Tiger Tours the Tables in the USA - Table of Contents

11/20/99 saturday

San Francsico

san francisco, the city by the bay, is among the most beautiful cities in this fair country of ours. my college roommate has lived here since the late '70s, and i have visited here on many occasions. i've been to alcatraz, fisherman's wharf, ghiradelli square, napa and sonoma valleys, chinatown, and most of the other tourist stuff over the years. i've played poker here many times.

Artichoke Joe's Casino

unlike places such as tunica, biloxi, albuquerque and tucson, where i've never played poker, i've spent more time in artichoke joe's than all other cardrooms outside of new jersey and nevada combined. i first played at joe's when all they had were draw lowball, draw high, and pan. there weren't any carpets on the floor, and in one of my earliest visits, one grizzled cowboy actually reached into his boot and pulled out a huge hunting knife, stuck it into the table, and shook his finger at me for outdrawing him. end of visit.

artichoke joe's is named for the original owner, who reputedly said that, if he lost a poker bet, he'd pay it off in artichokes. it's located in san bruno (hometown of suzanne sommers!), on the peninsula, a mile or two west of san francisco airport. you take route 101 to san bruno avenue, take a left *before the railroad tracks*, then cross the tracks, and another oblique left onto huntington avenue, and you're there. they've removed the old buckboard wagon from the parking lot, and have added another parking lot in the rear.

The Poker Room

joe's has changed over the years, and up until recently, was the premier card club on the peninsula. they've remodeled the place several times, and the current rendition is the same as my last visit here, immediately after barge97 (trip report can be found through deja.com). it's my old standby, and i never miss a chance to drop by. supervisors ed and jeff actually remembered me, but dealer sam did not. boardman jim, who had worked at the place for at least 25 years, has recently left due to an extended disability.

i arrived at the room around midday on thursday, 11/18. they had two games of 3/6 hold 'em, and one of 6/12. i was told that they almost never get a draw game going anymore. the adjacent room for asian games is about half- filled. the restaurant/bar next to the room is the same, and the potstickers (chinese dumplings) were as good as i remembered them! :) the "player's menu" is cheap, and i just *love* those cute yellow $1 chips!

3/6 Hold'em

i play 3/6 for a while. blinds are 1 and 3, and there is a button charge of $3, which is dropped immediately. however, if the big blind has not been raised, the button can "call" without putting any more money in the pot. i get snapped off in the first two hands i play, once by a maniac on my left, and once by mr. aggressor on his left. but i get it all back very soon there- after, once i move to the left of the aggressor.

6/12 Hold'em

they call down a 10/20 hold 'em game, and i move to the 6/12, where they use purple $2 chips. blinds are one chip and three chips, and the button charge of $3 is again live. i didn't play long enough to see which rule they use to make up missed blinds. but new players must post before eligible for a hand.

3/6 Stud

they call down a 3/6 stud game, and i jump. this game has a $1 ante, a $3 drop, a bring-in of $1; first raise to a total of $4. i had a ball at this game when i was last here, but today i can't do anything. clueless asian woman sits down to my right and is rolled up three times in two hours. she doesn't have enough room on the table for her chips. i am dealt (ac kc) jc, and raise. i'm re-raised by a queen behind me, and five people call the two bets. i make a pair of jacks on 4th street, and bet the full $6. they all call. i make a third jack in sight on 5th street, and only the woman to my right calls. i bet again on 6th and she calls. i check my unimproved trips on the river, and she throws her hand in. but before it touches the muck and before the dealer can scoop it up, she retrieves it, looks at it again and again, and finally realizes that she has made a runner-runner gutshot- gutshot straight to the ten. :::::sigh::::: at the next dealer change, she claps her hands and exclaims, "yes! this is my lucky dealer!" :::::sigh:::::

in the stud game, dealers do not call pairs. the only time a dealer will mention that a pair is on the board is when the dealer indicates who is first to act, e.g., "action's on the pair of queens" dealers do not call possible straights and flushes. players rearrange their upcards as a matter of course.

Interesting Ruling

here's an interesting ruling: players 1, 2 and 3 are involved in a hand. player 3 was all-in by 6th street. dealer burns and delivers a river card to all three players. player 2 ignores his river card. he is high, and bets. player 1 mucks. dealer scoops up player 1's cards, and also (unknowingly) scoops up the river card of player 2. at the showdown, player 2 shows down a full house. but he's only got six cards! player 3 has a flush. what are we to do?

floor is called. dealer says that he thinks that he gave player 2 a river card. player 2 swears that he just left the card in front of him. player 3 claims that he never saw player 2's seventh card. somehow, i manage to keep my mouth shut. i want to see what happens. floor accepts the version of the dealer and player 2, and awards the pot to the best hand: player 2's full house. after the ruling, i speak with the floor, and tell him that i agreed with the ruling, but that all the participants left out one very important fact. these folks all know each other, and there was no funny business going on here. but, as the dealer was giving the all-in player his river card, the dealer said, "here you are, tony. don't say i never gave you anything." if this had happened where player 2 was not dealt a card, *everyone* would have noticed it. since, in the words of sherlock holmes, the dog didn't bark, a reasonable person would conclude that the dealer did, indeed, give player 2 a seventh card.

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