If you live in the Chicago area, you may have heard that Harrah's Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana, is undergoing a huge expansion. They're looking for an additional 200 table games dealers for when the new boat opens in the next few months.

So yours truly applied for a job with them...

...and got it!

I've officially been hired into the Horseshoe Hammond's dealer school! I'll be learning how to deal blackjack and craps. They also told me that they hoped I would go on to learn roulette and the "carnival games" as well. I go in for a preliminary orientation tomorrow (Tuesday, May 20), but things don't really ramp up until June 2nd.

Their new boat is called MOAB, for "Mother of All Boats". Boy, is that an appropriate name. The total facility is 350,000 square feet, of which 108,000 is actual gambling space. That's about the same size as the casino floor space of Bellagio.

The folks from Harrah's said that MOAB has a "soft opening" planned for July 21st, with the Grand Opening on August 8, 2008. (That's 8-8-08. 8 being a lucky number in Asian cultures, the shuttlebus to Chinatown will be working overtime.)

Take care,

Tim

WTG Tim. Did you tell them you knew the difference between reality, science, and a paradox?

All Righty then!

Keep us in the loop as to how your new carreir goes! It sounds exciting, and I'm looking forward to hearing about your first day. I'm guessing your going to see some things in a different light after all of this!

Best of luck!!!!!

Very cool!
We have a friend that retired, and then went to "dealers school". He loved his second career, hope you do too!

I appreciate the encouragement, guys. Today wasn't any big deal. We all went up to the Horseshoe, filled out a boatload of paperwork (W-4's, etc.), and then drove off to a nearby hospital for a drug test. It was the kind of drug test where they collect a pretty substantial hair sample. It was all "hurry up and wait" since the testing clinic probably wasn't expecting 50-odd people to show up one after the other, so we sat in the waiting room for 90 minutes watching Regis and Maury (could have been worse, at least it wasn't The View). So far, all I have to show for my working experience with Harrah's is writer's cramp and a bald spot.

They should call me back tomorrow or Thursday to arrange a time for me to get "badged". I'll keep you up to date as things progress.

Take care,

Tim

Tim - since I live in Chicago, I'll have to check out the new MOAB when it opens. I rarely do the local casinos but I just might check this out. I'm surprised to learn how big the casino will be.

I'm looking forward to hearing about your training. One of my exDMs went to dealer school and then to work at a tribal casino - he totally loved the job. Hope you do also!

I checked in with Horseshoe Hammond about my budding employment with them and all is well and good. I start a five-day orientation period (!) on Monday, June 2, and begin dealer school in earnest on the 9th. Fortunately, it looks like I was able to get into the 8am-4pm class instead of the graveyard 10pm-6am session.

Take care,

Tim

I'm waiting to hear how they teach you to draw 21 (with 6 cards) to my pat 20 hand...all the friggen time! LOL

I wonder that myself. Like you, I'm also sure that the lessons will confirm my suspicions from my experience as a player: The more times a player has split and/or doubled down on a hand, the more likely the dealer is to make his 21! I also would like to learn how to deal a 2 when someone doubles down on 11 against my upcard of 10.

Take care,

Tim

I must have done something right because Orientation Week is over and I still have a job!

Going into this, I was really wondering how on earth they could possibly take a week. My experience with workplace "orientations" has always been something like "Welcome to XYZ, Tim. Here's the lunch room, here's the bathroom, here's your boss Howard. Do what he tells you. Orientation is now over." Now that I'm through it, I can easily see how it could have taken two weeks! The trainers, Dino and Dawn, said they normally do a two week orientation that usually involves homework and the new hires doing a presentation, capped off by a "graduation" ceremony. Since they're looking to get us ready to work on the new boat when it opens in 6 weeks, however, they cut things back a bit. Looks like I dodged a bullet there.

Orientation began Monday morning in the upstairs ballroom of the Hammond Marina, which is right next door to the MOAB. They gave us a binder and an employee handbook, and showed us one PowerPoint presentation after another, interspersed with team-building games to test our retention of what they had shown us. This would be a pretty standard pattern throughout the week. Unfortunately, the air conditioner was on the fritz for most of the time, so the temperature in the ballroom was usually in the high 80's with high humidity. Ugh. The gory details of the week follow for all who dare to read:

On the first day, we learned about the history of Harrah's, and the differences between their Harrah's, Horseshoe, and Caesar's brands. They also discussed the Total Rewards program and the World Series of Poker. Once the new boat opens, it will have a sizable poker room, and they're looking to host a WSOP event here at Horseshoe at some point. We also discussed some "inside baseball" stuff like the corporate mission statement, etc. We broke for a lunch of cold cuts and pasta salad brought in from the employee dining room, and then filled out a boatload of paperwork. When we returned from lunch, we did anti-harassment and diversity training, and then finished up with a brief overview of employee rules and regulations.

On the morning of the second day, we went over more inside baseball, with an emphasis on how the company will inspire us and motivate us to do our jobs well. They reminded us that we now work in the entertainment industry, and said that some of these daily activities are to get you in an energetic and upbeat state of mind before going out to interact with customers. They then bussed us over to the local branch of the Indiana Gaming Commission, where we all got our Horseshoe badges. After each of us got badged, we went to the Seven Stars Lounge to kick back until everyone else was finished (sweet!) As luck would have it, I was one of the last ones to get badged, so I spent about 75 minutes in a tight, sweltering hallway with about 20 other people, and about 75 seconds in the lounge. Oh, well.

When we went back to the marina we had a surprisingly good lunch of stuffed peppers, mashed potatoes, and a mix of peas and carrots. More goodness from the employee dining room. I've got to check this place out! After lunch we had our safety and security lecture from security chief Larry, who came across as stern and as tough as nails, but still likable. I'm glad he's on our side. He covered every situation from reporting instances where someone could trip over exposed cables, to fires, hostage situations, and a Columbine-style shooting situation. He repeatedly emphasized the need to know the names of the captain of the ship and his immediate subordinates in the event of a surprise Coast Guard inspection. Someone asked him why the boat that never goes anywhere needs a captain. Larry simply said,"Because the Coast Guard says we have to have one." After his lecture, Larry had us fill out a second boatload of paperwork.

Wednesday was department-specific training; Table Games, in my case. All of us would-be blackjack dealers went over to the double-wide trailer that is currently serving as the dealer school during MOAB construction. From this trailer, we were taken on a quick tour of the main gambling facility. The supervisor conceded that most of us wouldn't finish training until after the new boat opens, so a totally new tour will be required in 6-8 weeks. Our red student-dealer badges, though, do not give us clearance to go into the "back of the house", nor do they allow us to be on the casino floor. We need to wait until we get our black badges for that. Needless to say, with 90% of the property effectively off-limits to us, it was a short tour. After the tour, we went back to the trailer and watched a video on Title 31, which deals with the laws regarding the reporting of large cash transactions. We took a mandatory test on it for the IGC, and I got a perfect score! Woohoo! This was a shorter day, so no free lunches. After the test, Dennis had us fill out our third boatload of paperwork.

On Thursday it was back to the marina for more PowerPoint presentations. We covered corporate policy regarding underage and problem gambling, and then we spent the rest of the day discussing and simulating customer interactions. They had it down to a science. We will all be spot checked on customer interaction at least once a month by both our supervisors and people from a "secret shopper"-type external firm hired as customers. There are certain very specific words and such that I must use in an interaction, and I almost have to run down a checklist in my head to keep them all straight. (Did I introduce myself? Check! Did I thank them for visiting? Check!) Given that a blackjack player's interaction with me will largely shape the gambler's opinion of the whole casino, I understand why they think this is important. I had an experience once with a single rude dealer at the Rio and it almost completely turned me off the casino entirely. Lunch was stuffed pasta shells and breadsticks, and the reputation of the employee dining room continued to increase.

Friday was the last day of orientation, and the whole morning was spent discussing Horseshoe's benefits package, and employee perks. You know those Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Seven Stars levels they have for their players? They have them for the employees as well, and we discussed what behaviors lead to these levels and the cash bonuses (!) involved. The benefits package as described is far beyond anything I had expected. I'm terrified that if I accept I'll see $1000 taken out of my paycheck every two weeks, but then again I'm used to being beaten like a rented mule by my previous employers ("Benefits? How about this: You don't complain about the 15% pay cut, and we don't fire you!") I'll find out the truth about the actual price in about 7 weeks when the formal information packet arrives.

Lunch was a bit of a let-down. They brought in croissants, and bowls of tuna salad and chicken salad from which we could scoop and make sandwiches. Really, though, the food was good and it was about the same quality as the cold cuts we had on the first day. I guess we were spoiled by the stuffed peppers and shells from the other days.

The afternoon of the last day was spent in Asian Cultural Awareness Training. Get this: Asian customers (largely from nearby Chicago) make up only 10% of the customer base at Horseshoe Hammond, but account for 25% of the gaming revenue. Sounds like high rollers to me! We learned some helpful tidbits about lucky numbers and colors, and behaviors that were considered particularly respectful and appreciative toward someone steeped in the culture. We concluded with more customer interaction training and simulations. I got a perfect 150 out of 150 on both trial runs in front of the Customer Satisfaction Director, so I'm feeling really good about the future here.

On Monday begins the real training. Bright and early at 8 a.m. in the dealers' trailer. For the first time in a long, looong time, I'm excited about going to work on Monday.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer.

ROTFL! You are probably 75 more seconds ahead of most people in that Seven Seas lounge<g>. I was laughing about the idea of your shorebound boat requiring a captain - right up to the point where I remembered reading about casino boats being moved to avoid bad weather.

Thank you for a fascinating series behind the scenes! I'm sure a lot of the info you were given is proprietary, but I'd be interested in anything you could post of behaviors that are deemed disrepectful towards Asians or any other culture. I'm not THAT politically correct<g>, but I really don't like insulting people accidentally due to my ignorance.

LOL, I'm excited about you going to work too!

Very interesting Tim. Sounds like that employee dining room might be a great benefit.

Tim - this is fascinating. Thanks for sharing all of this. I look forward to your future exploits!

Now I know why every cocktail waitress at Harrahs Las Vegas said "thank you for choosing Harrahs" or something like that.. but the cw's and bartenders did not get that message at the Flamingo or IP.


Keep it coming, Tim - as much as you're permitted to share. As a side benefit, I find when I write something down I remember it much easier - so anything you share with us will stick in your head and help you ace more of those tests!

DaisyDeuces,

Here are some of the truly helpful hints I picked up from the Asian training:

1) The concept of Guanxi (Gwaan-shee) -- this is basically the state of being well-connected and able to exert your influence on behalf of someone else. To this end, I've been told to make a serious effort to remember the names of our Asian guests, and to greet them by name when I see them. I should also feel free to call over a supervisor to help the customer, because the Asian customer feels more valued when the casino bosses are personally attentive and show respect. This leads into the next concept:

2) The concept of Mianzi (Mintz) -- this represents the social perceptions of a person's prestige. This is important to the Chinese in particular, and it's similar to what we would call "saving face". Little white "polite lies" are acceptable and even expected if they are done to prevent embarrassment and avoid conflict. Do NOT under ANY circumstances, ever embarrass or challenge them, PARTICULARLY in front of their friends or family.

3) Asians like to concentrate and focus more seriously on their gambling, and they tend not to like interruptions. When a Chinese guest tells a cocktail waitress "I'll call for you if I need you," he really means it. He would prefer that the waitress not come around every 15 minutes to ask if he is okay or needs another drink; he will take no insult at all if you don't come until he specifically asks.

4) Asians feel a strong sense of respect for their elders. If a group of them comes up to you, it is considered an important sign of respect to address the eldest in the group.

5) Even though Asians are used to being in tighter quarters that what we in Western cultures are used to, they do not like to be touched by strangers, even if it is meant to be kind. No patting people on the back or arm unless you have a really good, familiar, long-term relationship with the customer.

6) They do not customarily maintain strong eye contact; they prefer to lower their eyes from a person's face rather than hold a gaze. Return the favor.

7) Another gesture that is considered polite and respectful is to hand over a item using both hands, rather than just one. Do this only, though, if the customer is older than you.

8) If they do not speak fluent English, don't speak more slowly or speak louder. Rather, speak in soft and pleasant tones, and stick to simple sentences.

Also, our guests are fond of Asian holidays, so at the Horseshoe we will celebrate Lunar New Year festivities right along with them. We will even have a Dancing Lion in the casino for Chinese New Year. We will also have Asian pop singers, concerts, Chinese opera, and karaoke parties at the new facility.

Lastly, table games manager Dennis related to us a funny anecdote regarding Chinese lucky numbers and symbols. Jade is a sign of good luck, so a well-meaning dealer decided to wear jade earrings and a matching pendant during the casino's Chinese New Year celebration. The Asian guests avoided playing at her table as if she had the plague. Eventually, one of the Chinese customers asked her why she would wear jade. She said, "because I want you to think that playing at my table will bring you good luck." The customer pointed out that by wearing the jade, the good luck was not with the players, but with her, the dealer! Since the dealer was wearing jade, the dealer would have good luck against the players and would thus be beating them all day! She promptly removed the jade jewelry on her next break, and when she went back out on the floor, she was no longer contagious.

Hope this helps, DaisyDeuces!

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Tim,

Thanks for the detailed info, great read.

Hope all continues positively for you.

Loved it! Keep it coming! Thanks so much!

Tim...This is great stuff!

Now I know exactly how to irratate my asian tablemates....Hmmmm, I'm thinking of maybe buying a jade ring! LOL

Thank you, Tim ... that was fascinating info. I have seen gifts handed over with two hands, but I never realized it was a gesture of respect - and I could probably make similiar comments about most of your other points. Your list clarified several points where I only knew half the story. Great stuff!

LOL, Lee - we are in some ways evil twins. I already own a couple of jade rings, so I'm going to hog the luck! Hmmmm, I wonder if I stopped wearing them about the time I stopped hitting Royals every month<g>? Whatever, I'll be in full battle armor for my next trip!

Kestral said:

"Now I know why every cocktail waitress at Harrahs Las Vegas said 'thank you for choosing Harrahs' or something like that.."

Yep. When they grade your interaction with a customer, Harrah's is looking for five very specific things, each of which they consider to be equally important. If you do not thank the customer for their business, you fail one-fifth of the evaluation utterly with a big fat zero. Not thanking the customer for their business is as bad as not saying "Hello!" when a customer walks up to you.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Tim, I really enjoy hearing about your training. Thank you for taking us along your journey.

I hope they trained you on HOW to use the greeting rather than burning a line into your brain. I've ran into several places out here where someone will say "Welcome to XXX, may I help you?" (or "take your order") But while they are saying it, they are on the phone with someone else, standing on a ladder changing the menu sign, or standing at the register counting money. They are obviously in no position to reply to whatever I came in for.

I'm only guessing that the management has some kind of logic that the customer must be greeted immediately. Said management did not go to the trouble to explain various ways to greet people.

Also, a lot of memorized greetings sound really fake. I think I'd rather get a nod as acknowledgement for my presence than to hear a 15 second marketing jingle.

Fortunately, of the 7 "allowed" greetings, one of them is in fact a simple "Hi!". A lot of us are trying to break ourselves of the habit of using the more casual--and not allowed--"Hey". So, a warm and enthusiastic "Hey, Joe! It's good to see you again, man!" is becoming a more professional "Hi, Joe! It's good to see you again!"

