It’s almost easier to get a more candid representation of someone’s perspective by conducting an interview that the other person does not know is being conducted. This Editorial is just going to be an example of where probing questions will get someone in terms of information and learning another person’s opinions and views on things.
The fact of the matter is that people like to feel important as well as listened to. The result of that is people tend to open up when the right set of questions is asked and the person doing the asking is showing a genuine interest. Hopefully, this Editorial will result in you enjoying the same insight that I enjoyed with respect to being a dealer at a low(ish) level semi-locals casino.
I typically don’t play table games in the brick-and-mortar setting very often, but there were some mispays recently taking place on an Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em game as well as some other sloppy dealer procedure (from the dealer in question, actually) that led to an advantageous game. It was for this reason, and also out of a legitimate interest, that I wanted to keep the dealer talking. By talking, of course, I mean distracted.
I decided to kill two birds with one stone and, unbeknownst to the dealer, set my cell phone to record and stuck it in a shirt pocket. (I was wearing a polo as opposed to a T-Shirt that day, you guys should be proud!) I would occasionally stand up and check the phone to see that it was still recording, or to save and start a new recording. Much of the conversation is somewhat muffled, and the audio files are borderline unlistenable, but given that I remember where we were at in the conversation at those times my memory is sufficient to piece the thing back together.
I shall not be naming the dealer or the casino as I have told others about the play in question and might even play that dealer myself in the future if I have nothing else to do. I will say that UTH is actually a fairly enjoyable game with an extremely low Element-of-Risk, (think of it as, ‘Relative House Edge,’ on a raising game where the odds against you are based on the entire amount you will bet on average). Therefore it doesn’t take very much in terms of errors for a player to have an advantage. I also don’t know if it was a legally recorded conversation in that state as I have not bothered to look that up, but it certainly is if I treat it as anonymous.
Due to the poor quality of audio (and sometimes nonexistent), much of this is going to be a paraphrase. More than anything, a few words here and there (mostly my questions) helped me remember where we were in the recording.
I hope all of you guys enjoy the conversation as much as I did…we’re going to call the dealer, ‘Mike,’ even though that is unequivocally not his first name:
Brandon James: It looks like this game replaced, ‘Let It Ride,’ which doesn’t have a table here anymore, did you deal that game?
Mike: Dealing that game was a punishment. They call it, ‘Let It Die,’ for a reason, you know. It’s just a slow boring one-sided game where the player doesn’t see many good hands. You just sit there and take the bet back, take the bet back, and occasionally start with a high pair. I hated dealing it.
Brandon James: I’ve heard that the tokes (dealer tips) on that game sucked, too.
Mike: Yeah, they did. The tokes here in general pretty much suck, so I’m glad you’re here. (NOTE: I was probably only playing a dead even game considering tipping, another reason I don’t usually play tables) I guess it doesn’t matter much considering the tips are pooled here, except poker dealers keep their own, but, you know, it’s still cool to feel like you’re getting tipped. It honestly just depends on the game and the customer, most people tip if they are winning and some only if they hit a great hand...you don’t win or hit many great hands on that game.
Brandon James: I always felt like it was a good one on one game with a dealer because of the slow pace. It’s a good game to sip a drink and relax. It’s true that you don’t win much, but just betting five bucks a spot, my experience is a $100 buy-in is essentially twenty base plays and it would take an hour to lose that if you ran awful.
Mike: Well, I guess so. I mean, players definitely sat there a long time on only a little bit of money. I had one guy sit there for my entire shift, and he was there before I started, on $100 once. I heard he was there for a couple hours after. He never got above $200 and he only bought in the one time. That’s probably another reason people hated it.
Brandon James: That’s why I loved it.
Mike: That makes one of us. Most people want to win or lose quickly; I know I do when I go to (Casino Name Omitted) and play. Seriously. The only people that seem to just want to sit at the table forever are some of the Blackjack players and not very many of them. Maybe Three-Card? (Three-Card Poker)
Brandon James: Lots of people playing the Pair Plus and the Six-Card Bonus on Three-Card Poker, it seems like.
Mike: Yeah, I guess they want to win or lose quickly on that game, too. I get players over there, when I do deal the game, they don’t even want to play the main game. They just sit there and bet the Pair Plus and the Six Card Bonus the whole time. I’ve been to casinos where they don’t allow just betting those, have to be playing the main game, but I say why the hell not? The casino still makes money on that, let them bet on whatever they want, I say.
Brandon James: Casinos don’t make sense, sometimes. Do you gamble a lot?
Mike: I wouldn’t say a lot, but I like to get out there and gamble. I like to see other dealers in action, sometimes. Even though tips are pooled, that means we all kind of have a responsibility to try to get tips for everyone. I go to other casinos and play and sometimes kind of see if anything those dealers are doing works for getting tips. That’s my excuse for the girlfriend, anyway.
Brandon James: Does she buy it?
Mike: She pretends to as long as I toss her a little money for slots.
Brandon James: Do you play this game in other casinos?
Mike: No, not this one. We played it when we got trained on it, so I think I am going to try it out sometime as long as it’s $5 minimums. Of course, a lot of people just played it stupid in training, just 4x betting every single hand for no reason. I don’t know exactly when you should 4x bet or 3x bet, or whatever, but I didn’t do it with 9-6 or anything stupid like that. I figured I might as well at least try to win.
