NO MORE MONKEY BARN!

Okay folks. I know this has been one of your favorite features, and holy cow did I have a camera FULL of people to start a whole new wing with, from Vegas....BUT!

I just got off the phone with Ken Lambert, from the Beau Rivage...who I have ABSOLUTELY the utmost respect for. I also think he is a heck of a nice guy. We have always gotten along too. So it was nice of him to call me. Turns out he was off most of the last week.

Here is the scoop. All that he knows, is that I was 86'd by Johnny for 'taking pictures of our players in the casino, which is against the law (anyone else know that?) and a disservice to our other players.' Fair enough. If I am Kenny, and my Tourney Director tells me he took that action, and I am one who never even READS Monkey's Blog in the first place, I would have probably been like Ken and just went along with it. So, I get it. From Ken's perspective.

As I waded around in my rice paddy field of a backyard...Ken and I chatted for awhile. I totally understand where he is coming from. It's one of those weird laws, the photo taking thing, I think. I mean...girls go out to a casino, they take a ton of pics. Right? No one goes to jail. Guy wins a tourney, all his buddy take a picture of him with his chips. No one goes to jail. Okay okay, you see my point. "The Barn" was supposed to be kind of a fun little feature. In fact, a majority of the guys I put in there are now semi-buddies of mine, and loved the attention. None of them felt 'affected' by my photo-taking attacks. At least none told me so. And the rumor mill in this game is RIDICULOUS... I'd of surely heard if one of them were 'looking to kill Monkey!' Nope, didn't get anything like that.

SCENARIO:

Okay. Guy tells his wife he is going to...mmmm, hell I don't know, SOMEWHERE other than the Beau Rivage to play poker. I end up taking his picture. It goes on my blog. Wife sees it. Guy is in deep shit. Guy wants to kill Monkey. And probably sue the Beau Rivage. YIKES!

This example, and some others similar have opened my eyes to the potential PIT FALLS of featuring a BARN! So...from now on...I will NEVER take a picture of another player with the intent of 'playfully abusing him/her' on my blog. I promise! Too much at stake, for me and those casinos that I like to go play in. Didn't really 'get it' before...'get it' now.

As far as any other reason for 86'ing me? None were really stated. Just that his impression is that there is a perception of me in there that I am crazy, wild and out of control. Well, that is one of those reputations that is awfully easy to get in a poker room...as a majority of the players are pretty low-key and otherwise boring. God forbid you are a guy who talks a lot and garners some attention, next thing you know you are a 'WILD MAN!'

Well, I had to adamantly defend myself against any suggestion that I been doing anything 'out of line' in the casino lately. As I was re-admitted back in January, I was given a very strict guideline of rules to adhere to and a code of conduct was more or less spelled out for me. Add to that the fact my wife works there, the pressure on me 'not to screw up' has been immense. And honestly, I tend to avoid the place a lot more now than I ever did. Nights when Squirrel and I decide to play cash game, we almost always go to IP or Hard Rock because I tend to run SO BAD in cash game...the last thing I want to do is run the risk of doing or saying something incendiary to get me kicked out again. Of the maybe 5 or 6 cash game sessions I have had there this year (all, I'm pretty sure, which ended badly) I have found myself in that situation, where after about the 3rd, 4th or 5th stack crushing bad beat...I was about to snap...I simply got up, picked up my stuff, and left. If I needed to vent, I either did it in my car while driving home...or occassionally on here. (granted, no picture has ever been taken of a cash game player)

SO....with that said, they are going into a meeting today. With all the managers. My situation will be brought up. A decision will be made what to do about it/me. Ken has promised to call me later tonight. I look forward to it. I am very appreciative of him calling me today to talk to me.

Maybe I am too negative sometimes. I don't know. It's not like I don't like calling attention to things that inspire me or make me happy. I do. Watched a movie last night, "Facing the Giants" which was a little indie film done by a church group...it was awesome. The acting sucked. But it didn't even matter. It had a great message. I teared up several times. It was inspiring. I just dont seem to find many 'inspiring' things in poker to tear up about and write about with admiration. And you know what drives me crazy? Example? My wife: "If all those people complain so much, let THEM go to the managers and complain about it...why does it always have to be YOU who complains to them, or on your blog!???"

