Vegas & The Aftermath

So, Luton on Friday night.

I arrived at about 0130, straight from the Sky Show in Feltham. I'm staying at Days Inn for a few days, to ease my travel burden while doing my 5 day "work" stint in London, so a visit to the Casino for some late-night cash-action was always likely. And when you've been commentating & watching poker for hours on end, as I do on the Sky Show, you itch to play.

So, I wander in at 0130, & the usual £200 Dealers Choice game is full, & there is a waiting list, two or three I think, & I'm on it.

I'm itching to play, & I espy a few other regulars who are also gagging for a game. Well, what would you do in that situation? Simple. "Let's start our own game" I say, & straight away, I get 3 volunteers to join me - Gino, Dave Courtney, Ambro. Is 4 enough? No, of course not, but I KNOW that as soon as we start, the table will fill. So we say to Management, "can we start a new table?". "Yup, of course you can". And we do.

We sit down, & I suddenly realise - what about the "must move" rule? I mention it to the others, & we all sort of say, "sod that, this is our table, a fun table, & we ain't moving". Just like that, really. To be honest, I'm quite new to Cash Games, & I've seen & heard about "must move", but I've never thought about why it exists. Never cared, really. Just one of those inexplicable things.

Within minutes, the table is full, & we have an absolute hoot of time, it's laugh-a-minute stuff, just what I wanted & hoped for.

And then it happened.

Management come over - I forget who - & say "OK, one of you has to move to the Main Table". Eh? Why? We are having fun, & we need to go & sit on another table? With due respect, I don't know who is playing on the Main Table, but I'm quite happy & content where I am. And so was everyone else. I'd prefer Jim (Mc Shane, "77 dave") to be on our table, for lots of reasons, but that apart, I'm in Poker Heaven where I am. And so are the others.

So we - & I mean "we" - sort of say, "nope, we ain't moving, why should we?".

"Because that's the rule, if it's an identical game, you are obliged to".

Well, then we get all clever, & suddenly "change" our Table to a £250 Table - (we'd sat down with £350, £250, £400 & £500), & so now we've been all smart-arse, & we don't have to move to the Main Table. And so the fun continued, we were just loving our table. And, of course, Management know we are being cute, but they can't force us to move, so off they toddle. We also argued that if we wanted, we could "pretend" that our Table was a Private Table, with a paid-for Dealer. All nonsense, of course.

Next thing I know, I can see there is argy-bargy going off at the Main Table, Jim is arguing with Management, & the next thing, Hinge & Bracket walk out, in full high-dudgeon mode, & Jim is getting heated in his argument with Management.

You see, it appears that by refusing to "send" a player to the Main Table, Hinge & Bracket took the hump, & then someone else left, & before long, the game had broken, & there's lots of bad vibes in the Cardroom. Oops.....

I go & see Jim, he's a special mate, & I can see he's upset, so I offer him my seat at "our" table. He refuses the offer - politely, on the grounds that it's unfair on the three remaining players, one of whom is down £2k, & his Table has now broken, because of our refusal to transfer. Oh shit, this is getting messy now.....

Eventually, with the mood now sombre, Nina comes to see us. "I broke the Rules by allowing you guys to stay here, it's caused a big prob, Hinge & Bracket have walked out, Jim is upset & the Main Table has broken. Oh, & I'm in big trouble with Senior Management, too."

Well, now we realise what we've done, & we all feel shite.

Gino, Dave Courtney, & me all say sorry to Nina & we feel terible, as we adore Nina, & we now realise we've pushed her too far.

So there it is. Boys will be boys if we are allowed to, but the last thing we wanted was to get Nina in trouble, or cause the other Table to break prematurely.

The ins & outs of cash-game etiquette, eh?

The game eventually got back to normal, Jim came & joined us - so quietly at first, I never even welcomed him or spoke to him, I never even knew he was sat next to me! - and life got back to normal, & we all ended up cooey-wooey with each other.

Sorry Jim, guys, & Nina.

I spoke to the GM last night, & told him all this, & it's history now, but I still regret it.