Brandon James: (Mutters) You never three times bet.
Mike: Sorry, what was that?
Brandon James (Unable to Help Himself): You never 3x bet. If you’re ever raising before the flop it is because you have an advantage with your starting cards in that hand. As a result, you would never want to 3x bet when you can 4x bet because you are expected to win if you are betting at all. If you are expected to win, then you should bet as much as possible, 5x bet, 10x bet, if it was allowed.
Mike (Lights Turning On In His Eyes): Shit, that makes sense. You wouldn’t bet at all if you were probably going to lose, so you would bet as much as possible if you are probably going to win.
Brandon James: That’s right. I’m actually glad you get the concept, dealers are just as smart as anyone else in the general population, (Ironically said during a mispay!!!) but it seems that you are one of the few who wants to understand the game.
Mike: Well, you’re here, I’m here, what is there to do except bullshit? Nobody else at the table.
Brandon James: Not all dealers feel that way, either.
Mike: Yeah, well, I think of it almost like bartending. Like, how are you going to be a bartender if you don’t like to talk to people, right? I don’t see how you do it. Now, some people don’t want to be talked to and you can usually tell that. Players who are losing sure as shit don’t want to talk. But, if you have someone who wants to talk, what are you in the business for if you don’t want to talk to them?
Brandon James: I think it depends on what the casino is trying to project. Most of the casinos in this area, they want to talk. I think most people in this area are interested in other people and don’t mind to talk.
Mike: I guess so, except (Casino Name Omitted) I don’t know how they get toked anything at that place. They don’t ever talk to any of the players, at least not when I’ve played there. All they do is deal the cards, don’t say a word.
Brandon James: What do you play there?
Mike: Craps, Blackjack, Three-Card…
Brandon James: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Craps or Blackjack table not completely full, there. I’m not being serious, of course, but they are usually busy. It makes sense that the dealer might not have time to talk.
Mike: Well, yeah, but to me they’re not watching the action, either. Like, if you have some guy who is playing Blackjack and has been betting $5 the whole entire time and suddenly puts a $100 bet out there and wins, you say, ‘Congratulations.’ You do that and maybe he throws you a couple bucks or five. I mean, how do you not congratulate the guy? Obviously, if you know he’s down several hundred you don’t, but you know what I mean. ‘Nice hand,’ ‘Good timing,’ say something!
Brandon James: I’m with you there. There’s nothing that will get me away from a table faster than a dealer who is not engaged in the game. I’d rather shoot the breeze with you guys, but if you don’t want to do that, then at least be paying attention to the game!
Mike: I think so. I think that kind of thing makes a difference. Like I said, I really do watch other dealers and see if they are doing anything that I’m not that seems to be drawing some tips for them. I have actually picked up a few things that would surprise you.
Brandon James: Such as?
Mike: Well, for one thing, most people tend to tip if they’re winning. It really is tough to get any tips out of someone who is losing. One little trick I saw a Blackjack dealer do is, when a player would be down to only one or two bets and start to stand up, he’d say, “I’m sorry the cards didn’t break your way.” Like, actually apologize to the guy. You’d be surprised how often they just toss you the last few chips they have and tell you to keep them.
Brandon James: The mock sympathy card, Ace in the dealer’s sleeve!
Mike: It’s not even mock sympathy. I mean, I don’t like to see anyone lose. Why would I? They tip better when they are winning, don’t they, so what is my incentive to want to see someone lose? Some dealers do like to see people lose; some dealers hate the players. All of them. I hate certain types of players, I hate players that blame me for the cards, but like I said...if you don’t like people in general what are you doing here?
Brandon James: Everybody needs a job.
Mike: It’s not a hard job. It’s pretty automatic at a point. The payouts used to be tough, but now I just think of everything as chips instead of cash. That made it easier. I know if a player has two chips on this bet that some kind of win will get him eight chips, that sort of thing. I just think of everything as chips. It makes the numbers smaller.
Brandon James: Yeah, but there’s the question of how do people get into it if they fundamentally can’t stand other people. It’s not like you just walk in and now you’re a dealer.
Mike: No, you don’t. We have to take classes and everything like that, get licensed. I mean, yeah, I don’t know how they do it either. I’m not one of them (dealers who hate people). You have to do actual work and invest just to become a dealer. It’s not like you walk into Wal-Mart, or something, or a restaurant, fill out an application. Train in two and a half days. It takes work and you have to learn something that, to me, is not really like any other job I’ve had, at least.
Brandon James: Maybe they don’t hate people until they have already become a dealer. You see the worst of some people when they are losing, especially when they are drunk.
Mike: I don’t know. I mean, if you show me a dealer that says they like every player that has ever come to the table, I’ll show you a liar. I think a lot of the dealers that generally hate people already felt that way, I know most of those kind have had other customer service jobs that they have hated. We really do have a good time here, though. It really isn’t a bad place to work, we have some of the best benefits you’ll find in this area. Most of the dealers are okay with most of the people, the ones who aren’t generally don’t last long. We really do our best to have fun here, and this is one place where the shit doesn’t roll downhill too much. Maybe not everywhere is like that.
