Day One

I'll never have a chance again to deal the first hand of my career as a professional poker dealer, so here it is:

My assignment is "Live Action" as opposed to "Tournaments" or "Satellites". That means that I am to deal a regular cash game. Not a tournament with a prize pool or chips with $1000 written on them but worth nothing, but a true cash game where players use casino chips and hundred dollar bills and may join the game or leave it at any time. True poker. Table stakes, meaning that a player has at risk the amount of money they put on the table at the start of the hand. A player can buy more chips or add cash to his stack between hands but not during a hand.

The game is No Limit Texas Hold'em and the blinds are $2 and $5. There are nine seats at the table for players and this table is full.

My first hand:

The dealer button (which indicates the player last to act throughout the betting rounds for this hand) is at the #9 seat on my immediate right. Seat #1 on my left puts out the $2 small blind and Seat #2 places a $5 chip for the big blind. As I shuffle and deal the first two down cards, seat #9 puts two $5 chips on the button. This is known as a "Mississippi Straddle". It is an optional bet, considered a raise, available to the player on the button. Play then begins at the small blind. Seat #1 calls. The big blind calls. Three others call the $10 bet and it is back to the straddler who has the option to raise. As I am about to say, "Option." Seat #9 (I was told his name was Mike Hirschensohn) says, "Raise! Seventy!" And he tosses another $60 in red $5 chips out in front of his position. In turn, each player looks at their cards again, shakes their head and tosses them into the middle, folding their hand and giving up on their $10 earlier calls. I gather up the orphaned bets and slide them over to Mike who wins the hand without even seeing a flop. Mike tosses me a dollar tip and folds his hand face up showing everyone that was holding the two black Jacks.

That's it! My first hand as a professional poker dealer. It contained a "Straddle on the button," a big pot sized raise and it was over before the flop. I guess I will have to save that chip.

The Rookie Arrives

"Welcome to the 2008 World Series of Poker!"

We are to greet every player coming to the table with a smile and a rousing, "Welcome to the 2008 World Series of Poker!"

For most of the players, the dealer at their first World Series of Poker event will be part of a lasting memory. For many it will be the only time they ever play in the Series and their dealer will be, for them, the face of the 2008 World Series of Poker.

Here it is. Here is your lasting memory:

Back in Vegas

I got into Vegas yesterday afternoon. It was a blessedly uneventful flight. Southwest even served snacks that didn't include peanuts! My peanut allergy thanks Southwest Airlines for switching to Cheeze-It snacks, at least for this trip.

Checked into the Chapman B&B. Nice place, almost overly decorated. If there is a space on a wall where a picture could be hung, there is a picture there. Van Gogh prints in the bedroom, European travel posters in the bathroom. There also must be fifty Lladro statuettes on display in the living room. Apparently, it's the collection of the mother of the man that owns the place and she spends her winters here. The flowery prints on the sofas reminiscent of grandma's house. I think it will be a comfortable, quiet respite from the glitz of the Las Vegas Strip.

The biggest immediate challenge is the time change. You wouldn't think 3 hours would be that much but it is also the expected working hours: 6 PM to 3 AM. I'm used to going to bed at 10 or 11 EST and getting up at 5 or 6. I will be going to work at 6 PM which is 9 PM EST so I'm going to be going to work when I am used to just settling in for the evening back in Tampa. To help get acclimated, I figured I needed to stay up late and sleep in.

I took a walk to the Sahara Casino on the north end of the Strip. It is about a 2 mile walk through a pretty nice residential area. They have a Poker Tournament with a $45 buy-in. I played in it. Busted a guy by catching a deuce and also two others when I was well ahead but ultimately went down when I was out kicked with Top Pair having put too much faith in a king that paired the board. I got back to the room about two o'clock but only slept until six. It's a start. We'll try to make some more progress on it tonight.

Orientation Training is today. I start a new job .

