So I'm closing in on the finish line. The last three weeks has been a whirlwind for me. So much information to process, so many things to learn. I don't remember dispatch school being this challenging! One of the things that really had me concerned was learning how to deal a pot limit game. For those that don't know, pot limit means that a player can bet a maximum of what is already in the pot. This sounds relatively easy on the surface, but consider that while I'm trying to calculate what a pot bet would be, I have to remember what was already in the pot, action before it, and oh yeah, I still have to actually be a dealer! When the time finally came, I found that I was better at it then I thought I would be. Even more surprising, everyone seemed to be having issues, including the instructors. It's not easy! :)
Next week will be auditions. I'm nervous, but I feel pretty confident, and I suppose that's the most important thing. Everyone will make mistakes, it's how you handle recovering from them that separates you from others.
As I've been going on with the poker, I have also been learning to deal blackjack. Progress with that has been slower as my priority has been learning poker, but that is also coming close to audition time. Once I'm done with that, I'll move on to learning craps, which I'm sure is going to take more time. Progress with that might slow dramatically once the World Series starts depending on how many hours I get working there, but it is important that I get that finished and polished by the time I'm looking for a job, as I already have what amounts to an invitation to audition when I'm done with my commitment to the WSOP.
More to come soon! Sorry this one was a little scattershot. Lots of things distracting me around here, so I have to keep starting and stopping!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Shuffle Up and Learn To Deal
So tomorrow evening I start the WSOP dealers school. I am a little nervous, but I think my week of blackjack instruction has made me much more comfortable handling cards and chips. Unfortunately, I have to now switch gears in my head and start thinking poker and not blackjack! I'll get it sorted soon enough, though. I have no real idea how many dealers are actually going to be dealing the WSOP. In 2009 they actually had a shortage of dealers for a portion of the events, so hopefully this translates into more work for me.
Going to be interesting trying to balance two schools at once, especially once Melissa starts working, but at least the blackjack/craps school is ultra-flexible about what days I come in. It's basically a "show up when you want" sort of deal. The place was a zoo for most of the week last week. It appears a bunch of casinos have gone on a hiring spree for "party pit" girls. Party Pit girls are basically model level ladies who get stationed in high traffic areas with the idea to attract horny dudes (or ladies, if that's their tilt) over to play their blackjack tables that pay 1 to 1 on blackjacks, making it an astonishingly BAD deal for the players. Ostensibly the concept is that the player won't care cuz there's boobs in his face. For this, the ladies apparently make quite the coin. I heard something on the order of $350 a day guaranteed minimum. Anyway, the school is crawling with these ladies, all taking a cram course in blackjack dealing. That, along with the craps teaching (which is loud) and the poker instruction (which is also loud and sometimes abrasive... the instructor is kind of a Sergeant), and you've got yourself a pretty authentic off strip casino experience, minus the blue haze. The only irritating thing is fighting to get a chance to deal some. Friday was a welcome relief. The blackjack instructor there on Thursdays and Fridays is right up my ally and I've learned a ton from him. He was there on Friday and the room was MUCH less crowded on account of no craps or poker classes and half at least of the party pit girls taking the day off.
Tomorrow I'll go in in the morning for some more blackjack goodness, then I FINALLY get to see my son. It'll be good to get the family back together. Now all that remains is to get my stuff!
When we contracted PODS to store and ship our stuff, part of the conversation was how long it was going to take to deliver all of our stuff to Las Vegas. Somehow we got the quote of "two or three days". Yeah, not so much. Two or three days is what it would take to get the stuff from the Las Vegas storage facility to our front door. What they neglected to mention was the 7 days it would take to truck the stuff from Illinois to Nevada, so instead of 2 or 3 days, it's gonna be 10 days. Our stuff arrives on the 12th. Weee. So we've been on cheap-ass air mattresses for the last few days. My neck is killing me from the equally cheap-ass pillows we bought. Just gotta get through this next week.
I did manage to climb my first rock though! I'm going to have a lot of fun exploring this new land!
Going to be interesting trying to balance two schools at once, especially once Melissa starts working, but at least the blackjack/craps school is ultra-flexible about what days I come in. It's basically a "show up when you want" sort of deal. The place was a zoo for most of the week last week. It appears a bunch of casinos have gone on a hiring spree for "party pit" girls. Party Pit girls are basically model level ladies who get stationed in high traffic areas with the idea to attract horny dudes (or ladies, if that's their tilt) over to play their blackjack tables that pay 1 to 1 on blackjacks, making it an astonishingly BAD deal for the players. Ostensibly the concept is that the player won't care cuz there's boobs in his face. For this, the ladies apparently make quite the coin. I heard something on the order of $350 a day guaranteed minimum. Anyway, the school is crawling with these ladies, all taking a cram course in blackjack dealing. That, along with the craps teaching (which is loud) and the poker instruction (which is also loud and sometimes abrasive... the instructor is kind of a Sergeant), and you've got yourself a pretty authentic off strip casino experience, minus the blue haze. The only irritating thing is fighting to get a chance to deal some. Friday was a welcome relief. The blackjack instructor there on Thursdays and Fridays is right up my ally and I've learned a ton from him. He was there on Friday and the room was MUCH less crowded on account of no craps or poker classes and half at least of the party pit girls taking the day off.