Brandon James: Why do you think the ones who hate it get into it? The ones who hate people. Do you think they want to see them lose?
Mike: I don’t know, I just think they don’t realize what it is. Most of the people come from other customer service jobs where they might not have to deal with some of the same stuff. There are issues in any service job, but how many do you have where someone can scream at you about them losing money, and it’s your fault, and you can’t kick them out? Most people that aren’t happy with the way things are going at a place want to leave, those people are the players most likely to stay, at least until their money is gone. The supes (supervisors) step in in the worst cases, but usually there’s nothing to do but sit and take it. You’re glad to see those guys lose. Unless they’re tipping. It doesn’t happen often, but I remember a guy once betting $50 per hand at Blackjack, cussing me out all the way, he’d have gotten talked to but he was the only one at the table anyhow...thing was, he was tipping me five bucks every time he’d win a hand! It’s happened before, not often, but never anything like five bucks a hand from a guy cussing you out. That’s crazy!
Brandon James: So, they don’t like dealing with customers, but they can hold it together well enough to tolerate them in other jobs? Sounds like me, I guess, depending on the job. It’s really different from place to place.
Mike: Every job is a different job. Every dealing job is a different job. Every table is a different table. I think you’re right, though. I think that they just tolerated it well enough at other places and then they thought that would carry over. I don’t think that people can get away with what they get away with in casinos at other places. Maybe bars. But, some bars a bartender will put you out or call the cops if you talk to someone the way some people do. Casinos, just a fact of life.
Brandon James: If you had to put a percentage on it, what percentage of players do you think are pricks?
Mike: What, like, complete pricks? Kind of pricks? Non-tippers? I don’t know what you mean by pricks, there are different categories of what is a prick.
Brandon James: I don’t know, all three. Let’s say a complete prick screams at you constantly and cusses you over the cards, or maybe just sits and gripes and irritates all the other players. Yeah. He doesn’t necessarily have to be directing it at you, just cussing and griping in general. Then, let’s say how many are just sort of pricks, you know, not communicative, arrogant, whatever...holier than thou types. Then, how many don’t tip.
Mike: Okay, let’s start with how many don’t tip, I guess. Like I said with Mr. Five Bucks a Win But Cuss You Out, if you’re tipping me, I can deal with almost anything. I can deal with almost anything, anyway, just because it’s my job.
I’m going to say that 70-80% don’t tip, but I’ll say something about that: This isn’t some big Las Vegas touristy resort place, so I think that has something to do with it. Of that 70-80%, you’re talking about people that might pull out a twenty and a five, lose that, leave the table. Of course that guy isn’t going to tip, he might have only played ten hands. I still try the, “Good luck, sorry the cards didn’t go your way,” thing. But you know those guys just aren’t going to tip if they lose...and they’ll probably lose. It is interesting, because those people seem to be the most generous if they hit something really big, like on a side bet, I kind of wish that would happen more often.
Now, talk about the people who are somewhat pricks. You said arrogant? I don’t know if that’s the word I would use. I would just chalk it up to people who don’t notice you at all, where it might as well be a robot dealing to them. You say something, and maybe they go, “HMMPH!” That’s probably about 15-20% of the people. I don’t really let them bother me at all, some of them even tip, some other people (dealers) let them bother them, but I don’t know why. Just deal the cards, don’t talk to them, especially if you’re a guy dealer. If you’re a chick, then sometimes you can break down that wall.
When you talk about total pricks, cussing out loud about everything, maybe cussing me or yelling at me...probably 5% or so. You would expect that it is mostly drunks and it is. Not always. Mostly. Like I said, you’ll get that one every once in awhile that actually tips, though! You know, I think more of them tip than the silent ones. I think the silent ones tip the least. Maybe the yellers tip out of guilt when they win, I don’t know. Maybe the game is just a way they get to take their frustrations out on someone and they don’t even really care that they’re losing.
Now, you think that five percent sounds okay, but think about it and that’s probably one or two people every single shift. How many jobs have you had to deal with more than one person yelling and cussing for fifteen minutes to an hour or more every single shift? It’s almost always at least one per shift, maybe not the graveyard, but that’s because there’s nobody here.
Brandon James: What’s the worst game for it?
Mike: It has to be Blackjack!!! I don’t know what it is, but that game just has the worst natural relationship between player and dealer. Like, the players are playing against my hand on this game, but they don’t seem to care about that. Someone with inside aces gets beat by me holding crap like an eight and a four and they usually just laugh it off. Sometimes not really laughing, but you know. You laughed it off, except you were really laughing, that’s why I used that hand. You sounded like you were really laughing, sorry if you weren’t.
Brandon James: No, I was. If you play enough hands, and it doesn’t take very many, you will see a strong starting hand, or even final hand, lose to something like that. It’s just part of the game. I was laughing at myself and how the human mind works more than anything. You see inside aces and you just automatically figure it’s in the bag, but it’s not, of course. You hit two pair that hand, I finished with a pair of aces and a four to a nut flush. Aces are supposed to win, but only a certain percentage of the time in the long run, people forget that...I guess they don’t think about it in the first place sometimes.
I ramble, though. What about Three-Card? You play that against the dealer.
