The Cold

Yep, it's cold outside, still... Last night at work, word around the campfire was that it's supposed to get down into the twenties again tonight, too. So I think I'll spend my night off indoors, bundled up in flannel and drinking hot coffee, sorta like I'm doing now. And my head cold is officially here--I was thinking I could kill it in the early stages, but it seems to have prevailed.

I mentioned in an earlier post that sleeping against the outside wall in my bedroom probably hastened my illness, prompting this response from a 'lurker':

Contrary to popular belief, being cold doesn't actually give you a cold. A cold is typically caused by a virus (What are rhinoviruses?) which is more likely to be transfered between people during the winter months when everyone is cooped up together inside.

Well, yeah, I knew that. I guess I what I meant, which everyone knows, is that the change in temperature makes your system much more susceptible to allowing a cold virus in to do it's dirty work. The only other person in the house is Rob, and we're far from being cooped up together. Besides, he's fairly clean, even for an Ohio State fan (and you *know* them people got cooties!). I think the germs come from all those nasty-assed people at the casino I have to deal with on a daily basis. As much as I'd like, I just can't escape from them.

Speaking of work, it was busier than hell again last night. But it wasn't "good busy", it's what we dealers call "flea busy". We were dealing to a bunch of full tables, but it wasn't the good action that we strive for. It was mostly a lot of our regular losers. Now, don't get me wrong--I dropped my fair share of tokes, well over $300 last night. But again, I'm one of the producers on my crew. We just have a bit of dead weight in the pit, that's all.

And the bosses are finally letting me off the hook as far as that god-awful Bonus Holdem game goes. It was on my string of four games (yes, we started the evening anticipating doing an hour and twenty minutes at each table--five dealers/four games instead of the regular four dealers/three games rotation). But by the time I'd gotten to my second blackjack table, they'd fixed the string so we only had to do an hour per table, and they took that game off my rotation, which was just fine with me. The downside was that I was then dealing two blackjack games and that $5 Flea-Gow game that *everybody* hates.

The funny thing is, most people just love to deal that Bonus Holdem game because 1) you get to sit down, 2) it's way off at the end of Chinatown, so the bosses don't hover around the table, and 3) it's an easy sucker game. Me? I just hate it--I think it has to do with the fact that I have a pretty low tolerance for stupid people (so tell me again, Why do I work in a casino?), and that game has such a high house edge that it just pains me to watch some of these people play it. Same thing goes for Let It Ride. It's such a dumb game where you have almost no shot of making any money unless you get spectacularly lucky. And sitting there watching people grind their money away is pretty lame. But what makes it worse is listening to them complain the whole time. Sometimes I want to say Duh! You're playing a game where the house holds over 20%! I guess the bottom line is that I just don't like to deal games that I would never play.

As far as that $5 Pai Gow game goes, it is the Apex of Suck in our casino. We got along just fine for years with nothing less than $10 Pai Gow games, but some genius, about a year ago, thought it would be a good idea to "introduce more players to the game" and they stuck these stupid "$5 Pai Gow -- Always Available" signs all over the casino. But that table doesn't introduce any new players to the game--it's the same six or eight losers every night sitting there grinding away, always complaining, always begging for comps, and never tipping. And when some random tourist sits down and takes up a seat and plays for $10 or $15 a hand, shutting one of them out, the bitching and moaning reaches a crescendo.

Why can't you just go play the other high limit tables? You're taking a seat away from the rest of us! blah blah blah...

Yep, those toads hover around the table all night, like vultures around a carcass, waiting for somebody to stand up, just so that they can get a seat. I swear, if I were in charge, the first thing to go would be the $5 Pai Gow game. Of course, at just five bucks a hand, it's damn near impossible to break somebody, which is the unwritten goal of every dealer on my shift as far as that table is concerned.

Although last night, I got one lady, but it took damn near six hours to do it. At the beginning of my shift, she took out a $500 marker, and by 1:00 am, we'd finally busted her. But damn, it took forever. I had the delicious honor of taking away her last five bucks when my two pair beat hers. I looked over my shoulder at the floor person, and she nodded and whispered Finally! Seriously though-- a $500 marker at a five dollar game, and you still lose every dime? Perhaps Pai Gow just isn't your game!

But here it is, Friday in Vegas, and I have the night off for the first time in over two years without having to take a vacation day to get it. And I'm sick--Talk about sorry luck! I was considering, earlier this week, spending the evening down at the MGM Grand poker room, padding my bankroll by showing the touristas how Mikey plays Hold-em, but now I just don't feel up to it.

Poker is not something you want to be doing if you're not feeling 100%. And I'm sitting on a good solid 70% today, which is just about good enough to stay in bed reading a book or something.

Mikey