The Madness is just over the horizon, and even though I'm already here, I'm getting excited for all of the buffoonery on tap. I can't wait to see everyone.I've been running myself ragged these past few days, but I finally feel like I've gotten some rest and I'm up early this morning ready to face the day. I've got a steaming hot monster-sized cup of coffee on the desk and an unfinished bracket sheet in front of me. And plenty of catching up to do.
First things first. The poker audition on Monday went very well. It was different than any audition I'd done before on live pit games, but here's how the day went...
I worked late the night before, as usual, and due to stressing over the audition, I couldn't sleep at all, so I was up all night. I've also been fighting a minor head cold for the past several days, so that kept me from sleeping, too. I got out of bed, having stayed up watching ESPN for several hours, made a pot of coffee, ran a couple of errands, and then headed to school to practice.
I rolled into school around 10:30 in the morning, but my audition wasn't until 4:00 pm. I figured a good solid four hours of practice would be enough, but after about two hours I was bored. Nick was saying I was "beyond ready" and there's no reason I shouldn't be working as a poker dealer by now. I took a couple of turns "in the box" dealing Omaha Hi-Low and some 2-4 Holdem to fellow students, and did fine. I also spent about an hour dealing a table full of Omaha hands to empty seats and setting up complicated boards/community cards to give me practice reading hands.
Finally around 2:30 I decided to go home, take a quick 'pick me up' shower, and get dressed in my black and whites. I had brought a gym bag with me with my audition clothes in it and had planned on getting changed at school, but I was too tired to stay there all afternoon.
The drive home and shower did me good, and by the time I got to the casino I was feeling much better. I found the tournament director who was doing the audition, and looked over the live games trying to figure out where they were likely to stick me.
Well, poker auditions, at least this one, are a whole lot different than auditioning for a dice-dealing job. First of all, they didn't put me in a live game. They had a tournament table set up and there were seven other guys there dressed in black-and-whites who joined me. We drew cards for position (I got the 3 of Spades--third one up), were issued $3000 worth of tournament chips each, and then took turns 'in the box' dealing to the other auditionees. We each had to deal 2 hands of Omaha Hi-Low (thank god I practiced all morning) and one hand of No-Limit Holdem, while the other dealers played like they were in a real game.
The first guy on the chopping block was I guy I went to school with, and he did very well. No noticable mistakes, good technique, and he called the game well. I'm sure he's on the short list. The second guy was pretty bad. He had a great personality, but the tattoos on his knuckles probably didn't help. And he was an awful dealer--very sloppy, lots of mistakes--I actually felt sorry for him.
I was up next, and have to admit that I thought that I did very well. I didn't misread any hands, didn't screw up dealing the cards out, didn't burn or turn cards I shouldn't have, my pots, muck, and stubs were neat and separated properly, and my board was straight and professional looking, not sloppy. The only mistake that I was aware of was missing a buck on the rake on one hand, and not taking any of the rake until the turn on one hand (not a mistake per se, but you want to take the rake on time in case everyone folds--it looks shitty to take a couple of bucks out of the pot when everyone is watching just as you push it. Players don't even notice when it's taken properly).
Anyhow, my turn under the microscope went well, and there was an unspoken gentleman's agreement at the table to not act like the jerkoffs at school who feel the need to go all-in every hand and create multiple sidepots "because that's what you're gonna see in the real world". Not really. I've played live poker for several years now and can count on one hand the number of times I've seen three side-pots in one hand. But in school, during the mock games, there are sidepots on every fucking hand because every dumbass who signed a tuition check feels the need to play 'instructor'. Luckily there was none of that nonsense on display at the audition. I think that the stern warning from the tournament director that You are all on audition until the last dealer finishes his turn... might've had something to do with it.
Anyhow, once I finished, before I left my seat I made sure the button was "right", unlike the first two guys, which I'm sure helped my chances.
So I played it out for the benefit of the other guys, and all told, it took a little over an hour to finish up all of the auditions. Again, much different than pit games, where both times I've gone on auditions for those, I was offered a position right on the spot. But the tourney director told us that they would take two days to make decisions and get back to everyone by Friday afternoon.
After we were dismissed, several of the other guys came up and told me that I did really well and stuff like "dude--you've got the job!", so I'm feeling fairly confident. However, there are a couple of caveats. The casino in question is only hiring three dealers, and they auditioned at least 18 people that I know of. Most casinos also want unlimited availability, but I'm not going to quit my full-time job just yet, so scheduling may be an issue. However, they also told us before we left that they'd also be bringing a couple more people on as "temps" for 90 days because starting in April they had several big tournaments, and after 90 days they could possibly move to extra-board status (basically an on-call part-timer with no benefits, which is the initial status of everyone who gets a dealing job in this town, no matter how big or small the casino is--I was on the extra board for eight months at my current job. Dealers at Caesars and Bellagio and the like can be on the extra board for several years before they achieve full-time status). I think I'd be cool with temp status, too--not too much extra work, but lucrative tournament money on occasion, plus the experience would be a Good Thing.
We'll see how it goes. But as of 8:30 this morning, my phone hasn't rung yet.
Since Monday morning, I've also been asked to deal a private tournament at the Rio the day after Sticky and I check out at the end of the Madness. It's my night off, so I told them I'd do it. And if the past few years have been any indication, I'm sure that I'll be needing the money at that point anyways. I also have another audition tomorrow afternoon with a casino that's part of the
Ahem...
I know it might be considered a dance with the devil according to most of my readers, but life is full of compromises, and I realize that there's not a poker equivalent of 6:5 blackjack. Of course, they could try and raise the rake, but the competition is too stiff to try anything like that. If anything, rakes are going down, not up. (I know this to be a fact, because I've been practicing a 10% rake for the past year, but on my audition we had to do a 5% rake on the no-limit games because that's what they're going to. Good news for no-limit cash players!). That was another point in my favor on the audition--most people stumble a bit with a 5% rake, but since I've been dealing Pai Gow for the last year, figuring 5% of the pot is second-nature to me.
Yes, figuring the rake, especially at 10% sounds simple, and it is, taken out of context. But controlling a 10-player game, counting the pot, and juggling all of the other plates involved in dealing a cash game adds a degree of difficulty to the equation. It's not as simple as it sounds when you're the one wearing the bow tie.
Anyhow, I'm going to do that other audition, and honestly I have no preference as to which job I'd be offered, if any. Both would be good ones. Even if neither one works out, it's still good experience to audition as often as possible. It only gets easier after the first one.
And having gotten that first one out of the way, I'm sure I'll be able to sleep just fine tonight.
Mikey
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