Give It Away Now!

Don't stop, continue...

For those of you unfortunate enough to have not been sitting at my Pai Gow table for the past two nights, I send my heartfelt condolences on your loss.

You could've won HUGE.

Yes, I was dumptrucking my rack so badly I was afraid that they'd banish me from Pai Gow and send me to exile at the Let It Ride table for the next six months. Lucky for me we don't have a Big Six wheel, or I'd probably be stuck there tonight, instead. After giving away about six four-of-a-kinds, three straight flushes, and a royal flush (and sitting down just after five aces was dealt to a lucky player) inside of three hours, plus dealing myself a pai gow damn near every hand, they finally moved me back to the dice table, where I cooled my jets at a $25 game until 4 am this morning.

Pretty much everyone who sat at my table won some big $$$ last night. One guy showed up with $40, gave me a twenty to make change for his fortune bonus, then went 'money plays' for the other $20. And for the entire hour, that $20 bill layed facedown on his betting circle--he either pushed or won every hand for the whole hour I was there. And everyone else was winning, too. I don't have a problem with that at all, but after I gave him a four-of-a-kind and he fucking stiffed me, then I was gunning for him. Luckily a few minutes later, I dealt another four-of-a-kind to the gal sitting next to him, and she made a show of tipping me and saying Here's a little extra since you got stiffed last time!

I couldn't help but smile when she did that.

It was beautiful, so I tapped the checks on the edge of the metal rack as loudly as I could, stared right at the stiff and said Thank you so much for taking care of the dealers--we really appreciate it! You're a fine example of a good player... I think he got the message after that, because then he started tossing a random $5 check my way every few hands after he won. But he turned his $40 buy-in into something north of $800, which is quite a feat at an even-money game like that, even after picking up $200 in bonus money.

He was upping his bet after every win--a sound strategy on a hot table--but when the floorperson saw him stiff me, she walked up and changed the cards, which earned a knowing grin from a couple of the other players.

That's one of the reasons why I love working where I do. So many houses have an us-verses-them mentality when it comes to dealers and floor supervisors. Not my joint. Our bosses rarely sweat the money, and if they do, they certainly don't show it. But if they see a player winning big and not taking care of the dealers, then they will do things like change up the cards, or have the dealer alter the shuffle, or cut the cards differently--all the little things that can change the luck--yeah, it's mostly superstitious, but there is no more superstitious activity in the world than gambling. But I've never, and I mean NEVER, seen a floorperson at my casino try to ice a player who was taking care of the dealers.

In fact, one time I wiped out a very big 'George' at the blackjack table, and while I was walking back to the dining room a few minutes later on my break, the assistant big-boss, the highest ranking person in the casino at the time, who has absolutely no vested interest in our tokes, but very much on the hook for the table hold, was walking with me and said Nice going doofus--you just killed your biggest tipper in the casino tonight... Try not to pull so many twenties next time and you might make a little money!

She didn't care how much the guy won or lost. They know that they'll eventually get it all back.

Anyhow, in a lot of casinos, that dynamic doesn't exist. The floor generally doesn't give two shits if the dealers make a dime all night. Luckily where I work, they understand the concept of win-win, and it makes it an enjoyable place to work. Yes, I could make even more money someplace else down on the Strip, just because of sheer numbers of players. But the money's decent where I'm at, and you can't beat the benefits. And there's something to be said for the mellow environment with easy-going bosses, which is probably the biggest perk of all.

So no, I'd never actually get banished to Let It Ride or the Big Six wheel for paying out a lot of winning hands. They'd sooner send me to a high-limit table to try and maximize our tokes.

But the law of averages has to catch up sometime. Tonight I'll probably wipe out everyone.

Mikey