Alas. But in some ways have reached the end of patience. With this unreal sense of fair-play, it irritates to no end on how many people feel they have to start the game with 10, 15 or even 20 thousand in poker chips. Here I often sit with a touch over 5.

Now perhaps it wouldn't be so bad if one were to ignore the fact that luck plays a big role in deciding who goes on to win, place or show. And it wouldn't be so horrid to remember that there are certain players that chose to mix it up with others based upon their competitive nature. Yet to make a call simply because they can AFFORD to get luck and COULD put you out grates on those impatient nerves. And that isn't even the worst part of it.

The blinds go up every 15 minutes. The idea is to complete a tournament within 3 hours. With 1 or 2 tables that is usually the case. With 3 or 4 it is a challenge to do so. With whatever number, the fact that it takes 6 minutes to play the first two hands drives a sane person literally up the wall when starting out as small stack. Blinds go from 25/50 to 50/100 to 200/400 and then 300/600. A person having less than 6,000 in chips will be 1/10th into the pot by just limping into the hand by calling big blind. Factor into this that there are only going to be 8-9 hands on average but drops to an amazing 5 or 6 when it takes nearly 3 minutes to play each one.

The problem(s)?

There is definately not just a single issue when the game is going that slowly. Socializing is one of the bigger ones. All those huge chips stacks can laugh, joke, drink, eat or chatter away while the time ticks off. People that do not even play the hand take over 10-20 seconds to just look at their cards and muck them. They always start by asking the dumbest question: "What are the blinds?" Instead of merely looking two chairs clockwise of the dealer button or up at the big timer display shown on a big-screen television from a laptop which shows the current blinds... they find it much funner to waste everyone else's time by asking such inane questions.

Then there are those that have never placed their hundred-dollar chips into 10-high stacks to make them an even thousand. So when calling 500 or 1000, they have to count each individual chip as if a mistake would mean losing 10% of their stack while they sit there with 25-50 grand. And instead of saying "Call", counting them out while the action continues around the table, everyone stares transfixed by the simple act of their sorting out how many chips are actually there.

A distracted dealer is the worst case. When I deal, I strive to keep it moving and to get out as many hands as possible. Sometimes mistakes are made when hurrying. Most of the time, it is being distracted by those whom threw away cards that ended up coming or listening to them whine about how they've had the EXACT same hand the last three or four times. Or that the high card was never anything over a 6. Or who is sitting in an empty spot where there are chips stacked up on the table. This last one is most infuriating as it doesn't help anyone to know who sits where until they ACTUALLY get to the table. Honestly! If they are late and someone else shows, they end up sitting there instead. Yet all these feeble questions come at the dealer while trying to make change out of the pot or having to ask other players to make change. Or to answer three times in one hand how much the blinds are. Heaven forbid than anyone really knows. Makes you wonder how they know if they even have a winning hand or when to bet.

And there aren't hardly any players that volunteer to shuffle the cards or deal a table. The tourney director of over 3 years had about gotten his fill of all the bologna that goes with handling these "free" poker games. All I can do is play good poker and hope the cards come. Yet the temper keeps flaring up as people keep asking really idiotic questions or pressure other players to hurry while they themselves take twice as long and don't even know to post their own blinds. There is rarely a smooth table where you don't have hiccups. But to have three or four per hand while people are busy NOT PAYING ATTENTION and expect the dealer to catch them up on the current hand's progress is just wrong when trying to alleviate the issue.

If people are seeing terrible cards to where they can't even call to see a flop, then shut up and keep things moving so you can see more hands to have a GREATER chance of seeing a good one. And all the while, I'm dealing and often short-stack while trying to keep every question answered and every pot amount correct.

And someone told me to lighten up and have fun. Wish I could.... really, really wish I could.