Commerce Casino and My Favorite Poker Player

I play tournament poker and have won a couple of them. Texas No Limit Holdem is wonderful. It is my favorite game in the world. There are many types of players and my favorite is a young man named Daniel Negreanu the guy is amazing. His greatest strength is his ability to know what is in your hand. I have enjoyed watching his play over the years.

Well, there is also a casino that I will never play at, it is the Commerce Casino. I don't hate the place, I don't play there because I use it for meetings. They have a nice little restaurant and the staff have always been friendly to me. My housemate does play there and he thinks the service is terrible. We have different experiences.

Anyways, Daniel posted on his blog about some practices he believes are going on at the adjacent hotel and he really went out swinging. I have never stayed at the hotel so I have no opinion. Having said that, Daniel and some of the best players in the world (actually Phil Helmuth was there too - the man with the most bracelets) apparently all had the same experience.

Here is a link to Daniel's post about his experience. Sorry, I have to mention that Phil Laak and Jennifer Tily were also with Daniel and Phil was kind enough to give a friend of mine an autograph at the event. My experience with pro players is that they tend to be fairly nice. I personally met Chris Ferguson and he was wonderful. I am going to digress for a moment.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was at the Rio All Suite Casino for the World Series of Poker and I was staying at the hotel. I saw him from about ten feet away, he was surrounded by some very beautiful women and a couple of guys. I really like Chris's play and he is a very big star in poker. One of the ladies standing in the group noticed my stare and smiled. I looked at her and silently mouthed "Is that him". The beautiful young lady smiled and waved me over. She did too. Mr. Ferguson noticed her bring me over and put out his hand to let me shake it. I told him, "It is a pleasure to meet you, I really enjoy watching you play." I don't remember what he said, I was surprised he would allow himself to be interrupted while the series was going on. I have never met a stuck up poker pro.

Back to the Commerce Casino. For Daniel to write what he did and name names is a big deal. Daniel's attitude and approach were exactly what I would expect of the young man, he is maturing nicely. He took a measured approach and he mentioned the good things about the casino, he didn't need to, he makes plenty of money without going there. He measured his words and did not threaten to never go there again. Pretty mature for "Kid Poker". I continue to enjoy watching him play and progress. And he better get 12 bracelets someday.

This post doesn't really fit in with the blog; but, it does. It is what I see and what I think about. There are still decent people in the world and people still do decent things, we can't forget about all the good going on around us. It doesn't surprise me to find corruption in the City of Commerce, they are no better than the city of Bell. The city government there needs a real good federal audit.

In the book "Don Quixote" there is a phrase. They describe Don Quixote's assistant as being as honest as a poor man can be. The phrase caught my attention. There are times when a poor person may need to steal a loaf of bread to survive. The problem is that if the people in power steal than there is nothing to tell the people who are poor why they should not steal and there are more of them. That is where this society is at. Still there are also people like Daniel (not poor) who don't take the room from the people who are poor, he didn't cheat and maybe that is why I like professional poker players, you can't be a cheater.

Let me explain. If you are a professional poker player and you are ever caught cheating, you will never play in a pro game again, ever. You most certainly will not play against pros in a cash game, not gonna happen. Bluffing is very important in poker; but, cheating cannot be tolerated. It is one of the few professions where cheating or defaulting on a bet removes you from the profession, not legally, it is just that nobody will play you. That is what pro poker players are like.

The grumpiest player in poker is hard to choose, it could be Phil Helmuth or the Mouth; but, I bet they are honest. I also bet that they would be pleasent in person off the felt (by that I mean away from the table). You want to see honesty in a sport, Professional poker players on television show every hand to the camera while playing it. Their opponents can't see it; but, later they get to see every hand. Daniel must scare them as he correctly calls most of his opponents hands. You don't show your cards unless you are paid to. They all do now.

Be well and do something nice for someone today.

A Saturday

It is Saturday and I am just lounging and reading the news. I think I am bored. I don't do good bored. The news was boring today, same old stuff. I don't want to watch television; but, I am so bored I just might (stop me) watch it.

Be well.