crashing down deanding to know why that decison was made and said the decision was  and i quote "Bullshit", now this strikes me as hardly a proffesional approach to dealing with your staff and also showed a massive lack of respect to the supervision team and their decisions. I have witnessed some horrendous decisions in my time but managers when asked about them have always backed their supervisors as they should IMO.

Secondly due to tonights competition being the main feature and having a 20 reg fee the pospect of a buffet was in mind for most players but alas was not to be. Apparently a request had been made but it was felt by the powers that be to say no and instead offfer the players ( the health concious lot that they are lol) a paltry platter of fruit, which by no means went down well, again the supervision team were apologetic to this but the matter was out of their hands.

There was a whole lot more that went on too but its late and i need sleep after a hard nights poker to be fresh tomorrow.

I will add though, that Blackpool has had quite an accolade as of late for its superb orginisation i'm just wondering how hard the floor team must be working in order to keeep the place afloat as it seems they have very little in support form anywhere else within their own club, some o the staff even dont speak highly of them but to keepe the place credible ( and its much better than that) would be a task alone by the displayed attitud eof those who are supposably in charge ( and no doubt take the pat on the back from head office ) when we have 3 people who obviously want to make things better being held back by people in suits who either dont know what the hell they are doing or really dont give a shit about the game we love!!!!

So hats off to the team there when so many others would simply give up and i implore any Blackpool memebers here to show their support and i hope someone shows the power sthat be my post here ( I May write a letter yet ) give these guys some credit and respect the fact that they strive to improve things but are being held back by idiots ( not polite i know but deserved according to some tonight)

Although its not all bad with the powers there, the seem to be very good at gossiping drinking tea and smoking

I feel that I really should reply to this.

However due to a rather BAD few days at work, It will be best if I take a moment or two to produce a response.

I apologize for not responding right now, but hope you can bear with me for a day or so, Jagged Edgge.

Yogi.

welcome to the forum Mrs Yog.....i mean Jagged Eddge  ;) ;D

A couple of points:

1. Managers should ALWAYS back their supervisors? What if they're wrong?

2. Some managers drink coffee and don't smoke.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMM where to start????

Yes the Festival was pretty well attended. Not the huge numbers from the last one or the festival but lots of people away in Vegas still, or skint from Vegas.

Yes we have had problems with a general lack of cash game dealers, intensified by the fact theat those who can are unwilling to and are being left to get away with that attitude.

The reasons for not putting a 4th cash game are many and varied. However once I make that decision, the management could at least do me the courtesy of agreeing with me, it's what they pay me to do after all. Or at least taking me aside to discuss my reasons, instead of going off on one in front of staff and players.


Lack of buffet??? Well the least said there the better. I could and perhaps should Quote and shame people but I won't.

Suffice to say a hard weekends work was made all the harder by some atrocious decision making. Nothing new i hear you cry.

Best not to reply to anyonegotthisone. Show me a manager with my experience and expertise in the card room then i'll let them 2nd guess me. Also when I am wrong i apologise to the people involved, and get on with things. Just because they can "Supposedly" manage a casino doesn't make them able to manage a card room. Whoops did it anyway.

I expect most card room supervisors experience the same thing and put their heads down, and just get on with it. I have done so for a few years now. And i dare say I may do so for a few more. But then again...........

Phew that was a long post. Tried 2 stay diplomatic. Might not have done so tho. Ah well.

Yogi

Rule number 1 in man management:  Praise in public.  Discipline in private.

Is it a good time to menton that after ten months of online playing, i played my first live game in the 150 re-buy at blackpool in may during the bonanza festival? I couldn't have hoped for a better experience really, apart from lasting past 11.30 after accumalting 10k in chips early doors  ::)

Everybody I talked to said the festival was one of the best organised they'd been to and I'm not sure whether it was yogi or not, but the guy who helped us arrange a 50 satellite for the 500 freezeout the following day was also top drawer.

The only thing I'd compain about is the ridiculous licensing laws.

Thank you very much Diva.

Was either me or my trusty assistant BLueWolfyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Licencing laws are a joke but if we didnt have them it would be ANARCHY apparently.


Hope to see you again Diva but it might be in a different capacity.
Yogi

ok, time to try to be the devils advocate.
what if the decision not to put on the 4th table was:-
wrong, daft, stupid, pointless, regardless, self centred, irrelevant or just plain personal?
Is a manager not entitled to change this desision?
As a manager myself i like to think that the folks to whom i delegate responsibilities are capable of making decisions correctly, BUT, if they don't then i WILL and HAVE to reverse them.
It's called a chain of command, we all live by them whether we are aware or not.
The one thing i would not want or expect is to get a constant slagging off by my employees all over the place (world) for my own mistakes.
Yogi says he could have been taken to one side, does that not work the other way around?
end of,
Ian

This wasn't a slagging off exercise from my point of view. Even if I did slip in2 a little of it. For which I probably shouldnt have done.

And Yes perhaps the reason's for the 4th game was one,two, or perhaps even all of the above.

Or then again perhaps none of the above.

And yes I would have explained 2 my "superior" if they had taken the time and effort to speak to me civily.

