Last night at the Bike I had a problem with a dealer.
Now I can tell you I very rarely know who’s in the box, I never look at the dealer and I don’t believe that the mailman has anything to do with the content of the mail.

Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, very close to Santa Barbara invited me to come and play in their “Who wants to be a Millionaire” Tournament. This will be a 100 NLH buy-in event with some very nice prizes.

Two nights ago in the $500 NLH at Commerce I had to overcome some unbelievable odds just to make the money. I had three very interesting hands; luckily I had enough chips to survive each of these. All accept the last one of course. The 1st occurred early on with small blinds. A gentleman 2 under the gun raised from 15 to 60. In the early stages of a tournament you’ll often get many callers here. I had KQ suited in diamonds and wanted to see the flop. I called, as did 4 others.

As a Tournament Director I certainly understand the difficulties in hiring enough competent dealers for a major event. As a player, I try to be as tolerant as I can with a new dealer, usually helping with side pots etc. (ok, call me a table Capt..) But after all, it’s oft times necessary.

Deciding to stay home this January was a tough decision knowing how well attended the WPO was going to be, but the late winter and the entire spring will have me on the move so I chose to spend some family time here in Socal.

I was in the 1500 NLH event a Commerce the other night and this hand came up.

I doubled up early when I made a small raise on the button with KK. I was called by the SB and flopped a K. He checked and I checked behind him. The turn brought a 9. He bet, I raised and he pushed in on me. How lucky you have to be sometimes to find your opponent catching the only card on the turn that gets me all his chips, he had 99 and went bust set under set.