Appreciate it

Its been over a year now since I left my part-time gig at the casino and I still appreciate it when I know I don't have to give up my nights over the weekend. Especially a splendid looking one like this one coming up!

Boo!

I'm still around. No baby just yet, though. All is well unless you account for some Gestational Diabetes.

Also, looking forward to my first weekend without overnights at the Casino. Cool.

Cuttin' Back

We're is such a good place financially that I've decided to quit my part-time job as a Blackjack Dealer. Its been a fun two years and the extra money was awesome (even moreso with our new union contract). But the time is here for me to enjoy the summer and welcome our new baby and get a few more hours of sleep per weekend.

So, when I go in tomorrow night I will give two week's notice. I'm pretty stoked about it.

TIPS

Acronym? T.I.P.S. = To insure proper service? I'm not sure if that's the case, but I heard it is.

Radioactive Girl was wondering what's the appropriate amount to tip casino dealers. A good question and I hadn't really thought about it. I know when players tip excessively. I also know when they don't tip. Oh, believe me I know that.

So, here's a quick rundown. I wonder how other dealers would view it.

First, the player should expect a competent and friendly dealer. I always try to have fun with my players and make it as enjoyable an experience as possible. And I'm competent. So tip me! Here's how:

Unless you're getting absolutely killed, you should tip $5 per hour played. That's not at all unreasonable considering I deal mainly at $15 to $25 per hand tables. That translates into $825 to $1375 per hour gambled by each player assuming the blackjack standard of 55 hands per hour. Having said that, one could play as many as 100 to 220 hands per hour at a quick table with only a couple players. However, $5, even if the table is half full, will gross at least $15 per hour for the dealer and that's close to what we need to make for a living when one considers the following.

Again, as long as you're not getting killed, if you play $15 or $25 at the table you will get an the extra $2.50 chip for each blackjack. You should tip that, either as a bet for the dealer or a handout. Blackjack pays 3 to 2 so $15 gets $22.50 and $25 gets $37.50. Throw the dealer the $2.50 chip (or at least bet it for him) unless you're just getting buried that day. Again, you're rewarding him for giving you bonus hands (even though he has no control). If you're getting tons of blackjacks, tip him every other one then. Its all good.

Now I'm making close to a decent living, right?

Next, if you've made money at the end of your session (time to leave, end of gambling day, time for dinner or show), when you color up (change your chips to higher amounts), you should tip about 1%. $1 for every $100. Its not much and most players do not actually end up leaving with many chips (casinos are huge and gaudy for a reason). I think that's fair, doesn't kill the player usually and adds up for the dealer's nicely.

Now for novelty games, of which most have bonus bets that can pay quite a bit more than blackjack, one should also tip the $5 per hour played (it doesn't matter when - either as a bet every so often, or a handed tip, or the end of your session), plus for bonus payouts I think $5 for $50 to $100 payout, $10 for $200 to $1000 (again, roughly -- depends on how the night is going) and $25+ for over a $1000 depending on the payout. The guy that tipped me $500 for $4000 was being excessive. The guy that tipped me $25 for about $4000 I thought was kind of cheap (or naive).

When I'm a player I feel generosity pays back in karma. And I have a history of doing okay at the casino.

So, if every player tipped or bet those small increments for the dealers, we'd make out pretty well. Unfortunately, in my experience 80% of my tips come from 25% of my players.

Casino Tales

Good title? Casino Tales?

Except I don't really have any.

I really thought working at the Casino for 16 hours a weekend would get me some good blog fodder. But it really hasn't.

Its a drag to get there. I miss looking forward to my weekends knowing I have to work Friday night into Saturday morning and then Saturday night starting it over again. Having said that, once I'm there its fine. The time totally flies by and I really love that direct deposit on Fridays.

My most obnoxious player so far, believe it or not, has been a drunk lady of about 70, who when learning I had to put some new cards into play (which takes a couple minutes to inspect, wash and riffle) asked why I can't just "deal the fucking cards". Took me by surprise. I thought she was just being funny at first, but she wasn't. From then on I silently rooted for her to lose, just as I do other people I think are obnoxious or a pain.

Last weekend I had a drunk guy of about 30 who didn't understand how to play BlackJack but was funny and not offensive despite the fact he referred to the older Asian woman sitting next to her as Feng Shui and high-fiving her three or more times.

The night before that was sort of slow. I had a bunch of players who just stared at the felt indicating hit or stand but showing no emotion. At one point I'm thinking, "Lady. I just dealt you two Blackjacks, its really okay to smile." I'm sure you've guessed that table didn't tip for shit either.

A few weeks ago I paid a guy $4000 on a bonus hand win and he tipped me $500! That was nice. We pool our tips, but it was still nice nonetheless.

