Is there some word or phrase that makes you wince, and hurts your ears, or maybe just your sensibilities?
My daughter hates it when people express nonchalance by saying "I could care less," when they really mean that they could NOT care less. I'd never paid that much attention, but I do see her point.
The one that gets me, is how commonly people say "bathroom," when they mean Restroom.
A restaurant, cardroom, mall, gas station or office building almost never has a bathroom. Neither does a school, church, stadium, nor airliner, but all those places DO have restrooms, or lavatories.
They call it a Latrine in the Army, the Head in the Navy, and the John all over the place. Koreans call it Makeup Room, and in The Philippines the signs said Necessary Room. Cute.
And you don't want me to get started on using that word like a verb. So I won't. Just don't.
My other pet-peeve word— and don't we hear this a lot, especially at the poker table— is:
Unbelieveable.
Often used as a one-word sentence, exclaimation point.
Unbelieveable!
Thing is, whatever is supposedly Unbelieveable! when we hear this probably is real, genuine, and totally believable. Furthermore, most likely he just saw it happen, right before his eyes. So how can he deny it?
In truth, the most unlikely miracle suckout, or the worst possible floor decision, or pretty much any other totally whack event you will ever see in the cardroom (or anywhere else) might be remarkable, surprising or even amazing. It might defy all sense, logic and reason, seem like it came from outer space, or was inspired by madness or insanity.
Sometimes it might even be explained only by divine intervention. Fine. Whatever. Call it any of those things, as you like. Just don't call it Unbelieveable when you just saw it happen.
I know, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes you see it, and you know you saw it, but your brain refuses to accept and process it, or maybe just protests, and says "Hey, WTF, that just CAN'T be right! No Way did that just happen!" Even when it did. Like the other day, when . . .
They Brought the Turn Card FOUR Times !
Dealer accidentally brings the turn before the flop action is complete, the card has to go back, and they bring a "new, second" turn card. Haven't we all seen this happen lots of times, maybe too many times?
Have you ever seen it happen that the "second" turn card is also somehow wrong, and also has to come back, and they bring the turn a third time? No? Me neither. Until this time.
And this time they actually brought the turn FOUR times. Seriously.
First time, the card never hit the board. It just came an inch up off the deck, and rotated maybe 25 degrees, and wasn't seen by either of the heads-up players in seats 5 and 7. But, you know, if a tree falls in the forest, even with nobody around to hear it . . .
The action wasn't complete, so the card has to come back. OK, Fine. The dealer quickly shuffled it back in, and brought Turn Card #2: a King. I don't know why they didn't call for the floor, nor why they didn't bring "what would have been the river card" for the second turn, but they didn't.
And they also didn't burn again when they should, or maybe did burn when they shouldn't ... I'm not sure ... it all happened so fast, but consensus was that the second turn card was wrong too. So they brought that back, shuffled some more, and just about the time a couple floormen show up, Turn Card #3 hits the board: a Queen.
But still no good. This time, the problem apparently was that Turn Card #2, the King, had gone to the muck/discard pile, rather than get shuffled back in before they brought Turn Card #3. This was discussed for a while, and finally resolved, they brought Turn Card #4: an Eight, and the hand was played out. Phew!
Unbelieveable?
No? OK, then, try this decision on for size. Player in from a broken game, tells the dealer he'll wait, and come in behind the button for free. Fine. He's perfectly entitled.
Couple hands go by, he's been sitting out, busy talking with his neighbor, and when the blind arrives at his seat he's still talking, and puts it in, apparently abandoning his plan to come behind for free.
Hand is dealt, middle player open-raises, and everyone folds to the big blind. Then he remembers, and says "Hey, I told you I would wait, and come behind!"
Floor is called, hears this story, understands that the player posted his own blind, with his very own fingers, and that there is action (a raise) on the hand. Floorman declares a misdeal.
Unbelieveable?
No? Ok then, one last try. Imagine that after reading these blogs you finally decide to come check out Diamond Lil's, and give the 20/40 a try.
No waiting, one open in the main game, Table 1, Seat 4. You're in, but soon realize that the guys right behind you in seats 5, 6 and 7 are the Action Players. You'd like like to move, switch it up, and get behind them.
So you ask the dealer to put you up for a seat change. She tells you they have just 3 numbered buttons to track who's up for a change, and that Tom, Dick and Harry, respectively in Seats 1, 2 and 3, have buttons 1, 2,and 3.
"If one of them leaves, or moves, that button comes available," she says. "You can ask for it then."
Three hours go by, nobody moves an inch, and you repeat your seat change request to each of the six dealers who push in. All of them give you the same answer you got the first time.
Finally, the guy in Seat 8 quits, and the floorman comes over with the new player, Slick, and asks "Anybody want Seat 8?"
"Yes!" says Harry, Seat 3, Button 3. "I do!"
"OK, then," says Slick, still standing, and pointing towards Harry, and Seat 3. "Then I want Harry's seat change button."
Harry tosses the button across the table to Slick, and starts racking up, to move seats.
You tell the dealer, and the floorman, that you've been there asking for a button, and a seat change for three hours, and that Slick guy just got here, and WTF?
"Well," the floorman tells you, "the first player who asks for the button gets the button."
"OK, good," you tell him, "Because I've been asking every dealer for it, and waiting for it, for three hours."
"What? Oh, no, see, you can't ask for it in advance. There's no waiting list. When someone with a button moves, or leaves, that's when you ask. Not before."
Then he walks away before you can say anything, but that's fine, because you are speechless with disbelief.
Slick sits down in Seat 3 with a rack, plays every hand, and soon he's all-in, loses again, says "I'm done!" and walks away.
Only thing left in his seat is that Change Button #3. Same one they robbed you for a few minutes ago. Not again! This time it's mine, you think.
But before you can even say "Button Request!" Roman Fingers, Seat 5, reaches across you, takes it, and puts it on his stack. You ask for it anyway, and the dealer laughs, and tells you that Fingers beat you to it.
Unbelieveable? You call for the floorman, and put the question to him. One player requested it. At the same time, another player TOOK it. Who gets it?
Are you sick and tired of all these details and technicalities yet? Me too! And so was that floorman, who non-responded to the challenge question like a deer in headlights, and so is every other DL floorman, and half the 20 players.
The new Change Button rule/policy, introduced a couple months ago by a manager who's not even there any more, and modeled on the child's game of Musical Chairs, , totally sucks. It's mindless, stupid, and unworkable.
It was supposed to speed up the game, and reduce seat change disputes. And in the DL 20/40, where players know one another all too well, and constantly jockey for positional advantage, seat changes— which should of course simply go according to seniority— truly are a big deal. To players.
But not to management. Not to the house, nor to their bottom line. No, truth be told, they
