Subject: Becky Behnan and the Horseshoe: A new low in classlessness From: Vegas Dan Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Tue, May 21, 2002 5:54 PM Message-ID: Before I hop onto my soapbox, let me state again that I don't work for Binion's Horseshoe and I've never worked for Binion's Horseshoe. Becky "Screwjob" Behnan outdid herself this time. You thought that she was bad when she screwed all the floor people out of the final toke last year? You thought that she was bad when she refused to pay the Horseshoe's share of the Fremont Street Experience fees? You thought she was bad when she only paid unemployment insurance on wages---and not on dealer tokes---because the penalty was only 15% of what the additional tax would have been (btw, that law's been changed to SERIOUSLY increase the penalty so that such avoidance now costs more)? You thought she was bad when she took all the low-hold slot and video poker machines out and drove all the locals away? You thought she was bad when she raised the rake as much as 100% on the low-limit games during the WSOP? You thought she was bad when she increased the one-table satellite fees by 67%? You thought she was bad when she doubled the "juice" on tournaments to 6%? You thought it was bad when she took one of the best buffets anywhere (at least duing tournament time) and replaced it with one that I would be hesitant to eat at (I haven't in four years) for fear of food poisoning? You thought she was bad when she then also took away the 3% of that juice that the dealers and floor staff were getting for tokes and hogged it for herself? Well, to paraphrase what singer Al Jolson said: "You ain't seen nothing yet." A few days ago, some of the dealers who'd been around the WSOP for many years tried to stand up for the dealers as a group and get them a little better toke. And the Classless Wonder (Behnan) agreed to this. And unfortunately, the dealers were naive enough to take her word for it. So things went smoothly yesterday, when they started with over 70 tables and needed every dealer that they could get. But by the end of the day, the field was reduced to 357 players, which translates (at 9 players per table) to 40 tables (which coincidentally is exactly how many are upstairs in the tournament room). This morning, Behnan called the longtime dealers up to the Orientation room. There, those dealers were told that their services were no longer needed. While I can't verify this, I would imagine that they were listed as 'no-rehire', which means that they cannot work for Binion's again. Out of respect for the privacy of the victims, I won't mention names. Suffice it to say that they each probably had over 10 years (and in some cases as many as 20 years) at the WSOP and were very well known by players and staff alike. They were then escorted by security to the exit. A few of the other longtime dealers decided that they would join the fired dealers, and these dealers quit. So Behnan brought in some of the swing shift (the day-shift dealers do 90% of the WSOP $10,000 event, as is traditional) and graveyard dealers, as well as their in-house dealers and put them to work in the tournament, which went on as scheduled, though it was about 15 minutes late in starting. In other words, this butt-munch of a human being fired some of the best tournament dealers in the world and replaced them with dealers who were not as good. Well, you knew she didn't respect the players when she doubled the cost of the tournament fees. And it's pretty plain that she has no respect for staff, as evidenced by last year's screwing of the tournament floor personnel, this year's screwing of the dealers by taking away their 3% in tokes, and now the firing of the longtime and highly respected dealers. And let's not overlook the 15-20 tournament dealers who have been fired because they didn't bow down to her Almightyness and do everything exactly to her specifications. To give you an idea of the pressure involved, Binion's instituted a new shuffling technique that is so bogus and stupid that any player sitting in the 3-7 seats can, after about an hour of practice, track about half the deck. Believe it or not, there were people walking around the tournament area who had no other function than to see to it that the shuffling technique was being employed to specficiations, and to report any discrepancies to management. One strike and the dealer was out. I've heard of four dealers fired for this. In addition, two dealers were fired for smoking in the area outside of the tournament room (where smoking is permitted by players), one for smoking up on the third floor on the way to the employee dining room (where smoking is permitted), and one was fired for---I kid you not---scrambling the deck too fast. Okay, enough ranting and raving. This year at the WSOP, I have played zero hours of live action. The room's high stakes live action is down probably to a third of what it was before Behnan took over. Everybody has gone to the Bellagio, and rightfully so. I played many one-table satellites, doing well in them, and a few super-satellites, managing to get one minor payoff. I didn't play in any regular tournament events. And I won't be coming back to any future Binion's tournaments while Ms. Behnan is in charge. Why? Do I sympathize with the dealers? Yes, to a degree, but it's a business to me. And somewhere in the back of my mind, I have the feeling that Ms. Behnan is going to decide someday that she doesn't have to pay off the money-finishers of a tournament event (Hey, that might happen this year, eh?). In short: I don't like doing business with people or entities that I can't trust. And I sure trust her. Do you blame me?