What would you do – A blatant violation of the rules

The setting: My typical Thursday night session at the ‘Shoe

The scenario: A dealer flouts the rules

The question: What would you do?  Would you speak up?  Follow up?

Over the past few sessions, I’ve become accustomed to my strong hands no longer being winners by the flop, turn or river.  This session was no exception, where, within 3 orbits, I saw my KK go down in flames when:

1. I get it in pre-flop to action where EP raises to $10, older guy raises to $30.  I look down at KK and 4bet to $85.  EP thinks & shoves for $310 effective.  Older guy pauses for a good minute before finally making the call for around $200.  Action to me.  I decide I can’t fold KK and make the call.  I ask if EP has AA – I’m sure given the pause – that older guy has QQ, JJ.  EP says no, leading me to believe I’m ahead until a Ten hits the turn and EP flips TT for the win.  Older guy shows QQ and I just shake my head.  LOL 5bet shoving TT FTW!  It's always good there, amiright?
2. I get in on the turn for $150 to a gambler Asian guy who doesn’t seem to understand hand strengths, as he turns a gutter and 2 pair draw with T9 vs. my KK on a T 7 x 6 board.  The action, BTW, went PF raise to $20 after 2 limpers – he calls with T9o.  He c/c’s $45 on the flop.  He snaps the turn gutter for a slight overbet of $150 into the $135 pot.  8 on the river, easy game.

I find myself down ~2 buy-ins for the night.  My session, however, is not the focus of this story.  Dealers rotate through and one of my two most despised dealers pushes in.  To be clear, this dealer represents himself as a pure rules guy.  Now, I can definitely appreciate a rules-oriented dealer; all I ask for is a set process, and even-handed application of the rules to all parties continually.  This guy is inconsistent.  He’s moody.  He’s monotone.  He doesn’t give people a chance to act before telling them it’s their action.  He’ll call out for blinds to be posted as said blinds are reaching for chips.  He represents himself as a rule follower and insists on all players following rules to the letter of the law.  All of this sounds pretty innocuous, but he's a real miserable prick.  He tilts me ever so slightly, but I tend to ignore him as a defense against my tilt.  Lately, I've been considering sitting out during his downs.

2 people limp and there’s a raise on the button.  The blinds call and one of the limpers call.  There’s a lot of talk at the table, and I, of course, am involved.  FWIW, I folded my hand, but I’m following the action as I follow the conversation.  Action has yet to close, pending the final limper’s call, a middle aged lady.  There’s an unusual delay between her action, and the dealer proceeds to put out a flop.  The flop is out and action is still pending the lady, who opts to call after seeing the flop.  No one says anything.  I ask the dealer what’s going on; action is still pending yet he put out a flop.  He replies “no problem; she called, so all is good.”

All is definitely not good, however.  I point out that she called only after seeing a flop.  He stays fixed to the point that she called, so the pot is good – move on.  I don’t move on; I continue to point out that she got to see a flop first, before calling pre flop.  That is an unfair advantage, and against the rules.  In the meantime, post flop action continues and the button lines up a sizeable bet.  Finally, the dealers pauses the action and calls floor.

The dealer tells floor, since The Poker Meister has a complaint, he can explain what happened.  “Floored” (pun intended) by the dealer’s lack of wont to own the mistake, I’m forced to become the villain at the table, breaking up a hand where I’m not even involved.  (The flop was JJx, and the BTN was clearly happy with that flop.  The lady got pissed at me for "ruining" the hand that she changed tables after the incident.)  Even after explaining in clear terms what happened, the dealer does not recognize his mistake, only offering that it was noisy and there was a lot of background conversation ongoing.  Totally inexcusable in my book.  First, I should not be explaining what happened; dealer is the keeper of order at the tables.  He should not only be paying attention, but also recognize issues that may arise, and own his or her mistakes.  Second, mistakes are bound to happen.  Depending on the size of the mistake, either rectify the situation yourself (i.e. something minor like incorrect change, or out of turn action) or call floor (i.e. something major like dealing a card out of turn, or clarity of a particular rule).  Third, don’t try to cover up your mistake by bullying your customers.  Not that he was trying to intimidate me, but he definitely pressed me pretty hard to move on – something I was clearly not going to do.

