EN
This review is written to lodge a formal complaint against the Riverwind Casino Poker Room Manager, Ronnie. Over the past two to three years, I have been a regular patron of this card room on an occasional basis.
During the early evening of Saturday, June 6th, I was seated in the big blind (seat 9) of a No-Limit Hold'em cash game. A newly rotated dealer began dealing the hand. Upon completion of the deal, and before any betting action had initiated, I immediately alerted the dealer that I had only been dealt one hole card. Simultaneously, the player in seat 8 (the small blind) spoke up to state that he had also received only one card. The floor was promptly called to resolve the sequence error.
Poker Room Manager Ronnie arrived at the table. Without listening to the accounts of either player involved, he immediately ruled to confiscate both of our single cards along with our posted small and big blind chips, ordering the hand to continue. He issued this ruling despite the fact that the dealer had already released the deck and spread the remaining cards on the table.
Under established casino standards and Robert’s Rules of Poker, if the small blind and big blind are skipped for their second hole card and the error is caught before substantial action begins, the hand constitutes a misdeal and must be redealt.
When I politely pointed out that his ruling violated standard procedural rules, Ronnie began shouting at me loudly in full view and hearing of the entire poker room. Unwilling to tolerate this hostility, I immediately stood up, gathered my remaining chips (minus the confiscated big blind), and walked to the cage to cash out.
While I was waiting in the cashier line, Ronnie intentionally approached me and yelled an obscenity in an aggressive manner. I remained completely silent to avoid escalating the situation, though his volatile physical proximity and verbal hostility were borderline assaultive.
As a manager, Ronnie is a complete disgrace to the poker community, consistently projecting a toxic attitude that degrades both player experience and staff morale. For example, when approaching the podium for standard player comps, if Ronnie is present, he routinely refuses to interact with patrons directly, handing off player cards to secondary staff to do his work. He demonstrates zero commitment to customer service or running a reputable card room. His management style relies entirely on intimidation, making his staff fearful for their jobs and fostering an incredibly unhappy work environment.
Anyone who frequents this card room for any length of time can see that the dealers are visibly miserable in their positions—a direct reflection of the top-down management failures of the individual running the room. Ultimately, Ronnie has demonstrated that he is utterly unqualified to manage a professional card room, and his toxic, unprofessional conduct is a massive disservice to both the players and his own staff.
