Rudy Edwards

I took the first day off of my trip, and went to the skywalk over Grand Canyon West. It was worth the day I spent... It's hard to describe, but I came back fresh and ready to play.

I can't come up with a good reason to play 2-5 instead of 1-2. I'm regularly having $500 sessions at 1-2, and it seems like wherever I play, the people I most want to play with are at the 1-2 and 1-3 games. Aziz is regularly playing 2-5, and his games just don't look anywhere near as juicy. I suppose if I cared more about leveling up, and less about profit, I'd move up limits, but It would probably be a poor bankroll decision. If I run up past +10k, I'll start playing more 2-5.

I've been saying that the Venetian is my favorite poker room in Vegas, but the more I've played, the more I've got to give the credit to MGM. They are different rooms with different strengths, but the kicker for me is that the MGM seems to have a higher caliber of dealer.

It's probably because the V has brought in a bunch of temp dealers for the Deep Stack Extravaganza, but should that matter to me? On this trip, Dealing has been a lot better at the MGM, which is a bit of a surprise. Don't get me wrong, I still like the V a lot.

Tonight, a temp dealer let my opponent pull his hand back out of the center of the table. I had bet the river with the top flush (the board was four flushed) and the villain tossed his hand past the bet line. As the dealer put the deck down and motioned to grab his hand, I put my tip on my hand and slid it toward the dealer, having won the pot. The villain asked the dealer if his hand was mucked, and pulled his hand back and called. I looked up to see a call where I thought the player had folded. Obviously, the dude had noticed that the four flush also paired the board, and he'd filled up. The floor claimed that the mistake was that the dealer didn't muck the player's hand quickly enough, and his hand was live.

A few hands later, a player tossed a legal reraise past the betting line, then went back in to pull back the raise and make it a call. A player not in the hand pointed it out, and was asked to stay out of it by the original raiser. The Dealer let it slide. Our next dealer was better, in that she was really, really slow, but tried hard to get it right at least. Players had to point out what the winning hand was while she was dumbly looking at the board trying to figure it out... but at least she didn't screw the game up.

When talking to the floor, I was surprised that he wasn't more concerned about the room's image. He explained that the first dealer was usually a chip runner, as if that resolved the issue and made it ok.

I should point out that the Venetian has at least one stand out quality dealer. Unfortunately, I've forgotten his name, but he's a young black man who is quick on the deal, keeps the action going, and stops players from playing out of turn or disrupting play. My next trip, I'll go out of my way to get his name to give him credit.

The MGM has it's share of good and bad dealers as well, but there are three standouts that I'll mention. My least favorite dealer at the MGM is a small, pregnant asian girl. She was fine last year before she was knocked up, but now it's a struggle. Her arms are not long enough to grab chips or cards from the ends of the table. Now that she's got a bun in the oven, she can't sit up in the seat to scoop the chips up, so she asks us to do it for her. This slows down the action a lot, as players are responsible for doing her job for her... and annoying as well. It ends with players putting their chips in the middle of the table, making it hard to track what the action is. There are many service jobs where a pregnant woman can still perform as well as others. Usually, I'll tip a lil' extra as I have a soft spot in my heart for a working woman with child. This is not true for strippers or poker dealers. Some jobs should be left for the more physically able.

Nick at the MGM is a quality dealer. I don't think he's particularly more efficient than the average dealer at the MGM, but he does a great job of keeping it interesting and entertaining, and especially and keeping the drunks comfortable at the table. I haven't noticed any mistakes, and he's pretty quick.

By far my favorite dealer in this town is Jeff at the MGM. Jeff, from Augusta, has all the requirements of a good dealer: Quick, efficient, keeps the game going, doesn't make stupid mistakes and prevents players from making game disrupting mistakes. The reason he's my favorite dealer, though, is that he's a value added dealer. His deep, gravelly voice has just a touch of southern drawl. His commentary is amazing. Raise to 20? "20 bones..." Make it 40? "40 all-day". In an unraised pot, and a player looks confused... "2 dollars.. it ain't gonna break ya"

It's hard to put in words how refreshing and valuable Jeff's subtle commentary is in the middle of an 8 hour session, but I'm not the only person to notice it. All of us who have been playing at the MGM regularly are fans. Multiple times I've seen Jeff in the middle of his push, and was hoping he was headed to my table.

When you spend as much time at the poker tables as I have been recently, The Nicks and Jeffs help a lot, while the chip runners and preggos make the sessions more taxing. I've twice now finished a session because the pregnant girl was pushing to my table. It's just exhausting and annoying to have to do her job for her constantly, or to sit and wait for other players to.