Poker Strategy

Borgata steals my money, revokes an employment offer due to an informal CCC complaint and then attempts to get me fired from my job - November 15, 2007

This has been an ongoing saga between me and Borgata. I personally kept ignoring it and shoving it aside but Borgata is refusing to let go. For the record I will now recount precisely what happened so that my readers can see for themselves what has been going on here and let them judge between us.

It all started on 11/7/06 in the evening while I was playing "Asia Poker" at Borgata. Asia Poker was at the time a relatively new game (only Borgata was offering it at the time) and it was common for dealers (with floorperson approval) to mis-set their hand due to the complexity of the "house way" rules and inadequate dealer training. The game is a variation of Pai Gow Poker in which everyone receives seven cards and must divide them into a 4-card hand, 2-card hand and 1-card hand keeping the 4-card hand higher in poker value than the 2-card hand and the 2-card hand higher than the 1-card hand. Whoever wins 2 out of 3 hands wins the bet; house wins all copy hands (which is the sole house edge in this game since there is no commission).

There is an interesting rule regarding the "house way" in this game which doesn't seem intuitive or sensible in some cases; yet it is the way the house sets their hand. If the dealer has a pair inside a straight or flush (that is, if the straight or flush is played in the 4-card hand, a pair cannot be played in the middle 2-card hand) and does NOT have an ace, a King or Queen-and-Jack to play in the middle and low hand, then the dealer does NOT play the straight or flush; they play the pair instead. The reasoning behind this is that if playing the straight or flush produces a weak middle and low hand, the house is better off playing just a pair in the back hand thus raising the value of the middle and low hand and giving themselves a better chance of winning 2 out of 3 hands.

A situation like this came up in the course of my play. If the dealer had correctly played the pair I would have won but the dealer played the flush which caused me to lose. I brought it to the attention of the dealer and floorperson but they refused to correct it. The pit boss, furthermore, refused to change the hand setting and so I told him that I will complain to the commission. They took my money on that hand and I immediately hopped over to the commission booth in Borgata to tell them what happened. NOTE: It was not a big bet and I didn't mind the money as much as the incorrectness of the play. If and when I play any house game I need to know what I am getting in to. I ALWAYS know what the house edge is and what the best player strategy is. Obviously if the house play is unpredictable then the house expectation is also unpredictable and THAT is utterly unacceptable to me, and --of course-- violates the rules of the game. It's a matter of principle and I am a very principled person; I will make a huge deal out of a seemingly inconsequential event (as far as money is concerned) if I believe the opposing party is exploiting or deceiving me.

The Casino Control Commission representative called the shift manager. He came over to the pit and discussed it with the pit boss there. The pit boss --I suspect-- may have known he was wrong at that point but was probably embarassed to admit it and so he convinced the shift manager that the play was correct. The Shift Manager rubber-stamped his decision (he didn't seem to be very knowledgable about the game and neither was the CCC rep.) and so my only option was to file an official complaint with the Commission. It so happened to be that the Borgata personnel were relatively nice to me so far and so I accepted their proposal that I don't file the complaint just yet and I first speak to Mr. Tang, the inventor of the game, who works on the Day Shift at Borgata and if he agrees with me then he will give me a $100 comp. If I am not satisfied, they assured me, I can then file a complaint with the Commission. Again, I didn't mind the money (the $100 comp is --of course-- useless to me since I got hundreds in comps already and the comps are not worth much anyhow) and so their willingness to admit wrong upon my discussion with Tang was acceptable to me; I was sure that Tang would agree with me and apologize. However, since I usually work during the day and I virtually never play in the casino during the day I did not get around to speak to Mr. Tang anytime soon and the whole incidnet was just about forgotten.

In the meantime, I had no serious ill feelings towards Borgata in general. I considered this whole incident relatively minor. After all, many people make mistakes and then for whatever reason refuse to correct themselves even when it becomes apparent that it's a mistake, or maybe they just really don't know the rules and are mistaken. This whole story could have ended here but Borgata had other plans.

I had been hired as a temporary poker dealer for the Borgata Sep 06 poker tournament and succefully dealt in that tnm. In late November 06 they called me up and asked me to deal the upcoming Jan 07 tournament as well. I promptly accepted. In the meantime I played Asia Poker several more times at Borgata without any further incident and was a happy camper, until...

On 12/5/06 while playing Asia Poker I incidentally mentioned to one of the floor people that I am slated to deal the poker tnm in Jan. The next day I got a call from the Poker Hiring Manager that he cannot hire me. At that point I recalled that I had never followed up on the original incident and so on 12/8/06 I managed to get hold of Tang to discuss the hand. He admited that the correct setting is the pair but he claimed that the house way hadn't been revised as such at that time. Moreover, he knew nothing about a $100 comp. At this point I was infuriated. He is lying to me straight up about the house way not being "revised" until a later point. I had a copy of the house way revision dating to FOUR DAYS before the 11/7/06 incident (see the image copy here and here) which prescribed the pair play and not the flush. I rushed over to the Commission once more, this time intending to file an official complaint. However, The reps there informed that it was too late to file an official complaint. Instead, they suggested I send a letter to their legal representative, which I promptly did the next day. See a copy of the letter here.