Processing - Getting Started

All dealers planning to work the 2008 WSOP need to be processed by the Rio HR department by May 22, according to the memo I received. With some 900 dealers needing to be processed, it seemed to me that it was going to be a zoo at HR on May 21st. Also, according to the schedule, the first WSOP tournament doesn't start until May 30th but I see that satellite tournaments begin on May 28th. This means that there will be a lot of dealers in Vegas with nothing to do for a week. I suppose that is okay if you live there, but paying for a hotel for an extra week is going to be expensive. Not to mention that a week in Vegas with nothing to do could be a very expensive proposition, expecially for a Poker hobbyist.



I needed to be in Chicago to visit my daughter in April. I thought it would make sense to just make a three legged trip and stop by HR and get processed early. Not only would I avoid the crush but I would be able to check out some places to live. I don't want to blow everything I earn on a hotel room. Off to Vegas I go.



I have a map how to get to Rio HR. It's like, "Through the double doors, down the stairs, around the corner and past the vending machines." A room with the expected cubicle style desks around the outside and a few computer terminals set up to access the HR system. In the corner, hung from the ceiling is a television playing an instructional video of how to deal a poker hand. Hmm.



I sign in and the HR manager has me fill out a bunch of the expected paperwork such as my application for a Nevada Gaming license and I am directed to get fingerprinted at a station set up for the purpose. I can't remember the last time I was fingerprinted, but I bet it was twenty years ago and the process involved an ink pad and putting the images on paper. That is all gone now. Just put your hand on a little mini scanner and the image of the prints shows up on the computer monitor. (I am later informed that this "new" technology has been around since before the turn of the century.) I review a few things like payroll deductions and direct deposit and that's it. I am now an employee of Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.



Now to find a place to live. There are some places in walking distance to the Rio, but I don't know if I want to be walking around in this area at three in the morning with a pocket full of tip money. One of the places, an inexpensive all-suite hotel a few blocks away recently made the news. Apparently, one of their long term residents was found attempting to manufacture Ricin nerve gas in his hotel room. It must be just the kind of a place to call home.

Some folks are planning to share a house and some condos are available, but the most interesting is the idea of a bed-n-beakfast. My prospective roommate, Tim suggested I check one out, The Chapman. It seems to be an inexpensive option and the B&B crowd is usually not the hell raiser type, so we can expect a nice quiet place to relax and get a little away from the casino environment.

When I headed over to the Chapman, I found a nice house in a residential area a mile or so east of the strip with seven bedrooms, each with it's own private bathroom and shower. Cool. There was a pool out back and even a little old lady who, I assume, will be fixing breakfasts. I like it. We will see if it works out.

The Poker Hobby

Lillian was bugging me about getting a part time job or taking a class or something. She thought I might be happier in my "early retirement" if I was working toward something rather than just maintaining the house, cooking dinners for us and spending all my spare time playing golf and poker. The problem with early retirement is having been successful, potential employers assume they can't afford you. One needs to be willing to start over in a new field.

I thought it might be fun to try Poker Dealer School. Around here, Dealers work four days a week and often on swing shift (6 PM to 2 AM or so). This is a good fit for one who wants to have time to play golf when the sun is shining. I went through the Ivy League Dealer School in Tampa, however, rather than getting a job here, I found myself auditioning for the World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas! It seems that Tampa is the only place outside of Vegas where one can get hired for the Series.

WSOP is actually a series of over fifty Poker tournaments played over two months. To satisfy the recent demand, the Rio (owned by Harrah's) needs to temporarily hire 900 dealers. Seeing that there are not 900 out of work, experienced poker dealers available in Vegas, Harrah's gets a little creative and taps this school in Tampa for 30 or 40 of them.

From May 25 to July 17 I will be in Vegas, working swing at the Rio's convention center dealing both the tournaments and the cash/side games and living at a bed-n-breakfast just off the Strip.

My hobbies are Golf and Poker. Seeing that I am not good enough at either one to play them professionally, the best I can do is be a fan. A few years ago I had the opportunity to caddy at a PGA Tour event and more recently at Ladies' Futures Tour event. This dealer job will give me the opportunity to be at the tables and be part of the action while the best in the world battle it out for millions of dollars. I'll be able to have experienced my hobbies at the highest levels of play from inside the ropes. As a fan, it doesn't get much better than that.