Mailbag!

A few comments from the comments section...

Sipote: In case you haven't heard, the opening line for the Super Bowl is the Steelers at -4. Not too shabby for a #6 seed, but it reflects two things--the clear superiority of the AFC, and a majority of the betting money is going to Pittsburgh. Tonight I'll stop by the sportsbook and see if they have a list of prop bets yet. If so, I'll post 'em here.

Rob: Going to the doc is not an option yet. I talked to the HR department just this morning, and they still haven't gotten my paperwork processed yet. There was a benefits meeting today, but my gang wasn't participating. It looks like my bennies don't kick in until March 1st. I should be fine by then. God, at least I hope so. But half the people I work with have the same affliction--a lingering cough coupled with a minor head cold.

WaltysMom: Yes, some days I drop huge tokes, sometimes $500 or more. But then it's not that common and when I do, I usually write about it. More often I'm a few bucks above the average--definitely a producer--but there only one or two true 'deadbeats' that I work with. Everyone there pretty much pulls their fair share. The problem is that some games just don't bring in the tokes. Let It Ride and Pai Gow are notorious for stiff players. And we have that horrible dollar dice table full of old fleas. Four guys work their asses off all night on that table and maybe drop a hundred bucks between them. Some nights I'm on that table, and it doesn't matter what I do, the players just don't tip. Also, some games sit empty--pai gow players, and a lot of bj players don't want to play alone, so I'll be standing on a dead game for a half hour at a time, too. I can't deal the $10 and $25 blackjack tables every night--that's where we make the most money. Luckily we are on a 24-hour split, so if I work on a big day, I get a bigger paycheck. I prefer the system we have now--if we kept our own tokes I'd bitch every time I sat down at the Let It Ride or Pai Gow tables. But I'm part of a great team of dealers--they're all fine people.

Everyone: Let's just chill on commenting on Stephanie. I may have been a bit hasty with my writing. She came in to see me last night and reminded me of our 5am conversation the other day. She drove to Arizona, attended a funeral and such all day, drove back, then went to a concert at the Hard Rock that night. So she went to bed. It's not like we're dating or anything, so it's not that big of a deal. At least she gave the courtesy of coming by to see me last night. And yeah, Vegas is full of hot women. She's one of them, so the typical guy that I am gives her an occasional pass. But the 'Village Bicycle' line made me giggle when I wrote it. Truthfully, I doubt anything will ever happen between us, though.

I think that's about all for now. If anyone has any other questions, just drop me a line!

Mikey