Mike: (After some thought)...Sometimes. If I said that 80% of players also play Pair Plus and or the Six Card Bonus, that’s probably not high enough. I think 80% play both those things, and probably the Progressive, too. I think 90% play both or one or the other. I think that many of the players, even playing the regular game, don’t actually really care about the regular game at all.
The other thing is, other than some Blackjack guys, but we have so many Blackjack tables, I see the most regulars on Three-Card. Even the customers who kind of started out as pricks warm up to you eventually. You really can’t be a prick forever, can you? Not when you are seeing someone for the tenth time. I mean, it would be tough for me to be a prick to someone for no reason at all, but after seeing them once a week for ten weeks? Come on!
The only time you really see players get pissed is when they have Pairs, aren’t betting Pair Plus (or sometimes if they are) and they are losing to better pairs, straights, flushes, whatever. I feel bad about that, but of course you have to play pairs! I dealt some guy pairs five hands in a row, beat him every single time, either a better pair or something else. After that, I dealt him a flush, beat him with a better flush. The Pair Plus kind of made that not so bad for him, and he didn’t say anything, but you could tell he was extremely pissed inside.
It is mostly Blackjack, though. It’s just something about that game that people seem to take personally, like I control the cards. I don’t even control the decisions that I make on the game, the casino tells me when I am supposed to hit and stand. I’m almost more a robot on that game than something like this one, I’m glad I’m not on it anymore, I used to dream about dealing Blackjack it got so bad. If you put cards in front of me I’d probably deal them out in my sleep, at one point. It’s that automatic. Everything about it. At least with this I actually have to kind of look at the cards to see who won.
Brandon James (Thinks to Himself): And you’re not always doing that right…
I think Blackjack is tough because a lot of players want advice, but they probably do sometimes on this game, too, right?
Mike: Unless it’s obvious, like a high inside pair before the flop, I just say, ‘I would probably be telling you the wrong thing, I just deal the game, I don’t know how to play it.’ That’s basically true, except for really obvious stuff. I’ll only say what to do on this game if it should be stupid obvious in the first place. I probably would give the wrong play a lot of the time.
Mostly new players want advice on Blackjack. It’s kind of funny, because you have so many people who are very obviously playing wrong but they are positive they know what they are doing. Other people aren’t sure. I memorized a strategy chart from some website when I was in dealer school, but it’s probably not 100% right because the rules are different. It was for only doubling on ten and eleven, for example. You can double on nine, but I don’t know when you should. You couldn’t double on nine, the chart I looked at.
Brandon James: So, what do you tell people?
Mike: I’m a little more confident in knowing what to do at Blackjack. I can usually tell people what to do because I consider most of it obvious. When I don’t, I say, ‘This might be wrong, but I can tell you I would do whatever.’ I probably know what to do 95% of the time or more.
Brandon James: Now, you play sometimes, you said. Does it give you an appreciation for things on this side of the table? I’ve talked to some dealers who have literally never played table games for actual money.
Mike: I mean, I could understand where you wouldn’t want to lose money, but I think you should do it once in awhile to know what it’s like as a player. Not that you should lose money, but that you should actually gamble in the environment. I like to play, sometimes, but I’ve also learned a few things like I said before. I mean, you get annoyed when you get beat five or six hands in a row, so I can...what’s that...an, ‘E,’ word…
Brandon James: Empathize?
Mike: Yeah, that one. Nice. You can empathize with them. It is annoying, and I don’t think that people who have never bought in for $100 on something like Three-Card and lost $50 of it in the first six hands, or whatever, would really understand what that feels like. Playing Craps is another one, but I don’t deal Craps. But, playing Craps, you get six points in a row on a table and they all get missed and you have odds out and six and eight bets for six bucks each...UGH!!! Six seven-outs in a row. It’s terrible.
Brandon James: Have you learned anything from other dealers how to handle that?
Mike: No, because there is nothing you can do. All you can do is stand there and shake your head, and you have the occasional player looking at you like he expects something from you. Like you can say or do something. There’s nothing you can do about it. You just shake your head. You really don’t want to speak there. If they say, ‘That’s crazy,’ you just nod. I’ve seen a few people go from zero to psychotic just because you agree with them that it’s crazy, best thing is to just nod.
Sometimes, you have someone who laughs it off, but that person is just playing for fun, anyway. You always appreciate those people, though, because that makes your job easier. You still don’t want to say anything; it’s weird because it’s a tense situation, but you stand there and shake your head and at least you know the laughing guy isn’t going to blow up.
I once saw a stick say, “Okay, let’s get this going back the other way,” and some guy betting green chips with odds laid the Hell into him! I don’t deal Craps, but if I was a stick, I wouldn’t say anything in that situation. That’s just me. Definitely not after seeing that. The guy was yelling, “Do you think this is a bleeping game!?” It was kind of funny, because the guy eventually left the table and the stick looked at the dealer and said, “This is a game, right? Like, I’m pretty sure this is actually a game, isn’t it?” I had to laugh at that.
Brandon James: Craps is probably my favorite game, but man does people get jacked on it when they are losing. I can’t say that it is worse than Blackjack because I avoid Blackjack as much as I can, so I wouldn’t know, but I have seen some livid people at the Craps table. That’s why I play it alone whenever I can, if I join a table, you can bet there was nobody there when I went up to it.
