Best Way To Handle This Live MTT Situation

[JoeD]

Mostly a long time lurker and first thread I've started, so please be easy on me. Curious for opinions of how to handle a situation that occurred yesterday.

I'm a rec MTT live player here in So Cal for 10+ years, mostly on the weekends. You definitely want my money in your tournaments. Yesterday at Hawaiian Gardens they had a $275 bounty tournament. All tables were 10 handed with 30 minute levels.

I buy my entry and get assigned seat 5 at the 10 handed table. Before the tourney starts I get to the table and there is a really, really large (fat) guy already sitting in seat 3 - so large that there is a chair that has been moved to the aisle behind what will be seats 4 through 7 just so that he can reach seat 3. The aisle chair is clearly a chair that will eventually be needed for the 10 handed table. I'm no skinny guy (could afford to lose 10-15 lbs) and sit in my seat 5. Seat 4 then shows up and he's larger than me but smaller than seat 3. Seat 6 then shows up and, while he's shorter and thinner, we all have to squeeze close together just to get his chair out of the aisle and to the table. There is a discussion to try and "square" the table, which we all try to do after all 10 seats are filled prior to the start of the tourney. At this point, however, I am so squeezed in that (a) I cannot fully reach the table to properly protect and view my hole cards and (b) there is no chance I can sit there comfortably for 30 minute levels. Clearly the fat guy in seat 3 needs to be counted as two seats (sort of like the airline problem you read about some times).

If the above isn't bad enough, the very first hand, with me already squeezed and uncomfortable and unable to protect my hole cards, seats 4 and 6 get into an argument, with fat guy in seat 3 chiming into to further piss off seat 4. At some point all of them are screaming, directly into my ears.

I'm a very under the radar type of player, mostly there to have fun and relief from my occupation, where I typically encounter lots of arguing and confrontation on a daily basis.

With the above in mind, any opinions on what I should do?

Should I call the floor and complain about the really fat guy with everyone listening? Should I privately ask the floor for an accommodation? Should I give up on live MTTs, which is my feeling this morning to be honest and maybe why I'm looking for a second opinion.

*post script gossip - Barry Greenstein was playing this $275 tourney (at another table) even though there was a $1,650, $500,000 firing at the Commerce this weekend. How sad is that. Maybe the HG offered him a free meal or two to show up.

[nunbeater]

I mean first off playing ten handed is oy, you're already gonna be squeezed in tighter than shit. I wouldn't complain about the fat guy specifically, I would just point out to the dealer/floor that clearly the situation is not going to work as you cannot protect your hand and play properly.

The thing that would piss me off would be the people screaming. I would probably just shove until I busted everyone out/busted out.

[The Shrink]

Remember when people called poker a "sport"? Man oh man, those were the days.

[Call_Station]

The rake you pay entitles you to play the tournament under reasonable circumstances. This does not qualify. Call the floor, and without specifically shaming the fat guy, request accommodations we made, which would ideally include the table being made nine handed.

[Dan Druff]

The rake you pay entitles you to play the tournament under reasonable circumstances. This does not qualify. Call the floor, and without specifically shaming the fat guy, request accommodations we made, which would ideally include the table being made nine handed.

nunbeater's post was good, as well.

You don't need to specifically point out the fat guy, as he is literally the elephant in the room.

You just need to go to the tournament director and tell him/her that, given the circumstances at the table, you cannot play properly, as there is simply not enough room for 10 people.

Consider this: What if, by coincidence, 10 obese people were seated at the same table? They literally could not fit. This is a less extreme version of that circumstance.

[JoeD]

Thanks, I've actually calmed down a few days later. I should be clear that the really heavy guy in Seat 3 did nothing wrong, which is why I would have felt awkward openly complaining for him to hear. In hindsight I probably should have privately said something to the TD.

Combined with the argument that ensued between the other players I was seated between, my first and only reaction was to walk away rather than start cursing at everyone, which was the other thought going through my head at the time. I was hopeful that one them would bustout during the first early levels. I ended up winning $300 at one of the table games for a $25 profit for the day, and when I checked and saw there was no early bustout, opted to go home and watch football.