Monday, October 20, 2008

Doesn't sound fair to me

You just got in to Vegas and checked into your hotel. You have the itch to get into a poker game right away so you toss your bags into the room and run back to the casino. It takes you a little bit longer to get to the poker room as the place is more crowded than you have ever seen it.

You wait about 15 minutes before you get a seat. In the first 10 minutes of play you fold every hand and sit back in amazement at the level of play you are seeing. Your opponents look like they haven't a clue what they are doing. You think to yourself that this is going to be easy money, especially after the confused guy at the end the table just lost a big hand.

But then you notice a floor employee walk up to the guy with the winning hand and say something as he makes a gesture. The guy who won the pot breaks off a stack of chips and gives it back to the loser of the hand. You are not sure what has happened and figure he just made a loan.

The game goes on and you are slowly amassing a nice stack. The $300 you started with has become over $500 in no time at all. Then you see someone sit down and buy in for $20. You chuckle to yourself that this guy is wasting his time by buying in for so little. The guy folds and folds as you watch to see what he is going to do.

A big pot goes down and it happens again. The winner has to give some of the money back to the loser but this time the guy who sat down with just $20 is give another $20 from the winner. You have no idea what is going on here. You try to get the attention of the dealer but he keeps going. You try to waive down a manager but they are busy. You can get up after the next hand.

Then you dealt J 10 of clubs. There is an early raise t0 $10. Two other guys call and you do as well from the button. Flop is nice. 8c 9c Ad. An open ended straight flush draw. You begin to wonder how much the jackpot is at when the bet comes to you. The initial raiser bet out a pot size bet and the other two called. You call as well. You hit your bingo card, the Queen of clubs. You try to keep your jubilation to yourself and look uninterested. You had put the initial raiser on a hand like A A and the second guy on any suited A, believing his call on the flop meant he had A x of clubs. You know he will pay you off if he does. You have no clue what the last guy has but you don't care. You are still taking glances at how much of a bonus you will get.

The initial bettor puts out a stack of 200 now. The next guy just calls. The third calls as well. You look at the pot and decide to raise. They have so much invest right now that they are committed. You know the guy with the aces can't lay them down. Hell, he wouldn't have bet with a flush and straight possibility on the board. Nut flush ain't gonna drop either and you are hoping the 3rd guy is clueless as to what is happening. You go with a min-raise to boot. Just $200 more.

The first guy calls and the nut flush pushes all in. The third guy calls the push. You do your best acting job to keep the last guy in. Yeah, you are greedy. Finally you call as does aces. Dealer tells everyone to flip their cards. You flip them and stand up. Not in victory but to get a clear look at how much the bonus is. $1500! Not bad. Just over that in the pot. You will have made 10xs what you sat down with. The last card is the 8s. You then look and see you were right. First guy had pocket aces. Next had the nut flush. The last guy turned over pocket 9s.

The dealer begins to move over the massive pile of chips to you. You give him a nice toke and begin to stack chips. As you do, you notice an employee walk up and stand just over your shoulder. You figure he is there to give you papers for the bonus. But first he asks that you count the size of the pot you just won so he can know how much it is. He then gives you a form to put your name and players club number on. You fill the form out and finish stacking the chips. You are not sure why he made a request for the size of the pot but you do so anyway. Maybe he is curious to know how large that pot had gotten.

You skip the next two hands as you do your counting. The floor guy finally comes back and sets $1000 in chips in front of you. As you are about to ask where the other $500 is, another employee starts giving chips to the rest of the people at the table. He then asks you how large the pot was. You tell him just over $2000. He tells you to cut $700 from your stack and give it to the guys who had just lost. It is just now you realize where the other $500 of your jackpot just went.

You tell the floor guy no way. Why should you give away the pot you just earned to the people who just lost? These people stink at the game. They should have spent many an hour doing what you did. Reading poker books and blogs. Honing your skills and learning to how to beat the game.

At this point you notice twenty dollar man get a rack and leave. He hadn't played a single hand but walked out of here with over a hundred dollar. Most of it from your jackpot hand.

This really sets you off. You tell the floor there is no way in hell you are giving this money to anyone. You spent years learning the game and getting good at it. You took the risk. You earned this money fair and square. It is not your fault that the other players didn't take the time to build up their skills and get good at the game.

The floor guy directs you away from the table and distributes your money out. He then explains that it wouldn't be fair to not let everyone enjoy the success you have had. He is just looking out for the others at the table. He then gives some of your money to people on the waiting list telling you that he is also looking out for those who follow after you. He is just spreading the wealth around so everybody is happy. You scream that it is your money that he is giving away but your protest falls on deaf ears. It is the rule of the casinos that they must now make sure all games are fair and that everyone wins.

Would you play in such a casino? Hell no.

So why would you want someone to do the same thing with your paycheck? You work hard on a daily basis. Went to college to get a degree to ensure you made a good living. Put in hard hours to advance up the ladder. Now someone is telling you that you are too successful and you must give your money to those who have not gone to school, who goof off on the job and for those who have decided they don't want to work.

Sound fair? Think about that when you go to vote on November 4.

4 comments:

Spaceman said...

This is precisely why I don't vote for the major parties. The Democrats want to give my money to people who refuse to do anything to better their lives, and the Republicans want to give my money to corporations who actively ruin the lives of real people. In the end, what's the difference?

StB said...

About 8 years ago I believe I could easily give you an answer. Now I cannot.

VinNay said...

Great post, I can't agree more. Guess that's why I'm writing in Ron Paul on my ballot.

mrbossman said...

So, you're voting for Steve Forbes then???? Because I don't see McCain campaigning on the grounds that he'd repeal the progressive tax system. Oh, and also 8 years ago I could afford to fill up my car with gas, buy groceries, and heat my home. I guess something has changed these last 8 years.