Mike: Yeah, that’s my experience, too. I mean, I’ve never dealt it, but from playing it, I would say that people get the second most angry on that with Blackjack being first. I’m not sure what would be third, I guess probably Roulette. The only reason I say Roulette is not because a ton of people gets pissed about it, but because most of the people that do get pissed think we are cheating.
It’s like, people usually tip more when they are winning. I can’t cheat at Roulette, but if I could cheat, it would probably be to benefit you. What benefits you benefits me. Unless the guy’s a prick, then I guess I could see where I would try to make him lose.
Brandon James: Is Roulette a fun game to deal?
Mike: I thought you said you aren’t drinking.
Brandon James: No, of course not, I drove here.
Mike: (Laughing) Of course Roulette is not a fun game to deal. Ever since they put that video thing in here there is almost nobody on it. Also, the tokes suck in that game, too. You’d think they’d be good, but nine out of ten players just bet one or two spins for a bunch and leave win or lose. You spend more time converting chips back and forth from Roulette chips than you do actually dealing the game.
That and the math was a pain, at first. That’s until I started to think of all of the pays as chips rather than cash. That really does make it easier, if you ever become a dealer.
Brandon James: Thanks for the tip. I hope you don’t mind talking about all of this stuff, I know I’m asking a lot of questions.
Mike: What else am I doing?
Brandon James: That’s the spirit! Here’s a question, would you rather have tokes handed in or bet on your behalf?
Mike: It really depends on the game. I don’t deal Craps, but if I did, I think I’d want the players to bet for us on that game. Craps is really one of the only games with the chance of being a lot of fun from both sides of the table. That’s especially true, I would think if you have players who are making a bunch of bets for the crew. The dealers here seem to agree, they like to see some bets. I’ve asked them about it; they like bets the best...most of them.
On other games, I’d rather just see direct hand-ins. I kind of liked seeing bets on Blackjack, except they’d end up with something like an eleven against a six and would double, but not double the dealer bet. That was annoying only because why place the bet for us in the first place if you’re not going to play it right, but I can understand if the intention was only to tip a dollar. It’s just, if you’re not going to play the thing right, then just tip the dollar and be done with it.
I didn’t like dealer bets on Let It Ride at all when I dealt that, and I don’t like them on Mississippi Stud. The reason why is just because the player doesn’t win that many hands. I understand that the crew can potentially win a good bit on one hand, but that all gets divided up anyway, on those kinds of games I’d rather have the guaranteed money. Everyone feels differently about those games. Some like the bets.
Brandon James: What about Roulette? Like, I know the chips are all the same, but the player says, “This is for you?”
Mike: I’d rather just have the hand in on Roulette because the house makes so much on the game, percentage-wise. Even I know that.
Brandon James: Any other games?
Mike: I haven’t dealt any other games, Pai-Gow Poker, I guess, but that was forever ago. The cool thing about that game was we didn’t have to take a percentage out of a player bet for us. I mean, you couldn’t really take five cents out of a dollar, anyway.
Brandon James: That game pushed a lot, couldn’t you technically take the toke as a hand-in on a push?
Mike: I don’t know why you would. I guess you could look at it that way. I just figure it is the player’s choice, at that time, and they almost always just left it out for the next hand.
Brandon James: What was your preference on that game?
Mike: Um...I didn’t deal it very long before we got rid of it. I guess I didn’t really care on that game. It seemed like the player won almost have the time, except pushes, anyway. No, I don’t really care.
Brandon James: Are players allowed to bet the big Royal Flush Progressive things for you guys?
Mike: Like the Six Card Bonus?
Brandon James: No, the big Progressives. The light up deals.
Mike: Oh, the progressive progressives. No, and I’m glad they can’t.
Brandon James: Really?
Mike: I’ve never dealt a Royal and I don’t think I ever will. That dollar is a donation about 90% of the time, and the other ten percent, it really doesn’t win that much. It wins you about a few bets on the (main) game.
Brandon James: You could win tens of thousands of dollars.
Mike: I could become a movie star, a lot of things could happen.
Besides that, I think it probably has something to do with a win where there could be taxes. That’s why the players can’t place a Fire Bet for the crew on Craps here, don’t deal it, but I do know that much. I think it’s because it would be the player placing the bet that you don’t want a situation where the player has to pay taxes on the toke bet. They would have to pay taxes, and then you kind of wonder if we should get the whole thing anyway and the player still pays taxes on it.
I’m 100% sure that is why they cannot make a dealer Fire Bet on Craps, and I’m 99% sure that is why they can’t play the Progressives for the dealer. I would just want them to do it on some even money thing usually, anyway, or some Place Bet on Craps...something like that. I don’t want the long shot things because they never happen and the player still feels as though it’s the same toke.
If I want to gamble, I’ll go gamble. Sometimes I do gamble. But, when I’m dealing, I need money on my paycheck. I wouldn’t want any of the tokes to be bet on any kind of long shot thing. That’s why I hear, “Two Way ‘Yo,” when I’m playing Craps and gag, sometimes that is the only toking that people do is the Two Way ‘Yo. I bet you if everyone tipped that way that a Craps Table could go an entire shift without ever locking anything up.