Of course, there are limitations as to how helpful you can be to a customer depending on your position. As a blackjack dealer stationed at a table, when someone comes up and asks me where the "Wheel of Fortune" slots are, I can't exactly leave the table and walk them there.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Excellent Tim.

Another question. Did they mention anything about emeralds when talking about jade?

Can't say that they did, JMT. What do you know about emeralds as good luck charms?

Tim

This week felt looooong, mostly because they taught us everything in one week. The next five weeks will be mostly practicing what we learned this first week. The total course is supposed to be six weeks, so that we will be ready in time for the soft opening of the new boat on July 21.

On Monday the 9th, the first day of class, we learned the basics of cheque cutting and shuffling. What's a cheque? You know those round plastic thingies that come in red, green, and black, and are marked $5, $25, and $100, and you make bets with? I always thought they were called "chips". Silly me. They are actually called "checks", which the casinos like to spell "cheques". The theory is that since you can cash a check (the paper kind that you write out), and since you can cash the round plastic thingies as well, it only makes sense to call the round plastic thingies "cheques". "Chips" are what they give you at a roulette wheel, which cannot be redeemed for cash at the casino cage.

Ever seen a dealer take a stack of 20 cheques in one hand, and quickly turn it into a neat little row of 5 stacks, each exactly 4 cheques high? That's cheque cutting. There is a very specific way to do this, and a very specific way to verify the number of cheques in a stack. These verifications are done for the benefit of the dealer, the player, and the eye in the sky. As we found out as the week went on, a lot of the little things dealers do that seem idiosyncratic are done specifically to help the eye in the sky better follow the game in the event the tape ever needs to be reviewed.

There are seven spots for players at a blackjack table. You must use your left hand to pay winnings and collect losings from the players sitting at the two leftmost spots. You use your right hand everywhere else. This is so that the dealer does not leave the tray of chips in front of him exposed to theft by the person at third base. The practical result of this is that a dealer must be ambidexterous when handling cheques. The instructor made me raise my right hand and swear to her that I would practice my cheque cutting every day outside of class. I've been a good boy in this regard, and I am becoming fairly confident in my ability to manipulate cheques with my right hand (I'm right-handed anyway). My left hand is lagging noticably behind, but it's getting better every day. Fortunately, I have another 5 weeks of practice ahead of me. Curiously, most of my classmates say they cut better with the hand opposite the one they write with.

They also showed us the "house shuffle", which is the way all blackjack dealers are required to shuffle the 8 decks of cards that go into the shoe. I've read on the Internet that Horseshoe Hammond also offers a 6-deck game at the $25 level, but I have not been able either to confirm or deny this. This may be true, because the blackjack manual wants us to shoot for a time of 1:30 to shuffle a 6-deck, and 1:50 to shuffle an 8-deck. We need to be able to do it in 3:00 to pass our auditions. After seeing the complete shuffle procedure, most of us in the room thought that they were joking, that no mere mortal could perform a shuffle that complicated that quickly. The instructor then proceded to do the complete shuffle--while talking to us and frequently taking her eyes off what she was doing--in about 2:10. She says that next week she and the other instructor will start timing our shuffles. The two instructors will then race each other. Whichever instructor has the fastest time "wins". If any of us students can beat that time before the end of the course, she will personally give us $50 out of her own pocket. She usually wins with a time somewhere between 1:35 and 1:45. In five years of doing that contest, she said, she's never had to pay the bet. Looks like I have something to shoot for. ;-)

As Eric&Ellen can tell you, I'm not exactly blessed with grace and dexterity. I am having to completely reteach myself how to shuffle cards, because the way I have been doing it at home all my life in little family poker games is not the way that Horseshoe wants me to use. On Wednesday afternoon I had a fellow classmate time me and it took me about 6:20 to do the full shuffle. Most of the others I spoke with had times between 5:30 and 6:00. One woman who played basketball for my college, and who says she's always had "good moves" with her hands, has the best time in class that I know of at about 4:40. As with the cheque cutting, the instructor made me again raise my right hand and swear to her that I would practice my shuffling every day outside of class. I have been a good boy here as well, although things are a little more difficult since I don't have a dealing shoe or a discard rack to work with. I can still practice about 80% of the shuffle, though, and so I have been doing what I can.

Tuesday and Wednesday were the days when they actually taught us the game of blackjack itself. We learned about hitting, standing, doubling down, splitting, hard totals, soft totals, insurance, and blackjacks. Since I've read a few backjack books and played one or two thousand hands of casino blackjack in my day, this was mostly all just review for me. Still, a lot of people in class are new to blackjack and struggled with some of the concepts. We also practiced adding up the cards as fast as we deal them: "7! 10! 15! Too many!" "1 or 11! 3 or 13! 5 or 15! 14! 21!" That's "7-3-5-Jack" and "Ace-2-2-9-7". What can get really tricky is calculating blackjack payouts in your head. They gave us a test where they gave us 20 different bets, and we had to write out both the blackjack payout and the maximum insurance bet allowed. The test is all well and good when the bets are $15, $30, and $50; toward the bottom they gave us $262.50 and $777.50 (which, incidentally, pays $1166 on a blackjack). Only I and one other person were able to finish the test in under 10 minutes, and that other person just finished a 6 year stint as a high school algebra teacher. Still, I need to get faster. The instructor understands that it takes a lot less time to pay a blackjack when the bet is a nice, friendly stack of 3 green cheques, rather than when it is a tall and ugly barber pole of black, green, red, pink, and white cheques. She wants us to be able to calculate a single-color stack bet within 3 seconds, and a barber pole bet within 3 seconds of breaking it down into its component colors (i.e. while your hands are breaking down the bet, your brain is doing rapid addition). As with cheque cutting and shuffling, I had to swear an oath to practice after class.

Thursday is where things got really complicated. This is where they started to teach us about game security. We learned how to manage the rack of chips in front of us, how to place cards on the layout, and pay and collect bets so that the eye in the sky can follow along, how to make change and color up properly, and how to "walk and talk" the game. "Changing 350! Changing 750 and counting! Color coming in! Roll 'em! Shuffle! Burn! Floor! 3 cheques out! 2 purples out!" Thursday was a microcosm for what most of the rest of the course will be.

On Friday they showed us the "21 plus 3" side game. This is where you place a side bet that your first 2 cards and the dealers upcard will form some type of 3 card poker hand. If you can make a 3 of a kind, a straight, a flush, or a straight flush, the bet pays 9 to 1. Otherwise, it loses. Easy enough in concept, but a lot of us were forgetting to pay out or collect as necessary, simply because it was getting lost in the mess of 42,817 other things we had to remember simultaneously. They also taught us basic strategy for the Horseshoe blackjack game, which is 8-decks, stand on all 17s, double on any 2 cards, double after split, no surrender, split up to 3 times, aces only once, and only one card to a split ace. Like with the blackjack payouts, we will be getting drilled on basic strategy often. The instructor says few things are as unprofessional as a dealer dealing a game that he does not know how to play himself. She also pointed out that a fair number of Chicago's pro-athletes like to play at the Horseshoe, and I had better darn well be able to tell Michael Jordan, Brian Urlacher, or Alfonso Soriano whether to hit, stand, or double down on a soft 18 when a $50,000 bet is on the table.

This was a long and exciting first week of dealer training. As we left class on Friday afternoon, none of us could believe that our first day of orientation was only 11 days earlier. When we go back on Monday, we have to start sorting through all we learned in this first week and build ourselves into professional blackjack dealers. Tomorrow is when the real work begins.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

All I can say is WOW!

I'm guessing lunch was pretty bad this week, no mention of the tastyness! LOL

After reading of your experiences, Tim, which is fascinating reading, one wonders how on earth dealers can stand around looking bored when their table is empty........one would think they'd look relieved!!
A question.....................why aren't dealers ever allowed to sit on a stool at the higher tables? I only see low table dealers on a chair.......for low table blackjack and baccarat.

Whoa! My head is spinning!

I'm not a blackjack player, but if I ever take up the game I will be sure to tip the dealer - they sure earn it!

This is incredibly fun to read, Tim. Don't know if you can keep up the pace of writing for 6 weeks - but for me writing things down helps me remember them.

So maybe think of us as your study partners!

Tim - I've often daydreamed about giving up my job in Corporate America and becoming a blackjack dealer. After reading all of this, I might never think about that again!

This is fascinating stuff - thanks so much for sharing it with us!

I'm looking forward to visiting the boat when it opens in July.

I was thinking the same as Lee. WOW And what about the food?


Also, have you considered purchasing a shoe or rack?

Great read.

You talked about cutting cheques with both hands. It seems to me that most dealers do this with their dominant hand, right in front of them then switch hands if moving them across their body?

In answer the previous questions:

Lee-PA and JMT:
Unfortunately, we're on our own for food during training. Our red student dealer badges do not clear us for access to the back of the house where the Employee Dining Room is located. Also, the trailers where we are learning blackjack are some distance from the main facility. Even if we could use the EDR, travel time to and fro would eat up half the lunch hour.

On the bright side, there are about 2 dozen opportunities for food within about a 10 minute drive of the training trailers. Admittedly, half of those are fast food chains, but there are also a few good Greek diners, burger and hot dog stands, and Mexican restaurants where you can get in and out in under a half hour.

Best of all, the trailers are located just off a county park beach on Lake Michigan. About a 10 minute walk from the trailer, and right next to the beach, is a long pier with a sitting area at the end that has a spectacular view of the Chicago skyline on a clear day. You can just sit back, take in the breeze coming off the lake, and enjoy the view for about 40 minutes.

GamblinTater:
I honestly don't know why dealers have to stand all the time, but it probably has something to do with game security. Game security is the main reason for a *lot* of the procedures at a blackjack table. I suspect that the only time dealers sit is at the low tables which are low to accomodate guests in wheelchairs.

Kestral:
Writing about this certainly does help focus my thoughts about what I have learned. I might start "journaling" daily instead of weekly, or at least whenever something new or interesting happens in training.

As for tipping, tokes frequently account for more than 75% of a dealer's income. Any and all tokes are much appreciated!

MikeD:
Given how big of a company Harrah's is, you actually could become a blackjack dealer and technically never leave Corporate America. ;-) Don't worry, I'll give you guys a big heads up when the new boat is ready to open.

JMT:
Some of us may end up buying a dealing shoe before the end of the course, but it doesn't seem to be too high of a priority right now. The instructors recommended that we all go in on a larger order together to save on shipping costs.

Senatorjm:
Yep. Crossing your body is a big no-no because it leaves your sides exposed. You use one hand to move to the center, and then switch off to the other hand. At a blackjack table, all but two of the spots are serviced with the right hand, so the right hand does most of the work anyway. I almost feel sorry for left-handed dealers, particularly if they're as clumsy with their right hand as I am with my left hand (I'm a rightie). You may also notice that the cheque tray is laid out more or less symmetrically. Lower denomination cheques on the outside, higher ones inside. When someone at first base wins, I need to be able to take cheques from the left hand of the tray, cut them, and pay the bet using my left hand exclusively. The player's position dictates which hand you use. You have to become ambidextrous as a dealer because, essentially, you can only use one hand at a time, and you have no choice in the matter as to whether to use your left or right hand.

Thank you all for your questions and comments; I'm glad you guys find this interesting! And don't worry, none of the stuff I've shared violates any kind of confidentiality agreement. I actually have *plenty* of *that* kind of information in my manuals, and you will be seeing none of it, thank you very much! ;-) A lot of what I have written about you probably would have picked up on yourselves if you sat and watched a game for a few hours anyway. Certainly the existence of floorpeople, pit managers, the eye-in-the-sky, and the need for the utmost in security comes as absolutely no surprise to a gang of Vegas vets like yourselves. :-)

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Day 6 (Monday, 2nd week) of Dealer Training

Went back Monday morning to start the 2nd week of dealer training. In the morning we discussed the procedures for adding and removing cheques from the tray, as well as issuing markers to players. The instructor joked that there are two types of dealers: house dealers, and dump trucks. House dealers usually beat the players; they have to work a bit harder for their tokes because the players are always losing to them! Dump trucks are dealers who usually lose to the players. The name "dump truck" comes from the opinion that if the dealer is always going to lose to the players, then he might as well just take the tray of cheques, dump it on the layout, and let the players dig for whatever they want. ("Oooooh! Look at the pretty purple ones that say $500! I like purple!") One of our instructors has a reputation as a pretty severe house dealer, but she has an energetic and up-tempo personality and still hauls in her share of tokes, whereas the other instructor is a guest-favorite dump truck, who has a loyal following among some of the casino's regulars.

In our simulated blackjack games, I'm developing the dump truck reputation. On a recent game, I had one round that had 4 splits, 4 double-downs, 2 blackjacks, and no player busted. I got a big round of applause from my table when I turned over a 16 and drew a king to it.

The afternoon was nothing but cheque cutting and shuffling drills. As promised, our instructor started to time us. On my first attempt I clocked 5:07; I need to complete the shuffle in 3:00 to pass the audition. In later drills throughout the afternoon, I brought the time down to 4:09. Most of the other students are in the 3:15 to 3:45 range, but there are a few who are still over 4:00 like me. One or two have already broken the 3:00 mark. One woman has the best time in the class at 2:48. With steady practice, I think I can get it down to 3:15 by the end of the week.

Our instructor also made good on her promise to set a time for the "$50 challenge". Any student who can beat her time before the end of the course will get a $50 bonus. Her time was 1:46, so I'll need to be able to shuffle in 1:45 to win the bonus. I think she said her absolute all-time best was about 1:20, and even she doubts that she could do it again without a lot of concentration, a little bit of luck, and a new set of cards. (Generally, older cards get worn and get harder to shuffle up to the casino's standards).

More tomorrow evening.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Tim - what happens if someone can't pass the "audition?" Are they out of a job or do they have to continue training until they pass?

It's interesting what you say about the left-handed dealers. I'm left handed and am somewhat ambidextrous. It's really more of a survival thing. Most things are geared toward right-handed people and lefties have to learn to adapt.

Good luck with the rest of your training!

Do you know if your training would have to be repeated if you took a job in Vegas or Atlantic City?

You read my mind Joe!

I was wondering the same thing.....could we see another talkveges person move to Las vegas???? Hmmmm....

One idea that may seem a bit weird to you as you're trying to speed up your shuffling .... have you tried doing it in slow motion? Since you're facing the 3-minute deadline, you probably just wrote that idea off as lunatic ... but ... good technique begets speed. Dealing in slow motion every 5-10 sessions might help you nail down any bugs in technique.

As much as I'm enjoying your report for purely selfish reasons, writing it down really does help cement things into memory ... so keep it coming!

I think that I agree with Daisy on that one. A friend of mine was talking about playing some fast licks on a saxophone. He told me the best way to learn that part is to play it at whatever speed it takes to be 100% accurate. Then try to speed it up just a little and maintain accuracy, gradually increasing speed until I reach the goal.

He said that people that start out very fast with a lot of mistakes take much longer to correct those mistakes, and sometimes never fix the smaller mistakes. They also pick up bad habits and miss the opportunity to learn good technique.

I don't know if that translates into shuffle technique. I think it does work in many of lifes challenges.

