|
He’s one of the sharpest dealers in town
and he loves doing what he does best – but today
he has a big axe to grind about a certain Mr. ‘X’.
Take it away Hux…
Following the tournament trail as a professional poker
dealer, you get to deal the biggest games to the biggest
names. This year alone, I have traveled to Monte Carlo,
Estonia, Mexico, Alaska and all over Europe. Sure, sometimes
I have to pay for my own hotels or airfares, but I choose
to lead this lifestyle, so these expenses are on me
the majority of the time. We all know that we dealers
depend on tips to make a living, and it’s fortunate
that we work among some of the most generous guys on
the planet. However, consider this story that I was
told by a fellow tournament dealer a few days ago:
This guy was dealing a very highlimit heads up game
to two wellknown high-limit poker players in a prestigious
poker room in Vegas. Let’s just call them player
‘A’ and player ‘X’. Mr. X had
lost a rather big pot, about
$200,000, and had decided to take it out on the dealer.
Now, as my friend was about to change tables for the
new incoming dealer, Mr. A tossed a black chip ($100)
on the table, saying to him: “This is for you
dealer, thank you.”
What happened next is nothing short of astounding.
Our Mr. X snatched the chip from the table before the
dealer could pick it up, threw it back to Mr. A and
said, “If you tip this dealer I’m leaving!”
Since Mr. A is beating Mr. X by about $500,000 at this
point, there wasn’t a lot he could do apart from
smile apologetically. Mr. X stole $100 from that dealer.
This is clear-cut dealer abuse; especially bad since
it comes from a player as well known as Mr. X, who has
placed in the money in a lot of highprofile poker tournaments.
Sure, he is known to go off on dealers from time to
time and sure, I’ve had my fair share of verbal
abuse from Mr. X and other big name players. However,
when it comes to my tips Mr. X, that is one thing I
would not allow you to mess around with. We are talking
about someone’s living here. The choice to tip
is a personal one and to interfere with someone else’s
choice is just plain unacceptable.
Now, while I’ve got myself rattled about Mr.
X, allow me to tell you all another story about this
marvelous individual. This one I can tell from first-hand
experience as it happened while I was in the box dealing
to him.
The game is Pot Limit Omaha High. The blinds are $1000/$2000
and the line-up comprises world champion player Chip
Reese, WPT creator Lyle Burman, world class high-limit
player Phil Ivey and our Mr. X. The players are gambling
it up as always, with Mr. X putting in a straddle every
chance he gets. Mr. X is talking trash to Mr. Phil Ivey
as always, but this time he has a very nice lady sitting
behind him, soaking up all the Mr. X. charm. So after
a while he makes a comment to Phil along the lines of:
“Come on Phil, why don’t you straddle;
gamble a little, will you. Come on Phil what’s
wrong with you? “
Well, Phil, being Phil, gives perhaps the greatest
response I have ever heard:
“You wanna gamble? OK then, let’s flip
quarters for your entire stack. Come on, I’ll
do it!”
OK, now you have to see the look on the face of our
Mr. X. Phil has already pulled a quarter out of his
pocket and is ready to flip. Mr. X has about $300,000
in front of him and Phil Ivey would like to flip quarters
for it!
Now if you’ve ever seen someone really put in
their place, this was one of those moments. “I
like to have some kind of skill when I gamble, I’m
not doing that!” came the wimpy reply.
“I thought so!” laughs Phil and carries
on as though nothing had happened.
Classic!
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, on to brighter
things. My next stop on the tournament trail will be
Crown Casino and the Aussie Millions tournament. Apart
from Melbourne being my hometown, I am looking forward
to the first ever filming of the World Speed Poker Championships.
I will be assisting the Speed Poker Corporation television
team backstage and can’t wait till the people
in the USA see the future of television poker. I was
involved with the first Speed Poker event in Estonia
and can safely say that this will change the way we
play. You can check out some footage of me and my homeboy,
Kyle Morris, on the official speed poker site: www.speedpoker.tv.com.
I hope to see you all down under in January, but if
you’re in Tunica instead, I have one thing to
say:
Enjoy the scenery down there; I’ll be on the
beach enjoying the Aussie summer and thinking of you
all there in Tunica in the cold, muddy cotton fields.
That’s all for now and remember, May The Flop
Be With You…
Always.
Justin Robert Huxley A.k.a. “ The Hux”
|