So I ask, in summary: You’re in my seat.  You’re watching (in my opinion, an egregious) rules violation.  You’re not involved in the particular hand, but you see someone who has a clear advantage over the rest of the table – and the dealer wants to overlook the situation.  Do you speak up?  What would you do?

Never look a gift horse in the mouth...

Long time, no update.  I wanted to write a quick post to let everyone know I'm still alive & kicking...  It's been a busy summer for the Meister family; since I got back from the WSOP in June, the kids have been in camp -- and finally sleep away for the past few weeks.  One would think that without kids, I'd have more time to do things like play poker, but nope!  Mrs. Meister and I have been busy working, traveling, cleaning up the house from the 3 kids, painting, moving furniture, more traveling, etc.  We went to Charleston, South Carolina last week, and we're off to the beach later this week.  It's nice spending time with my wife; I think we both kind of forgot what it's like to be without children.

I'm still managing to put in my ~6 hours / week of live poker, although with mixed results lately.  It's been a rough run ever since Vegas, though things have been looking up as of late.  I'm trying my best to make adjustments, spending time reviewing hand histories, noting key hands, etc. but finding that a lot of the "interesting" hands are largely uninteresting; mostly variance like pair & flush draws not getting there, suckouts, etc.  One point I did notice about my play is that I was getting a bit gun shy with bluffing because for a period I was finding myself running into the top of the range for my opponents.

At any rate, this week I was able to sneak in a Saturday night session which was interesting if for no other reason than there was a guy simply dumping money.  I sat down at my table, received my $300 in chips and started watching my table mates to assess the lay of the land.  No more than 15 minutes in, the player to my right lost (let's call him the tilter, even though it's not a fair assessment; he was not on tilt) a hand and started straddling $15 but also pushing out his newly re-bought full stack of $300 as a blind pre-flop raise.  Interesting...  for how many hands will this continue?  Within the first few hands, a few guys at the table limped the $15 raise and were surprised, and eventually angered when they "found out" that the tilter was immediately raising all in for $285 more.  It took some of these guys maybe 3 or 4 hands to realize what was going - they would limp, then fold after seeing the tilter raise all in.  One guy was visibly annoyed that the tilter was "ruining the game," and what he was doing was "unfair."  Shocked at some of the reactions, I knew what was going on immediately; I folded my speculative hands (i.e. 45s, JTo, etc.) and waited on Ax / pairs / Kx / etc.; in other words, hands that would be decently ahead of the average Q6o hand.  Within a round, I hit and doubled through when I was dealt KK, and then hit and +$300 with ATo.  The other players who were annoyed eventually racked up their chips and quit the game.  I could not believe people were quitting - if the room knew this was going on, there would be a waitlist on the table over an hour long!

Anyway, to the point of the post: the tilter was straddling from every available position.  A player with whom I've been friendly decided to "steal" the straddle from the tilter, over-straddling on his button.  (Side note: the Horseshoe gives straddle priority starting at the BTN and working counter-clockwise.)  At this point, the tilter was verbally annoyed - and announced that he was ending his otherwise reckless money burning party...   The takeaway is this: don't mess with the tilter.  If you find yourself in a situation like this:

• Don't mess with the mojo.  Let the tilter do what he wants.
• If you're not interested in taking 60/40 gambles or 80/20 gambles, quit the game.
• Don't signal to the tilter that you're going to stop him from burning money.
• Don't signal to the tilter that you don't like what he's doing.
• Try to be jovial and enjoy the moment.
• Don't press your luck and insult the tilter.
• Consider going all in blind yourself to encourage the action.  (Note: I won't do this with $300, but I would do this with $100.)
• If you see this happening on another table, waitlist yourself to change to that table.
• Free money!!!!

FINALLY!!!! - Full Tilt Claims Administration Notice

For those living under a rock, back on April 15, 2011, the United States government seized Full Tilt poker's assets.  As a result, the player funds were trapped and have been frozen ever since.  2 and a half years later, the Full Tilt player base is finally in line to receive its rightful share of their accounts back.  It should be noted that the owners of Full Tilt have long been paid out for the sale of the site and / or acquitted of all charges.  It should be noted that although there was major supposed accounting issues with the online site, the main shareholders of the site continued to live their lives unscathed - continuing to live in nice, expensive houses, with nice, expensive cars, sticking it in the eye of the account holders by continuing to play high stakes poker, golfing, and otherwise living a carefree life filled with revelry and debauchery.  WTF?