In answer to the recent questions:

MikeD:
From what I understand, they only audition you toward the end of the class. By that time, you will already have had well over 100 hours of dealing simulated blackjack games in the school. I get the impression that most people pass their audition the first time. If you don't, it's usually because you haven't quite nailed down some technical or procedural aspect of the game. In that case, the instructors will work with you to help you straighten out this one aspect of your game. You can then reaudition the following week.

At least, I *think* that's how this works. Hopefully, I'll never find out first-hand what happens when someone fails an audition!

"I'm left handed and am somewhat ambidextrous. It's really more of a survival thing. Most things are geared toward right-handed people and lefties have to learn to adapt."

This is *exactly* what the left-handed dealers in class have been telling me.

JMT:
I doubt you'd have to go to dealer school all over again, but you would certainly have to audition in the casino where you wanted to work. By "audition", we mean you step in and deal a live game in front of the supervisors. They judge your overall technique and interaction with the customers, and then decide whether or not to offer you a position. They call it an audition because they say you are essentially a performer, an entertainer, and the casino floor is your stage. It's the same line of reasoning that leads to Disney giving the people who walk their parks in the Mickey Mouse, Cinderella, and Capt. Jack Sparrow costumes the names "cast members" instead of employees.

In the Horseshoe dealing school, I get the impression that you'll do your first audition in the trailer with a few pit managers and other supervisors posing as players. I think they then later have you deal a live game on the boat with real customers before you formally get the offer. I should find out more about this in the next couple of weeks.

Lee-PA:
My long-term goal is in fact to live and work in Las Vegas. Shoot for the stars, baby!

DaisyDeuces and JMT:
You've hit on my strategy exactly. I still have one of the slower times in the class, but my shuffle is a lot more consistent than some of the other shuffles I've seen. There are now a number of people who now have shuffle times under 3 minutes, but the instructor admits that some of the fast shuffles are so clumpy that she would order a reshuffle if she ever saw those shuffles on the boat. I seem to be hitting a plateau of about 3:30-3:40 in my shuffling time, and that's assuming I don't fumble with the cards too much, which still happens a little too often for my tastes. However, with more practice I'm sure I'll get better. I just have to be patient.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Days 7 - 10 (Tuesday - Friday, 2nd week) of Dealer Training

Outside of Monday, the rest of this week was more shuffling drills, and more simulated dealing.

I'm starting to get a system down for the shuffle. For the first part of the shuffle, the house requires that you take the eight decks, and split it into 2 equal stacks of four decks. You then take about 3/4 of a deck of the top of each stack, shuffle them together, and put that stack of 1-1/2 decks in front of you. You then take 3/4 of a deck of the left stack, and 3/4 of a deck off the center stack you just shuffled, and shuffle *those* together. You then add these cards to the center stack in front of you. You then alternate shuffling the left and right stacks with the center stack, taking 3/4 of a deck off the top of each stack at a time, until all cards are gone off the sides.

Running the numbers I realized the following: Eight decks of cards has 8 * 52 = 416 cards. Therefore, each stack of 4 decks ideally has 208 cards. We're supposed to take 3/4 of a deck off of each stack. Three-quarters of a deck is 3/4 * 52 = 39 cards. Therefore, each stack of four decks can be divided into 208 / 39 = 5-1/3 three-quarter decks. More generally, though, I can divide each stack of 4 decks into 5 parts that come close enough to the house mandated 3/4 decks. This means it takes 9 separate shuffles to to turn those 2 stacks of 4 decks into one big properly shuffled stack of 8 decks.

Once we have that big stack of 8 decks, we break it again into two piles of 4 decks. This time we take the top 3/4 deck off each side, shuffle them, and push them almost but not quite entirely together. The cards overlap each other for all but an inch on either side. You then work your way down, drawing from the left and right stacks, shuffling, and pushing them not quite together, and stack them on top of each other. This process is called "lacing" the decks. In a poor shuffle, big gaps in the cards will appear on the side. If the gap is large enough to put a pen through, you have to reshuffle and relace. Once the deck is properly laced, it is rolled over onto its side, pushed together, and then offered to a guest at the table to cut.

If you've ever shuffled cards at home, have you ever noticed how sometimes 5 or 6 cards from one side of the deck fall before a single card on the other side falls? It's that happening that causes gaps when the cards are laced. To get a gap big enough to put a pen through, you need to have about 15 cards fall on one side before a card on the other side falls. Unfortunately, it's all too easy to do that when you are racing against the clock to get your shuffle finished. Three-quarters of a deck is a good size I think because I've seen a lot of people struggle with accurately shuffling larger chunks of cards; the same problems arise when you try to shuffle too few cards. The real trick, then, becomes to know what about 40 cards looks and feels like when you take them off a bigger stack.

I'm also starting to get into a rhythm for dealing. I don't deal particularly fast...yet. I am, however, developing a steady and consistent pace, a friendly banter with players, and a reputation for being able to pay out any bet that gets thrown at me. Some people are even buying into my games with the white $1 and pink $2.50 chips and trying to play "Stump Tim" by putting out barber pole bets on both the main betting circle and the 21+3 side bet. (The 21+3 side bet pays 9 to 1 if you can form a three of a kind, or a three card straight, flush, or straight flush with your first two cards and the dealer's up card. What does a $1418.50 bet pay on a blackjack? How about $417.50 at 9 to 1 on the side bet? Quick, now!). Usually there will be 4 or 5 of us at a table at any given time, one of us deals while the others bet, and we all rotate each other out every 10-15 minutes so everyone gets a chance to deal during an hour.

A lot of us still get a kick out of telling our friends and family what we did at work today. "I poured concrete all day in the 90 degree heat with 90% humidity." "I, uh, sat around and played blackjack all day in an air-conditioned room." "You suck."

At the request of several of us, our instructor gave us a "dealing demo". Now that we had gone through all of the procedures in the manual, a few of us wanted to see a professional dealer in action for a sustained period, handling all the usual game issues that come up during the normal course of play. The instructor obliged us, and a few of us bought in for a few hundred in funny money each. We were better able to appreciate and understand the lingo that dealers call out to their floor supervisors, keeping them abreast of major developments and money transactions in the game. "Changing $500! Color coming in! Two cheques out! One purple out! etc." She dealt very quickly and very professionally. She kept up an encouraging, friendly, and fast patter even while she was just destroying us at the table. I've never seen a dealer be so likable while turning so many 15's and 16's into 21's to wipe out our hard-earned 18's, 19's, and 20's. Seriously, in the dozen or so rounds before she reshuffled the shoe, I think she only busted once. It was absolutely brutal for the players, but also invaluable in seeing how all that we had learned could be put together.

Each of us is developing our own little trademark quotes. One guy was the first to say "Let's play some blackjack!" before starting to deal; now most of us say it. Another guy says "Bada bing!" when he deals someone a blackjack; I've become partial to "Boom! Blackjack!" when I slap down the Ace or 10 that completes the blackjack. When an Ace comes out on the first pass, I'll also usually say "Good luck on that Ace." I'll also often say "Good hit!" when someone hits a stiff hand and turns it into a 20 or 21. I'm trying to find the right balance. Blackjack can often be a relatively cerebral and quiet game, so I don't want to be too talkative or come across like I'm calling a craps game; on the other hand, I still want to entertain the customers.

Almost every day either a pit manager or shift manager has come in to give us a small pep talk and to watch us in action for a few minutes. I'm guessing that these are some of the folks who will be in the "audience" when I audition.

A lot of us were surprised to see a helicopter land nearby. A small helipad is located near our trailer, and one of the boat's high rollers likes to fly his own helicopter in to come gamble. We never got to meet him, but the manager told us his name and said he was a very successful entrepreneur from Chicago. I had never heard of him, but that doesn't prove anything. The manager told us that he likes to play bacarrat and blackjack at $10,000 to $50,000 a hand, and that he is a very generous tipper. He told us if we ever find him on the opposite side of our table not to be afraid, because "he can smell fear." Apparently, one week when he was here he tipped so heavily that the dealer's paychecks (tokes are pooled and distributed to all dealers based on the number of hours they worked during the pay period) were about 30% higher than normal. A manager once told me how much in tokes the casino had to bring in to maintain a $15/hour toke rate for the dealers. Based on that number, this particular high roller must have given out more than $75,000 in tokes during that visit. God, I hope he plays at my table!

Every Thursday is test day. We had a test on how to properly cut and handle cheques, and another test on game security procedures, the 21+3 side game, insurance bets, and blackjack payouts. The passing mark was set at 85%. The instructor said all of us passed, with the lowest grade in class being a 92%. She never told us our individual grades, she said, because she didn't want us getting cocky or a big head. Still, she's very happy with the progress most of us are making.

That's this week's report from blackjack dealer school. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

I hope the big player comes to your table, too!

And how great that you are signing your emails Tim"the Dealer' -great, great positive approach.

Tim, what's the smoking situation at your new casino? And how will the affect you?

The "audition" is an interesting concept. I've seen dealers all over the spectrum. Some are quiet but very professional. Some are very friendly and maybe not that good a dealer. Do they give you an idea of what combination they're looking for?

Another question. In the "asian sensitivity training", did they mention the number 4? Also did they mention anything about colors? I know some cultures are superstitious about these things. I just don't know which ones.

First, yesterday (Friday, June 27th) was my mother's (Ellen of Eric&Ellen) birthday. Happy birthday, Mom! Don't worry, guys. I remembered to wish her a happy birthday before the morning of Saturday the 28th!

In answer to the most recent questions:

Kestral:
As far as I know smoking is allowed on the boat. I've only been on Horseshoe's boat once, and the smoke didn't seem to be a problem. I can only hope that it won't be a problem in the new casino as well.

If you want some scary smoky casino stories, ask Eric&Ellen sometime about their trips to Caesar's Indiana.

senatorjm:
I guess the ideal combination according to Horseshoe would be as friendly as possible without slowing down the game, and as fast as possible without making mistakes and making the player feel rushed. On Friday, they brought in another dealer from the boat to give us another dealing demo. I'll go into greater detail in my full weekly report a bit later, but this dealer said that timing and rhythm is key in a good blackjack game, and he proved it in his demo.

JMT:
The ACAT (Asian Cultural Awareness Training) specifically mentioned 8 as a lucky number and 4 as an unlucky number. 8 is considered lucky because the word for "8" in Chinese sounds a lot like the words that mean "wealth", "prosperity", and "fortune". On the other hand, 4 is considered unlucky because the word for "4" in Chinese sounds a lot like the word for "death". Talk about good and bad omens! A Chinese gambler would probably have the same reactions to staying in rooms 888 and 444 in a casino hotel that an American gambler would have to staying in rooms 777 and 666, respectively.

The big lucky color is red, as it symbolizes happiness and good luck. Orange and gold are also considered lucky, while black, white, and blue are considered unlucky. As with the number 4, black and white apparently remind the Chinese of death.

Lucky symbols include bamboo, peonies, chrysanthemums, fountains, and jade.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

You reminded me about a time we visited the Bellagio with some of our Japanese friends.

As we were leaving, one of the friends asked us "who died? Someone important?"

We asked, what do you mean?

She pointed to the large flower arrangements just outside the door, filled with white and yellow chrysanthemums and said "those are funeral flowers."

It's as if we arrived at a casino and all the flags were at half mast.

So much still to learn!

(And Tim, now you have me nervous about smoke in mid-west casinos, since I'll be at the Harrahs in Kansas City at the end of July!)

Asian Cultural Awareness Training. Sounds like racial profiling for profits. <g>

Thanks Tim. That's good info. The Wynn hotel doesn't have room floors numbered 40-49. I think there are some other hotels like that too. The room numbers have 4s in them though.

Happy Birthday Ellen.

I think Rio does that, too. Having lived near Chicago all my life, I know a 50+ story building when I see one. Las Vegas has some of the shortest 50+ story buildings that I've ever seen. ;-)

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Days 11 - 15 (Monday - Friday, 3rd week) of Dealer Training

I was going to write this yesterday, but today was an eventful enough day that I'm glad I waited.

During the 3rd week we settled into a routine. Shuffling drills, blackjack payout drills, simulated dealing, occasionally go over table and security procedure. Quiz on Thursday.

Shuffling drills and blackjack payout drills are almost like the calisthenics of our class. Each day we would spend about 45 minutes on shuffling alone, and I saw my time fall to an average of about 3:10 by the end of the week. On Friday, for the first time, I actually finished exactly on the 3-minute mark. To recap, I need to be able to shuffle the 8-deck shoe properly within 3:00 to pass our auditions. And yes, there will be a pit manager with a stop watch at our auditions. :gulp:

Blackjack payout drills are fun, too. We set up a different multi-colored stack of cheques on each spot, and basically say "Dealer, pay those blackjacks!" Obviously, we are shooting for 100% accuracy; making an incorrect payout is an automatic fail on the audition, and apparently the instructor says that's the most common reason people fail (shuffling being #2). The key to paying out any blackjack is to break it down into smaller, more easily solvable chunks. A bet of $718.50 may be daunting at first, but then you realize that $700 pays $1050, $18.50 pays $27.50, and so the payout is $1077.50. Another cool trick: any bet ending in $7.50 has a blackjack payout that equals $11 plus some multiple of $15. Get this: $7.50 pays $11, $17.50 pays $11 + $15 = $26, $27.50 pays $11 + $15 + $15 = $41, and so on.

Thursday morning we took quizzes on splitting, doubling down, blackjack payouts, insurance bets, and correct procedures for handling toke bets, as well as other security concerns. I got 100% on each. I'm understanding the theory behind the game perfectly well; it's just the mechanics of dealing that I still need to work on and polish.

After the quizzes, another dealer from the boat came in and gave us a 30-minute dealing demo. I enjoy these, because it's extremely useful to me to see how dealers with a year or so of experience work their trade. He said that a big factor in keeping a game enjoyable for the customer is finding the right game tempo. I see what he means and resolve to try to deal a little faster and talk a little less my next time up.

Thursday afternoon a hushed silence fell over our simulated dealing when a pit manager came in and auditioned 2 women in the class. I later found out that 1 of them just barely missed passing, while the other one passed with flying colors and will begin OJT (On the Job Training) next week. Our instructor warned us that her supervisors were getting a little antsy for more dealers, and that they are looking to snatch us up as quickly as possible. She told us to keep our A-game on at all times because none of us, her included, knew when a pit manager might come in.

Well, a pit manager came in on Friday afternoon right after our lunch break and sat down at my table while I was dealing! Now, an aside here. I'm a big guy, and I'm not in the best of shape. The walk from our parking spots to the 6-wide trailer that serves as our dealing school is nearly half a mile. Across pavement. That reflects the June sun beating down overhead. Which beats down. And conspires with the humidity from Lake Michigan, which is about 400 feet to the north. Needless to say, by the time the 8-minute trek to the trailer is over, I'm sweating. And I continue to sweat for about 20-30 minutes after I get back inside. One of my classmates is a big South Park fan. Most of the time he calls me "Timmmaaaay!". When I'm sweating right after I come to class in the morning or after lunch, he calls me "Big Sweaty Tim". Just like "Big Gay Al", except that I'm not gay and my name isn't Al.

So anyway, here I am Friday afternoon right after lunch. I'm the dealer, and the other 3 people at my table are betting $25-$150 a hand using a mixture of red and green cheques. The pit manager sits down at my table.