Seems like a relatively sane question to ask right? Of your husband...who's job it is to go into a casino's poker room and win enough money to pay the bills every month? In a place where she works. Not such a crazy question I suppose, right?

But see, here is the problem...and it comes from a very early age. I think people regard me as someone who has NO respect for authority. To those people, I must say this; YOU ARE WRONG. In fact, I have a ton of respect for those who have the authority, and actually deserve to HAVE that authority. I like being in the company of a person who is incredibly gifted either intellectually, athletically, or in ways that I just can't even compare. It's awesome. Watching a coach lead a whole football team. Watching a General lead a whole battalion. Watching a doctor lead a surgical team. Watching a lead singer lead a band through an incredible performance. Watching a Sales Manager motivate his sales force to put up unprecedented numbers. Watching a QB get his whole team behind him and leading a huge comeback. I TOTALLY respect authority when its warranted.

Or how about when you call 'customer service' which by the way is the most MIS-USED title in the history of the universe...and getting that initial 'rep' who is about as frustrating and stupid as any human being you have ever tried to talk to in your life...and I am not even talking about the ones from India that you can't understand. Then you ask for a Supervisor, thats right! Those SIX MAGIC words..."Please Transfer Me To A Supervisor!" And what happens? You explain the situation to him/her. And magically, your problem gets fixed. Just like that! I have had Squirrel yell at me for getting irritated with those 'front line reps' and tell me I am being an asshole. Nope. Not being an asshole. Not at all. Just cannot DEAL with the stupid, moronic ingrates with the IQ of a fucking cucumber. Sorry.

When I DO NOT respect authority is when it is in the hands of those not capable of using it properly. I do not respect rules that are laid out for NO obvious reason whatsoever. And if there is a reason...tell me and everyone else WHAT IT IS! Don't just tell us "BECAUSE I SAID SO." Becuase you know what? No one respects that reason! In fact, it just makes everyone want to punch you! I challenge things. I challenge them when others won't. Why? Because I think life is too short to just sit there and TAKE some things. Especially when you don't have to.

So when I sit at a poker table, and listen to one player after another bitch about everything you can imagine...the dealers, the breaks are too long, or too short, or there's too many of them, the floor people suck, the chips are ugly, they are hard to identify, their aren't enough players, the structure sucks, we don't get enough chips to play with...the blinds aren't long enough...the automatic shuffler is rigged and out to get me!!!!

(*!&@&*(!@#*()!!!! O.M.G.!!!! At some point I want to PUNCH THEM IN THE FACE!!!!! Why? Because, they will sit there and bitch bitch bitch bitch but not even lift a finger to do a damn thing about it. Why? If someone can explain to me why people will use SO MUCH ENERGY to bitch about something, but then not expend an ounce of energy to CHANGE IT, I would love to hear it. Please!

So, when I hear about an issue, a lot...and I happen to concur, occassionally I will either approach the dealer, or a floor person, or the tournament supervisor, or the poker room manager...or, write about it on my blog, with the HOPE/INTENT of doing something to FIX/CHANGE that 'problem' or at least get some kind of answer back about it. So, does that make me a bad person? A wild man who can't be controlled? A trouble-maker? I will tell you what it DOESNT MAKE ME! It doesn't make me a whining little weasel bag. A whining little weasel bag will bitch bitch bitch bitch to a table full of people who don't give a shit. I don't do a lot of that at the table. Maybe occassionally I will make mention of a few things. But not too much.

Remember back in April? When we had that Mega Satellite that won a seat into this upcoming event's Main Event? We got there, and for some reason, they were only awarding seats based on the number of people who were there that day, instead of (as they had told us it would be like) basing seats on the total number of entries, which included people who were issued voucher/entries who decided not to play the event. Everyone freaked out. Did I sit there and freak out? Nope. I simply sent a text message to Johnny Grooms, who was off golfing on his day off. Then I saw Ken Lambert, and explained that the room was on the verge of a revolt. I explained the situation. I wasn't ugly about it. I didnt get crazy. And what's funny, is that about 5 or 6 players asked ME to help get the problem fixed. Why do you suppose they asked ME? Maybe because they know how proactive and sometimes influential I am when it comes to promoting change and fairness.