I'm into the rhythm of the place and most of my floor supervisors have been pretty cool.

Upon reflection, I'm thinking perhaps its a good thing I don't have too many stories then. It might be that that makes my nights all that much tougher.

1 of 12

I've completed week one of my 12 week dealer schooling. Its pretty intensive and there's so much to learn including book study and personal time practice but at least 4 three and one half hour classes are past me.

This week we worked on our shuffling (riffling) and the procedures for blending the 8 decks used at Foxwoods as well as chip (cheque) sizing, which is the art of using the finger as a guide to pay out stacks of chips. Finally, we did quite a bit of rudimentary dealing last night and I'm definitely finding that my experiences as a casino patron are helping and I feel, with the exception of my riffling, I'm pretty natural (read as "good") at it .

Having said that, there are so many nuances that the trained eye looks for in a dealer that others would never notice. In a lot of ways, things are almost like a dance in how sequential thinigs are and how easy it seems when one is doing it perfectly. I'm finding myself fascinated and anxious to learn more which can only be a good thing.

So far, so good with the hours. I've slept a total of 20 hours since Monday morning but I feel I'm holding up well. My main concern was the hour-long midnight commute home and the possibility of falling asleep at the wheel. But I'm pretty wired up when I leave and I sip a Mountain Dew as I crank up some Sirius radio or Howard Stern repeats to keep me occupied.

They gave us 8 decks with which to practice and I found a steal at Dick's for some 11.5 gram casino cheques so I am all set up to practice this weekend.

And practice I shall.

Testing, Testing

I went down to the casino this morning to hand in my gambling license application, get fingerprinted and have my drug test.

Oh, they give a color-blindness test too. Never thought of it, but it makes sense since one needs to be able to differentiate chip colors.

Two things to report today.

First one is an observation: When I went in for the drug test, its like a little doctor's office inside the employee section of the casino. It seems everything is self-contained down there and so far I've found everything very efficient and everyone very, very friendly and welcoming. So as I'm sitting in the little waiting room to go in to pee, I'm seeing all these posters telling people how to avoid spreading colds and about proper hand washing techniques and avoidance of pink-eye, etc. That's all well and good, but then the waiting room is like 4 feet by 12 feet and could hold 10 people. Isn't proximity to others who are ill a prime contributor? I sat at the end.

The second thing is that I went into the bathroom with the nurse. It was a female nurse and of course its a urine sample that's tested. Beforehand, I wondered if they would have me put on a hospital gown so that they knew I didn't bring in some sort of piss apparatus or whatever, but nope. She went in with me but only into the bathroom's common area. I went in the stall alone and it was a good thing I had to pee pretty badly, because that would be a prime time to get some stage fright. I can imagine standing there for 15 minutes and not being able to go as the problem exacerbates itself.

Well, I went. No problems. Coulda surely filled more than a few cups so I didn't flush the toilet per the instructions on the wall when I had much more than was necessary. I'm such the rules follower.

Dealer No Deal

With both my wife's and my car getting up there in mileage (both over $130k), the thought of a new car payment, or payments, has made me nauseous. Combine that with the fact that we aren't nearly saving as much for the Little One's college as we would like and extensive, yearly house improvements have worn out some raised-plastic letters and numbers, I'm feeling a money pinch lately. At the very least, I can foresee future struggles if one, or both, of our cars suddenly dies. Lastly, there is nothing I want my family to ever feel like they have to do without and if that means I have to work harder, or longer, than I'm up for the challenge.

In the past I would make extra money through bonuses, overtime or even weekend work for the partners at my work. But that has dried up considerably in the past few years.

So, after some soul-searching for what kind of part-time job I would be willing to do, I thought about a casino dealer. I simply cannot imagine myself being a stock-clerk for $10 an hour or being a server at the local T.G.I.F. Perhaps I feel I'm "too good" to work such jobs but I also don't think my free time is worth less than $18 an hour or so.

I could easily be a Blackjack dealer I think and I'd love to learn their other house games of cards or the spinning money wheel and the like. Since I have such a patron's interest in the games and I enjoy the excitement of the casino atmosphere, why not? Plus they pay between $18 and $25 per hour depending on tips. Lastly, one can work only weekends and/or holidays and the scheduling seems quite flexible to accommodate my current job.

Don't get me wrong, I make a good living. But I also like nice things and I hate feeling like money is tight. It definitely would be tight if we suddenly took on two more car payments. I suppose one would say "then just get a crappy car" but I love cars and I like driving a nice one. I guess I'm shallow that way, but at the same time I'm willing to work hard for what I want. Maybe my current car will go forever, too. That's be great! Then I'll try to sock money away until its needed. I'm mostly concerned about some extra stress for my wife and time away from her and my daughter.