Brandon James: That would be annoying.
Mike: Yeah. I’m just speaking for myself, of course. Maybe some of the crew love the Two Way ‘Yo, maybe some of them would like to get on a Fire Bet for the crew. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t because I would rather see some of these toke bets actually win a good bit of the time. It’s like anything else gambling; it’s more fun if you’re winning.
Brandon James: A lock up is always a win.
Mike: Right, but I think it’s a little different on Craps. Everybody is cheering on Craps when things are going well. I think it just makes it more fun for the crew to go along for the ride.
Brandon James: Fair enough. Do you think you’ll ever go to Vegas?
Mike: I mean, I’ve been there a few times.
Brandon James: I meant to deal.
Mike: I don’t know, I’ve thought about it. I think you always think about it just because it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m a casino dealer and going to Vegas is the thing to do, right?’ Like you want to make it to Hollywood and make movies if you’re an actor. But, then I think, why do I want to go to Vegas just to go to Vegas?
Anyway, I like to visit Vegas. For me, personally, I just really don’t see any reason that I would want to live there. Everything that I like about it I like as a visitor.
Brandon James: What about other markets? Atlantic City? Biloxi? That sort of thing.
Mike: I guess the question is whether dealing is a career for me or a job, right? Like, I’m here and this is the only place I’ve worked as a dealer. I could see going somewhere else local and then it’s still a job, not really a career. If I go to the lengths of actually moving somewhere far away to do it, though, I think it becomes a career at that point.
It’s like anything else, you have good days and you have bad days. I don’t think I could commit myself to doing this for the rest of my life, and even though you’re not doing that just by moving, it’s like, ‘What are my other prospects?’ I mean, if I want to go to school to do something else, I can do that here just as easily as anywhere else. I make enough money to make bills. I just don’t know that this is something I could commit myself to to that extent.
There’s really not much around here that is as good a job as this, other than physical labor, not when you take into account the benefits. The physical labor jobs you’re laid off half of the time. It’s just a really good job for this area, but I’m (Age Omitted) so it’s not like I don’t have time to do something else, go to school again. I didn’t finish college last time. I’ve thought about getting into carpentry. I’ve thought about a lot of stuff.
Anyway, if you’re a dealer in Vegas at least, I think it is because you are at least prepared to maybe do that the rest of your life. I’m not. I’m happy with it right now, but it’s going to get boring before too long. It has been boring. There are a lot of boring days. Even the big tips don’t get you excited when you know they are just getting split fifty ways, or whatever.
Brandon James: Would you rather keep your own tips?
Mike: Dude, that’s actually a really good question. I’ve thought about that a lot, and I don’t think so, but that’s just because steady bills need steady money, right? I mean, if I was single and just lived in some small apartment for a few hundred a month, then yeah, the occasional huge check that I could just go and completely piss away would be great. But, you know, I’ve got bills and those bills need a certain amount of money every month to stay paid.
Brandon James: Yeah, we do tend to live on the edge of our means, don’t we?
Mike: That’s it, and that’s the thing about it. If I have the hours, same hours, the paychecks are usually within no more than fifty bucks of each other. It’s usually tighter than that, maybe $20 or so dollars here or there different. The seasons can be different, Summer is the best, but what I mean is this week compared to next week. I’d be surprised if one week is $50 more than the other. You know how to prepare for the slow season, of course.
It’s all good as far as I’m concerned. It’s actually a pretty steady paycheck and you usually know what kind of money you can expect, so that’s not even that bad. The fluctuation isn’t even that bad. Besides, these guys will usually work with you a little bit if you need to pick up something part-time for a little bit. It really is a pretty decent company, in my view.
Brandon James: Do you think we’ll see 6:5 Blackjack here?
Mike: (Laughs) I don’t know why they haven’t done it yet. I mean, we had that $1.00 Blackjack with a $5.00 max and a quarter ante and people played that, so why the hell not? Most of the people who played that only bet the buck, so there you go, paying twenty-five percent of their total bet just for the right to play the game. If someone is going to play that, is there anything the guy won’t play? I heard about 6:5 Blackjack in Vegas and thought that it was nuts, it’s nuts because (to me) I think you just pay Even Money, except the player always wins on a Natural.
People hate pushing those Naturals. I think that most people would actually like that rule even if the game paid even money. You always win on a natural. Should I pitch that?
Brandon James: For the benefit of everyone who plays Blackjack, please don’t, unless you are going to remove the even money stipulation.
Mike: (Laughing) People would play it. You know, we got that half electronic table where that $1.00 game used to be. Maybe it was $2.00. I didn’t actually deal it, but people did play it. I think that game would have probably stayed there, except some of the griping I heard about it was that the players were annoyed at the $5.00 maximum. Like, they’d win three hands in a row and want to let it ride, paying a quarter every time, of course, and they couldn’t let it ride more than three times. That’s what annoyed them.
If you have a game where the rules aren’t that great and you’re charging a quarter per hand no matter what, then let people bet whatever the hell they want to, I say. Maybe the rules were really good, I don’t know. If they were, just make the rules not that good. I just don’t get why you would have a $5.00 Maximum on a game where the player has to ante a quarter anyway. That would be two and a half percent of ten bucks, even, right?