Nevertheless, I am happy that it looks like I will receive my portion of the player funds, a modest sum.  I suppose I consider this "found money," since I had kinda written off the $~2k years ago as a cost of doing business in the post-UIGEA poker world.  I guess I'm going to take this money and do what I do with all my money - hookers & booze!  Okay.  Maybe not - who am I kidding?  It's probably going into the bank never to be heard from again until retirement.  Boo!  I guess I wasn't really missing it in the first place.

Anyway, received this letter last night from The Garden City Group, Inc. (GCG), the company appointed by the government to distribute the asset base:

TO:         United States Full Tilt Poker Players Who Were Victims of Full Tilt Poker’s Fraud
PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE NOTICE CONCERNING SETTLEMENTS WITH FULL TILT POKER (“FTP”) AND POKERSTARS. IT IS TIME-SENSITIVE AND MAY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. IF YOU SATISFY THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA DESCRIBED BELOW, YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO PAYMENT. YOU CAN ALSO VISIT WWW.FULLTILTPOKERCLAIMS.COM FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
I.        Purpose of this Notice
       The purpose of this Notice is to inform you that you may be entitled to receive a distribution from the assets forfeited by Full Tilt Poker (the “FTP Fund”), which resulted from the settlement agreement resolving the allegations in the amended civil forfeiture complaint in United States v. PokerStars, et al., 11 Civ. 2564 (LBS), pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (the “Action”).  You must complete the online Petition filing process in accordance with the steps in this Notice in order to be potentially eligible to share in the distribution from the FTP Fund.  This Notice is being sent to all potentially eligible victims of FTP’s fraud who have been identified by The Garden City Group, Inc. (“GCG”), the Claims Administrator retained by the United States, utilizing data supplied by FTP.  As explained in greater detail below, Petitions for Remission must be completed online through the administration website at www.FullTiltPokerClaims.com.
THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT A PETITION FOR REMISSION IS NOVEMBER 16, 2013 (THE “BAR DATE”).  IF YOU FAIL TO SUBMIT A TIMELY AND COMPLETE PETITION FOR REMISSION, YOU WILL BE BARRED FROM RECEIVING A PAYMENT FROM THE FTP FUND.  WHEN FILING ONLINE, YOU MUST USE THE NUMBERS BELOW IN ORDER TO BEGIN THE PETITION PROCESS:

Petition Number: XXXXXX
Control Number: XXXXXXXXXX

II.        Background
       In July 2012, the United States entered into settlement agreements with FTP and PokerStars, two of the three online poker companies named as defendants in the Action brought by the United States alleging bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses.  Under the terms of the settlement with FTP, the company agreed to forfeit virtually all of its assets to the United States in order to fully resolve the Action.  The amended complaint filed in the Action alleged that FTP defrauded its players by misrepresenting to the public that player funds held by FTP were safe, secure and available for withdrawal at any time.  In reality, the company did not maintain funds sufficient to repay all of its players and instead, utilized player funds to finance more than $400 million in dividend payments to FTP's owners.
      Under the terms of the settlement with PokerStars (the "PokerStars Settlement"), the company agreed, among other things, to forfeit $547 million to the United States and to assume FTP's liability for the approximately $184 million owed by FTP to foreign players.  The PokerStars Settlement also provides that PokerStars will acquire Full Tilt’s forfeited assets from the Government and precludes PokerStars from offering online poker for real money in the United States unless and until it becomes permissible to do so under relevant law.
       Utilizing funds forfeited from PokerStars, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (“AFMLS”) of the United States Department of Justice have established a Petition process by which eligible U.S. fraud victims can seek compensation for their losses.
III.         Eligibility Criteria
       To qualify for a payment from the FTP Fund, you must satisfy certain eligibility criteria described below.  Those criteria include the following:

1. You must be a U.S. citizen or you must have resided in the United States at the time of playing on the FTP gaming site.
   
