Don't Be a Victim!

I didn't go out and play last night. My head was pounding from the crazy weather we are having (driving rain/wind storms proceeded and followed by high heat and sun). The pollen is probably through the roof at times. My eyes are swollen and watery and my head pounds to a rhythm that has nothing to do with music. Not fun times.

Although I don't feel that great right now, I'll probably still hit the Riverside tonight. Gotta work for da man and earn my SVO car.

Glenn has hit a rough patch which is kind of amusing to me. Glenn and I have always had vastly different experiences in poker. Although he is as tight, or tighter than I am, Glenn tends to hit big hands often. He has had many straight flushes, including royals, right from the time he started playing poker for real stakes. I have only had a handful of straight flushes in my poker journey, and never a royal. Not once, in any game. Not Stud, HE, Omaha, Razz (haha). Never.

Likewise, Glenn gets some vicious runner beats. I meant brutal. Remember the 989:1? I have never had anything even remotely close to that happen to me.

Last night at RS, Glenn had another, too. He had a pocket pair, sixes, I believe. He limped, along with several dozen other limpers (lol, this is a spread limit 2-6 game, so usually everyone including the dealer and the pet dog are in every hand). A player went all-in with his case $8. Everyone called.

The flop came down A64, with two hearts. Giving Glenn a set, but a slightly scary board for the any two cards that his opponents could have. Glenn bet out and immediately got raised. The betting became heads-up, with the pre-flop all-in for the main.

Glenn filled up on the turn, with the board reading: A64A

The river was the case ace, and his opponent still betting for the sidepot showed AKo.

This is not a huge beat, but I just wanted to give an example of the things that happen to Glenn each and every day, yet so rarely happen to me. We have never figured this phenomenon out. We have examined it at each level, yet we do not have an answer other than the obvious ones: 1) Glenn has played hundreds of thousands of hands more than me (he likes online play), and 2) just random dumb luck that will eventually catch up to me.

Fun times!

In other news, I have been asked by so many people to address different poker subjects here. Some of them I simply have no interest in. The Gold subject is one that doesn't spark even one iota of interest. I have no unique perspective, nor do I really care. Sure, it's a blight on poker, but then so is Amarillo Slim, yet everyone still sucks up to him like he isn't a pedophile who sexually molested his granddaughter three times before she had the nerve to report it to her mother (his daughter). Slim makes me sick, puke, ill. Gold just makes me roll my eyes.

One subject that I have likewise had little problem with is the "new" poker scene. Young guys with the caps, sunglasses and music. I suppose some of my lack of problem with these guys is that I'm not old enough yet to be disturbed by them. I can still understand where they are coming from. The other advantage I have in that regard is that I'm a woman, and maybe more of a guiding figure to them. I do not put up with their over-the-top antics, yet I don't come online and whine and complain about them, while saying nothing. I address it, as is.

The problem with so many people in the world is their refusal to speak up. This inhibition on our part, in society as a whole, is what has contributed to the "problem." No one wants to stand up and contribute to the "solution," per se. They just want to watch someone do something out of line, then come home and vent online or to their spouses.

One of the primary reasons I refuse to speak on the phone is due to this problem. I will not listen to people who constantly whine and complain, yet refuse to do anything about their situation. They are the dead weight in our world. The frozen, the inactive, the lazy, the fearful. They watch atrocities happen each and every day, yet refuse to do a thing.

Then they think I'm going to be their sounding board. No way. I don't listen to these sob stories of those who cannot speak up or speak out. Never. My whole early life I grew up listening to my Mom whine about people every, frigging day, yet never do a thing. She dealt at some pretty scary Riverside-like cardrooms. She was slapped, hit, kicked, had drinks thrown in her face, was burned with cigars and cigarettes, cursed at. Did she ever do a thing? Nope. Instead she came home to whine and cry to us.

So getting back to poker. People LOVE whine about sitting in a game where a young person is completely lacking any poker etiquette whatsoever, due to either lack of experience in a live setting, or because they have gotten away with it in the past, so have continued their ways.

The experienced players say nothing. They don't report it, they don't stop it, they sit like frozen deer in the headlights of an oncoming car.

Until they get home, that is, where they log onto the Internet and go ballistic.

They claim they don't want to tap the aquarium, or some such. Any excuse will do other than the truth, which is usually that they lack the balls to do anything about it.

In my situation, there IS no situation. The first time it happens, I either pull the guy aside, or address him at the table. It is usually done in either a very light, joking manner, or in a more motherly, stern manner. I do not embarrass him, if I feel he is the type who would leave or become angry if embarrassed, but I make it 100% clear that his etiquette is not proper, not social, not acceptable and that he would have a better time if he behaved like the gentleman I know he could be.

Problem solved.

I have never had one further instance of abuse, except in a couple of rare times when the young guy was drinking heavily, and then usually the matter is escalated to the floorman or security.

I also have never had a young guy turn on me. Start to curse me out, or hurt me.

I've said it a million times, and I'll say it again: IF YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO PLAY POKER, YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO SPEAK UP!

Poker is not for the timid or shy. Get in there and do your duty. We have thousands of new dealers on the scene who do not run their own games. We must take charge if we want and expect a change. If you value your time in the cardroom, if you value your future, if you value playing in a safe, secure environment, you are going to have to protect your games. Failure to do so will find these games changed to the extent that you will refuse to play live (several on RGP have already quit live play).

I have little hope that anyone will listen to me. They so rarely do. But this is my journal, my rant, so there you go. The Bystander Effect is a blight on our society.

Sooooo, now that I have ranted and raved, I would like to say once again, that the things I write here are all about me. They are my experiences, my opinions, my views.

I never, ever go out of my way to "hurt" anyone, yet I so often do anyway, in my inability to censor myself. I don't, and I will not, ever censor anything here. Sure, I say what others are thinking sometimes, yet refuse to admit aloud, and it gets me into trouble, but I wouldn't have it any other way, regardless of the persecution that I have experienced.

If I inadvertently hurt anyone who reads my journal and knows me in person (I have been hearing rumors of this lately in Laughlin, ugh), I apologize. This is just a diary, the type you would keep next to your bed. I write what I am thinking, and sometimes it seems awfully harsh. But I never mean to hurt anyone, and that is simply the truth. If you find yourself offended by my personal journal, please do not continue to read. As I like to write: GTFO.

Felicia :)