WORKING
OVERTIME
Normally,
casino employees who come to work have
a reasonable expectation that they will
be paid for their effort. Not on this
poker job, though. Yesterday a record
number of dedicated employees showed up
and strove mightily only to find that
all their hard work was in vain. Many
employees worked eight hours and more
only to be unceremoniously shown the door
'out of the money.' On the other hand,
those few employees who had the talent
and persistence to 'pull a double' shift�work
16 hours straight� found that their labors
were more than handsomely rewarded.
There
were 272 entrants in the $500 Buy-In,
"Casino Employees" Limit Hold'em for a
total prize pool of $127,840. Three tables
were paid, a total of 27 players.
Either
Philip Kosloske or Jimmy Taing seemed
likely to get the dreaded booby prize
of tournament poker. One of them was going
to finish 28th when only 27 were getting
paid. On the same hand, Philip and Jimmy
went out at two different tables. So Kosloske
and Taing split 27th money and avoided
the ignominy.
The
Final Table was set up Friday night when
the fog rolled in on Richard London. Richard
finally gave up waiting for someone else
to help him. With his last $600 he went
all-in from the small blind holding A
J. Jim Blaszkiewicz happily called on
the button with pocket 6's. The Wheel
of Fortune spun for Jim when a 6 hit the
flop giving him a set. Jim was now guaranteed
enough money to buy some more vowels for
this last name. The last ten employees
were going to a place were working overtime
was financially appreciated.
THE
FINAL TABLE:
There were 26 mins left of 75.
The blinds were $200/$400.
Playing $400/$800.
Player
Hometown Chip
Count
Seat 1 Jim Blaszkiewicz Livonia MI $ 8,000
Seat 2 Leon Wheeler Las Vegas NV $ 5,200
Seat 3 David Warga Tempe AZ $28,700
Seat 4 Randy Myers Toledo IA $ 1,700
Seat 5 Steve Schraber Scottsdale AZ $
8,600
Seat 6 Jack Rosenfeldt West Covina CA
$ 5,600
Seat 7 Qi Liu Hacienda Hts CA $ 6,100
Seat 8 Gary Braufman Las Vegas NV $20,600
Seat 9 Mike Majerus Ottawa IL $17,000
Seat 10 Matt Lessinger Berkeley CA $34,200
When
the original "Dealer's" Tournament morphed
into the "Casino Employees" Event at the
World Series, some natural allies/enemies
were thrown together on the poker battlefield.
Most often the Final Table in this event
will pit casino dealers against casino
props. Last night's action was no exception.
At the start of the proceedings there
were five poker dealers and four proposition
players at the table. The one wild card
was a craps dealer. Who would win the
most money and the important bragging
rights�the dealers or the props? It was
something right out of 'West Side Story.'
We even had a 'Maria.' And it's with her
our action begins.
Qi
Liu is a proposition player at Hollywood
Park in LA. Her first name is pronounced
something like 'She' and 'She' is a tigress.
One of the most aggressive players in
tournament poker, Ms Liu has been known
to destroy Final Tables. But last night,
Qi wasn't able to display her dominant
personality to this group. She doesn't
expect to lose ever, and she will vent
her frustration verbally on any dealer
who has the audacity to give her unplayable
cards.
After
having to muck a hand she was deeply involved
in, Qi raised again under the gun on the
next hand. It looked for the entire world
like a steam bet and Qi got a couple callers.
The first caller was Mike Majerus, one
of the gypsy packs of tournament poker
dealers that work the circuit across the
country. Jack Rosenfeldt is a prop at
the Bicycle Club in LA. He had pocket
6's in the big blind and called Liu also.
The flop came with a six and two diamonds.
Rosenfeldt and Liu raised each other all-in.
Majerus went along for the ride. Mike
had the A 2 of Diamonds and enough chips
to see all bets. The Queen of Diamonds
landed on the turn. Mike turned the nut
flush. Qi now had top set with her pocket
Queens and Jack Rosenfeldt had one out,
the case 6. Since Qi Liu had $200 more
in chips starting the hand she got 9th
place and Jack Rosenfeldt hit the feldt
in 10th, as the board didn't pair on the
river. In one hand a poker dealer took
out two props. This elicited wild cheering
from Mike's friends in the gallery. It
was now dealers 5, props 2. But the chip
leader was still a prop and a Card Player
columnist, Matt Lessinger.
