Pocketed Pocket Cards at Mirage

Last night, I was playing some poker at Mirage when our table was confronted with the following novel and somewhat bizarre poker rules question that took the concept of "pocket cards" way too literally. How would you rule?

A new player had just joined the game. On his second hand, he went all-in, lost, and was felted. The player stood up to pull more money from his front pants pocket as the dealer pushed the pot, moved the button, and began dealing the next hand. The player pulled out a wad of bills and peeled off three one-hundred dollar bills for his rebuy. The player also happened to be the big blind. After finishing the deal, the dealer took two of the one-hundred dollar bills from the player and converted them into chips. As the dealer was doing so, the under the gun player called the $2 big blind, and the next player raised to $10.

Suddenly, the player who was rebuying said loudly and with some heat, "Why didn't you deal me in?" The dealer assured the player he had been dealt in. The player, however, pointed to the table and said, "Where are my cards?" The dealer halted the action, and after a few moments of confusion, the source of the problem became clear:

The player, when putting away his wad of money, had also picked up his cards and put them in his front pants pocket with his cash.

As the player pulled his cards out of his pocket, debate broke out amongst the other players as to what should be done. Several players felt the hand should be declared a misdeal because of the concern as to game integrity. Other players felt the hand should continue because "significant action" had occurred, albeit while the dealer was focused on breaking the bills and dealing with the confusion over missing cards rather than on the hand action. The dealer promptly (and correctly) called for the floor.

If you were the floor, how would you have ruled and why?

* * * * *

SPOILER ALERT (Ruling below):

The floor ruled that the hand of the player who removed his cards from the table was dead. However, the rest of the hand was played out in the normal course. Then, the floor had a new set-up (new cards) brought to the table.

At the time, I was mildly supportive of the idea of declaring a misdeal of the entire hand, based on a concern for the integrity of the game. However, on reflection, I think the floor handled the situation correctly. The cards in play on the table and in the dealer's deck remained untainted by the cards taken off the table once that hand was declared dead. Regardless of the significant action rule, there was no real reason to re-deal the entire hand so long as the hand taken off the table was dead. Also, bringing in a new set-up was wise simply to be certain nothing inappropriate was happening. Declaring a misdeal of the entire hand would permit potential angle-shooting mischief between partners at the table who could kill an opponent's good hand merely by taking their cards off the table and putting them in their pocket or dropping them on the floor, etc.

So, altogether I think the Mirage floor handled this wacky issue quite well. And I expect never to see that situation occur again. Never ever.

Six Degrees of IMOP

Earlier this month, I was in Vegas for a work conference, staying and playing at the Mirage. I met a charming older Asian woman, "M.L." who is a local and a regular player in the Mirage poker room. I played in several sessions of $1/$2 and $2/$5 NLHE with M.L., and toward the end of my final session, we were seated next to each other when a younger guy sat down at the table. M.L. nudged me and said, "He played here yesterday, lost over two thousand dollars. Plays crazy."

Sure enough, the young guy ("Y.G.") sat down and began to play nearly every hand, always raising or calling a raise preflop. Y.G. hit a few ridiculous hands to annoy some of the more serious players, but he promptly gave it all back with a series of loose calls, bad bluffs, and overplaying of marginal hands. Y.G. wasn't bothered by losing, and was actually joking around in a friendly way, making the game fun and entertaining. As Y.G. told the table multiple times, "Hey, I lost $13,000 at craps tonight. This is nothing!"

Y.G. probably pumped $1,500 or so into the game before leaving to meet up with his wife for an early breakfast. I wonder how awkward their breakfast chitchat was.

As Y.G. walked away, M.L. and I shared our regrets that Y.G. left the game. After exchanging a laugh, M.L. looked at me and said:

"You think he played crazy? Last month there were some guys here from Iowa. Now they played really crazy!"

I wonder who those crazy guys might have been.

NOTE: For all the IMOP fans out there inquiring about the IMOP-VII trip report, Santa Claus is diligently working on it, though dark comedy is not his strong suit. Estimated delivery date is "sometime before Flag Day". So stay tuned, true believers!

A Rake Mirage

On my recent Vegas work junket, I played several sessions at the Mirage poker room, mostly $2/$5 NLHE in the evenings, then $1/$2 NLHE after the bigger game broke in the early morning hours. Considering Mirage was completely comping my hotel room, throwing a few dollars down the rake slot was the least I could do. Plus, the Mirage poker room is a very nice environment to play cards, a little less intense than some of the bigger rooms, with more passive, casual, entertaining, and profitable games.

One nice touch at the Mirage is the graduated rake structure for the $2/$5 game.  Instead of taking a straight 10%, Mirage drops a maximum rake of $3+$1 jackpot, with $1+$1 jackpot at $10, then $1 at $50, and $1 at $100. Even better, there is no rake at all if the game is smaller than seven-handed. The major effect of the graduated rake is to reduce the rake on those medium size pots where only two or three players see the flop, and a flop or turn bet takes down the pot. Many of the bigger rooms have similar—though not as slow—graduated rake structures, but a graduated rake is not at all standard in Vegas and is a welcome move for a room looking to spread games other than the basic $1/$2 NLHE and $2/$4 or $3/$6 LHE.

The $2/$5 NLHE game usually started early in the evening and would run well past midnight, even during weeknights. However, the game often would conclude with a couple of hours of short-handed play, with only seven or fewer players in the game. Once the player count dropped to four or five, the game would usually run for another 30 minutes or an hour before the players would break the game to head home or to seats in the running $1/$2 NLHE games. Being a hardcore degenerate, I was usually one of the last stragglers at several games each evening/morning.

Like many poker rooms in Vegas, the Mirage will take a reduced rake on short-handed games. Based on my less than scientific observations, it appeared that the rake for $1/$2 NLHE (normally $4+$1) was capped at $3+$1 for six players, $2+$1 for five players, and $1+$1 for four players. However, the rake was not reduced automatically. Instead, a player had to request that the dealer reduce the rake, the dealer would then call the floor and make the request, and the floor would grant a rake reduction. At one point around 4:00 a.m., a player at my short-handed $1/$2 NLHE table asked the dealer why the rake hadn't been reduced. The dealer replied, "I can't ask for a rake reduction. I have to wait for a player to request it. If I call for a rake reduction on my own, I would get fired."

Now let's allow for a bit of hyperbole here. I have known the Mirage poker room manager, Chris Coffin, since he was manager at TI's poker room, primarily through our postings in the All Vegas Poker forums and through my frequent play at TI and Mirage. I doubt Mr. Coffin would have a policy where dealers would be fired or even disciplined for requesting a rake reduction. However, it appears that Mirage dealers are not allowed to initiate a rake reduction request. Frankly, I don't understand this policy. The Mirage has been taking a lot of steps to transform itself into a solid mid-tier poker room, one that caters to the casual poker player while still offering a more posh experience as well as a variety of poker games not seen in the typical small Strip poker room. Why not make rake reductions automatic upon the game reaching the requisite number of players? If a floor approval is required to verify that the rake drop is correct, then allow the dealer to initiate the rake reduction request without waiting for a player request.

I enjoyed my time—and profit—playing at the Mirage poker room, and the room is certainly back in my regular Vegas rotation. The rake reduction policy is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, but emphasizing a player friendly rake reduction policy could be a minor selling point in a city where half the poker rooms on the Strip have a $5+$1 rake. Then again, I don't get paid the big bucks to manage the poker room. Just my two cents. Or four bucks.

(Image source)