Brandon James: And 1.25% of $20. That’s right. I actually agree with you, I don’t know if they were afraid of counters, or what, but counters aren’t going to eat that quarter ante, I can guarantee you that much. I mean, if you are eating a quarter on a $50 bet, and I’m not even talking about the ante, some people consider that not an acceptable game.
Mike: I don’t know. I don’t know why anyone plays Blackjack, really. I don’t know why I play it.
Brandon James: Lowest house edge in the casino, except odds on Craps, so why do you say that?
Mike: I think that of all the games that I have dealt or watched people play, or played myself, Blackjack is the one where the most players lose whatever they buy in for. Maybe Mississippi Stud, but that’s not because they sit there forever, it’s because they didn’t buy in for that much. I’ve seen people buy-in for $400 on Blackjack, and they’re betting $10 a hand, or what have you, and they just sit there until they lose it all.
It’s like the inevitable losing game. I mean, it takes forever, but they almost all lose. I don’t know if the people think you’re going to buy into a Blackjack table for $100 and then you’re going to come out of it with a thousand bucks, or what. That’s not how Blackjack works. If you’re betting five bucks a hand, I think you might double your hundred bucks, maybe even triple it, and that’s only if things go really well for you.
Brandon James: People tend to lose slowly, and often stick to the bet levels.
Mike: Yeah, that too! That’s how I guess it’s so easy to tell counters, but I don’t think anybody really counts here. Very few, if any. Most players will buy-in for $100, bet $5 or $10 a hand, lose it, buy-in for another $100. Rinse and repeat.
They keep going, even though I will never understand why. It almost doesn’t make any sense. I mean, I’ll lose $100 betting $5, but I’m not going to continue to pull hundred after hundred after hundred. You have some player who’s done five hundred bucks, and there he goes pulling out another hundred and betting five bucks at a time! It makes no sense. You’re not coming back from that on Blackjack betting that way. Sometimes, you’ll see a guy actually toss out a hundred dollar bet, he’s down $500. He wins, right? He wins and it is right back to five bucks a hand. Ten bucks a hand. Whatever. You’re never going to come out ahead like that.
Brandon James: I definitely agree with you on that. I mean, there has to be something. I can hit something good on this blind bet on this game. I can bet 4x and I’m getting paid at least $25 if you qualify and win depending on what the blind does. $20 if you don’t qualify. You definitely need to have the opportunity to do that. I guess you have your ideal dream Split-Split-Split, Double-Double-Double-Double scenario there, but that comes up once every never, and sometimes you end up losing anyway.
Mike: That’ll get a guy mad, from what we talked about earlier. But, yeah, if you want to stretch out $100, then I think Blackjack is a good game to play for the same minimum bets if it is the same as anything else. I think it’s a terrible game to play if you actually want to walk away from the table with some money, because almost nobody ever does. I think the only time anyone does is if they have been there for hours, have somewhere to go, or if the ball-and-chain drags them away.
Brandon James: What’s the longest you have seen someone play Blackjack, or anything?
Mike: No, it’s definitely Blackjack. I worked middle shift one day, there was a player who I was told had been there since the morning. He was there when I came in the next day, same table, and he left after about another hour. They said he was gone for about an hour maybe twice during that time, but to me, that still counts. I guess about thirty hours and he was gone for a total of two hours during that time..
Brandon James: How’d he do?
Mike: Don’t know.
Brandon James: He played for a session that long and you guys didn’t discuss how he was doing?
Mike: I mean, we don’t really have a reason to care about that. If anybody was talking about anything it was like, ‘That guy needs to get some sleep. How is that guy still awake?” That sort of thing. I don’t think anybody was paying attention to how much he was losing, or anything like that. After that much time at the table, he almost definitely lost some money. I can’t see how you would come out ahead. He was also making some mistakes.
Brandon James: If I played Blackjack for the majority of thirty hours, I think just about every second play would be a mistake.
Mike: No, I mean, he was alert the whole time. He made some mistakes, but it was always the same mistakes every time. He played consistently, just that he made mistakes. The biggest one was he said he doesn’t believe in Surrendering and he was at a table where you could Surrender...so there you go.
Brandon James: What’s your favorite game to deal?
Mike: Um...that’s tough. I hate Blackjack, I know that, but that’s just because of how automatic it is at this point. I do everything I can to turn off my brain on that game, but then that probably isn’t good because I’m not really talking to the players who want to talk. I begged to get taken off of that unless they really need a body on it. I’ll do it if I get called in or something, it’s not that bad once in awhile.
I like this game (Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em) right now, but that’s probably just because it’s new so I haven’t had the chance to get good and burnt out on it yet. After I get burnt out on this...I don’t know. My favorite game to play is probably Craps, but I don’t deal that.
It’s hard to say, I don’t really have a favorite. I guess either this or Three-Card Poker. I don’t like Mississippi Stud as much, it’s tough to watch people chase hands and constantly lose. I don’t think people always expect that when they sit down at that game.
Brandon James: Hey, going back to tips, do you think you could do poker and keep your own? I imagine that’s a bit more steady.