So what happened? It was just something that got messed up. It wasn't a 'move' by the Beau Rivage to screw anyone. Just an oversight. It was fixed, two seats were added, and everyone was happy. Close to 10 people came by my table to thank me. I wasn't feeling special because of it. I wasn't looking for the 'glad-hand' from everyone. I was simply looking to fix what was obviously broken. But yeah, it felt good to be the one who got it fixed.

So that is how I answer my wife and others who ask..."Why do you have to be so critical all the time!??" Do I need, or should I maybe 'tone it down' at times regarding some things? Sure. I absolutely should. But 85-90% of the time, I harbor NO REGRETS for the things I do or write on here.

When I complained about the complacency and attitudes of 'some' of the dealers in there the other day, some suggested I shouldn't write that. Now, while I should maybe laud the 8 or so dealers in there who I'm simply CRAZY about...no one really wants to read that do they? Actually, they are EXPECTED to be good dealers and pleasant to play with, right? Well...you know...maybe I WILL start a new feature...Monkey's Dealer of the Month. Maybe I will. I have a LOT of dealers that are good friends. Never, ever do I want anyone thinking I am declaring war on the dealers. I'm not. But I stand behind my statement that there are maybe 5-8 dealers there who need, seriously, to check themselves. And judging by the comments on here and the emails I have received, I KNOW that I am correct. I am not going to say anything to them while I am there (the dealers). For a couple reasons. (1) I can't risk creating a situation that gets me kicked out. (2) I don't need to do something to get myself all emotionally wound up while I am there and thus, affect my game. (3) If I know the manager READS my blog, well...then that is my way of 'tipping him off' that there might just be a problem with some of the dealers' attitudes in there without creating a big scene. Make sense?

So that's it. Not sure how this phone call will go, but I'm not holding my breath. If they let me back they let me back. Great. If they don't...then they don't. But I feel NO REGRET for anything I have done that might lead to this. If I was zapped for 'taking pictures' in there, well that is just ridiculous. Because the manager there READS my blog, and has seen the pictures on there for a year. He has had ample opportunity to either request or even ORDER me to stop doing it, and I would have eagerly complied. But he didn't. And if I am getting 86'd for THAT, well, then I think we all KNOW its for something other than that, don't we?

What I DO HOPE...is if they choose to not allow me to play poker in there, that they won't extend the trespass to the whole casino. That is just pointless. Squirrel and I have plans to go to dinner with my longtime buddy Chad Brown and his wife Vanessa Rousso when they are in town next month. Squirrel won an employee poker tourney (4th actually) a few months ago, and they gave her a 'One night stay at the BR and dinner for two' and we thought we might do dinner with them at BR PRIME (and request that Kai be our server!!!) and then spend the night at the Beau that night. Not that I do a lot of gambling on the table games there, but I do occassionally like to hit the bars and restaraunts there. And to keep me banned from doing that would be just unnecessary.

Whatever happens, I still plan on going to Borgata I think. Pulled up their structures last night...and they are just TOO good to pass on. That and I have never played up there. Made a lot of new friends out in Vegas this summer from the NY/NJ/PHILLY area and it would be cool to go up and play with them. Plus the fields up there are always HUGE...and to cash would be a good cash...and to Final Table there would not only be a ton of money...but huge POY points...and as I am sitting in 133rd place right now, I would love to finish up the year strong and maybe get into the Top 50. Also have a chance at the most final tables in the world. I think I'm like 2 or 3 behind Brent Carter...who plays a gajillion tourneys a year. Even more than I do!!! And...he has a really super-cool Members Only jacket that I would like get my hands on. Maybe if I clip him for most Final Tables he would come off of it???

Stay tuned folks!

MONKEY