Pot-Limit Life

"Three-ten. Three-ten. Three-ten!"

The blonde woman was emphasizing the words by putting her hands on the felt. Firmly.

"Now, what's the pot?"

The wide-eyed people sitting around her answered like a homeroom class, "Three-ten."

It's education by inculcation. It's education under fire. See, there is a movement afoot and it's called Pot-Limit.

***

I found myself talking with Meg Patrick a little earlier in the afternoon. She's a dealing expert, the woman who staffed last year's World Series, and the owner of Poker Etc.'s "The Poker Acadmey" in Las Vegas, a hard-core dealing boot camp.

"I'm going to be teaching a pot-limit class here in a few minutes," she said. I understood why without having to ask many questions.

I'd heard the stories from a few dealers here already. Pot-limit hell.

Now, it's not as if people don't play pot-limit in America. They do. But as one dealer put it, "In Europe, that's all they play."

I was surprised to learn that a large percentage of the players here in the Bahamas have traveled here from Europe. And they want to play them some pot-limit games.

Don't misunderstand me. Meg isn't worried. "We have all A-list dealers here," she said. "I staffed only A-list dealers."

Still, dealing pot-limit is an art as much as a science. Fortunately for everybody, we have a Picasso of Pot-Limit in the house.

***

"Three-ten. Say it in your head when you burn the card. Three-ten. Say it in your head when you count out the flop."

This is the first of many examples Meg will review during the pot-limit class. She wasn't sure at first how many of the dealers would show up for the instruction. It started with enough people to fill a table. Within a few minutes, her teaching area looked like a final tournament table, with sweaters three and four deep.



Meg spoke with a reassuring voice when she told her students (they actually aren't students per se, but actually professional dealers from all over the place) about her first time. "I know as a dealer msyelf, I was terrified," she said, "but I found out that if I went in humble...the players will help you."

As poker players, we often forget how much grief dealers have to endure. They get blamed for the cards. They get blamed for other players' bad behavior. For some malcontented players, dealers are a lot like the police: The players are only nice to them when the need something from them. And while they deal, the dealers have to remember every rule in the book.

And now they have to remember the size of a pot that's been raised three times.

Give these folks a break.

Meg's advice is as solid as some of the great poker theorists. "The math will never steer you wrong," she told her dealers. "Use the math."

She laid out her pot-gauging formula for her students. While I sat back and took notes, I'm not going to pretend I couold go in and deal a round of PL O8 right now. The real dealers here would probably laugh me out of the room. Still, I feel comfortable the pot-limit players here are going to be pleased.

Finally she reminded everybody, "Remember, poker is still supposed to be fun. You are in one of the best hotels on the planet. Have a good time."

I'll try, but it's going to be hard to concentrate. Something in my head keeps whispering, "Three-ten, three-ten, three-ten."