Since there has been a lack of mention regarding the recent Las Vegas “Double” of the Stardust and New Frontier tournaments, I thought I would get the ball rolling with some observations. First, it was a great experience with some of the top players in competition. As always, I learn just from watching Yama and Joe. A new term was coined to honor one of our own. As Wonging will always be associated with Stanford, the term “Payning” refers to the cross-table lean during chip counting. I did not see any of the finals since none of my close friends were involved. Too busy trying to make money at the tables! I do know that the last hand of the Stardust ending with the dealer pulling 3 sevens! Two episodes stick in my mind. Both precipitated by dealer errors. In both cases, the dealer skipped over a player by forgetting where the button was. Stardust Error: Dealer screws up and players get upset. One player gets VERY upset. Shouting match starts with various levels of Stardust management involved. Player feels the rules are changing during the game and ask the manager if his name is John Kerry since he’s flip-flopping on his decisions! Very funny for those on the sidelines. He spend the next several hours talking to everyone he could find in the casino about how screwed up management was. New Frontier Error: Dealer screws up and players get upset. Again, one player gets VERY upset. Shouting match ensues until a security guard was called. He was standing arms-crossed behind the player. It looked like the Jerry Springer show. We started calling “Jerry, Jerry, Jerry”. Very funny. Anything else to add?
Thanks for the stories tahoe. I wince a little each time I hear stories like these, because I know that the whole tournament scene is already viewed with a skeptical eye by the management in most of these casinos. Controversy during the events is not what we need. It does sound pretty funny though I've got the details of the last 5 hands from the Frontier, kindly provided by Joe Pane. I'll get them posted, right after I open the doors on the new feature we've all been awaiting. Expect more news over the weekend. Speaking of Joe, 'Paneing' across the table is usually a precursor to the move where you lie your head almost on the table to count your opponent's chip stack. That move was dubbed "The Ornstein Lean", a phrase coined by former LVH boss Jimmy Wike to describe Marvin Ornstein's familiar stance.
Tourney Trip Reports Thanks Tahoe for the stories and Ken/Joe for putting up the "last five hands" soon. I had been waiting (im)patiently for reports on the Stardust/New Frontier and have been thinking that no news was most likely bad news for the board regulars. Many of us have to live vicariously through the tourney experiences of others for much of the year and any trip reports by those of you fortunate enough to attend the bigger tournaments are certainly welcome and appreciated! PS: Good luck to all who are participating in MDIII this weekend!