Mike: I don’t know, I’ve never dealt it and never trained on it. I don’t know how you should go about interacting with players on it. Would you say, ‘Nice hand,’ to one of them? How could you congratulate anyone, except on the bad beat jackpot or something? Every time you say something positive to one player it seems like a negative to another. I don’t know. I guess they train you on that kind of thing.
I still like the idea of pooling the tips better, though. Having your paycheck maybe be wicked up or wicked down from week to week might sound fun until it actually happens. Until you need some amount for bills by Friday, you get your check Thursday and you only made half of what you need. Now you have to decide what’s getting shut off.
Brandon James: What’s the biggest single tip you’ve ever seen?
Mike: Would you believe me if I said a thousand?
Brandon James: I’m not sure.
Mike: Well, I’m going to say a thousand, then. That isn’t really true because you said, ‘Tip,’ but there was one guy I’m pretty sure tipped a total of a thousand on Mississippi Stud over one of my shifts when I was dealing that.
Brandon James: I bet you wished you kept your own that day!
Mike: Yeah, but that’s the only day that I ever really wished that.
Brandon James: How much was he betting?
Mike: $25 a hand was his starting bet. He ran really well, though. Anytime he got to lay out the full raises he would end up tipping $25. He only had green chips in front of him, until we had to break out the blacks for him. He didn’t even really hit any really huge hands, not like he had quads or anything, he just kept getting consistent high or medium inside pairs. Turning them into Trips, Two Pair, he might have had one Full House.
But, you talk about Tens or Better and I don’t even know. It was like he was starting with Tens or Better every third or fourth hand there for about an hour before it slowed down a little. It was insane, Tens or Better every third or fourth hand. He followed a pair of tens up with a pair of jacks than a pair of kings at one point. It was insane!!!
Brandon James: Blah. I’m cheap in comparison. (Even though I was at an advantage, slightly, I was betting the minimum $5 base bets):
Mike: No, you’re cool. You definitely tip better than most, that’s for sure. (He thanked me with every tip the whole time, for the record) I would rather have you here than nobody even if you weren’t tipping. That’s actually a good compliment because baseball is on.
Brandon James: Would you like sports betting to be legal? Get some action down on baseball?
Mike: Um...it should be legal but I don’t want it to be. I’ll probably end up losing all of my money betting on baseball and football games.
Brandon James: Would they let you bet since you work here?
Mike: Probably not. But, I’d probably drive to (Name of Casino Omitted) or (Name of Casino Omitted) to make some bets. I think I’d do okay betting on baseball, but my checking account would probably tell a different story after a few months.
Brandon James: You could always become a tout!
Mike: Yeah...I don’t know how those work, I just know that they are a scam.
Brandon James: That’s really all you need to know about them.
Mike: I imagine. You’re probably bored to tears, I feel like I’ve been talking a lot.
Brandon James. Not bored at all. (Standing up and tossing in another nickel) Looks like I get to finish ahead a decent bit, have a good day!
_______
Given the errors, both procedural and hand reading, I was probably at a pretty slight advantage that it would take a lot to be able to quantify. I have no desire to, but I will definitely play the game recreationally again if I can do it under those conditions, (with mistakes) though I’m not going to, ‘Hammer it,’ because I don’t feel like I have the bankroll to make it a meaningful hourly profit. At least, if I did try to do that, it would only be at substantially high risk.
With that, I told a few select people about the location and the name of the dealer provided they promise not to ever reveal the dealer’s name in the comments here or anything.
If the conversation seems long, it’s because I basically played that guy’s entire shift. That guy might also not actually be a guy, but I’m not saying. In addition to the slight advantage that I very firmly believe I was playing at, I think I also ran pretty well. I didn’t hit anything huge for the, ‘Blind,’ pays, but it seems like most of my strong hole cards (4x bets) were holding up.
I mean, most of them should, of course. My point is that, during that limited sample size. More of them were holding up than one might, ‘Expect.’
It’s both a fun game and what seems like a difficult game to deal. If you are interested in trying that game out, then I recommend you familiarize yourself with concepts such as hole-carding and perhaps edge-sorting. Edge sorting wasn’t going to be viable in this case because the dealer turned half of the cards prior to putting them in the shuffler, I also didn’t identify any problems with the deck I could exploit...I’ve also literally never attempted to edge sort.
In terms of procedural errors, sometimes the dealer will misread a hand and occasionally pay you on a hand that you have lost. We’re going to discuss that happening in an Editorial also coming out this week.
Another error the dealer may sometimes make is paying you (the player) on the, ‘Ante,’ bet even if the dealer does not have a qualifying hand. That alone is not enough to yield an advantage for the player. But in conjunction with the occasional misreading of hands (which is mainly what I was doing, and catching the occasional hole card) the result can be a pretty thin advantage that most table players (those betting more than me) would consider solid.
When it comes to playing the game UTH on a recreational basis, I would also suggest that it is up there as being as fun as any table game and comes with an insanely low element of risk. The game is arguably easier than Blackjack when it comes to Basic Strategy for each and an easy to understand strategy (and chart) is freely available on Wizard of Odds site.
I certainly hope that you enjoyed reading my little chat with the dealer and that it served to somewhat humanize and explain the guys on the other side of the table. Thanks, as always, for reading, and hopefully we’ll get some comments!