And now.

Can I talk to them???

Who knows??

Yogi

well certainly an interesting post here and i'd love to knwo who the original poster is as far as i knew there was a low blondite ratio on saturday.

well iwas the supervisor who made the decison and i'm perfectly happy to explain it

I decided that due to the fact that we had staff working ludicrous shifts and that some were due to finish their shifts in the next 30 minutes, that coupld with the fact there were only 3 people interested in said 4th cash game i didnt see the point and said that if the situation improved i would be happy to rethink my decision. unfortunately the manager concerned was acosted by one of the players and obviously didnt like it so they came headlong in to the cardroom to prove a point, what point it i was i dont know.


I dont really care if people think i'm joining in with some slagging off campaign as i am probably no longer to be involved in cardroom anyway after this weekend.

Any yes anyonegotthis one we know you dont smoke , hang on you did last time i checked lol, or drink coffee but its a tad different up here in the grim north.

IFM as far as the decision being daft etc or personal i can assure you i havent met any supervisors who would make a decision like that no matter what due mostly to the kind of scrutiny we are put under by doing so. and how can someone make a decision without knowing a thing about what they are amking a decision on???? and even so you think they would ask for an explanaton and also i did take the manager concerned to one side and stillw as dismissed.

Diva glad you enjoyed your time here and hope you come again, if theres anythin left by then lol

Maroon i agreee with that 100%

and jagged edge are you a regular here in blackpool?? i'm guessing not but if you coem back come say hi

Just wanted to clarify a couple of points (in no particular logical order)...

1. My point about backing up your supervisors always: in my experience, no-one is 100% correct 100% of the time. Poor decisions ARE made by cardroom supervisors. Managers should never blindly back up a supervisor without considering all of the facts first.

2. I agree absolutely with the "praise in public..." principle, and would not be happy with any manager who gives a member of staff a b*llocking in front of customers.

3. The original post does come across to me as posted by a member of staff rather than a customer. I could be wrong. I don't think I am.  ;D

4. Staff who refuse to do a job that they are trained to do should be disciplined... it's that simple. It is "failure to carry out a reasonable request", and is a dismissable offence. This to me is an example of where the managers should be backing up the supervisors absolutely. Staff may not like the cardroom, but it's what they're paid to do. Let one get away with it, you let them all get away with it.

5. Just to put things in perspective: this was one incident at an otherwise highly successful event. I hear nothing but praise for the supervisors in Blackpool, and I think they should spend more time being proud of their achievements than dwelling on the other stuff. Two phrases: "Don't sweat the small stuff", and "Sh*t happens!".

6. Yup, it's very different up north. If I'm honest, most managers down 'ere don't get that much time to drink coffee/tea/hot-choc and smirk tabs during poker festivals!

7. Did you know that a male woodlouse has two penises?

8. Can't think of anything else right now...

i have been a blackpool semi-regular for some time now,

and on saturday myself and a friend ( a normally drunk friend u will know who yogi lol ) asked for the 4th game, but as only 5/6 pepole wanted it we didnt make a big issue over it mainly joked about it as i remember,

3 games were started and ran threw the night till closeing and they got pretty big, ( i lost a 2k pot with a flop of AAKQ2 with AKQJ9 double suited to a royal flush who put his money in on the flop agh lol ) as for the dealers, the guy who delt the 100 omaha comp was pretty pissed off all night all things said, a joke they asked for him to be taken off the DC game was makeing mistakes in the omaha game, clearly had enough and wanted to leave, in my view it would of been better to take the dealer off and let a player deal it would of been better for the game, the reasons why they dont allow self deal are pretty evident but there are ways around it

as for the first post firday was 100 rebuy wasnt it ?!? not 150


anyway all-in all it wasnt a bad night, yogi did a sterling job as usual,

personally im glad they didnt put on another table cash games are worse than roullette when your on tilt !

enough said
stu

lack of staff? i also often see managers siting down drinking tea or sitting down at a lap top pretending to be getting on with things, if another cash game was needed maybe one of the managers could of stood in and supplyed another dealer, mind due they are few and far between, a agree there are few managers with a much cardroom expertise as the leading cardroom supervisors, to be prefectly honest with u, if a manager revearses my desision with out consulting me first and shows me no respect in front of the cardroom punters, then i will do one of two things either go above him an complain to gm the way he handled the situation or give him a SLAP personally i prefer the second one but its not recommended

as regarding staff not wanting to deal cash games (well unfortunatly its in there job description to deal casino games thats wot their employed to do) they could always work their arse of in a factory for less money or work on blackpools sea front

hmmm, maybe i should explain what "devils advocate" means...........

