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!