2. You did not receive compensation as a foreign FTP player in connection with the PokerStars Settlement.
   
3. You must have deposited funds into an account with FTP.
   
4. Your account with FTP must reflect a balance owed by FTP to you as of April 15, 2011.
   
5. You are excluded from participation in the remission process if you are:
   
   • A past or present employee of FTP or any of its past or present affiliates;
     
   • A past or present vendor of FTP that received compensation through FTP players’ accounts;
     
   • A past or present Team Full Tilt player;
     
   • A past or present shareholder of FTP, Tiltware LLC, Kolyma Corporation A.V.V., Pocket Kings Ltd., Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd., Filco Ltd., Vantage Ltd., Ranston Ltd., Mail Media Ltd., or Full Tilt Poker Ltd.;
     
   • A past or present officer or director of FTP, Tiltware LLC, Kolyma Corporation A.V.V., Pocket Kings Ltd., Pocket Kings Consulting Ltd., Filco Ltd., Vantage Ltd., Ranston Ltd., Mail Media Ltd., or Full Tilt Poker Ltd., or any of their past or present affiliates;
     
   • A defendant in any civil action or a claimant in any forfeiture action brought by the Department of Justice related to the violations alleged in this action, or any related action (or any of his or her affiliates, assigns, heirs, distributees, spouses, parents, children, or controlled entities); or
     
   • A person who, as of the Bar Date, has been the subject of criminal charges related to the violations alleged in this action, or any related action (or any of his or her affiliates, assigns, heirs, distributees, spouses, parents, children, or controlled entities).

      Please be advised that receipt of this Notice does not indicate that you have been determined to be eligible to participate in the FTP Petition for Remission process; if AFMLS determines at any time, before or after you submit a Petition, that you are not eligible for remission, your Petition will be denied.
IV.        The Distribution Formula
       The amount that an Eligible Petitioner is entitled to receive will equal the final balance in the Petitioner’s account with FTP as of April 15, 2011 (the “FTP Account Balance”).  You may view your FTP Account Balance through the online claim filing process at www.FullTiltPokerClaims.com.  Once you log on using the Petition Number and Control Number set forth above, you will receive directions for accessing your account information and filing a petition and/or disputing the reported account balance.
         If the funds available for distribution from the FTP Fund equal or exceed the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible Petitioners, each eligible Petitioner with an approved claim shall receive the entirety of his or her FTP Account Balance.  If the aggregate FTP Account Balances for all eligible Petitioners exceed the monies available for distribution, payments shall be made to eligible Petitioners on a pro rata basis.
       Prior to the payment of funds to a Petitioner, GCG will provide the Petitioner’s Social Security or other Taxpayer Identification Number to the Government, in order to offset and collect any qualifying debts currently listed in the Treasury Offset Program Database.
V.         Online Filing Deadline
ALL PETITIONS FOR REMISSION MUST BE SUBMITTED ONLINE THROUGH THE CASE WEBSITE AT WWW.FULLTILTPOKERCLAIMS.COM BY NOVEMBER 16, 2013.
VI.         Petition Determinations
       GCG will email to each Petitioner AFMLS’s determination concerning his or her Petition.  If a Petition is denied in whole or in part, GCG will state the reason for such denial and the Petitioner can appeal the ruling through the reconsideration process.

PLEASE BE SURE TO NOTIFY THE CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR OF ANY CHANGES TO
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS.  YOU MAY CONTACT THE CLAIMS ADMINISTRATOR AT
INFO@FULLTILTPOKERCLAIMS.COM OR CALL TOLL-FREE AT (866) 250-2640.

PLEASE CHECK THE WEBSITE WWW.FULLTILTPOKERCLAIMS.COM FOR UPDATES.

Tilt day...

It's been a long time since I've had a bad playing day online.  Typically, I'll drop a buy in or two, but always come back with force once I hit my stride.  1 buy in, 2 buy ins profit later, I'm out and done.

Yesterday, I did something I hadn't done in a long time: I tilted and shutdown almost immediately.  It was a weird tilt; it was stress, suckout, anger, etc.  It was distraction.  I opened up a few tables and tried playing before my son came in to ask for help with his homework.  Without realizing it, I found myself down a buy in and a half (sets over my top pairs were the typical hand), and I quickly just stopped playing altogether.

A huge improvement in my online game from when I was playing pre- Black Friday is the fact that I can recognize tilt.  I have no problem just shutting down, as opposed to playing through tilt just to continue my Iron Man status.  Yesterday, I mentally asked myself, "Why am I playing," came up with an empty answer, and closed it up.

As an aside, I'm going to try to make it up to the Chuck today.  Hopefully I can rid myself of any mental distraction and focus on getting my fellow table mates' stacks in my pocket.  I'm just debating whether to hit up 2/5 or 1/2.  First world problems...