"What's the table maximum?"
"Table limits are from $10-$1000, sir."
"Okay, then. I want you to call over your floor. I want the table max raised."
"Certainly, sir. Floor!"
Floorman comes over, approves the table max increase.
"Table maximum is now $10,000. Give me a stack of purple cheques, please. Just call it out like I gave you $10,000 in cash."
"Certainly, sir." I take out a stack of 20 purple cheques, each valued at $500. I break it down like I've been taught, into 5 neat stacks, each 4 cheques high. I break the last stack down into 2 stacks of 2 cheques to verify to sky.
"Changing $10,000!" I call out.
Gasps and "What??"'s get called out across the room. My classmates are wondering who the high roller is who just bought in for 10 times the maximum buy-in allowed by our instructors in our simulated games.
"Ship it," calls the floor.
I restack the purple cheques back into a stack of 20, and push them across the layout toward the pit manager.
"Change, $10,000. Good luck, sir!"
The pit manager points out a flaw in the technique I used to push him the cheques. Limit myself to only one finger on top of the stack, he advises, otherwise the sky might think I'm trying to palm cheques.
"I'm going to try to win the rest of your purples," he warns. I glance down at the other stack of 20 that sits nestled in the middle tube of my tray. "Also, I'm going to try to cheat."

Even though I've been back in the air conditioned trailer nearly half an hour, it looks like I won't stop sweating anytime soon. I wonder if this guy is auditioning me without my knowing. I'm still trying to pay attention to the other players at the table, but understandably I'm most concerned with the whale who says he's going to try to cheat me.
He puts out a $5000 bet, and wins. He keeps betting like this for a few hands, alternating winning and losing. At one point I catch him trying to past-post, trying to add cheques to his bet after the cards have been dealt.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't let you add to your bet after the cards have been dealt."
"Why not?"
"That would be cheating, sir."
"I'm not allowed to cheat in this casino? The [other casino down the road] lets me do this all the time."
"Sorry, sir, but no cheating before 5 o'clock."
He gets a good laugh out of that last line. Thank God, something to break the tension.

Throughout his stay at my table, he makes all kinds of plays against basic strategy. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was crazy. Who the heck stands on 12 against a king, or even hits a hard 17?? He claims that he doesn't have to play basic strategy because he knows what my hole card is. I get worried. I thought I was keeping the cards down on the layout...am I accidentally letting him somehow see the hole card? He says I have a 5; I turn over a 7. He says I have a king; I turn over a 3. He must simply be trying to rattle me.

At one point he bets the whole stack of 20 cheques. $10,000. I call out, "Pay or take to the table max". I deal him a soft 16, my upcard is an Ace. I offer insurance, but no one takes it. I check for blackjack in the Ace finder--the little mirror that lets me see just enough of hole card to know whether or not its a 10--but nobody's home. Against basic strategy, he doubles down on soft 16. To get the money for the double down, he gets up from his seat, goes to the next table, and takes a stack of purple cheques from them. I deal him a 3 for a 19. He stands. I take my Ace upcard and use it to flip over the hole card: another Ace.
"Dealer has 12."
I deal to myself out of the shoe, but only small cards are coming out. Dealer ends up with a 6-card 20.
The pit manager slams his hand down on the table. One of the girls at the table jumps, while another one has a stack of cheques knocked over from the impact.
"Did I scare you?" he asks.
"No, sir."
"Damn."

He plays a few more hands. On one hand he doubles down on a soft 20 (Ace, 9) and requests that his double down card be dealt face down, and that I turn it over after I have finished dealing the dealer's hand. I call for the floor supervisor, who just rolls his eyes and shakes his head as he grants the request. Fortunately for the pit manager, I bust, and his soft 20 ends up a hard 13. Before too much longer he loses the rest of his cheques back to me.
"Well, that's it. I'm broke. Some dealer you are."
He gets up from the table and heads over to another one. Within 20 minutes, he's hit three blackjacks in a row and has effectively broken the table's bankroll. He leans over and yells to me from across the room.
"You see this? This is my third blackjack in a row! That, my friend, is how you're supposed to deal!"

He sticks around the rest of the afternoon, but he never comes back to my table. Near the end of class, I ask him how I did. He said I did fine, that I walked and talked my game well, that I used the correct hands at all the right times, and never made a mistake in arithmetic. He pointed out that the boat was a different environment. We were being too cautious to the point of unnecessarily slowing down the game in a few spots, and not cautious enough in a few others. He said, though, that these were mostly minor issues that would easily be dealt with during OJT. Just keep practicing and trying to smooth out my game, he said, and I would be fine.

Afterwards, some of my classmates were laughing about how much I was sweating during the whole ordeal. One guy swore he saw my hair turning gray right in front of his eyes.

Before we left for the weekend, our instructor told us to gather together the materials we needed for the Indiana Gaming Commission background check. I needed a birth certificate, a passport-sized photo, and my driving record from the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and I needed to have them for Monday.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Tim...I thought you where going to say you where headed for OJT! Darn!
But I'm guessing you need all your cridentials like a background check for that to happen?
Thanks for all the posts, I'm loving this!

Tim, I'm thinking of cutting and pasting your job training stories to save them in a word document and be able to re-read them all at once. Would that be okay with you?


I promise not to forward them to anyplace off the board or any other source. I'd just like to follow the whole story as the days progress through your training. It really is a neat thing you're sharing here!

I like the way you're figuring your blackjack payouts.

I've taught several real estate classes that had a lot of math problems. I've explained doing some problems like you do, breaking them down into easy chunks. Some people can jump right on board with the idea and some just can't get it.

It sounds like you were able to have fun with your 'high roller', I enjoy seeing that in dealers.

Tim, thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. I enjoy it.

I have a couple of questions based upon my lack of experience.

Why does $18.50 pay 27.50? Do they round it down to the nearest 50 cents?

Many years ago when I played a lot of blackjack, the dealers shoved stacks of chips with their knuckles. Their 4 fingernails drug on the felt. This was for the eye in the sky. Does Harrah's recommend one finger on top?

In answer to the most recent questions:

Lee-PA:
All in good time, because, yes, I have the Mother of All Background Checks to go through before I can work on the Mother of All Boats. I started going through that process this past week, and I'll talk about it in the report.

Kestral:
Be my guest! Actually, I'm flattered that you guys are finding this interesting!

senatorjm:
The instructor's motto for paying blackjacks is "Go to what you know". What does $133.50 pay on a BJ? Well, $100 gives you $150, $30 gives you $45, and $3.50 gives you $5, so $133.50 gives you $150 plus $45 plus $5, which is a nice round $200. A lot of people in the class who swore up and down that they were never any good at math are now able to calculate pretty much any payout in about 5 seconds.

JMT:
We don't have 25-cent cheques at the table, so when the mathematically correct payout ends in .75 or .25, we round down to .50 or .00. In a perfect world, $18.50 would pay $27.75, but we have to round down to $27.50. This is why I never liked betting with $2.50 cheques; if I hit a BJ, I know I'm going to get shorted 25 cents on the payout.

What you saw is what dealers call "sizing into cheques". It's a lot easier to show than to explain, but here goes: You have a stack of cheques that needs to get paid off at even money. You grab yourself a large stack of cheques from the tray, and, holding them, put them down on the felt near the bet. Gently slide the stack of cheques into the bet. As the two stacks touch, slide your index finger across the top cheque of the bet, and keep sliding it until it cuts off a stack equal to the size of the bet. Boom, you're done.

Yes, dragging the finger across the top of the bet also helps verify to sky that the bet stack and the payout stack are the same size.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Day 16 (Monday, 4th week) of Dealer Training

This was a shortened week for us because of the Fourth of July holiday. We were told to enjoy it while it lasts, because while the student dealers get the holiday off, Independence Day is just another day that the casino is open 24/7. This was also a big day in general, so I'm giving this day its own report.

Monday was an all around good day. In the morning we had our weekly "buzz session", in which I and one other student each received a "Certificate of Recognition for excellence in class." The other student and I were the only ones to achieve a perfect score on each of the 6 tests given up to that point. Each of the past two weeks only one person from our class has received the same certificate for making strides in their dealing skills and professionalism (two different people; not the same person for both weeks), so I was really enthused. Apparently, that certificate goes in my permanent corporate record just like a negative disciplinary write-up would.

The instructor also dropped the big news on us during that same buzz session. Horseshoe needed dealers, and they needed them now. They had plans to audition every last one of us (there are 25 remaining in the class; we lost 2 who simply decided that dealing wasn't for them) by the end of this week. Our instructor was a little surprised by this, pointing out that we still had material to cover in class, and that we hadn't yet taken our final exam. The Horseshoe is auditioning us two weeks earlier than they otherwise would. She said that she would make a list of people to be auditioned in a certain order, with about 8-10 of us being auditioned each day.

After the buzz session we learned two new games. One is really just a BJ side bet: Lucky Ladies, which is a bet on whether or not the player's first 2 cards will be two 10-value cards. For an "unmatched" 20, like a 10 of spades and a king of diamonds, the bet pays 4 to 1. A suited 20, like a jack of clubs and a king of clubs, pays 9 to 1. A matched 20, where both the rank and the suit match (like two jacks of diamonds,) pays 19 to 1. Now here's where the bet gets crazy. If the player has matched queens of hearts, the payoff is 125 to 1. If the player has the matched queens of hearts AND the dealer has a blackjack, the bet pays off at 1000 to 1. The side bet is strictly low-limit, where the bet is allowed to be between only $1 and $5. It also has a rather fearsome house edge. Galaxy Gaming, which is the company that has the patent on it, has calculated a whopping edge of 24% for our 8-deck games. Also, while at all of our other BJ games the dealer stands on all 17s, on the Lucky Ladies tables the dealer has to hit soft 17. All of this information is freely available at the game's website: http://www.galaxygaming.com/luckyladies.htm

The company is based out of Las Vegas, so I'm sure Lucky Ladies is available at some casinos out there. I would think that card counting could help determine when it would be most favorable for the player to make the bet. With a house edge of 24%, you'd have to bet very judiciously if you wanted to have any chance at all of winning. I'll have to look into that a bit deeper.

The other new game we learned is a real doozy called Blackjack Switch, and it is apparently the brainchild of some crazy Brit. In this game, everyone plays 2 hands of BJ. After the deal, the player has the option of switching the top two cards on his hands! This means that if you were dealt an Ace-6 and a 5-King, you could swap the 6 and the King and turn your hands into Ace-King and 5-6. Naturally, this option comes with a price: blackjacks only pay even money, and the dealer not only hits soft 17, but also pushes with the entire table if he draws to a hard 22. The game sounds complicated, but once you play a few hands you start getting a feel for the game. Basic strategy has to modified, not surprisingly, and the game designer offers a Blackjack Switch basic strategy table, and another table that helps you decide whether or not it's in your best interest to switch. At the Horseshoe, we use the "Four Queens" rule variation, which just means we use 8 decks and standard American blackjack rules. According to the game's designer, the house edge on this variation is only 0.20%. That's actually half the edge of our regular blackjack games.

Blackjack Switch also has a Super Match poker side bet that pays if you can form pairs, 3 of a kind, or 4 of a kind with the four cards that initially make up your two hands. Our payout structure is a little different from the one on the website, so I'll have to get back to you on the house edge. The betting limits on Super Match are from $1 to $50. One pair pays even money, 3 of a kind pays 5 to 1, 2 pair pays 7 to 1, and 4 of a kind pays 50 to 1.

All of this information is freely available at the game's website: http://www.blackjackswitch.com They even have a free downloadable demo of the game if you'd like to give it a try.

We spent much of the rest of the day dealing and practicing these two new games. A lot of us were surprised about how much fun Blackjack Switch was. Having the option of switching the two top cards really does add to the excitement of the game. On the negative, seeing the dealer draw a 22 and not lose is just downright annoying.

Toward the end of the day a representative from HR came in with reams and reams of paperwork. I haven't filled out any serious paperwork since orientation wrapped up 3 and a half weeks ago, so I figured I was about due. This was the paperwork we needed to fill out to apply for our gaming license with the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC). Literally, it was 20 pages. I had to tell them everything from whether and/or how I filed my income taxes for the past 7 years, to my entire arrest record (if any, and there isn't any in my case). They also wanted each and every traffic violation and parking ticket over the past 7 years in excess of $50. The only time I ever got a speeding ticket was about 12 years ago (Irony or just plain bad luck? My speedometer had failed and wouldn't register any speed over about 27 mph. I got pulled over for doing 48 in a 40 while on my way to the mechanic to get the speedometer looked at.), and a $25 moving violation I got about 3 years ago has since dropped off my driving record. So I was completely clean across the board. When I mean thorough, I mean this check is thorough. My birth name is Timothy, and I even had to officially write down that people usually address me simply as "Tim" and that they have done so from my birth to the present. That last part made me think of comedian Ron White's "They call me Tater Salad" routine.

After the HR rep spent an hour going through the paperwork with us, we got our "verification appointments". This is a big enough deal that before your official meeting with IGC, you have an official meeting with a notary public from HR who goes over your paperwork to verify that everything is correct and properly filled out for the IGC. Apparently, if something is left blank or otherwise incorrectly filled out, IGC has no qualms about telling you to start over. The end result is that you could be delayed an extra week or two in getting on the boat. And if you need as many table games dealers as they need as quickly as they need, you can't afford to have anyone get delayed because they left a box blank when they should have written "Not Applicable".

Before the end of the day, the instructors reviewed Lucky Ladies and Blackjack Switch with us, because we were going to have a test on them tomorrow (Tuesday). Our final exam was scheduled for Wednesday, and the instructor released the auditioning schedule. I'm second from the last, so I have an extra two days to smoothen out my game and improve my shuffle. My audition would probably be late on Thursday. Hopefully I could go into the weekend with good news!

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer
?

That's good stuff Tim. Tell your instructors that you don't want a shortend version of class because you are documenting it on the internet and we want the whole thing.<g>


Seriously, congrats and good luck. I'd bet that your first 4 weeks on the floor of the casino will make your first 4 weeks of class look like a cakewalk.

BTW, how's your shuffle speed going?

Days 17-19 (Tuesday - Thursday, 4th week) of Dealer Training

This week was crunch time. We had a test on Lucky Ladies and Blackjack Switch barely 24 hours after first being introduced to them, and then our comprehensive final exam for the course on Wednesday. I got a 100% on Tuesday's test, but not on the final. Apparently, when describing when a player could double down, I neglected to mention that Indiana does not allow you to double down on a blackjack. I got half a point taken off for that, so my official score on the final is 99.5%. Yes, I know my average on these tests is terrific, but it feels a little like I just bowled a 299. So close...

Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday we did our simulated dealings, and regularly people were pulled out one at a time to audition for a pit manager in the back of the classroom. Our instructors stopped by while each of us was dealing, and gave us pointers. Through Tuesday and Wednesday they auditioned 18 people, and all but one passed on the first try. I think this particular person was allowed to re-audition on Thursday and passed then, but I don't know for sure. On Wednesday they also told us that we will be learning yet another game before the end of the week: Mississippi Stud Poker.

