"Life is like poker, Eventually you are dealt a new hand"

Thursday, January 26, 2012

When Poker Room Managers wing it.

Definitely my favorite wtf face, and most popular Jackie Chan Meme
Have you ever experienced a What the F$*% moment at the poker table? Okay let me rephrase that, have you ever witnessed a What the F$@# moment at the poker table vs. a Floor Person's decision on a hand. The gentleman that made the decision was actually very polite and a good floor person for the most part, But in the middle of a cash game hand facing a raise and 3 bet and having 3 players go to the flop. When the dealer burned then place 3 cards down for the flop, apparently one of the cards stuck to the cards and when flipped the stack over I noticed That I hit my set of 9s then when the cards spread out the Dealer reveals the middle card, and then two more cards.....Crap....Just my luck. The Two cards that were obviously not the issue spread out evenly but the other two cards were overlapping and one barely showing the other. I cant recall exactly but I want to say the flop was K 9 4/7. Ok so I'm sitting with a set and not saying a thing and then obviously floor has to be called cause of the mistake. Here's where one of the weirdest decisions I have ever heard comes into play.

The floor person walks up, asks whats going on. The dealer gives the run down as usual and it was detailed exactly as what happened. But instead of staying a smooth understanding process, this guy says...."Well......lets do this. Take the four cards in the flop and put the deck down by the side. Flip the cards over and shuffle them around. The first three you flip over will be your flop." Every one at the table looked at the Floor Person like, Is this guy serious?? I hope he's joking? and the What the F#@% faces were all looking and kind of laughing in disbelief when it was obvious which cards were and issue. 

Don't know what the "WTF" face is? Here's some examples:
 

So If this were me, I would have suggested two things.
A. Just chop the pot and play another hand
B. Play back the events that just happened to determined which cards were meant to be on the flop. So therefore when the burn falls the 1, 2, and 3 card that is placed faced down before being flipped over is the flop cards. When flipped over it is now 4/3, 2, 1 and clearly the card revealed at the end would be the burn card.

Well after hearing the logic of "Well this case atleast two out of the three cards on the flop will be correct." and of course when he did this, my 9 that gave me the set magically disappeared fml. Well the three players (Including myself) disagreed to invest anymore money into this weird ass pot and just decide to chop it three ways and play a normal hand. I mean technically, I guess my plan B and his suggestion would have worked out the same way, but the main focus would be to not affect the Turn and River as well as the 3rd card on the flop. Either that or just pay attention to which cards were stuck. In that case you could determine which of the cards is the exposed Burn card and which belongs in the flop. But I am just a player and don't run the floor obviously. This definitely took the cake as one of the weirdest floor decisions that I would expect to see in a home game or back alley of a bar, but in a well established poker room, this definitely caught me by suprised. Had to get a good laugh out of it either way. The standard ordeal is a premature exposed card or a killing of the deck and usually it is a dealer that makes the error and can be easily fixed.....well with experienced dealers and floor managers. But when something like this happens, how can you not just wing it? honestly, how many decisions were logically thought through and not just a basis of "wingin' it"

Well thought I'd share this WTF moment with everyone.

Matt S.

3 comments:

  1. The floor guy is half way there! I know on a pre-mature burn and turn the card turned over gets reshuffled in but on a flop, tough call. I really liked the Jay Z and Beyonce WTF face.
    Keep doing work!

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  2. Actually pretty standard to do it that way. Seen it happen a lot. Don't necessarily agree with it, in all cases, but that's what a lot of rooms do. I think here is the rationale for why they do it: Problem with reconstructing it is that dealers are sometimes fast on the spread when they flip the flop out and you can argue the first card is not necessarily the first card if that makes sense. They put 3 (or 4) in this case facedown then flip all and slide where it's possible that in sliding them 1-3 are not in the same position. Do it quickly yourself. Usually, they are but not always and a player can suggest impropriety in that slide. If you allow the players/dealers to reconstruct the hands one player could cry bloody mary about which card was which and be unhappy. Reshuffling the four cards prevents this and is fair (or equally unfair) to everybody. Now, if the dealers dealt the flop like England (or is it France?) and each card is turned over one at a time there would be no doubt about which card is supposed to be shown. What really sucks about this system is when a dealer (most dealers) is pretty transparent and not quick in sliding the flop (probably as they were in your case) and it's obvious which cards are which. Still, better to have a uniform rule then to sometimes reconstruct hands and much worse have to debate which flops you can reconstruct and which you can't. Know that doesn't make you feel any better, but just wanted to point out there may be some logic for why you didn't get your set... even though you got it.
    -Wild Bill

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    Replies
    1. Good point sir, Im a England/France style dealer myself.

      But yea with or without the set, I don't like that decision since 25% of the time it will screw up the flop.

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