I've got some pet peeves that go beyond the way we interpret rules from time to time. My complaint is directed at anyone that goes out of their way to change fundamental procedures like placement of the muck and burncards, shape of tables, automated shufflers and where they are located. The most annoying is the head-to-head tournaments that are televised where the dealer places the flop in the center of the table, spreads the cards to his right (that's okay), but then proceeds to place the turn and the river on the left side of the flop! This is done for the television audience (I guess
). Some producer, who probably doesn't know anything about poker, thought it would be better for the viewers. I see kidney shaped tables, auto-shufflers on the left (and sometimes on the right), bravo systems across the front of the table bank, signage on the left, rake slides on the right, rake conversion circles, bad beat jackpot slot, toke boxes, and let's not forget the gadget that is needed to swipe your "VIP"Card!
How could anyone, with any knowledge of the game, allow such changes? The head-to-head tournament is a major event! You would think someone would tell the producer that the cards should be flopped from the dealer's left to right and the turn to the right of the flop and also the river. I guess they are all online player's because they do the same damn thing! That's right, and I know hardly anyone ever noticed. The dealer is seated at the top of the screen and that's where the problem began. In order to display the cards from the viewer's left to right, they decided to allow the (animated) dealer to put the cards on the table...well, ass backwards! When I approach a table with the community cards displayed, I should be able to identify the flop, turn, and river.
As far as the televised tournaments, use a different camera angle if you need to, but do it right okay? If you need some help, call me
.