At
the start, Randy Myers was in trouble
with only $1,700 in chips. But Myers,
a dealer at the Meskwaki Casino in Iowa,
won his first all-in hand with trip Kings
and watched with gratitude when Mike Majerus
made Randy an extra $1,000 by eliminating
two players. But Randy couldn't find any
cards worth playing and went all-in for
his last $100 without looking from the
small blind. Jim 'Alphabet' Blaszkiewicz
did the honors and sent Randy Myers back
to the bullpen with 10's on the flop to
Randy's 8's.
Dealers
and props work long hours together in
poker rooms to get games started and keep
them going. As coworkers they are natural
allies, but in temperament they are natural
enemies. Since a proposition player in
a casino is playing with his or her own
money, the cards a dealer delivers are
the props' lifeblood. Going on a bad streak
with a dealer can end a props' career.
Thus the tension between dealers and props,
and thus the fun for the audience. Dealers
4, Props 2.
Starting
5th in chips, Steve Schraber couldn't
make a hand. Steve is a prop at Oceans
11 in Oceanside CA. Going to the river
for thousands of dollars in a hand with
Mike Majerus and missing his draw, Steve
folded with only $400 left. He went all-in
on the next hand and was high carded out
in 7th. The props are getting slaughtered.
Dealers 4, Props 1.
Since
the chip leader was still Matt Lessinger,
a prop, it's logical that a dealer would
be next out. Jim Blaszkiewicz slowly lost
the fight with the blinds. He raised all-in
from the button with pocket 9's and was
called in the small blind by Leon Wheeler.
Leon was the Wheeler Dealer when an ace
hit the turn to give Leon aces and give
Jim's consonants a rest in 6th.
What's
a nice craps dealer from the Stardust
doing in the middle of this war? Gary
Braufman hardly spoke for three hours.
He couldn't say '7 out' so he didn't say
anything at all. A man of few words, unfortunately
Gary was also a man of few hands. He made
his last stand with the 9 8 of Diamonds
and flopped top pair. Mike Majerus had
lots of chips and could afford to call
with A Q. When a Queen turned Mike gave
Gary the '5 out' in fifth.
The
players were in their 16th straight hour
and Matt Lessinger was repeatedly suggesting
ways to shorten the rest of play. Mike
Majerus repeatedly refused to go along
with any ideas. Perhaps Matt's concentration
lapsed; perhaps he just got too tired.
Most likely, he finally ran into a cold
streak. In any case, Lessinger who had
been chip leader for hours got a couple
of big hands cracked and was the last
prop out of the event. Matt made a stand
with A 7 and found Leon Wheeler with A
K. Dealers 3, Props 0.
At
this point several deals were discussed
but none satisfied everyone. With the
blinds elevated, the poker gypsy Mike
Majerus found a bad time for his hands
to go dead. Crippled in a hand with David
Warga with 6 5 4 3 came to David's Q 7,
Mike then went all-in from the blinds
with J 9 and lost to Wheeler's K 6.
The
two remaining stacks were about 8-5 in
favor of David Warga. The dealers decided
to jump to $2,000/$4,000, as it was 4
a.m. In 15 minutes the "Casino Employees"
Limit Hold'em was over. Warga won every
big hand, usually catching trips on the
turn or river. A disappointed Leon Wheeler
saw his bracelet slip away when he was
high carded all-in, but Leon came all
the way up to 2nd from 9th in chips at
the start in a terrific performance.
Working
overtime paid off beautifully for these
dedicated poker players.
Some
of the early Super Satellite winners for
a $10,000 seat to the Championship Final
were: Manfred Daries, Jeff Yoak, Randall
Skaggs (2) Lawrence Stultz, Phillip Ivey,
Amir Nasseri, Dennis Waterman, Greg Wynn,
Norman Ketchum (2), Bobby Hull, Jimmy
Tran, Mike Sexton and Jan Sjavik.
Mike Paulle
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