After spending the day with my beautiful wife and daughter at the Santa Monica Pier (see, I'm a good dad and not a degenerate gambler) I headed off to Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood - a fine, fine, establishment, for some exciting mixed game tournament action.
HPC actually, is a dingy den of degenerates. Adjacent to a failing racetrack, it's where you're most likely to run into players too busy checking their race forms to realize that they should fold. Still, there is a shoddy charm to the place, and they run the most (and cheapest) regular tournaments in town. The floor staff is very friendly as well, and they are pretty good about keeping a lid on outbursts.
This was my very first card room HORSE tournament, which isn't that surprising - HORSE, Hold-Em, Omaha/8, Razz, Seven Stud and Eight or Better Seven Stud, is only recently gaining popularity as NL Hold-em burnout/backlash grows.
Technically, I cashed. I finished 7th out of four tables, 32 players - but all I got was my entry fee back. I also had a lot of fun.
Most reassuring to me was that the dealers were just about as befuddled as we are at my home games. Dealing five different varieties of poker in one setting can be a little confusing to say the least. There were numerous instances of players correcting dealers, players incorrectly correcting dealers, and just a general random good natured frustration all around in trying to keep up. Just like at my games!
Early on I won a big pot in Omaha/8, I turned over my cards and didn't realize that I had a full house - a lady to my left also had a boat, a smaller boat, and the dealer started to push the pot her way. Another player, much to my delight, mentioned that I had a bigger boat. The lady screeched at him "Sir, you aren't supposed to say anything! One player to a hand!" etc. etc. He vigorously defended himself stating (in fact, correctly) that every player was ethically obligated to point out a mistake by the dealer if the winning hand is missed.
This is absolutely the case. People often get confused by the rule "One player to a hand" but in this kind of instance, it simply does not apply. The best hands win, the cards speak, period.
I didn't say one word during this whole exchange, except to apologize to the lady for not knowing what I had - the lady and man continued to bicker, culminating with her calling the floor. The TD said what I knew he would, that the winning hand wins. In fact he went on to add, that if there is a dispute and the cards are mucked, they will go to the security camera tapes and make sure that the pot is awarded correctly.
Players are not out of line to speak up if they see a mistake, in fact they are ethically obligated to see that the best hand wins. I'd also go so far to say that I would want players doing this, and I would do it for them in return.
Unfortunately, even after the lady had conceded the point, the man had to keep needling for a longer period than necessary. Five minutes of silence would pass, and then he would start up again. She would get angry and jibber jabber back. I just ignored it, and eventually, it did die down.
Other than that mild unpleasantness, which is pretty minor for HPC standards, it was a very fun evening. I look forward to going again, hopefully next month. If I can actually cash, then this might become my tournament of choice.
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