I got a phone call about this: At Harrah's Rincon in San Diego they have drawings in the poker room for various prizes. I think the prizes are for cash and promo chips -- but I didn't get the details.

The caller was more concerned with a new, strange rule for the drawings.

The drawings involved choosing a "lucky seat." It's a small poker room with about six tables. Whoever is in the lucky seat gets the prize.

However, there was a new rule for Saturday's drawings -- and if the "lucky seat" was empty then the player next to the vacant lucky seat (not sure if it's the player to the left or to the right) gets the prize.

The effect of this is that if you are sitting next to an empty seat you have two chances to win the drawing, as opposed to other players who are not next to empty seats who have one chance to win the drawing.

Apparently the players in the poker room quickly figured this out and the caller told me the poker room became a giant game of "musical chairs" whenever an empty seat became available.

Is it really too much trouble to pick another "lucky seat" if the first one picked is empty?

This new rule is blatantly unfair.