Also, casino dealer is quite a marketable skill that would come in very handy if anything crazy ever happened with my job, which can be dependent on the economy. There's even rumor of a planned casino in Massachusetts only 25 minutes from my home. So, that's a future consideration as well.

Pursuant to all that, I applied at Foxwoods Casino. Gladly, I passed Phase I and Phase II of their employment process and they tendered me an employment agreement. Phase II was a rather lengthy math test which, from the sounds of one of my interviewers, I aced. Funny. There was slight trick question in it that I suspect many miss. Basically, the trick was a multiple choice word problem involving money such as $48.23 is two twenties, a five, three ones, two dimes and three pennies. Well, I spotted another one that equaled the $48.23 in the same question, but the money was laid out differently. Many, I suppose, move on to the next answer when it works. Perhaps its how they test your attention to detail and I'm glad I noticed.

Next, I have a drug test which won't present a problem unless Bud-Lite has crystal meth in it and I have to pass a background check. Again, not a problem. I've never had any issues with the law short of driving too fast on occasion.

Assuming that goes well, then there's dealer school. And that's the hard part. Mrs. Blogger and I need to sit down and decide if I should proceed. First, its over an hour from my house. Second, its Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 to midnight for twelve weeks and there's no guarantee of passing, although I'm sure I will. The schooling will certainly put a strain on my family which would defeat the purpose of more income, no? But then, nothing good comes without hard work and sacrifice either. Plus I would have a few hours, from 5 to 7:15 every day, with my Little One. So I won't miss her too much.

After passing, I would be able to work weekend days, nights or overnights. That's pretty ideal as far as I'm concerned and knowing me, I would forego sleep to spend more time with my family. Sounded, too, like I could skew towards overnights as well, so as an insomniac I would still have quality family time.

I don't know. It sounds kind of scary and it sounds kind of exciting at the same time. I would make an excellent dealeras I like the whole thrill of gambling and gamblers and I'm good with math and I would make it a fun time which I'm sure would make me a desirable employee.

I haven't received all Mrs. Blogger's input just yet so I'm not sure whether I'll definitely proceed. We're a team and we'll make this decision as a partnership, but I think if she approves I'm going to go for it.

Weekend Wrapup

Had a busy, busy weekend and a busy work day today, so I'm going to keep my weekend update brief.

Friday Night: Family night at The Little One's school. Mrs. Blogger is on the parent/teacher board. Designed for a few hours of parent/kid bonding. They treat us to pizza and juice and have games, face painting and other stuff to do with your kids. Its kinda cool and the turnout was surprisingly good. My only issue would have been the treatment of the fathers. I don't think congratulations are in order because a) I attended in the first place, b) I know how to make my kid a meal in her mother's absence and c) I know where her clothes are.

Jesus! That's dumbing dads down, isn't it? Reminds me of the Chris Rock thing - when a dad proudly proclaims "I take care of my kids!". YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO you idiot! Be proud to be a good dad. But congratulations aren't in order because you do what you're supposed to. Better to be recognized than not I suppose.

Saturday: I played a card tournament. One hundred dollar buy-in. Came in 86th out of 102. Yeah, I suck.

Saturday night: Mrs. Blogger and I went to the Mohegan Sun Casino. Auntie wanted The Little One overnight and with our freedom Mrs. Blogger wanted dinner and gambling. Well, I certainly don't have to be persuaded for that! Exactly, my kind of night. We dressed a bit and went to dinner at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse in the casino. It was excellent but expensive. Around $160 for the two of us. But then I won over $450 at the craps table! Yay me! After ice cream cones at 1 a.m. we headed out. The place was packed, including kids. I don't get who goes to the casino with 2, 3 kids in tow and is still there at 1 a.m. I think, then, that congratulations are in order for Mrs. Blogger and me for NOT doing that!! It wouldn't even occur to us to drag her around there while one of us gambled.

Yesterday: I went to the UConn Men's Basketball game and watched them lose again! I am not accustomed to watching this team lose and I've seen it three times this year. They're just young and not yet very good. Had some time to hit up the driving range too so I could work on my game before going to Las Vegas. It was packed because it was 45 degrees out. Golfers really are nuts!

Last night: I treated Auntie, The Little One and Mrs. Blogger to pizza with some of my winnings. Tried a new pizza place and it was just ok. Since I was operating on about 5 hours sleep for the whole weekend I was lights out asleep before 9 I think.

That's about it. Great weekend and while I missed my Little One a bit, it was nice to just hang out with The Mrs.. Besides, she got to sleep in to 11 yesterday. Dopey me was up at 7 watching Lost on DVD.