A Type Of Crack Called Blackjack
I don’t really
think about other people’s perceptions about Las Vegas locals. It
doesn’t come up until I have to travel somewhere. Whenever I meet
someone new the first question I’m asked is, “Where are you from?”
I’ll answer Las Vegas and the persons face will light up and
immediately the next question that comes out of their mouth is,
“What hotel do you live in?” It’s embarrassing to have to explain to
grown adults that Las Vegas locals live in houses; just like
everyone else. Next, they’ll ask, “What do you do for a living?”
I’ll reply, “I’m a dealer.” Again, the eyes will go wide and they’ll
say, “You’re a drug dealer?! What kind of drugs do you sell?”
By that point I won’t even
bother explaining. Once in a while, I’ll answer sarcastically, “I
sell a type of crack called blackjack…”
~Heather 2010
I used to work two
full-time jobs. I would deal blackjack at one casino on
swing shift
and then I would go to another casino and deal on the graveyard shift. It was horrible; I would only get 4 hours of sleep during the
day. I was dealing baccarat and I was so exhausted, I could feel my
head nodding and I was trying so hard to stay awake. I dealt the
hand and said, “Player has natural 9; banker has 7. Player wins.” I
leaned over and started taking the losing bets when I heard, “Wait!
Stop! What are you doing?” I opened my eyes and realized I had just
fallen asleep on the table. I just dreamed that I was dealing but
when I looked down I saw that I had actually dealt the hand. But I
didn’t see a 9 versus a 7, like in my dream, instead I saw 8 versus
8 which is a natural tie and nobody could have mistaken the tie for
a player win. But there I was picking up what I thought were the
losing bets (a “tie” basically means no one loses). I had already
picked up the bets from half of the table and I had no clue how much
each person had been playing individually. I had to call my floorman
over and try to explain to him why I was picking up banker bets when
I clearly had a tie sitting in front of me. It was incredibly
embarrassing having to explain to your boss that you fell asleep on
the job. Well, now I can truly say “I can deal baccarat in my sleep”
because I’ve actually done it.
~Heather 2004
As a dealer you are not
allowed to take anything out of a player’s hands. This is so dealers
can’t secretly hand the player a chip that was just stolen or
exchange anything. It’s part of game security and if the dealers
don’t follow protocol then the cameras will see us and we will get a
write up.
~Heather 2007
I was dealing 3 Card
Poker when a kid who looked no more than 16 comes up to the table
wanting to play. I ask for his I.D. and he just turned 21 the day
before. He sits down and acts like he knows how to play the game.
Well he starts folding
hand after hand
after hand.
folding happens
in 3 Card Poker but never that much folding. So the next hand he
folded I asked him if I could look at it. “Yea, sure, it’s crap. No
pair.” I flip over the cards and it’s a straight flush, the highest
hand you can get. I am so startled. “Why are you throwing away a
straight flush?” I asked. He looks unsure, “Well it’s not a pair. I
need a pair to win on Pairs Plus.” Luckily I hadn’t taken the money
yet, so I gave him back his cards and made him play it. He won $400
and left immediately after that hand. He was bright red when he
left.
~Heather 2004
When I first started dealing blackjack, I was in a break-in house trying to learn all of the games (other than blackjack). One day I was being shadowed on roulette and I had a hard time learning how to spin the ball. (You are supposed to snap your fingers with the ball in between the thumb and the middle finger.) I would snap the ball out of the wheel, over the table and across the floor. At the time, I was on a dead game practicing, when this really cute guy walked up to the table and asked to play. I stop practicing and start dealing to this guy. Anytime I‘m on a live game learning, I get so nervous I make plenty of mistakes and I fumble a lot. I got to the part where I had to spin the ball and my nerves got the best of me. I snapped the ball and it flew out of the wheel and across the table. That hunky guy was standing up against the table and the ball hit him right in the groin area. He turned red (probably cause it stun) and then I turned red. He looked over at me and said, “Oh, so that’s where you were looking.” I turned a brighter shade of red, mumbled something intangible to the dealer, clapped out and hid down in the locker room for the rest of my break.
~Heather 2004
