It pays to follow the rules in a casino setting. When a person deliberately disobeys them, it can get awfully expensive as a table of poker players discovered at Talking Stick Casino near Scottsdale, AZ. last summer.
The game was $3-6 Texas Hold'em, the lowest limit game in the poker room. One of the players had been flashing his cards to the players next to him during hands. He continued doing it despite repeated warnings from the dealers that he was violating security and poker room rules. They politely requested him to stop and even a floor person talked to him about it.
The player disregarded their requests. In a belligerent tone he said, 'I'll do whatever I want to do. This is a free country. You can't keep me from exercising my freedom of speech.'
The dealers gave up on him but inwardly, they were seething.
The poker room's bad beat jackpot was over $125,000. In order to qualify for the money, four jacks had to be beat by higher quads or a straight flush.
The player who had been disruptive picked up his cards, found pocket jacks -- and flopped four of a kind. The flop also turned over an ace to give another player three aces and the fourth ace fell on the river.
Witnesses to the game told me the player flashed his quads to a player seated next to him and even talked about the hand. When he saw the second ace fall and the other player raised his bet, he was probably already counting collecting the big side of the bad beat jackpot.
Only it didn't happen.
When the two players turned over their hands, the table exploded with screams, shouts and high fives. But when the shouting died down, the floor man approached the table and gave them the sad news that they had not qualified for the bad beat jackpot because one of the players had violated the rules.
The players sat at the table in stunned silence, victims of shock
Greg, a dealer, said the Talking Stick poker management held a hasty conference and then returned to the table. They told the players they would go over the film from the security cameras and make their final ruling the following day.
The next morning the ruling came in; no jackpot would be awarded. The rule breaker had caused the disqualification.
I have known about this policy for a long time, but I have never seen a casino void a bad beat jackpot before. It was the first time it had ever happened at Talking Stick.
While I feel for the players who lost out on the bad beat jackpot money, I have nothing but pity and even scorn for the arrogant player who cost himself over $60,000, the winner $30,000 and each of the other players over $5,000.
Yes, this is America. The player was right about that. But there are rules even in a free country. Rules are what keep society stable and they must be followed in a casino.
Greg said the arrogant player left the casino and has never returned.
One of the poker players at our table said, 'And nobody misses him either.'
Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.
(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).
