So a couple nights ago...after another throttling at the tables...I ambled out of the Dog Prison Poker Room with Chip Ervin in tow...waiting on Barth to come pick us up in my car...when from behind us we hear chirping...the chirping of what seemingly appeared to be a deranged lunatic. He was being escorted by two large Sheriff's Department representatives. They both had a sheepish smile on their face as they let the man air his dirty laundry, both nodding in agreeable fashion and doing little to incite the little guy. As Chip and I both sat listening to him...we simultaneously looked at each other and said "Whoa...Gabe Costner!"
Some of you know Gabe pretty well. Some of you know him from seeing him on TV during one of his WSOP Main Event runs or even his Final Table televised appearance. Gabe is an accomplished player. But like me, Gabe has also run afoul of the casinos 'expected behavioral policies' at times. One of those being a time when he hijacked a card from the deck so that he could run it up to a science lab at S.Miss University to have it analyzed and see if his theories about the consistency of the game cards being used at that casino had any conclusive proof. What resulted was a multi-page report issued by Gabe...that a lot of us got via email, and while it was easy to laugh at it, and dismiss Gabe as having lost his mind...there was a lot of compelling information in there.
Basically, at the root of Gabe's argument, and this guy who was being kicked out of the Kennel Club the other night...is that the cards are made up of some kind of Poly Fiber coating that allows the controlling party (in this case, the casino) to decide which member of the deck is going to appear on the card when the dealer puts it out on the flop, turn or river. Now, to most...this would seem laughable. Right? Why would the 'house' care which player was winning or losing? Who has that kind of time on their hand to have a person flipping the switches and levers to make sure a certain player never wins? Do these 'super cards' exist? Would they ever be employed in a poker game? And if so, why? Does the poker room seriously take enough interest in one person's successes or failures to invest such time and resources to a cause? It seems absurd. Right?
Well...I'll tell ya what...having been through three of the most unbelievable days of poker I have ever encountered, oh-fer in tourneys and oh-fer in SNG's...which were my bread and butter in the first week I was here, I have to wonder, maybe there IS something to that. I mean...flopping straights only to get ousted by the two pair guy filling up. Having a big pair holding up all the way to the river only to lose to a small pair in the hole hitting a set. Playing cash game and having guys call huge flop bets with nothing but over cards...and hitting them like someone has nudged them on the shoulder and assured them that its coming? Now I can't really get on board with the whole Poly-Fiber theory...but I can see how days and weeks and maybe even months and years of running bad would drive a person to the goofy house and cause them to start developing these (what appear to be) silly notions.
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The otherwise typical, monotonous evening in the cash/SNG room was interrupted two nights ago by a ruckus. Its true that this place attracts some real characters. And earlier, while waiting on another SNG that I would end up NOT winning, I was seated at this particular 1/2 table, and couldn't help but notice the mercurial makeup of players present at the table. Personality conflict? Oh yeah...you could say that for sure! Well, I left the table to play in a SNG. About an hour later...that sound that is only to easy to identify...the moving of furniture, the elevated voices, followed by all heads turning in the direction of the pandemonium, followed by people standing...shouting...and then finally...a sound that wasn't as familiar, the 'THWAP' of a taser...with the prongs casting themselves and landing on the body of the assailant...a crazy old guy who had gone over the table and was punching the shit out of this other older, much fatter (and annoying) guy...who was on the bottom of him, and as reported by Chip...who had a great field of vision from his 5/10 table...was biting the guy. Both players were put in cuffs and escorted to the poker office, one who was charged, the other who was checked for injuries and asked to make a statement. The line of the night was delivered from someone in the 4-seat...announcing that they had a 'Player Down!!!' Well played sir, well played.
****************** ************************** ************************
Some of you know Gabe pretty well. Some of you know him from seeing him on TV during one of his WSOP Main Event runs or even his Final Table televised appearance. Gabe is an accomplished player. But like me, Gabe has also run afoul of the casinos 'expected behavioral policies' at times. One of those being a time when he hijacked a card from the deck so that he could run it up to a science lab at S.Miss University to have it analyzed and see if his theories about the consistency of the game cards being used at that casino had any conclusive proof. What resulted was a multi-page report issued by Gabe...that a lot of us got via email, and while it was easy to laugh at it, and dismiss Gabe as having lost his mind...there was a lot of compelling information in there.
Basically, at the root of Gabe's argument, and this guy who was being kicked out of the Kennel Club the other night...is that the cards are made up of some kind of Poly Fiber coating that allows the controlling party (in this case, the casino) to decide which member of the deck is going to appear on the card when the dealer puts it out on the flop, turn or river. Now, to most...this would seem laughable. Right? Why would the 'house' care which player was winning or losing? Who has that kind of time on their hand to have a person flipping the switches and levers to make sure a certain player never wins? Do these 'super cards' exist? Would they ever be employed in a poker game? And if so, why? Does the poker room seriously take enough interest in one person's successes or failures to invest such time and resources to a cause? It seems absurd. Right?
Well...I'll tell ya what...having been through three of the most unbelievable days of poker I have ever encountered, oh-fer in tourneys and oh-fer in SNG's...which were my bread and butter in the first week I was here, I have to wonder, maybe there IS something to that. I mean...flopping straights only to get ousted by the two pair guy filling up. Having a big pair holding up all the way to the river only to lose to a small pair in the hole hitting a set. Playing cash game and having guys call huge flop bets with nothing but over cards...and hitting them like someone has nudged them on the shoulder and assured them that its coming? Now I can't really get on board with the whole Poly-Fiber theory...but I can see how days and weeks and maybe even months and years of running bad would drive a person to the goofy house and cause them to start developing these (what appear to be) silly notions.
******************* ************************* *********************
The otherwise typical, monotonous evening in the cash/SNG room was interrupted two nights ago by a ruckus. Its true that this place attracts some real characters. And earlier, while waiting on another SNG that I would end up NOT winning, I was seated at this particular 1/2 table, and couldn't help but notice the mercurial makeup of players present at the table. Personality conflict? Oh yeah...you could say that for sure! Well, I left the table to play in a SNG. About an hour later...that sound that is only to easy to identify...the moving of furniture, the elevated voices, followed by all heads turning in the direction of the pandemonium, followed by people standing...shouting...and then finally...a sound that wasn't as familiar, the 'THWAP' of a taser...with the prongs casting themselves and landing on the body of the assailant...a crazy old guy who had gone over the table and was punching the shit out of this other older, much fatter (and annoying) guy...who was on the bottom of him, and as reported by Chip...who had a great field of vision from his 5/10 table...was biting the guy. Both players were put in cuffs and escorted to the poker office, one who was charged, the other who was checked for injuries and asked to make a statement. The line of the night was delivered from someone in the 4-seat...announcing that they had a 'Player Down!!!' Well played sir, well played.
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