At this point, it would normally seem obvious that Borgata is not for me and I would give up my employment attempt there. Yet, I still insisted that since Borgata is the newest and the premier casino in town I had to get a job as poker dealer there. And so I launched a new campaign trying to get hired as a dealer. The original poker hiring manager had quit and so I had a talk with the new manager who several days later left a message on my answering machine saying that the decision not to hire me is from high-up in casino management and is resolute and indefinite. In response to this I sent an additional letter to the CCC hoping that they would enforce that "equal opportunity" clause in the laws governing the casinos. Instead, I was told by phone that the CCC does not enforce such matters and they suggested instead that that I write to their attorney. See the letter I wrote to the CCC here. See a scanned copy of the CCC response here and here.

In the weeks and months that followed I cut down both my poker play and table-game play at Brogata and often opted instead to go to less sophisticated casinos that were also located a bit farther from my home. Slowly but surely, the "Borgata lure" started to dissipate. I was no longer drawn to Borgata as much as had been the case previously. In fact the principal thing that kept me coming back was their pool and sauna facilities which I could access free with my comps. In the course of my visit, however, they usually got some action from me too, unfortunately. At other times I made it my point to go out of my way NOT to give them any of my action.

In the meantime, in Sep 07 I while playing Pai Gow Tiles I asked the floorpeople at Borgata to give me a copy of the house way. They said they don't give such information out and so once again I went over to the CCC booth and asked them to furnish me a copy of the Borgata PGT house way. They said they didn't have it on file and called over the Shift Manager. The Shift Manager changed the point of conversation and called my a "digruntled employee"?? suggesting that I am requesting the house way of PGT and giving them a hard time because they did not hire me. He also asked me "you work in an AC casino which one is it?" to which I responded that it was irrelevant. He made a phone call to one of his cronies and somehow found out where I worked and then said to the CCC official "he works at XYZ!" as if that had anything to do with the matter at hand. This time the CCC rep. was extremely unfriendly and uncooperative; they first suggested that the floorpeople "show" me the house way as I play along, which is of course a ludicrous suggestion in the first place. Moreover, when I responded that the floorpeople are not very good in English, the CCC rep. took offense to that. I was very disapponited with the way they handled the matter. their final verdict was that it was up to Borgata whether to give me a copy of the PGT house way and it was not obligatory. I highly doubt it! However, I did not follow up on this.

Finally on 11/13/07 I was pulled aside by my Shift Manager while at work who said that an email was sent from Borgata to my Casino Manager about me. He did not ask me for details and I did not provide any. Why in the world is Borgata sending an email to my employer?

Okay so let's enumerate how many times they wronged me:

$40 they took from me by setting the Asia Poker hand wrong (actually $80 since that's what I should have had after winning the hand).
the arrogantly refused to admit they made a mistake and refused to compensate me.
Revoked an employment offer for the sole reason that I verbally complained to the Casino Control Commission in good faith, even though I never filed an official complaint.
to top it all off they sent an email to my employer about this matter apparently hoping that my employer will fire me and so acted for the sole purpose of hurting me without gaining anything for themselves.

I should also note that on two occasions within the past two months after sitting down to play PGT for the table minimum, the pit boss raised the table limit . This act was clearly designed to "send me a message" that they don't want me (there was a dead spread $20 table right next to mine). Also, While making friendly small-talk with a dealer at the PGT table this very same pit boss asked the dealer "is he giving you a hard time?" apparently hoping to get me in trouble. They also excessively scrutinzed the way I was holding the tiles caliming that others can see them.

At this point, in response to the unwarranted email I now resolve that from now on, I will NEVER EVER EVER again play any table game at Borgata. I will liquidate my comps if still available and then cease all visits. I will also make every effort to avoid playing poker there as well.

What is the source of all this? After all, I am a very easy-to-get-along with person. I will do anything for the sake of peace and cordiality and I am definitely not a warmongerrer. I have given it some thought and I realized that the problem here is that Borgata is simply too arrogant. They are the newest casino in town and have been immensely successful in attracting players from other casinos and so they feel like they don't have to be accountable and accomodating to players when and if an issue arises. They don't have to review their play to see maybe they played incorrectly and stole money from a player since they can get the business anyway. They don't have to divulge the House way because... they can get away with it; they will get the business anyway. It's --of course-- easy to be nice to players as long as everything is honky dory. It's when a hitch arises that the caliber of casino management is really tested. Do they do what's right? Do they go the extra mile? Do they give the player the benefit of the doubt? In my case there is no doubt, of course, but at the very minimum THEY should have perceived a doubt "maybe the player is right?" Maybe it is more important to correct a wrong than to have the last word? No. Not Borgata! They are too popular, too prestigious to admit wrongdoing.

Therefore, my comclusion is: if they don't respect the small-time player and if they don't give weight to a minor mistake then they will not respect the high-roller either in a critical moment. My advice: take your business elsewhere. If you like Vegas-style glitz and glamor go to Harrah's they're pretty nice. Other casinos are also in the process of renovating or have recently completed renovation. Or...wait until Revel or Pinncale opens doors in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Or... better yet keep your money and don't play at all. But for your own sake... don't play at Borgata! There are seven other casions in town who appreciate your business much more and will show you their appreciation by being cooperative and accomodating rather than beligerent.