I agree with all that anyonegotthisone said, though the woodlice thingy is freaky.
Yogi and Bluewolf, there has been nothing but praise for you (and all other staff at blackpool) on here time and again after every comp/festival etc.
Obviously you do a very good job and are very passionate about what you do, it would most likely be a bit of a travesty if either of you left/were sacked (it seems from your posts neither of you feel you'll be there much longer),
BUT, in a lot of your replies to praise etc. you seem to always find time to mention how you are fighting against the powers that be, and generally running down said folks. This achieves absolutely nothing except to frustrate you further.
The trouble with managers is that they do a lot of things and have a lot of responsibilities you may be unaware of, they could be under a lot more pressure than you may know themselves.
When i was a supervisor (aerospace not gaming) i always thought my boss just walked around all day or played games on his pc, it wasn't till i got his job that i realised that he was under constant pressure from above, budget restrictions, impossible schedules, staff sickness/lateness etc.
It brought a lot of his behavioural eccentricities (coming into work in the middle of the night was a favourite) into perspective.
Ian

My Gosh i never excepted such a debate.

Am i a member of staff?? thankfully no although i never realised so many casino staff used this forum.

My original point was not to vindicate anyone especially but to just see if this goes on constantly around the country.

Who is Yogi and who is Blue Wolf? i remember seeing 3 members of the floor team so i'm guessing that GiGi is one of them also and is anyonegot a manager there?

Im not one of them, i remain amonymous, only the hard core blondites know my identity.

From what I understand, cardroom manager's are allowed to deal and leave the room unsupervised.

wot u understand? no offence but u dont know much about this, try reading the informative guidelines 3 from the gaming board, it states,  24 3 ii, supervision by an experianced and certificated member of staff with cardroom training

From witnessing multiple cardroom managers come and go from Gala, Notts, it is obvious to me that one of the most important factors in running a successful poker room is having the respect from the players and the ability to represent an image of authority. If players think they can run to the casino manager whenever they don't like a decision and have the cardroom manager's decision overuled, then that poor fella instantly loses the credibility his role requires. Instead of his authority within the cardroom being publically undermimed, wouldn't it be better to take him to one side. If it is a vital decision that is being made incorrectly, then the casino manager can  privately demand that the decision be reveresed. At least this way it will appear as if the cardroom manager has merely changed his decision, rather than being simply told what to do. This will in turn allow the cardroom manager to retain the respect of the players as an authoritive figure and result in a more ordered cardroom. If players think they can get what they want by simply cutting out the cardroom manager, then believe me, they often will.

Lol Sry. A typo that completely ballsed up what I was saying.

Should have been 'aren't' - oops.  :D

Jeez, what a thread THIS become.

Firstly, there are numerous cardroom Managers up and down the country who are blondeites. I can think of 8 at least. They do not post in their own name for genuine legal reasons. I know who each of them are, but will not reveal that information, these guys NEED somewhere to vent their feelings, & talk publicly about issues that concern us all. One of them was forced to change his blonde alias recently, as it became obvious who he was. Others don't care if their real identity is known, but thats their decision, not mine.

What I CAN and WILL say is that Cardroom Managers/Supervisors are on a hiding to nothing. Good decisions are never noticed, but there is a hue and cry when they get it wrong, as they do from time to time. And many decisions they make are based upon Gaming Commission guidelines - many of them quite ridiculous - for which the guys on the front line bear the brunt of criticism.

I have nothing but praise for these guys, their job is thankless. The guys at Blackpool are among the best I have ever met - truly. Blackpool would not be the same without them, they are part of the furniture as far as I am concerned.

So are the Luton, Walsall, Sheffield and Gala Notts crew, all of whom are blondeites, & all of whom, deserve our support.

I am not posting this to take sides, but a little incident has got a bit out of hand in my opinion.

Let's put it to bed, eh, before things go too far.

My job is made an absolute delight by my relationship with Cardroom Managers up and down the country.

Join me in acknowledging this, & let's move on.

Tikay, as usual you are talking sense...

One thing that is most gratifying about this whole thread is this: everyone is passionate about poker.

i have to agree with tikay i'm pretty sure everyone knows who i am even tho i'm pretty much no longer a fully fledged cardroom supervisor. we get the grief when things go wrong even if its not been our decision.

i can only thank all blondites for their marvellous support of myself and Yogi and also Clare. THere has been nothing but praise for our efforts here and thats because ourselves like the other supervisors who lurk here have a passion for the game hencewhy we spend our own time on here doing our thing. Snoopy i could agree more i have had decisions reversed by managers who in fairness dont know jack shit baout poker they just dont like being harrasssed, and this has been done in full view of a room full of players and it doesnt help when players know thats this sort of thing will happen they will use it to their advantage, not all mind tha majority are superb.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time running events due to the unique nature and relationship with players  but without full support of all involved it leaves us in a very bad position that is hard to recover from. This topic has become a bit contriversial in some parts but yes we are all passionate and we do care about OUR game because thats what it is and we all play our part in its popularity surge.

"passionate about poker"....

anyonegotthisone hits the nail on the head.

Now, if this  thread continues, Yogi & Blue-Wolf's problems may get worse. I do NOT want either of them lost to Blackpool, or poker. So they need to get their problems sorted. Let's hope they do, they are a bit special.

aww i never been called special before hehehe well there was this one time but.... lol

All cardrooms have their problems but in time and with a little bit off give n take i'm sure they will iron themselves out. Well heres hoping for yogis sake lol

Once again i thank the original poster for this thread and showing some form of support, well i think it was support lol and the others who have posted seemed to have been pretty supportive too which is all good hehe