Poker Tournament of Tobacco

Matthew Preston | December 25, 2001
I entered in a weekly tournament at The Orleans casino tonight. I ended up losing, but it was the angriest table I have ever been at. Several people just not in the Christmas spirit I guess.

I love when people play angry, they tend to play poorly. I just sat back and watched this whole debocle take place.

A woman at the table lit up a cigarette and kept it behind her back. She wasn't more than about 3 puffs into it when a man on the opposite end of the table started making nasty comments about her killing him. She asked "excuse me?" This is when the man started full on attacking her saying, "You're not a very classy lady choking the rest of us at the table." She remarked that it was not a non-smoking room and she wasn't breaking any rules. He insisted that she leave the table when she smokes (not something to do in a tournament, because you have to be in every hand).

It then errupted in a battle between smokers and non-smokers. I have never seen such a debate like this at a poker table. An old man was screaming at the top of his lungs that he had the right to smoke. The woman tried to end it by saying "I don't want to argue anymore." To this a man responded, "you just don't want to argue because you know you're wrong." It was then that the dealer yelled out something to the pit boss that I have never heard before: "We have war on 16!" (refferring to table #16). The pit boss came over and took control and would only listen to the dealer explain things. The pit boss told everyone to calm down and change the subject. It worked... for a little while.

Pretty soon, two guys on my end were talking about how one their wives had died of lung cancer and how smoking was terrible. The original guy said loudly in the direction of the smoking woman, "It is a tragedy and these smokers are killing us." The woman asked him to just drop it. This is when he said something I couldn't believe. "Shut up woman! this is none of your business, stay out of our conversation!" The dealer was also a woman and just snapped at the guy saying, "You have no right to talk her like that!" The pit boss was in ear shot of all this, looming since the last confrontation. He came over and laid the smack down. Telling the rude man to stop or be ejected from the poker room without a refund for the tournament. Five minutes later there was a fifteen minute break and it was all over. I have seen fights before but not this disrespectful. I love this town.

- on a side note, I did not take place in any arguing as I never get angry at the table (leave emotions at the door). Having lived as both a smoker and non-smoker, I don't see what the problem is that someone is smoking in a smoking room. There are several poker rooms in Vegas that are smoke-free and this guy should frequent them, not get so upset. What really upset me was that he was convinced that he was right and that all smokers were horrible people destined to destroy the world. Also it seemed that he was a horrible sexist. (He had earlier made a comment about wanting to "buy 30 minutes of time with a cocktail waitresses titties.") What an ass.

Scott Hardie | December 27, 2001
That's messed up. I'm glad I wasn't a smoker at that table, or I'd have flung some serious shit. :-) Smoking is supposed to cause high blood pressure, but it sounds like it was the non-smokers who were way too uptight, not to mention way out of line. There are plenty of poker tournaments in Vegas, go play in one at a non-smoking room.

As for sexist, I don't know, I wasn't there. Just because he used the word "woman" doesn't mean he's a sexist, unless he specifically said it in a derogatory manner, which I can't tell from what you typed. The titties comment is separate. :-\