I'm really trying to blog more as part of a New Year's resolution I made back in 2007. One of the things I promised to share on this blog was stories from the WSOP. Since I'll be out there in Vegas dealing it again this year, I'd better tell some of those stories now before I forget them and replace them in my brain with new stories.
My first time ever dealing Seven Card Stud High-Low Split (aka Stud-8) was in Event #33 - $10k Stud-8 Championship. I had been working one of the graveyard shifts the first couple weeks at the series which meant I hadn't really gotten the chance to deal in many bracelet events. I had only dealt in a couple of the NLH $1.5ks and a couple downs of HORSE (I never dealt Stud-8 in that tournament for whatever reason.) When the DC asked for people to deal it, I volunteered in a heartbeat. Stud is awesome and I wish there were more lower limit stud games around. All of the tables had at least a couple pros at them so I was a little nervous at first. My first table had Thor Hansen and Nick Schulman at it so I was super psyched. Unfortunately, one of my worst moments of the series happened at this table.
When a tournament first starts, either a restart or a fresh tournament, sometimes as a dealer you get locked into that first table for a few downs. Sometimes the DCs just don't have enough dealers to immediately push into strings and give breaks. Hey, whatever, shit happens. So, at my first table that I had to deal three downs in a row to, I had a guy who I'll just classify as a dick. As much time as I've spent in cardrooms, I've definitely run into a dick or two or hundred in my life. However, this was the first time I'd run into one from the other side of the table. He was talking amongst the other players in a manner that suggested that they knew him. The TV in the room had the US Open golf tournament on it and the off-topic conversation was mostly about Rory McIlroy and his dominant play.
Our friend in seat five had dumped some chips over the course of a few hands and I could tell that he was tilting somewhat. I don't claim to be an expert at stud-8 but he was calling with some tweener boards against people with much better-looking boards and always having second best.
Thor Hansen said something funny (I don't remember what exactly, he was a very friendly and seemingly likeable guy) and the whole table laughed, myself included. Well, this did not go over well with five-seat. He said something along the lines of, "hey dealer, why is it you're smiling while I'm getting cocks shoved in my ass?"
I told him I didn't need him to use that language or berate me and if he didn't agree with that I could have a floor come and explain it to him. He looked like he wanted to argue for a second but then he shut up. I was a bit unnerved by the altercation but I calmed down when I finally got pushed and moved to the next table. Pros at the next table included Phil Hellmuth and Mike Sexton. Despite what you see on TV, Hellmuth is actually a pretty nice guy and mostly quiet. The shenanigans are just a show for the cameras. The real poker pros don't berate the dealers, they have too much class than to do that.
A couple downs later was a player break and I told the floor about five-seat. He told me I handled it well and not to worry about it. I'm pretty sure he busted out of the money so whatever!
I've got a story about when I dealt to Hellmuth in the main event, but that's for another time.
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