According to my records, last night was the 20th poker session I've put in at the Palms. I guess, however, that none of the previous ones lasted as late as 2:00 a.m., because I've certainly never before run into the situation that occurred last night.
A new player came to the table with his chips, an ashtray, and a lit cigarette. In most non-smoking poker rooms, somebody occasionally comes in with a heater going, not recognizing that it's a smoke-free zone. I assumed this was the same phenomenon. So I turned to the dealer and said, "Smoking at the table?"
I was stunned when he said, "That's allowed after 2:00 a.m." He then checked his watch, found that it was only 1:50, and told the new player that he couldn't smoke here for another ten minutes.
I was close to being done for the night anyway, but that was enough to prompt me to pack up my chips on the spot, not even waiting to complete the orbit we were on.
Wow, what a horrible management decision. The Palms is one of the better poker rooms in town in terms of being reasonably effectively isolated from smoking areas, but then for certain hours of the day they turn it into a toxic waste factory. What idiocy.
Anybody care for a beverage while you play? How about a little lung cancer?
So the Palms has just informed me that it does not want me playing there late into the night. OK, so be it.
I have just updated my list of categories of smokiness of poker rooms to reflect that the Palms is now on the list of shame, one of the few places in town to fall into category 6, in which smoking at the table is allowed. It now shares that distinction with such high-class places as Hooters, Arizona Charlie's, Boulder Station, and Club Fortune. Hope you're real proud of the company you keep, Palms.
Repulsive. Utterly repulsive.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Don't go to the Palms poker room after 2:00 a.m.
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4 comments:
Smoke free until 2:00AM?
Is that when all the smokers come out of hiding?
1:50 No Puff
2:00 Puffs away
When does it go back to smoke free?
First of all this is not new, but you would not have noticed it before because the room where the no limit games usually are is noin smoking all the time. Because the past week or so has been so busy with nbo limit games they have been going in the limit room. Next week when you return you will not likely see this again.
Part of the reason for this is that when the Palms went non-smoking in the summer of 2005 the players in the no limit games seemed to like this, but there many players in the limit side who preferred smoking. At one time the limit side was made smoking 24 hrs a day while the no limit side was no smoking then eventually the 2am-8am smoking returned in the limit room.
Grump: As a self professed libertarian you need to watch Penn & Teller's Bullshit. It's a good show in general and basically it's your blog put on TV.
They do one on second hand smoke, or maybe smoking in general.
They discuss how the major, medically accredited reports that address second hand smoke state there is no evidence that second hand smoke is bad for you. Or at least something similar to that statment - it's been a long while since I've seen it.
Second hand smoke sucks. It's bothersome; it stinks; it's unpleasent. But apparently it does not coause cancer.
Yeah, I watch Penn & Teller's show, um, religiously. (Ha!) Love it. And yes, I'm well aware that the usual claims for secondhand smoke in public places is mostly hogwash. (For the best easily digestible summary of the state of the evidence, see http://www.nycclash.com/Zion-Skeptic-Science_And_SHS.PDF.) Living with a smoker for a few decades may well be different, in terms of increased risk of cancer and heart disease, but that's not really at issue when talking about poker-room exposure.
My passing reference to lung cancer was meant to be more snarky than literal.
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