Playing Mississippi Stud Poker is a little like playing Texas Hold'em, except you're competing not against the dealer or the other players, but against a pay table, just like in video poker. Each player has 4 betting spots in front of them. The Ante, 3rd Street, 4th Street, and 5th Street. Any bets you place on any of the Streets have to be exactly 1x, 2x, or 3x the Ante Bet. Everyone first places a bet in the Ante. The dealer then gives you 2 cards face down. You choose whether to fold or to continue playing. If you choose to continue, you place a bet on 3rd Street. If your Ante is $10, then your bet on 3rd Street has to be either $10, $20, or $30. If you stay in the hand, the dealer gives himself the first communal card. Now it's time to again decide whether to fold, or to continue by placing a bet on 4th Street. This continues until the dealer has 3 cards face up in front of him, after the 5th Street bet. You then check to see what kind of poker hand you have with your 2 hole cards and the 3 face-up cards. Pairs of 6-10's push, and Jacks or better start paying even money. If you have a winning hand, the Ante pays off at even money, and the total of the bets on 3rd, 4th, and 5th Streets all pay according to the table. We spent most of Thursday morning learning and practicing Mississippi Stud.

On my lunch hour on Thursday, I went over to wardrobe to be fitted for the dealer's uniform. The first dress shirt they give me is a little tight around the gut, and the sleeves are easily 5 inches too short. The next shirt they give me has a perfect sleeve length, room to spare in the gut, but has an insanely large neck. Ever see a picture of an astronaut in his spacesuit after he takes his helmet off? The collar was literally almost that big. But the seamstress likes this shirt and pins here and tucks there and off we go. Same procedure for the vest. Wardrobe says it will take them about a week to get everything ready.

I spent most of Thursday afternoon rehearsing for my audition, which I figured would be at or around our 4:00 p.m. end of class time. I spent about an hour with HR in the "verification" session, in which a notary public reviewed my gaming license application to make sure I had every "i" dotted and "t" crossed before I presented the application to IGC. My badging appointment with IGC is Monday evening.

Two pit managers showed up to do auditions today. One was the same guy I met on Friday, the purple cheque bettor. The other guy was one I hadn't met before, and he was the one auditioning me. The other pit manager sat down at my table half-way through the audition but didn't bet or ask any questions. One of my friends in class passed his audition earlier that day; he told me that the best thing he did to help himself was to strike up a conversation with the pit manager. It helped him to relax and clear his head, he said. Since as a dealer I'm expected to converse with the guests, I figured I'd try to treat the pit boss like any other customer. It was probably the best decision I could have made going into the audition.

He sits down and buys in with play money. I count out the money, cut out the cheques, stack them, ship them, and wish him good luck. We start dealing, and I strike up a conversation with him about the upcoming holiday weekend. My friend was right; talking with the player really does take the edge off of dealing. It seems less like an exacting job and more like playing a game with fellow blackjack enthusiasts. He plays 4 out of the 7 spots, and we go through about 10 rounds. Each time I give him the card total as fast as I turn over the cards. A couple of times he gets a blackjack. He keeps the betting fairly simple, so the payouts are easy. One time he tries to insure a $25 bet with $15. I point out that the maximum insurance is $12.50 and offer to make change. A couple of times he says he wants to split or to double down, but he doesn't give the hand signal. In one instance he asks to split and gives the hand signal for doubling down. Each time, I catch him and politely show him the correct signal and ask if he could please give me the correct signal for the camera.

Eventually we stop dealing, and he puts up bets of varying size. How much does this blackjack pay? What's maximum insurance on this bet? How do you correctly cut this stack of cheques? He then pulls out the stop watch and asks me to shuffle. As I begin, I discover the beautiful part about shuffling times in the audition. In class, the instructor timed us from the moment we called "shuffle". You had to pull the cards out of the shoe, shuffle, cut, and get them back in the shoe within 3 minutes. Here, the pit manager didn't even start the watch until after I had taken the cards out of the shoe! And he admitted it was intentional! He just shaved about 5-10 seconds off my time with that little change! I easily complete the shuffle in under 3 minutes. At this point I was very relaxed and comfortable, so I wasn't fumbling with the shoe or cards anyway. I finish the shuffle in about 2:40. Kudos go to the instructors who insisted we meet a standard higher than what was ultimately expected on the audition.

He then says the audition is over and asks how I thought I did. Honestly, I thought I did pretty well. He said he thought I did very well. I was friendly and spoke with him. He said my card total counting was perfect, my payouts were perfect, and I did a good job protecting my game. I offered that I would have walked the game a bit more, but he was betting entirely on the 4 rightmost spots on the table. The other pit boss notices this, too, and admits that there isn't too much walking to do when all the action is on spots 4 through 7. I'm a big guy with long arms like an orangutan, anyway, so I don't have to move much to be able to easily reach all spots on the table. The pit manager finished writing his evaluation on the clipboard. He doesn't show it to me, but instead says, "Oh, yeah, you're definitely ready. Congratulations! You pass!" Both pit managers then shake my hand, and my instructor comes over and high-fives me.

After four weeks of class, I have officially passed all blackjack exams given, received a certificate for doing well in class, and have passed an audition with a pit manager. I've cleared my first big hurdle on the way to becoming a dealer. I'm feeling pretty good about this career move so far. :-D

As far as I know, next week will be pretty straightforward. Some of the people who passed their auditions back on Tuesday are starting OJT (On-the-Job Training) on Monday. I will probably have to wait until the following Monday (July 14th) to begin mine, since I was signed off so late in the week. From what I understand at this point, OJT is live dealing on the boat in front of live customers, while a supervisor shadows you. If you do well, usually the supervisor signs off on you after a day or two and you officially enter the dealing schedule.

Cheers, and have a Happy Independence Day Weekend

Tim the Dealer

JMT:

One of our instructors says that we will learn about as much in one week on the boat as we did in all of class. He says it's different dealing in front of casino guests, particularly if you deal on the night shift where the guests are a bit more, um, "lively" than during the day. Nothing like real-world experience to nail down the theory taught in class.

On a good day I can shuffle in about 2:40. The key to shuffling quickly, honestly, is to relax and not focus on it too much. If you try too hard, you'll start fumbling the cards and lose valuable seconds trying to get your stacks back into neat enough shape to riffle. Even if I make a small blunder or two I can still shuffle eight decks in 3:00 now.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Tim,

Maybe this was mentioned earlier but I'm too lazy to go back and look. Do the Chicago casinos comp cocktails?

I seem to recall that the boats in Indiana do, someone please correct me if I'm remembering wrong. I'm pretty sure the Detroit Casinos don't and I know the Windsor casino doesn't, unless they've changed in the last couple years since I've been to any of them.

Oh yea, CONGRATS ON PASSING!

WooHoo! You Passed...congrats!
Although I must admit, I was expecting a more juicier police report from you!

Awhile back, Indiana did away with Happy Hours. You cannot reward with alcoholic beverages. They even took the champagne out of the champagne buffets.

So, no free drinks in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Some Indian casinos that are on reservations (e.g. Mystic casino) do not even sell liquor. But they do have smoke shops.

There is free soda, water and coffee stations around the casinos.

When Eric and I went to Caesars Indiana, you can't even use your reward points toward the alcohol portion of your bill.

When they first opened the boats is Illinois (Joliet), we had to pay $16 to get on the boat. It actually went down the Des Plaines river, so they had a captive audience so to speak.

Ellen

Tim - congrats and thank you again for a great read!

Please let us know when you get a regular schedule. I'd love to come and play at one of your tables sometime!

Answers to recent questions:

senatorjm:
"I'm sorry, Senator, but I have no recollection on that matter."

Ha! I've always wanted to say that, and now I can, and to an actual senator, no less! More seriously, I didn't think that they comped drinks in Indiana, but I see that Eric&Ellen beat me to the (spiked) punch on that answer.

Lee-PA:
What made you think I had a juicy arrest record? What have my parents been telling you? Maybe I should go back through Eric&Ellen's old posts, hmm???

MikeD:
You can bet that when I get a schedule, I'll post it. I'd love to have you come down and play at my table.

And thank you all for the congratulations!

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Days 20 and 21 (Monday and Tuesday, 5th week) of Dealer Training

This is the beginning of the end of dealer school, but it's also the end of the very beginning of being a dealer.

We came in Monday morning to find about a third of the class missing. These were the people who had passed their blackjack auditions early in the previous week; they had started OJT. Some had gone first thing that morning, while others stopped by the trailer later in the day and said "Hi!" before going to OJT in the late morning or early afternoon. One poor guy came to class at 8 a.m. only to learn that his OJT would run from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. that very night. He was given the option of going home and catching some sleep before coming back at 11 o'clock at night.

The instructor told us that this would officially be the last week of class. All of the rest of us would start our OJT beginning next Monday, the 14th. On OJT, we will be shadowed by a supervisor as we deal a live game to actual gambling customers. Once the supervisor is confident that we can stand on our own two feet, they officially sign off on us and we go on the dealer schedule. One woman who had her OJT on Monday morning did so well that she was signed off at the end of her 4-hour OJT after only one day. She now has the rest of the week off until Sunday (without pay, which I would think is a bit of a mixed blessing), at which point any one of you can sit at her table and play blackjack!

We were also told that we all would be officially auditioned on Mississippi Stud Poker. Given that this isn't one of the Big Five table games (Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, Baccarat/Mini-Baccarat, and Pai Gow Poker and Tiles), the auditioning process was a lot less formal than it was for Blackjack. I auditioned Tuesday morning and passed, so now I am certified for two games on the boat (three if you count Blackjack Switch as its own game).

Monday evening I went up to the IGC office to get badged. The process was pretty straightforward. Some of the HR people told us it could be a bit intimidating, since the IGC agents were very serious and were also armed (!). Having sold firearms for 9 years in a state that allows people to carry handguns, the sight of a holstered gun doesn't really intimidate me. When I got up to the office, the agents were indeed armed, but were not uniformed. Imagine a typical office with people dressed in business casual, except the people in the office all have Glocks and Berettas on their hips. I recognized their guns from my selling days, and struck up a conversation with one of the agents, who looked to be about my age. We talked about his gun, a Glock 27, and what he liked and disliked about it. It really cut the tension in the room and made us both relax a bit more. This was the agent who entered my information into their computers and fingerprinted me.

Fingerprinting has come a long way from pressing your fingers against an ink pad and rolling them one at a time on paper. After cleaning my fingertips with an alcohol swab, the prints were taken on something like a scanner bed, like what you would use to transfer a photograph to your computer. The whole set up was pretty high tech; I was beginning to think that they were going to have me do a retina scan, or DNA sample, or some other such thing out of James Bond or Star Trek or something. They then took another photograph and issued me my Black Badge, which clears me for access to the casino floor. Technically, the badge is only temporary pending the final results of the background check. The agent said I should get a letter from IGC making the whole thing official in about 30 to 90 days.

I'm slowly beginning to feel more like a real employee of the Horseshoe now. For the past few weeks I've gone to dealing school in a trailer on the far end of the property, I've had to park in a different parking lot than the regular employees, had to wear a different badge and different clothes than the regular employees, and haven't been able to access the usual amenities (employee dining room, in-house e-mail and intranet with company news and opportunities, etc.) that the regular employees get to access. God love 'em, and I know that a lot of what I've just described is simply the result of various IGC regulations, but it's felt a little like being in limbo or purgatory or something.

The IGC office is located near the Seven Stars Lounge and Jack Binion's Steakhouse. You have to walk through a good portion of the property to reach it. All the while your senses are being teased with the sounds of slot machines paying, the bustle of excited patrons, bright and colorful HD flat screen TVs advertising this or that promotion, and that peculiar but pleasant smell that so many casinos have in the air. I don't know exactly what it's called, but it seems to be analogous to that "New Car Scent" that fancier car washes use. It all combines to make the casino a vibrant and exciting place to be. I'm really excited about finally leaving those trailers and stepping up to the big leagues.

We were all also invited to the Horseshoe company picnic, which runs from 11am to 11pm on Tuesday, July 15, in nearby Wicker Park. There will be free carnival rides, free food, free beer, and free other alcoholic beverages (!). There will also be raffles, games, prizes, etc. Hopefully my OJT won't conflict too seriously with going to the picnic.

After class on Tuesday, I stopped by Wardrobe to check up on my uniform. Not ready yet, but it should be all set by Friday, said the seamstress. I'm going to have to go out and buy myself some new pairs of pants this week, since I have to supply my own pants, shoes, and socks for the uniform.

Only 3 days now remain in blackjack class. Counting down...counting down...

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Thanks for a truly great saga, but I'm betting you'll have even better stories to tell about OJT and real dealer experiences in the next few weeks ... and I'm obviously hoping you'll keep sharing with us.

I've seen signs for BlackJack Switch at Harrah's in Reno - I guess I'll have to study those rules and give it a try sometime.

Tim - When is the new casino due to open? Or has it opened already? I've been traveling a lot recently and haven't kept up.

DaisyDeuces:
Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. You can bet I'll keep all of you informed as I proceed with OJT and find my way out on to the boat.

MikeD:
The dates are still somewhat in flux, but here's the plan as I understand it to be for the moment: On Monday the 21st the casino will shut down operations. The boat will be unloaded and moved out of the way, and the MOAB will be moved over into its place. They'll spend the next few days loading everything up into the MOAB, and they hope to have a "soft opening" on either Friday the 25th or Saturday the 26th. The current gambling boat is actually recognizable as such; it looks like a really big yacht or a really small cruise ship. The MOAB is basically a boat in name only. It's a casino and entertainment complex built on top of a barge.

Day 22 (Wednesday, 5th week) of Dealer Training

Not much to report today. The highlight of the day was going over to the wardrobe warehouse and getting fitted for the pants for the new uniform. This is really good news, because up until now I had been told that I would need to supply my own pants. The new uniforms won't be ready for a bit yet, though, so I'm on my own for the next couple of weeks.

Other than that, it's just the 15 or so of us that are left sitting around and playing and dealing the games we've been taught. A couple of other people from the class who are having their OJT this week stopped by the trailer to hang out and deal a bit for us. The general consensus is that the customers are all very supportive and friendly, and the pit managers are generally forgiving of the occasional rookie mistakes. A number of my classmates have said that the cards they use on the boat deal a lot more smoothly than the ones we have in the trailer. They also said the cheques on the boat look and handle quite a bit different from the ones we have been practicing with. These stories are only further intriguing me! Hopefully next week I'll be able to find out for myself.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Do you tell the customers that you're new? Maybe wear a "Student Dealer" sign around your neck? LOL

senatorjm:

Actually, up until 3 days ago I was, in fact, wearing a bright red badge that says "Student Dealer" on it! The only time a customer ever saw me wearing it, though, was if they crossed my path on my way to wardrobe or IGC.

Oh, don't worry about customers not knowing that I am a newly minted dealer. I'm sure the staff on the floor will go out of their ways to let everyone at the table know it!

Day 23 (Thursday, 5th week) of Dealer Training

The big news today is that we got our OJT schedules!

My OJT starts Monday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. If I don't get signed off by the end of the first day, then I will keep going back to continue training from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. until I eventually pass muster. Five other people from class have their OJT at the same time as me. I know all of them fairly well, and they're a pretty lively group. The instructor also said that, given my OJT schedule, there's a reasonable chance that I might end up working an afternoon or a swing shift like a 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. or a 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Not guaranteed, though.

I will actually be dealing live on the boat from 3 to 7 on Monday. They actually want us to show up at 2 p.m. so we can have our uniforms double-checked and get an official tour of exactly where we have to go from now on. Finally, I will get to see the Employee Dining Room!

Tomorrow is officially our last day of class. We will have a small party, and afterward I will need to go over to wardrobe to pick up my uniform for next week.

