I am sure this column will cause some of my readers to think I am living in the past. Hey, maybe that is what happens when you get older. But I miss the policy that most of the poker rooms adopted in the old days when they allowed a poker player to have one short buy if he had lost all of his money playing.
It was no big thing. A player went all in, lost the pot, reached into his pocket and found he had only $20 or so, and the dealer let him make a short buy.
While it gave players a chance to get their money back, it ruffled the feathers of some of the players who didn't feel a losing player deserved that chance. Excuse me when I say, 'Balderdash!' You know what I am thinking but I don't want to utter that word on a cultured international website.
I remember many times when I exhausted my bankroll chasing hands I had no business playing. I didn't want to hit the ATM and the short buy gave me the opportunity to stay within the limits I had set for myself. It was a favor that most of my poker playing friends appreciated.
But the new corporate heads that run the poker rooms don't see it that way. Today in the name of speed, no-nonsense and profit, that ugly word, your chances of being granted a short buy after you have exhausted your bankroll are very slim.
I am calling on poker room managers to re-think their ideas about short buys. Limit the short buys to one. There will probably be some resistance from a handful of the regulars who follow the philosophy of W.C. Fields -- don't give a sucker an even break -- but the vast majority of the players will appreciate it.
In Guadalajara, Mexico, I attended the cockfights and learned about the Bet of Honor. I don't know how widespread it is, but when you are betting on those fighting roosters, you wager your money with one of the other players. If you win his money, he has the right to bet the amount he lost on the rooster of his choice. If he loses all his money to you, he has the right to make one final bet for the amount he lost -- even if he doesn't have the money to pay you. However, if he loses he is expected to repay you the next time you meet him at the cockfights.
'It is a matter of honor, Senior,' one of the cock fight fans told me. 'Nobody would think of not paying you.' I would like to believe this is true.
Bennie Binion permitted a short buy at his poker room and so did Nick Notos, who owned the Sahara Dunes Card Room in Lake Elsinore, CA. The practice never cost the casino money and it kept their tables full and their dealers working.
Talk to your poker room managers and try to persuade them to allow a short buy. Then write to me and let me know what they say.
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 ).