Tomorrow I'll go in in the morning for some more blackjack goodness, then I FINALLY get to see my son. It'll be good to get the family back together. Now all that remains is to get my stuff!
When we contracted PODS to store and ship our stuff, part of the conversation was how long it was going to take to deliver all of our stuff to Las Vegas. Somehow we got the quote of "two or three days". Yeah, not so much. Two or three days is what it would take to get the stuff from the Las Vegas storage facility to our front door. What they neglected to mention was the 7 days it would take to truck the stuff from Illinois to Nevada, so instead of 2 or 3 days, it's gonna be 10 days. Our stuff arrives on the 12th. Weee. So we've been on cheap-ass air mattresses for the last few days. My neck is killing me from the equally cheap-ass pillows we bought. Just gotta get through this next week.
I did manage to climb my first rock though! I'm going to have a lot of fun exploring this new land!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Dry Heat!
So my promise of updating this blog every day with something or another has apparently already fallen flat on its face. The last week has been, in a word, chaos. Winter had one last laugh at us when we left last week the day after a significant snow storm crushed central Illinois, and so there were portions of the trip on the first day that were downright scary. After that, it was smooth sailing. Long, but smooth. I do have to state at this point, this country is friggin awesome. The last day especially coming up through the mountains is some scenery the likes of which you must behold to believe. Just stunning, and I know I'm going to find plenty of things to explore out here.
Anyway, we certainly hit the ground running. Residence has been established. In less then 2 days of work, Melissa is already getting interviews. There have been a few bumps in the road, the most significant of which was that the money that was to be delivered to us from the bank for relocation has yet to show up. This sucks on its own, but we were told that the check was being overnighted and was supposed to show up the day we were leaving. No worries, since we wouldn't need that cash for a week anyway as it's the money we'd use to move our PODS with our stuff in it over to the new residence. Trouble is, we arrived, the check still hadn't. The contact at the bank suddenly stopped answering his phone, and my blood pressure started climbing. Finally I get in touch with someone there who actually answered the phone and come to find out the bank is still waiting for confirmation the deed is recorded with McHenry county, which is amusing considering the house is LISTED FOR SALE already. Guess the joke is on whoever tries to buy the house, since according the public record I still own it.
Mind = blown
Anyway, this had the unpleasant effect of preventing us from getting our belongings moving to the new digs. Thankfully, family stepped in to help out and our items are on their way... Sort of. See, when we arranged all of this one of the questions we asked was how long from the word "go" would our stuff be in our driveway in Las Vegas. The answer we got was "2 or 3 days". Well, not so much. Actually it'll take them 7 days to get the box to Las Vegas, and FROM THERE 2 or 3 days for it to end up in my driveway. Certainly information I could have used when we bought the damn service! So yes, our stuff is on the move and that's a God send, but we're still living in a house with nothing in it for a touch over a week. I've given up being upset about this. Instead I went to Walmart and bought 4 air mattresses. Fun with roughing it inside. Hopefully our guest will understand. Certainly our kid couldn't care less.
So the work continues out here in paradise. I went to my first day of school today. Found out that being a lefty sucks when dealing blackjack. Everything is geared to righties. Maybe it's better off. Now I HAVE to learn everything from scratch. Glad to finally be doing something productive.
Anyway, we certainly hit the ground running. Residence has been established. In less then 2 days of work, Melissa is already getting interviews. There have been a few bumps in the road, the most significant of which was that the money that was to be delivered to us from the bank for relocation has yet to show up. This sucks on its own, but we were told that the check was being overnighted and was supposed to show up the day we were leaving. No worries, since we wouldn't need that cash for a week anyway as it's the money we'd use to move our PODS with our stuff in it over to the new residence. Trouble is, we arrived, the check still hadn't. The contact at the bank suddenly stopped answering his phone, and my blood pressure started climbing. Finally I get in touch with someone there who actually answered the phone and come to find out the bank is still waiting for confirmation the deed is recorded with McHenry county, which is amusing considering the house is LISTED FOR SALE already. Guess the joke is on whoever tries to buy the house, since according the public record I still own it.
Mind = blown
Anyway, this had the unpleasant effect of preventing us from getting our belongings moving to the new digs. Thankfully, family stepped in to help out and our items are on their way... Sort of. See, when we arranged all of this one of the questions we asked was how long from the word "go" would our stuff be in our driveway in Las Vegas. The answer we got was "2 or 3 days". Well, not so much. Actually it'll take them 7 days to get the box to Las Vegas, and FROM THERE 2 or 3 days for it to end up in my driveway. Certainly information I could have used when we bought the damn service! So yes, our stuff is on the move and that's a God send, but we're still living in a house with nothing in it for a touch over a week. I've given up being upset about this. Instead I went to Walmart and bought 4 air mattresses. Fun with roughing it inside. Hopefully our guest will understand. Certainly our kid couldn't care less.
So the work continues out here in paradise. I went to my first day of school today. Found out that being a lefty sucks when dealing blackjack. Everything is geared to righties. Maybe it's better off. Now I HAVE to learn everything from scratch. Glad to finally be doing something productive.
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