O-J-T-Minus 4 days

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Day 24 (Friday, 5th week) of Dealer Training

I'm writing this on the morning of Sunday, the 13th. Six weeks ago today, I was nervous and could barely sleep that night because orientation was starting the next morning. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Now, in a little more than 24 hours, I will be dealing a live blackjack game to actual gamblers. I hope I'm able to sleep tonight.

Friday was "Take it easy" day. We still did a lot of simulated dealing, but we also took time out to do a few fun things as well. At one point in the late morning, one of our instructors and his supervisor gave us a demo of Pai Gow Tiles. I couldn't make heads or tails of the game from the 15 or so minutes that we played it; it's basically a casino version of a Chinese version of Dominoes. If I want to learn to deal it at some point in the future, however, I will have the chance.

We also had a party at lunch time. We sent out for pizza and hot wings and such from some of the local restaurants. One of our classmates is originally from China, and she cooks as a hobby. She made about 100 homemade potstickers and a beef and noodle dish which were absolutely delicious.

Later on we presented our instructors with a gift on behalf of the class. We obviously had to clear it with the higher-ups first, who told us that so long as the gift didn't exceed $250 in value we were okay. The male instructor got a sizable gift card to Best Buy, and the female instructor got a salon and day spa package.

Some of our classmates who had left for OJT this week came back for the party. Apparently, the old boat is at capacity for dealers; they cannot take anymore on without busting some full-timers down to part-time. It looks like, therefore, that the week the boat is closed, all of us will be back in the trailers learning more games. More on this as I learn more.

After class I went over to wardrobe and picked up my uniform. They gave me a shirt, vest, and apron (to cover the front pockets of my pants).

I need to be back at the dealer school trailers no later than 2pm tomorrow. Five other people from my class have OJT at the same time as me, so we're going to try to show up about 1pm or so and get some last minute practice in.

To recap, here's the timeline of me and the Horseshoe so far.

April 9 : Saw the job opening for dealer school online and applied.

May 9 : Horseshoe Hammond called and asked me to come in to begin preliminary interviews.

May 12 : Went up to Horseshoe and took a personality test and a math test. Passed both, and was told to come back on Friday the 16th for a second interview.

May 16 : The famous "mass interview". Sixty of us in a room together each fielding questions from the interviews, both serious and not-so-serious. Afterward, HR told us that every last one of us was hired.

May 20 : Went back up to Horseshoe and filled out tons of paperwork. Later went to a nearby hospital for a drug test.

May 29 : Horseshoe called and said that the drug test was fine, and to show up for orientation starting Monday, June 2.

June 2 : First day as an employee of Harrah's Entertainment. We spent the week in the ballroom over the Hammond Marina.

June 9 : Blackjack Dealer School began

July 1 : Pit managers began auditioning members of our class.

July 3 : I was auditioned and passed.

July 7 : Officially badged by Indiana Gaming Commission.

July 11 : Last day of Blackjack Class. Received uniform for the old boat.

So this is where I stand. This is it. I go On the Job tomorrow.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Congrats Tim. At first I was a little confused when you said the boat was already at capacity for dealers, then I rememberd old boat/new boat. When it's all over, will there just be one boat or will the old one remain?

Now that you know blackjack, will you be expected to eventually learn all the games or is it all your choice? Do any other games have a higher base pay? I was a math wiz but somehow craps overwhelms me. Maybe I need to learn the rules better before I put the math to it.

I'm sure you will do fine on the boat. Did they recommend comfortable shoes? Are you gellin'?

Let us know about the employee cafeteria.

JMT:

Right, the *old* boat is at capacity. When the MOAB opens, the MOAB will be the only boat. Apparently, someone has already purchased or agreed to purchase the old one. Sometime between the 21st and the 25th, the old boat will be unloaded and moved away from the dock, while the MOAB is moved over into the old boat's spot.

On a side note, is there a way to post pictures on this board? I'd love to take a few photographs of the boats and buildings on the complex and show you guys.

I'm under the impression that learning additional games is entirely my choice. If I want to become a supervisor, however, I have no choice but to learn the 5 biggies (BJ, craps, roulette, pai gow, and baccarat) Other dealers say that learning additional major games raises your base pay by anywhere from $0.50 to $1.00 an hour. I'm sure I'll learn more once I get into the full swing of things on the boat. The supervisors are recommending that we give ourselves at least 90 days of dealing live blackjack before we try to learn any more games.

A lot of craps dealers I've spoken with said the hardest part for them was the speed of the game. The math was okay after a while; the hard part was being able to do it quickly and under pressure with a dozen rowdy craps players continuing to place bets as fast as you paid them out. "Quick, dealer, what does $115 on a horn high yo pay if the shooter rolls a 3?" :-)

I've already got my shoes picked out. They are spiffy, shiny, and comfortable. But, yes, I'm gellin' like Magellan the felon.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Good Luck, Tim! It's been fun reading about your adventure through learning. You'll have to let us know if your shoes really are comfortable. That was the worst part of being on my feet all day at work......I used to come home and cry, my feet hurt so badly. Of course, I was standing on concrete, and you'll be "standing on water".
Looking forward to hearing about your first days at "real" work.

As the French say - Bon Chance!

As the Japanese say - Gambatte Kudasai! -

As the show biz folks say - Break a Leg!

or in plain ol' midwest American -


Good Luck!!!!!

Thanks Tim,

About photos, the short answer is no, not at this time. There are many hosting sites that will host your photos for free.

The long answer is maybe in the near future. After the next software upgrade, we will be set up to have a photo gallery forum. Whether it gets activated or not is not my decision. There are a ton of factors. First of all, we don't people using our web space to store their personal photos. OTOH, I'm sure we all want to see pictures that go with the topics being posted. Which leads to another problem of having photos on topic. I don't want to see someone elses cat or sonogram or their neighbors kids. And theirs the issue of web space. Photos can take up space. The space I use costs money. I don't mind increasing it for the good of TalkVegas. How much resolution of the photos can we show? How many pictures can you post? How long do they stay up? And there are the tech support questions from people that don't know computers that well. The list goes on and on.

Yep, it's off topic. I'll bring it up to the decision makers after the upgrade.

Is anyone besides me going through dealer training stories withdrawal?

Missing the posts, but Sure glad Tim is on the track to solo stardom at the BJ tables!

Day 1 of OJT (Monday, July 14)

This was the week. Everything we had done, everything we had studied, from the first week of orientation to the final week of dealer school, came down to this. At 3 p.m. on Monday, July 14, I would officially begin dealing a live game to the Horseshoe's guests. I would deal until 7 o'clock, taking a 20 minute break every hour. And I would come back every day this week, to deal from 3 to 7, until a pit manager and a floor supervisor both agreed that I was able to deal an accurate and procedurally secure game with minimal supervision. While I was at the table, I would be shadowed by another dealer who would watch the game and correct me on the spot if I made an obvious mistake like forgetting to check for blackjack or paying out a losing hand, etc.

Five other people from my class were all going in for OJT at 3 o'clock. The instructors actually wanted us there an hour early so we could have our uniforms double-checked, get a pep talk, and get a quick tour of the facilities. We all agreed to meet earlier than that so that we could get some last-minute dealing practice in, so we showed up at 1 and practiced for about an hour. By 2 o'clock it became apparent that a lot more were going for OJT. Some people from the late afternoon class and the overnight class also came in. If I remember correctly, the afternoon class learned Pai Gow Poker and Tiles while the overnight class learned several different poker games.

About 2:30 they bussed us all over from the training trailers to the employee entrance at the back of the pavilion. Some of us (like me) still needed some wardrobe pieces; specifically, I needed the button cover that covers the top button of the shirt. Our group was split into two, with one group sent out on the tour while the rest of us got everything straightened out in wardrobe.

After about 20 minutes we were all straightened out, and the tour began. Our supervisor led us from wardrobe, down the hall to the Employee Dining Room (which I'll simply call the EDR from here on out). We marched through the EDR, up two flights of stairs, and came out into the pavilion near the box office. From there we walked onto the boat and through the casino. There were a few empty platforms where slot machines once stood; they were already being loaded onto the MOAB, since the boat was due to close at the end of the week. We went down to bottom level of the casino, and then through a door marked "Crew Only" into the real bowels of the boat. Talk about cramped quarters! The hallways are so narrow that they are one-way only. We went down a steep flight of about 20 steps to the bottom, turned a corner and came to our time clock where we would punch in and out from now on. On the other side of the wall was the schedule for the boat. Literally, it's about 75 pages and covers about 60 square feet of the wall. And that hallway was starting to get hot with all of us standing there. If you've ever been inside a WWII German U-Boat, like the one they have at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, then you have a pretty good idea how cramped the lower level of the boat is.

We went back up an equally narrow, equally steep flight of stairs to get back to the bottom level of the casino. At the point, all the Pai Gow people and a few of the poker and blackjack people were taken up one more level. I and about 5 others stayed on the bottom level; we were assigned to Pit 5. Pit 5 runs pretty much the entire length of the boat. It has about a dozen blackjack tables, half a dozen poker tables, and 3 roulette wheels. All the craps games were on the level above us. Every blackjack table I saw in the pit had the same limit: $15 to $5000.

We went into the pit and 2 pit managers came over. The current boat has only 5 pits, but the new one will have 14 (if I remember right). This means that there are a lot of newly promoted pit managers at the Horseshoe. The pit managers gave us a brief pep talk and then took us to our assigned areas. Mine was at the far end of the pit, and I met my floor supervisor for the day. Some of the floor supervisors were new, too, so there were about 10 of them back there when there normally would have been only 5 or 6. The floor supervisor gave me another quick pep talk and told me to tap into the game after I had watched my shadow deal a couple of hands. I watched him finish his hand, and then deal two more complete hands. "You wanna tap in there, Tim?" the floorman reminded me. It was like those scenes in the movies where all the soldiers are jumping out of the plane, and then one of them hesitates until the sargeant eventually just kicks him in the butt and makes him jump.

I tapped the dealer on the shoulder as he was fixing his tray. The floorman had me put my arms out in front of me. The dealer moved the shoe to the center of the table, cleared his hands, and moved off to the right as I moved in from the left, just as we had practiced so many times before in class. I burned a card from the shoe, and introduced myself. The dealer I had just tapped out moved behind me and stood on my left. As much to myself as to the players, I tapped the felt twice in front of me for good luck, and said, "Alright, everybody. All bets ready? Good luck and here we go!"

And so I dealt my first hand of blackjack to a full table, with all 7 spots in play. This table had the 3 card poker side-bet as well, that would pay off at 9 to 1 if anyone hit. One of the supervisors back at the trailer told us that we would remember this moment in great detail for a long, long time to come. You know what? He was right. I dealt the guy at spot 3 a blackjack on the Ace of spades and a 10 of diamonds. When I turned over the 6 of diamonds, the woman on spot 6 won her poker side bet. She had a 17 with both the 9 and 8 of diamonds. "$45 going out on a flush. Very nice," I called as I paid her winnings. Everyone stood on their hands. I turned over a Jack of clubs, and then drew a 9 of hearts to bust. On my first hand as a live dealer, everyone at the table was a winner. Nice!

Truthfully, much of the rest of that shoe went by so quickly it was a blur. After another 4 rounds it was time to reshuffle. Hey, look! I have an automatic shuffler at my table! And, wait, we're only using 6 decks instead of 8? The floorman came over and showed me how to operate the automatic shuffler. It's really quite easy. All I have to do is push the green button, load the cards, push the green button again, take out the new cards, and then push the green button one last time to close up the machine. Only problem is, I have to do this without actually looking directly at the machine. Under no circumstances am I ever to take my eyes off the table, nor step away from it. With a minimum of fumbling, though, I reloaded the shoe and began to deal again.

Only about 2 more rounds went by when the floorman came back and said that the tray was going to be refilled with cheques. We only went over this briefly in class, and the floor was happy enough to walk me through it. The security guard came over with the cheques in what looked like a plexiglass birdcage. If I remember right, the fill was 2 stacks of green, 6 of red, and 1 of pink for a total of $1650. This went by quickly enough, and I went back to dealing.

Before I knew it, the relief dealer was tapping me out. It was 4:00 and time for my first 20 minute break. The dealer who was shadowing me took me down to the EDR and showed me the ropes. They had a healthy Chinese dish (beef lo mein) in a pot that was cooked up by Lean Cuisine. They scooped out about twice what you would get in those little frozen Lean Cuisine boxes, and charged me a whopping $1.07 for lunch. Drinks from the fountain were free.

The dealer who was shadowing me was in his mid-20s and had been dealing for about 3 months. He said I was doing fine, but he could tell I was nervous by how much I was sweating. I was sweating bullets that first time. Before we knew it break time was over and we went back to the tables.

The rest of the day went by about as quickly as that first shoe. I dealt again from 4:20 to 5:20, took another 20 minute break, and dealt a final time from 5:40 to 6:40. Each time I could feel myself calm down and I was sweating less. I started to get into the game more, and by my last shift I was even able to have a bit of fun with the customers a bit. One guy had a hard 15 against my King. "Come on, Timmy! Can you give me a 6?" Incredibly, I dealt him a 6. "I can do that, sir!" "You the man, Timmy baby!"

When I got tapped out for the last time at 6:40, I was beginning to feel more confident and I was also having fun. I didn't seriously expect to be signed off after the first day, and I wasn't. The floorman went over my performance with me. He said I needed to speak up, and I needed to protect my game better. The casino was loud, he reminded me. Yes, it was actually quite a bit louder than I expected. The floorman pointed out that since he can't watch all 4 tables under his management at the same time, he needs to be able to at least hear what is going on at all times. Make your calls louder, he said. Also, walk your game more. Other than that, you're doing very well. You're friendly with the customers and you're not making any mistakes in arithmetic. See you tomorrow.

A little after 7 all of us from OJT gathered together to be picked up by the shuttlebus and taken back to the trailer. Two of the six of us from my class had been signed off after the first day. Back at the trailer, we all compared notes with each other and went on our way. Instead of being shuttled over from the trailer, we were to park in the Marina garage and report directly to the pit at 3:00 on Tuesday...

More to come very soon.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Way to go Tim!

Sounds like you're going to do great.

Tim - what does it mean when you say, "walk your game more?"

This is all very fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us!

MikeD:

"Walking your game" is a crucial element of game security. It's important enough that it was the only thing stopping me from getting signed off after my second day. If a dealer just stands behind the table and never moves, he leaves himself vulnerable at the edges of the table. Particularly, if you stay in the center and while the player at first base is acting on his hand, you're eyes are off of third base; you're exposed on your right side. The same is true when you're dealing cards to the right side of the table. You want to position yourself so that you can keep an eye on third while you're dealing to first, and vice versa. (And you know what? I just finally completely understood the whole concept just now in writing that last sentence. Go figure.)

Day 2 of OJT (Tuesday, July 15)

There were 4 of us left from our group of 6 that still needed to be signed off. Again we met about an hour and a half early in the trailer and practiced more dealing. I left about 45 minutes before my OJT to go to the boat, because I wanted to grab something to eat in the EDR, and I wanted to make sure that I could find my way throught the premises again. You know, now that I work there and have walked around a bit, the whole operation doesn't seem anywhere near as big and intimidating as it did on the first day. A good thing, too, since having a 20 minute break wouldn't count for much if you spent 15 of those minutes walking back and forth.

