I recently returned from a seven-day trip to Pendleton, Oregon for the annual Poker Round-Up series of tournaments at the Wild Horse Resort and Casino. It’s hard to find a card room these days that truly gives back to its customers, but Wild Horse believes in doing just this. They added a total of $75,000 to their 14 Poker Round-Up events and at 5:00pm daily, players were treated to a free dinner buffet. The card room took no house fee from the satellites and the maximum house charge for any event was $15. Bounties were awarded for busting designated celebrity players. The tournament director, Roland Walters, and his staff always make sure that players are treated well, which is why they are able to attract more than 600 players to some of their events.
I’ve known Roland since his days at the Bicycle Casino in the mid-1980s. He invited Jan Fisher and me to present a poker seminar prior to the Ladies-Only tournament. We were all pleased that it turned out to be very well-attended and quite interactive.
While there, I saw a few poker procedures that I would like to see adopted in all card rooms. In the live games, when starting a new game, the board person would call the top ten names on the list. A player whose name was called would go to the board and get a laminated card with the table number of the new game on it. He would then take that card to the new game so the dealer would know that he was entitled to a seat.
Once the game started, when a seat came open, the dealer would throw a table number card to the empty seat (much like the same procedure when a player goes broke in a tournament). A floor man, chip runner, or brush person would bring the table card to the board person and then the player on top of the list would be called. That player would then report to the board and pick up the table card and take it to the table with the empty seat. This procedure worked fabulously to prevent players from jumping into empty seats since they needed a card to take one. By the way, I heard that these same procedures were used successfully in the cash games at the World Series of Poker.
The other thing that really impressed me was the fact that Roland “seeded” the final tables in the championship event. Here is how that worked: Once they got down to the money (four tables), they ended play for the day. Roland then listed the remaining players in order of their chip counts. He then assigned the money leader to table one, second leader to table two, third leader to table three, and fourth leader to table four. He then started in reverse order by putting the fifth chip leader at table four, sixth leader at table three, and so on, zigzagging back and forth until he got to the bottom of the list. I love this procedure because it balances out the chips at the final tables. I’ve never really thought it fair that a random draw often resulted in 80% of the chips being at one table and only 20% of the chips at another table. This procedure eliminates that situation and ensures a fair chip distribution at each table.
I love playing poker and got my fill in tournaments at Wild Horse. In addition to No Limit events, they also offered what I consider “fun” tournaments like Omaha Eight or Better, HORSE, Stud Eight or Better, and SHOE. These events drew some people my age and older, which was a nice change since I’m often the oldest person at the table in a No Limit event. They even had a Seniors’ Event (congratulations to Peter Fisher, the 2008 inductee into the Seniors’ Poker Hall of Fame) and a Ladies-Only event. I managed to finish fourth in the Stud Eight or Better event and to make the money in a No Limit event.
Change of subject: January will be an exciting month for me. I’m looking forward to hosting the Eureka Open at the Eureka Hotel in Mesquite, Nevada, from January 4th through 11th. I’ll also be teaching WPT Boot Camp at the Golden Nugget January 24 and 25 with co-instructors T.J. Cloutier and Tom McEvoy. I hope you can join me for these events.
In closing, I wish Happy Holidays to all of you. I love the holidays and especially enjoy sharing quality time with my friends and family. I hope you take some time during the holidays to count your blessings and to do some charitable work. There are so many people suffering and giving back is a gift you give to yourself.
I invite readers to contact me at Linda@cardplayercruises.com with feedback, poker-related questions, or suggestions for future blog content.
