Made the final table! and question about dealing with problem players

Well, this week I played in the largest tournament I've tried to date, with a field of 96. Made the final table, but had a lousy streak and lost or pushed my last 5 hands, and could only manage to finish in 6th (at least I moved up one position, from 7th, on the final hand.)

A new experience for me was listening to people critiquing, practically doing a play-by-play, on my and the other finalists' play from about 2 feet behind me. It was very distracting, initially. When you all play in big tournaments, does that often happen, and can you hear the announcers during the televised tournaments like WSOB?

My question is about handling a situation with another player at your table. In the final round, there were two "wild card" players randomly drawn from all of the entrants that didn't make the finals, to make a total of eight at the final table. Unfortunately, one of them was from my semifinal table, and ended up with the seat right next to me. In the semis he had the chip lead for some time but ended up betting himself right off the table, the first to go, betting pretty erratically with little apparent logic. I got the impression that he was miffed that I made the finals, me being a beginner and all.

At the final table he was clearly intoxicated, and acted it. I don't know if he was deliberately trying to put me off my game or not, but from the time he arrived at the table and sat unevenly down he was totally inappropriate in his behavior toward me. He put his arm around my shoulder, tried to climb into my lap, put his hand under the table and squeezed my leg when I had a promising-looking first card, and so on. Now, I am probably old enough to be this kid's mother, and am pretty darn average looking at best <g>, so it wasn't sexual attraction for sure. I did pointedly remind him that I was here to play the tournament and nothing else, and at one point, in the guise of re-settling myself in my seat I managed to introduce his ribs to my elbow, but he was so intoxicated I only managed to move him a few centimeters away.

I really wanted to ask the dealer or the hovering floor supervisor to remove him, but it was clear in the way that they were talking and joking with him that he was a regular, and no one else seemed to mind his obnoxiousness. I don't want to become unwelcome at the casino, I otherwise enjoyed the tournament and want to play in it again.

Suggestions?


CJ

 

Maybe you should have ordered a tall glass of ice water and convienently pour it in his lap.

I don't have any experience in tournament play so I don't know what is acceptable and what isn't.

Congrats on making the final table.

 

I have run into a similar situation in an "invited guest" tournament. Everyone in this tournament was invited but one guy at my table seemed to get preferential treatment. It started when he was late for his round and the tournament staff seemed to be holding things up while they found him. Next, he was allowed to sit sideways and talk to a group of his friends behind him despite that being forbidden in the rules. You knew that they didn't care when various suits walking by also stopped to chit-chat with this fellow. It wasn't cheating or collusion, just annoying when they had to get his attention to tell him to make his bets. All that didn't matter to me but an incident later in the round did. This particular tournament had a feature called a "catch 22" card. You could use this card one time if your hand totaled 22 and receive a push instead of a loss. The rules stated that you had to state your intention to use it before the next hand was played. Anyway, it looked like this round was going to go to him or me. On the next to last hand, I made a bet of 1K which would have made me BR1. I had to hit a stiff and pulled a 22. I reached for my catch 22 card which was under a stack of chips. The dealer began reaching for my chips so I said (as is common here in the South) Whoa! Whoa! Hold Up! By now I had my card in my hand but she continued to sweep my chips into her rack. This was about as fast as I had seen her move all day. I told her that I wanted to use my "Catch 22" card and she replied that I could not since she had put my chips in her rack. I pointed out that I had been telling her to stop the whole time she was doing so and that no other hand had been acted on yet. When she still would not honor my 22 card, I called one of the tournament staff members over and explained what had happened. I got no more satisfaction from him than I did from her. I bet my remaining 1K (I am pretty sure this was the max bet but this was 3-4 years ago and my memory is getting worse ) and got an 11. Of course I would have used that other 1K to double with. I got the face card and a 2K win would have advanced me while the 1K win left me in 2nd. To this day, I still feel that had the situation been reversed, the favored player would have been given every opportunity to utilize that option. It soured me to the point that I quit playing tournaments at that casino for over a year.

When things don't go according to posted rules or there is just general loutish behavior to the point of obnoxiousness, I would always speak up and make my feelings known. Even if they fail to remedy the situation, the onus was put on them. They cannot plead ignorance of your displeasure.

BTW - Congratulations on making the final table. May there be many more in the future.

 

Just curious

Was it the one at the Muckleshoot? I was there (my first one) didn't make it past the first table but did have a good time. There did seem to be a larger than normal proportion of meatheads at some of the tables as well as hovering around. I've since done more searching and am pretty suprised at the amount of small local tournaments. I tried to hit one this week but not enough people signed up.

 

That's the one

Yes, it was at the Muckleshoot. It was my first time, too, a couple of friends of mine that play in small local tournaments regularly suggested I try it. Fortunately, he was the only obnoxious one I had to put up with. Well, there was one guy that was irritating - after both my semifinal and final he cornered me and was critiquing my play and asking me questions about my choices (like why I didn't split a pair of 9's against a dealer 8 in one hand - easy, I didn't have enough chips to split at the time!). I had to practically pry myself loose from him and hide in the ladies' lounge . I've never had a perfect stranger do that before.

There certainly are a lot of small local tourneys around Washington. I've put as much info as I've been able to discover on the casino/tournament list on this site, but I'm sure there are many, many more out there. If you know of other WA tournaments, be sure to add the info. Who knows, we may end up at the same table some day!

 

How frustrating!

Ouch! I can understand how frustrating that must have been for you. At least I was able to beat the obnoxious guy at my table.

One of the local tourneys I play has the same thing, they call it a "Rescue 22" card. It's nice to have when you're in the position of needing to make up some ground and need to take some chances, like doubling down on a hard 12.

Another tourney that I'm thinking about trying has an "Ace option" card. You can play this card, giving you an Ace as your first card in that hand, any time in the first 18 hands. Played strategically, it could give you quite a boost if it gets you a BJ for that hand.

What other kinds of "features" have other players seen in tourneys?

 

Funny

You mentioned the Ace option card, that's the one I tried earlier this week that didn't have enough people. I have the complete rules for the tournament, if you are interested, e-mail me and I can get you more details. maybe we can try to coordinate to help get the minimum of 7 participants...

 

Let's PM

Wow - we may have crossed paths before, not just at Muckleshoot, and never known it. I'd definitely be interested in finding out if it is the same casino/tourney - I'll send you a private message via this site. Gee, we may have to start an official Washington chapter of BJT.com...