I was still a bit jittery so I really couldn't focus on whatever the EDR was serving. They had another healthy Chinese dish, that I ordered. And this time I got a small salad. Cost me about $1.80. Heck, it would probably cost me more than that just to buy the food with which to make my own lunch and bring it.

A few minutes later the rest of my classmates came into the EDR and joined me. Again we compared notes and offered advice that our shadow dealers and floor supervisors had given us. We went up to the boat, where I found out I was again assigned to pit 5. Once again we got a pep talk from the two pit managers, where once again one of the managers was an old pro and the other was newly minted. This time my assigned table was at the exact opposite end of the pit from yesterday's table. Yesterday I was at the far end of the pit, on the port side of the boat, and as far forward as you could go. Today I was on the starboard side as far back as you could go without being a roulette dealer. Like yesterday, it was a $15-$5000 table with the 3-card poker side bet.

The floorman introduced himself and warned me about my shadow dealer, who he said could be a little intimidating. He was obviously joking with me, because my shadow dealer was a sweet, relaxed, middle-aged woman who stood all of about 4'10". At least this time, though, my shadow had been dealing for several years. Once again I was nervous during my first session. At one point, I was sweating so much that it was dripping onto a couple of the cards, and the floorman actually paused the game for a moment to let me wipe my brow. I was embarrassed, but everyone else at the table sympathized and got a good laugh out of it.

Today went much like yesterday. The shoes flew by, but I was one cold SOB of a dealer. At least half a dozen times I turned over a 16 and then drew a 5 for 21. The highlight (or lowlight, if you will) was when I had a full layout, with a few splits and double downs. No one had busted, so all 7 players were still in the hand. Also, no one on the table had a total higher than 19. I proceeded to draw a 6-card 21. Ouch! People got up and left so quickly that you would have thought that I had just cut a nasty fart or threw up on the layout or something.

I've been on the other end of that, of course, and I had much the same reaction. I'd say to myself,"Man! Forget this! I'm going to a another table." Then I would, well, go to another table. Now, as the dealer, I wanted to call out,"Wait! Don't leave me! The next hand will be better, I promise!"

As yesterday, though, I got more comfortable and settled in as the day wore on. As I went to talk my last break from 6:00 to 6:20 was feeling relaxed and confident, I was outgoin and friendly, and the new pit manager was taking notice. She came down to the EDR when I was on break and told me that I was doing very well, particularly with customer interaction, and that she planned on signing me off today. Woot!

Not so fast there, though. To be signed off, both the pit manager and the floorperson had to agree that I was ready. The pit manager was sold on me, but the floorperson still thought I wasn't protecting my game enough. He didn't go along with the sign-off, so I would be coming back for a third day on Wednesday. A little frustrating, but hey, I'm having fun and I'm still getting paid well enough to cover the cost of driving to work.

This was also the day of the company picnic, which Horseshoe Hammond likes to call "Binion's Bash".

After I punched out at 7:00, I went back to the trailer, changed into street clothes, and drove to Wicker Park in Highland, IN, for the picnic. I got there right before 8:00, but the picnic was officially running until 11pm. The place was mobbed. When I eventually found a parking spot, I got out and walked in the general direction of the most people. I grew up not too far from the park, when my mother and I lived in Highland back in the 1980s. When I was about 10, the park had a miniature golf course and a community swimming pool. Those are all gone now, sadly.

It was about 90 degrees and muggy. Yuck. I'd take 110 degrees and dry in Vegas any day over this mess. Heck, I'd take 30 degrees and windy in Vegas any day over this hell of heat and humidity. I ended up staying barely more than an hour.

Eventually I found my way over to the registration tent. Hey! There's the young woman who ran our orientation 6 weeks ago! How ya doing! She told me to sign in here, and then when I was ready to go over there and pick up my gift and my CSA check. My gift and my check? The CSA check is a property-wide bonus given to all employees who have worked a certain number of hours at the property for achieving and surpassing pre-set customer satisfaction goals. I haven't worked there long enough, so no check for me. I did qualify for the free gift, however. It was an MP3 player! And *everyone* was getting one. I've never owned one before, and truth be told I still haven't even opened the package. Aren't these things like $50 or so?

One of the downsides of the picnic was how late I arrived. A lot of the attractions and entertainers were shutting down at 8 p.m., about 5 minutes before I arrived. Figures. Fortunately, they were still serving food. Best of all, the beer garden was still open, and the beer was free. Yes, there really is a God and He was truly watching over me.

I went over to check out the food supplies. They had a variety of pasta and potato salads, and they also had corn on the cob, grilled hot dogs, brats, and burgers. They even had deep dish pizza that they were cooking, cutting, and serving right there on site. I grabbed a burger and a slice of pizza, and went on for something to drink. I was then reminded of that old Rush song that went "You can choose from phantom fears / And kindness that can kill / I will choose a path that's clear / I will choose free beer"

At least I think that's how the song went; maybe I'm misremembering. ;-) Still, the path was clear and I chose free beer.

I waited in line about 5 minutes for free food. I waited darn near 20 for free beer. When I finally got to the front of the line, I grabbed 2 plastic glasses of Miller Lite (they had Lite and MGD on tap). As she handed me the beer, she made two marks on the wristband I got when I registered in at the tent. So that's how they keep track of how much people are drinking. I found a few classmates and chatted with them for a bit. In the end, though, it was too darn hot and it was pretty obvious the picnic was winding down. I left a little after 9 and went home.

Third and final part to come very soon,

Tim the Dealer

This is great stuff Tim. Thank You so much. I'll have to watch how dealers "walk the game" here.

It might have been good that you arrived at the picnic late. Especially as a new hire, you don't know who is who. It would be bad if you had a few beers and started saying things that were heard by people who weren't supposed to hear it.

MP3 players can range from $10-200, or more. You could always check eBay to see what your model is going for. It would make a nice holiday gift for a youngster if you don't want to use it.

I have confidence that you'll get signed off when the time is right. You're probably learning much more than you realize. Keep up the good work.

Good job Tim. Like the rest I am thoroughly enjoying your adventures in dealerland. Your sweating reminded me of a time I was playing blackjack and the dealer was newer. She was very nervous and seemed to be a real sweetheart doing her best to keep calm and not make mistakes when all of a sudden and out of the blue her nose started to bleed. Blood droplets were falling onto the table, checks and cards and she grabbed her nose and pinched it. We all started to grap for napkins and the pit guy came running over wondering what all the comotion was. This poor girl was sobbing and just wanted to crawl into a hole. I will give her credit for staying in place and not just running away and they finally got her a relief guy and off she went. I visited the casino about 6 months later and it was night and day. She was a real whiz with the cards and table and when I told her I was at the table the day that the blood flowed she said she would have quit right there and then but she was a single mom and was trying to make a better life for her and her daughter and was glad she just sucked it up and stayed the course.

Anyway Tim keep up the good work and before you know it you will be the one standing behind the newbie in your nice suit yelling "send it" and encouraging them on.

born and raised in chicago tim, if i get back for a visit,i will head over to indiana and we will play a few rounds.love your reports and good luck!! please continue your reports as i am sure there will always be stories to tell.

Tim,

Am I correct that "walking your game" is pretty much just a visual thing?

I'm a big guy also and I know there's people who question my ability to do certain things because of my size. Do you think the floor person might have a hang up on that?

JMT:
Thanks for the encouragement!

Rudiking:
Thank you as well. My shadow for the third and final day told me that while I sweated a lot at first, I didn't sweat anywhere near as much as this one guy he saw. That guy earned himself the nickname "Puddles".

dagwash:
Looking forward to it! I'll try to make a habit of posting my schedule so that anyone who wants to come on down, can. And I have every intention of continuing the reports.

senatorjm:
I didn't figure out exactly what I was doing wrong with walking my game until the 3rd day. I was moving well enough from left to right, but when I moved, I didn't turn my torso well enough to see the opposite end of the table. I was worried about size prejudice as well when I first hired in, but so far I've seen none of it. I've seen plenty of dealers who could afford to shed 50, even 100 pounds or so, and a few of them are noticably bigger than me.


Day 3 of OJT (Wednesday, July 16)

Going into my third day of OJT, I didn't bother to stop at the trailer. I just went straight to the property. I arrived about 2:15, and like a seasoned pro I walked from the garage to the pavilion and to the staircase that led to the EDR. I got myself a lunch of salsa chicken with spanish rice, which was the "regular" choice, not the "healthy" choice, which was stuffed green peppers. I sat down, and a few minutes later a woman from my dealer class came in. She was on the 11am to 3pm OJT, and had just learned that she would have to be back for a 4th day. We tried to be positive, compared notes, and again wished each other good luck as she left. One of the other guys who had 3pm to 7pm OJT came in later on as well, and we chatted for a bit, too.

When the time came I headed down into the bowel of the boat, punched in, and headed back up to good ol' pit 5. This time, I actually knew the pit managers. It was the newly minted one from yesterday who wanted to sign me off, and the veteran crazy purple cheque bettor that sat at my table that one time in class two and a half weeks ago (see post #58835 - 3rd Week of Dealer Training, in this thread). This time I would be back at the same table I was at on the first day. My shadow was a dealer who had been dealing only 3 weeks. When I first began class, there was another blackjack class already in progress, and they graduated at the end of our second week. He was in that class.

The newly minted pit boss and the floor supervisor came up to me and said she was ready to sign me off in about 20 minutes if I showed I could walk my game properly. That was the only concern still on the form, she said, and she thought in her opinion that I was doing it well enough to get signed off. Boy, I wanted to be signed off, but I had 2 reservations. I said that I still felt a little nervous, but I really enjoyed dealing, and if it was okay with them I would love to get the extra practice and do the full 4 hour shift. What I did not add was that with gas costing me $4.30 a gallon, it was costing me $14 to drive to and from work. I needed to deal at least an hour if I wanted to show a net profit for coming to work!

As on the previous days the time flew by. I wasn't as cold as yesterday, but I had my moments. Again the table limit was $15 to $5000. The big bettor at our table was a woman who was betting $50 to $100 a hand, and I couldn't deal her a good card to save my life. She asks to hit her 12, I give her a 10. She doubles down on 11 against my 6, I give her a 2 and then draw to 20. She was not happy. Three spots down from her was this other woman who I dealt about 5 blackjacks to, plus several winning poker side bets. She was playing the table minimum, but she was happy with me. At one point the big bettor threatened that she was going to urinate on my head if I kept giving her cards like I had been doing, and the other woman was inviting me to come sit on her lap after I tapped out for break. Hoo, boy. Where do they find some of these people?

One of the things you learn in the break room is to figure out where people work by what they are wearing. All of us dealers wear one uniform. The cage staff wear a uniform with the same color scheme but still a little different. People in business casual are probably working in Total Rewards or some other back of the house capacity. People in suits are probably floor supervisors and pit managers. And of course the cocktail waitresses--I mean "beverage servers". Ah, heck. Even the beverage servers call themselves "cocktail waitresses"--have their own uniform. Anyway, in walks this absolutely stunning blonde in this elegant black dress. The room quieted down noticably as every guy stopped talking to look. My shadow mentioned that she was a cocktail waitress in the high-limit pit; that they had special uniforms for them.

"That's cool," I said. "I guess I can understand that. Do we have special uniforms, too? Do they make us wear a tuxedo or something to deal in high-limit?"
"Nope. We wear the same old same old."
"Bummer."
"Tell me about it."

Eventually 7 o'clock rolled around and I found myself talking with the floor supervisor and the pit manager. They both congratulated me on getting signed off, and shook my hand. Woo hoo! I've done it! All I now had to do was to go down into steerage and talk to the guy who makes the dealers' schedules. When I met him, he put me in the computer and made my dealerhood official. From this time forward, I am no longer just someone studying to be a dealer. When somebody asks me what I do for a living, I can now actually, honestly, and officially say, "I'm a blackjack dealer for the Horseshoe!"

The scheduling guy laid out my plans for the next week. Sometime either very late Sunday night or very early Monday morning (July 20-21), the old boat will officially close down. I'm working all day Monday back at the dealer trailer, probably learning some new poker games. I'm off Tuesday, but Wednesday I go in for a 60-day Orientation Follow-up, and I get fitted for my new uniform for the MOAB. By Thursday the MOAB will be in place, and on that day I will probably go through an orientation on the new boat. Beyond that...we'll have to see.

OJT is now over.

I've officially arrived.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

WTG Tim.

And we can officially say we've got a real casino dealer on TalkVegas!

Report for Monday, July 21st

The main entrance to Horseshoe Hammond is from US 41. You turn onto an on-ramp which curves around and passes high over US 41, and then descends toward the parking garages. For the last several weeks, I saw the MOAB looking back at me as I came down the on ramp. Today, just beyond the MOAB, and blocking the entrance to the marina from Lake Michigan, was the old Horseshoe Boat. They had finally done it; the casino was now shut down, and the next time we walked into a blackjack pit it would be on board the new boat.

Security was at the bottom of the on-ramp, turning away disappointed customers, and waving through employees. I drove on through to the training trailers, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my usual parking lot was gated shut. This meant I could park up near the trailers and not out in Timbuktu. I got to the trailers to find out the place was mobbed, largely with people I had never met. The crowd was a mix of dealers who would be learning new games, and newly promoted floor supervisors and pit managers who were going through some kind of orientation. The Director of Table Games (he's two levels above a pit manager) gave us a brief rundown of the days and weeks ahead. The old boat officially ceased gaming operations around 2 a.m. this morning (about 7 hours prior to when the Director was speaking), and they were hoping to have a ceremony opening the MOAB sometime on Friday afternoon. Even though when I was signed off last week the Schedule Guy only gave me instructions through Thursday, the Director wants all of us dealers at the property by 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

All of us dealers went into our old blackjack training room. Most of the experienced dealers would be learning the same blackjack side games that we had learned in class about 3 weeks ago (Lucky Ladies and Blackjack Switch). The rest of us who already had those games would be taught how to deal Let It Ride, with a Bonus Poker Side Bet.

I had barely begun learning it when I and a few others were whisked away to officially get fitted for the new uniforms for the MOAB. As you might guess, we'll still have black shoes and pants. We'll be wearing what looks like a standard white dress shirt, rather than the tuxedo-style shirt with the pleated front that we currently wear. We will also all have vests and a matching bow tie that is color coordinated to where we will be dealing. For the main floor, where I will be, my vest and tie are gold with a paisley pattern. The high limit uniforms have the same paisley pattern but are in a dark bronze color. For the Asian area, which is where you'll find Pai Gow Poker, Tiles, and Mini-Baccarat, the vests and ties are royal blue with dragons and other Chinese symbols embroidered on them. Why blue? Remember our Asian cultural training? A dealer in a blue vest should be unlucky; all the luck at the tables will be with the players instead of the dealer.

After being fitted for wardrobe, we went for lunch at the Village Square Buffet. The entire property is closed right now, including all the restaurants. The Employee Dining Room staff have temporarily taken over the buffet. They weren't expecting such a crowd, and the lines were long. I ended up having to settle for a bowl of the Roasted Red Pepper and Crab Bisque, which was quite spicy and quite delicious. I was also able to grab some fried shrimp and some fettucini alfredo. The long lines didn't leave us with much time to eat, but we managed.

