The Customer is right?

Sometimes Oceans-11 confounds me. They don't seem to let the players play what they want. For the past couple of months or so, we have been playing bigger limit holdem games than 40/80. We have gotten a 100/200 game spread, usually on the weekends.

Now recently, the floor has been reticent to start this game. Why? Presumably to protect the player base. Since there is a limited player pool of high limit players, I guess the floor doesn't want the better players to bust the weaker players faster . . .

But, I mean we are all adults here. Everybody knows the risks involved and should know how to play within their means, and if they don't well then that's their fault. I've heard that Commerce is so much better in this regard. If two players want to play a heads up match, they have a dealer and a table, and the players are willing to pay the house fee, away they go.

Now, get this on Saturday night, they get a 50/100 game going. Don't ask me how or why, but whatever. I eventually get a seat in this game, and everyone but some spaceship wants to kick up the stakes to 75/150. I don't say anything, but I don't care either way. Eventually the spaceship does bust, and supposedly Chuck the casino operations manager, said as long as there was no list and no objections, we could kick up the stakes. So as soon as the spaceship busts, the table captain tells the dealer that we all agreed to play 75/150, and they take the blinds as such. Now two hands later, the oblivious incompetent floor man comes over and says what are you guys doing? And tells the dealer that we are playing 50/100. We of course object, and the floor man goes back into Chuck's office again to sort things out. Clearly, since we have already started a round of 75/150, at the very least we have to finish the orbit to make it fair for the players who have already posted the blinds at 75/150. We sort of all agreed that we would sit out and just break the game if Chuck didn't acquiesce to our demands. He eventually said ok, let them play.

So we continued the game. Now get this, they wanted to charge us $12/half hour per person to play! That's the same time charge we were paying for 100/200? And back in 2007 when they spread the game they took $5 per hand! WTF? They should have charged us like $10/half hour and I think everyone would have been happy with that. Obviously the game broke pretty quickly after that.