When we got back to the trailer we watched and practiced Let It Ride for the rest of the day. They made us take a quiz on it at the end. I got a 100%. Given all I have passed is a quiz I don't know if I am officially cleared to deal Let It Ride yet. No one officially auditioned me on it yet, which was the threshold for blackjack and Mississippi stud.

I'm off tomorrow. For now, anyway. The Director told us not to be surprised if our schedule is rather "fluid" this week what with the new boat opening. Wednesday I go back for a 60-day follow-up evaluation (has it already been that long?), and Thursday I suspect I will be going through an orientation on the MOAB.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

That's really cool Tim. It seems odd from my viewpoint that they would close one boat a few days before the other opened.

So when do you put in your Las Vegas transfer?

I got the impression that there was simply no way around it. The MOAB is going in exactly the same spot that the old boat was in. Clearly, they are in a mad dash to get the boat open for this weekend. The only days they want to lose are weekdays where they would have been slow anyway.

As for my Las Vegas transfer...seriously, give me maybe 2 years. A few of the supervisors who have worked in Vegas said that the town is full of hack dealers, and someone who actually has experience and knows what they are doing wouldn't find it hard to get a job out there.

Of course, right now I'm a hack dealer, but give me time.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

P.S. I think I've already made a difference! When I looked at the website for the MOAB, I found a misspelling of the name of one of the bands that will be performing at the Venue. They showed "Stone Temple Piolets", which of course should be "Stone Temple Pilots". I called the Horseshoe, and left a message for someone in Events. Wouldn't you know it, it's been fixed!

Of course, maybe they found it on their own. Either way, it's a good sign.

I'm enjoying reading your online journal. It will be fun for you to read when you are an old hand at all this. How are your shoes doing?
I saw that there was a bridge collapse at a Harrah's in your neck of the woods.........is everyone okay? Is that YOUR boat? Hope all is well.

Shoes are holding up nicely, thank you.

Yep, that was us. I don't know any more than what I read in the online article supplied by our local newspaper:

Walkway collapse sends Horseshoe workers into lake

Looks like the key passages are here:

"The enclosed walkway collapsed when the iron bracing on the barge underneath it gave way, according to Mike Summers, business manager for Iron Workers Local 395.

'Everyone is accounted for and besides the bump on the arm, everyone is OK,' Summers said.

The walkway was supported by bracing which was sitting on the new gaming barge, he said. That barge was being pushed toward the existing land-based pavilion when the bracing gave way."

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Glad everyone's okay............thanks for the update.

Tim - Congrats on officially becoming a dealer! I'm looking forward to coming down there and meeting you when you get your schedule. And please - take it easy on me!!

Tim, the dealer...has a nice ring to it, don't cha think?

Sharon and I have been talking about a possible feild trip to Indiana this winter.....Then I said...where exactly is Indiana, not sure if I have ever been in your state. Seems it's one of those I tend to fly over alot! LOL

BTW, Sharon is checking your posts more often then I am! Keep up the reporting, we are enjoying this a great deal!

GamblinTater:

I'll keep you guys updated on anything I can share that I find in the news. Since no one was seriously injured, the news media seems to have more or less given up on the story.

MikeD:

In fact, I did get my schedule! Some of it may still be in flux, though, because the opening of the MOAB has been pushed back a couple of days because of the walkway incident.

Lee-PA:

By all means, come and visit Chicago for a few days on vacation. I'm sure that I, Eric&Ellen, and MikeD can give you recommendations on where to stay, where to eat, and what to see and do. Horseshoe provides shuttlebus service to a few hotels downtown; the casino is barely a half-hour drive from the Loop. If I find out which hotels they service, I'll let you know.

Report for Wednesday, July 23rd.

One of the mindsets necessary to work at the Horseshoe, or maybe any rapidly changing industry for that matter, is an attitude of "I will accept change in a positive manner." In the wake of the walkway story from yesterday, I figured I would have to accept some change very soon.

This was a day that HR compared to a "class reunion". They rounded up about 30 of us who were all in orientation together back during the first week of June. They wanted feedback from us on our experiences, and any places that needed improvements. The general consensus was that we had all had a positive experience. We could tell things were fairly hectic, resulting in a few minor nuisances here and there, but most of us gave the company a pass on it since opening something like the MOAB is a big, big deal. We probably could not have joined the company at a more potentially chaotic time. Everybody is trying their best, but there still will be bumps in the road and we are more than willing to learn to handle them, because a job with this place seems to have a lot of upside.

After the "reunion" I went to the trailer to see if the new schedules had been posted. They were! And I was on it! As I was reading, the training director posted a memo announcing that the opening of the MOAB had been officially pushed back from 5 p.m. Friday to Noon on Monday.

Looks like I drew... Swing Shift! I was to report to the gaming trailer one last time on Friday from 4pm to 11pm. I then had Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I would be dealing on the boat starting at 8 p.m. and going through until 4 a.m., 5:30 a.m., and 3 a.m., respectively.

After this, I went over to the Pavilion to grab something to eat. The EDR's takeover of the Village Square Buffet was still in effect. I grabbed a grilled pork chop with gravy and onions, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. I found a nice table with a great view of Gotham Cit--I mean, Chicago. Anyone who lives in Chicago and who has seen The Dark Knight (great flick, btw!) can tell you that Gotham City looks very familiar.

The pork chop was good, but pounded a little thin and just a bit tough. The plastic knives and forks we were given were clearly overmatched; I ended up having to eat it with my hands. The mashed potatoes and stuffing were quite good.

After the late lunch, I was done for the day and went home.


Report for Thursday, July 24th.

Boy, and I thought I was going to have to accept change in a positive manner yesterday!

I was running a little behind in the morning so I had to skip breakfast. I made it in plenty of time, however, only to find the dealer trailers mobbed. There were literally 300 of us there. This was madness! (or as Leonidas might say,"THIS...IS...HORSESHOE!!!!!")

Since we couldn't fit everyone into the building and still be within the fire code, we all adjourned outside to the nearby helipad where we held our buzz sessions. We were told that the opening of the MOAB had been pushed back now to Noon on Tuesday; they would get back to us before the end of the day on exactly what would happen to the people originally scheduled to deal on the MOAB this weekend. I wasn't scheduled to begin work until Tuesday, anyway.

They were also looking for volunteers to help move slot machines, gaming tables, and other equipment from the old boat to the MOAB. The only catch: we had to be there at 4 a.m. on Friday morning, and work until Noon. Since I liked the thought of getting a look at the MOAB as soon as possible, since I also liked the thought of being able to say that I helped set up the casino with my own sweat and muscle, and since I also want to build a reputation as being a good sport and a team player, I volunteered.

Since they couldn't fit everyone in the trailers for the moment, they allowed some people to go home if they wanted, and 1/4 of the people they sent on break immediately. Go get something to eat and come back in an hour, they said. Looks like I'd get to eat breakfast after all.

One of my classmates and I carpooled over to the property and went back to the EDR/Village Square Buffet. They had a small but fairly typical breakfast buffet. Danishes, muffins, oatmeal, grits, scrambled eggs, you get the picture. It was most notably lacking waffles or pancakes, and gravy for the biscuits. I'm not big on sweets for breakfast; I prefer a "balanced" breakfast of proteins, fats, and salts, so I grabbed eggs, bacon, a sausage patty and some hash browns. They also had corned beef hash which was good as well.

When we got back to the trailer, another group was sent on break and we began to learn another new poker game: Flop Poker. Here's how you play Flop Poker:

There are three betting circles for each player: Pot, Ante, and Flop. Everyone puts a bet of the table minimum on Pot, and another bet somewhere between table min and $25 on Ante. Everyone gets 3 cards dealt face down, and 3 cards are dealt face down to the dealer. All of the Pot bets are collected and put in the center of the layout in front of the dealer's cards. The object is to make the best five card poker hand you can out of your three cards and the dealer's three cards.

If you look at your hand and decide you want to continue and get a look at the dealer's cards, you put a bet in Flop that is equal to your bet in Ante. The dealer turns over his cards, the players put their cards down, and the dealer then goes around the table turning over cards and paying out winnings. The player needs at least Jacks or better to win anything on the Ante and Flop bets. The Ante bets always pay at even money, while the Flop bets pay out according to a predetermined pay scale.

Remember those Pot bets in the middle of the layout? They go to whichever player has the best hand at the table. Often no one has Jacks or better, so everyone loses their Antes and Flops, but the Pot bet ends up going to someone with a low pair. The nice thing about this set up is that as long as there are at least 2 players at the table, someone will win something every hand.

The pay scale for the Flop bets is: Royal Flush 1000-1, Straight Flush 500-1, 4 of a Kind 100-1, Full House 30-1, Flush 20-1, Straight 10-1, 3 of a kind 4-1, 2 pair 2-1, Pair of Jacks or better 1-1.

After a few hours of Flop Poker, we broke for a late lunch back at the EDR/VSB. They had more of that terrific Crab Bisque that they served on Monday, so I grabbed some of that. I also grabbed some steamed vegetables; after the big breakfast I wasn't particularly hungry. They were also serving baked catfish, which my lunch buddies said was flaky and delicious.

We finished back at the trailer with more Flop Poker and took a quiz on it. I'm pretty sure I answered everything correctly, but we didn't find out our scores.

At the end of the day we were taken outside. As our group was preparing to leave at 4 p.m., another group was coming in. They addressed the whole lot of us as one.

The opening of the MOAB is now officially scheduled for Noon on Tuesday. Every dealer has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. If we still wanted to help move slot machines on Friday, that start time has been moved from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tomorrow night I'll be moving stuff onto the MOAB during the same shift on which I will be dealing. I am to report Monday evening to the Venue for a pre-opening rally and to pick up my new dealer's uniform.

I'm trying to figure out how to best shift my internal clocks from day to night. Anyone here have experience working nights?

I'll probably spend much of tomorrow sleeping during the day like I'm some sort of vampire. With any luck, Saturday night I'll have a report for you about my inside look at the new boat!

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

tim-curiosity overrides good manners,i have to ask what you think you will be earning one year down the road,or tell me it is a nunyo!

As a matter of fact, I have extensive experience with the night shift. About 30 years off and on. I change back and forth alot. It is a big change to the body clock and you need to adapt. You have the advantage of a lot of excitement with a new job, so you can get into a system now, your body will have adjusted before that new excitement wears off. You say 8pm to 4ish am? That's not too bad. At my job, that's the graveyard shift. My swing shift starts early afternoon and get off before midnight.

Girlfriends, pets, telephones, friends, family, etc. will be affected too. You don't call your parents at 3:00am, so they shouldn't be calling you at 3:00pm. Just let your loved ones know what you are going through and they will understand. Turn your phone ringers off when you go to bed.

Some of the biggest mistakes you can make is eating too much, going to sleep too early, and confusing caffine with metabolism.

Eating is almost a hobby to me. Eating big heavy meals make you tired at work. If you eat a big meal after work thinking it will help put you to sleep, it probably will except you will also wake back up in a couple of hours. When you get a break at work, do something to build metabolism instead of eating something that will drain your energy. Eat a piece of fruit outside while you take a walk as opposed to sitting down in a breakroom with a roast beef sandwich. I know you are on your feet a lot, but I'm sure you get the point.

Sometimes when you get off work, you are tired and want to sleep. If you go to bed then, you wake up 6 hours before the next shift and by the time you go to work, you are tired again. Get into a system to stay up 4 hours or so after work...as you would do on a day shift. Early on a weekday morning is an excellent time for grocery shopping, banking, library, and just about anything outside of fine dining and entertainment. Traffic is better and lines move faster and people are friendlier and less stressed. You can meet a lot of people in professions that work around the clock, such as law enforcement and medical. It's a little different in Las Vegas, but that's another story. I like waking up about 2 hours before my shift starts. That gives me leisure time to become fully awake and alert before I start to work. My first meal is usually something light like a salad or fish.

Some people pound 10 cups of coffee in a 2 hour period to get ready for work. Some people go for Monster or Rock Star energy drinks. I've found that the bigger boost you get from those things, the harder you crash when they start wearing off.

Bottom line is that if you go to work fresh, you won't need much to have a good night. If you get up too early, drink a few Monsters, or eat heavy, you aren't going to work fresh.

One trick that I adjust to on a case by case basis is how to adjust to weekends and get back on track. Depending on the weekend plans, going to bed early, or having some caffine to stay awake longer than normal could be a good thing. I sometimes break my first day off into two short days in that I get something done after work, take few hours nap, get up and finish the day like other people. In the 24 hours before you go back after your weekend, you might want to break that down into 2 short days with activities and naps. Just try to get a solid sleep period in before your shift so you can go in fresh.

One of my friends went through dealer school, and he was making about $22/hour with tips in our local tribal casino. That was about 5 years ago, so let's hope Tim benefits from inflation.

dagwash and DaisyDeuces:

My entire time at Horseshoe I've been making a flat $15 an hour. Now that I'm officially signed off as a dealer, I'll be making $5.25/hour plus tokes. The base pay goes up a bit every time you learn a major game.

From what I understand, all tokes earned during a week are pooled and then divided out according to how many hours someone worked during the week. According to the dealers, the toke rate averages between $15 and $16/hour, so I figure to be making about $20/hour. Not surprisingly, the management is hoping that with the excitement surrounding the new boat, we'll be able to push that toke rate higher. One of the pit managers told me that in the 10 years or so he had been here, the highest toke rate he had seen was about $23/hour. A lot of people are hoping we can reach that level during our grand opening.

One of my classmates lives near and knows people who work for the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, IN. She said that when the Four Winds Casino opened up in nearby New Buffalo, MI, the toke rate at Blue Chip fell from about $13/hour to $9/hour. I wonder if Horseshoe will have a similar effect on the toke rates at nearby Ameristar and Majestic.

JMT:

Thank you very much for the advice. I'll keep you guys up to date on what works and what doesn't for me.

Cheers,

Tim the Dealer

Report for Friday, July 25th

I had volunteered to come in at 8 p.m. on Friday night to help move slot machines off the old Horseshoe boat and onto the new Horseshoe boat, the MOAB. As I approached the casino, I saw that the old boat had been moved from the back of the marina and was now sitting flush against the back of the MOAB.

Getting on board the MOAB was a little tricky. To all appearances, they have fully repaired the walkway that collapsed early Tuesday. Still, I had to use the construction entrance, which was a gravel road that led under the marina parking garage. No matter whether I came through the pavilion or the construction, though, I was about to get my first look at the new boat.

I walked through the doors, and...

WHOA! SERIOUSLY?? THIS IS AWESOME!!!

As one would hope, the MOAB is a huge upgrade from the old boat. Literally, it's about as a big of a jump from the Las Vegas Club downtown to the Monte Carlo on the Strip. The pavilion areas of Horseshoe were always nice, but the boat itself often seemed a little underlit, cramped, and smoky. The old casino would fit right in amidst the seedier, decaying places downtown, while the new casino easily would qualify as a mid-to-upper level Strip casino.

The casino has ceilings that are probably 15-20 feet high. The whole place is very brightly lit, with very large and sparkling chandeliers all over. The color scheme is various shades of brown, ranging from a very light beige on the ceiling to a dark, muted brown on the Romanesque columns (with bronze horseshoes on top!) throughout the casino, and with the expected assortment of tans, taupes, golds, and bronzes as well.

A few of us working were trying to figure out which strip casino it would compare to. Monte Carlo came up a lot; it's every bit as nice, but like w