Filed away for use.

At some point you will physically or mentally need a break and the jig is up then. Or a losing player will complain about the lack of push (this is a likely scenario).

1)I'll call the no-push everytime. How hard I call may vary, but I'll at least pretend to call no push. Biggest things are a)never stop dealing and b)never act like you actually want to leave the table - the marginal game still pays better than break.

2)"Hey I called no push". Generally they won't care TOO much unless there's a tournament actively going on, which means I'm dodging it. That'll get the grumbles going, but nothing more than that.

3)They'll be annoyed, but since it's their (our) responsibility to have the strings correct and make sure that they are being pushed, the DC is just as at-fault as anyone, if not more.

I'll call "no-push" almost every time...but what you describe might be one of the exceptions to that.

(If I'm stuck working in a room where bunches of games open/break routinely like that, then hey, it's every man for himself!)

I generally will call a floor when I realize I am not being pushed. However sometimes when a floor comes and they get told of the problem they walk off and still no push comes ... well if its a really good table I may not be calling them back all that quickly.

I have never heard of any dealer getting much flack for taking advantage of the spot (though 90% of the dealers I work with would be calling the floor to complain that they wanted a break).

First, if there are opportunities to stay after class and practice with other students DO IT. You likely have most of the basic information you need floating in your head, but it takes lots of repetition to get to where everything is automatic. Even after you pass the test it would be a good idea to get in a little more practice so you're prepared for whatever comes next.

Remember that your teachers want to feel they did a good job and are rooting for you. They want you to pass.

While I like this its potentially dangerous when the guy is sitting on a big hand and flips it up after you tell him this. You better know your players and your managers.

PLAYER: (annoyed, points to empty chair with chips in front of it) Where did that guy go?

YTF: I was going to ask you.

PLAYER: Me??? How would I know where he went?

YTF: I was going to ask you THAT, too.

Talking about refs and umpires in the break room, one guy mentioned, "WE'RE officials, too, sort of...but we're officials who work for tips..."

"I wish!", I joined in. "I wish we could run guys outta here! Imagine that? Give 'em a yellow card?"

I was joking, but the more I thought about it, the more I think, "Why not?"

I ref'd an intermural volleyball game once. One team was riding me pretty hard, and as soon as I whipped out that yellow card, it STOPPED. They knew they were one false step away from a red card (ejection).

Yeah, I know, that's the floorman's job.

Another guy in the discussion had another idea: three strikes and you're out. "Just like on The Price is Right! You pull three X's out of the bag, you're outta here! We give each dealer an 'X' chip--they only get to hand out ONE a day! If any player gets three of them? From three different dealers? Get him outta here!"

We'd have it worked out in the pre-shift meeting. "Okay. Bob, Bald Dave, and Hal get strikes from the first 3 dealers that see them." And just imagine if one of the players switched tables during a down... we could get him out in under an hour!

I might have told this story here before, I'm not sure. When I was in Colorado a dealer called me over and said *problem child* needs some racks. I brought the racks over. I didn't know until later that the dealer told him he was going to have him thrown out (he was a god dealer and I would have told him to leave if just bringing the racks over hadn't done it).

Perfect...

The cut cards in my current place of employment are yellow. I will sometimes when joking around hold it up and claim a yellow card at a player for something.

Alas, the amount of people who know soccer enough to get the reference is terribly small.

I don't know why I had to read this twice to get what you were saying here, but holy **** do I love it!

EP bets $26. MP announces a max raise to $126. First comes the $100 stack of red. Now he needs to get $26 out there in yellow $2 chips, not a casual undertaking under normal circumstances, but given his excitement over the big hand/pot he's in, this is going to require some patience on our part.

On his first try, he brings out WAY too many chips. I'm just going to patiently wait until his his hands leave the betting area, then I'll tidy up his bet and give him back the difference...

..But Seat One, who's not even in the hand, has no time for my "patience" BS. "No, take those back!", he barks.

Rather than speed things up, he has succeeded in slowing things down. Now the bettor is even more confused and frazzled. His hand seems to be lifting and dropping yellow chips at random

Seat One gets more frustrated. "Just pull back those," he commands, without any of us knowing which "those" he could possibly be referring to.

At this point, the bettor is about to seize up completely, and the rest of the table is suddenly exhibiting agitated body language, so I jump in by cutting off the Table Captain with, "Relax, I got this," in a matter-of-fact, quiet, confident tone.

Immediately, a player I've never seen before tells the Captain, "Yeah, let HIM handle it. He's doing a good job!"

That was nice to hear.

(I rarely play out of town any more, but when I see a dealer have a solid down at my table, I'll usually compliment them as they get pushed out--and every time, you can see it makes their day. You can also see that they don't hear that very often....as in, "never".)

The one female player at the table is on a heater. And as usual, everyone is jealous of the player on a heater, and making cracks....but since this one is female, they can go beyond the usual cracks.

CHIPPER GUY: I think she likes this dealer.

YTF: (sadly) *Nobody* likes this dealer.

CHIPPER GUY: Well, nobody with any sense...

YTF: I don't get it--people outside this place like me! But then I come in here, I put on this uniform, and suddenly I'm like a Batman villain or something.

I was telling a story the other day about once seeing Stupak in a casino with Sklansky and Malmuth. The only name I kept repeating throughout the story was "Stupak".

When I was finished, one of the younger players asked a question that made it clear that he thought I was saying "Tupac".

That would have been a way cooler story.

So the other night I am dealing and one of our tables have frayed edges on one of the Bravo display which has been complained about several times. Well sure enough ol' Gil is clicking along and as I am pulling in a mucked hand I slice myself on the dam edge putting a decent cut on my right hand.

After the hand is finished I call the floor over because I am starting to bleed but luckily havent leaked anywhere on the table or cards yet. I ask for a quick push out so I can clean up and get a band aid. As I am cleaning up behind the podium I hear the floor call me back over and ask to push him out as now he has cut himself on the edge of the display himself. Two pieces of electrical tape later hopefully the problem is fixed before hopefully anyone else can slice themselves up before it can be fixed for good.

Luckily the table was in good spirits and joked about the absurdity of the situation for a few hours. One of our regulars who is a good guy and a joker laughed that his voodoo doll worked way too well

So our room is small enough that it is not uncommon that dealers will fill in for our floor super for breaks or whatever. Our casino managers have a rule that any floor personal must have a tie and jacket on at all times (I feel like this rule is strictly enforced more than most other procedures and rules) Well much like in Cheers where they had a tie and jacket hanging up to go up to the high class resturaunt upstairs we have the same thing so as a joke whoever has the tie and jacket is the floor.

So a month ago my floor pulls me out of the lineup to cover his break so on goes the jacket and tie. That night was a slow night so we only had three games going so I figured it shouldnt be too crazy.....of course I was wrong....

As soon as he left the room someone calls floor for a burn and turn.....no big deal easy enough to manage.

Five minutes later another floor call this time for two players bickering at each other and getting mouthy which each other....once again no big deal its two regulars and I calm them down and basically tell them to STFU.....one questions me if I have the power to give warnings and I tell him that when I if I have the jacket and tie I have the power, he chuckles and shurgs and goes back to playing.

Five minutes go by and the third table calls floor for another possible burn and turn....sure enough Mr. headphones at the table was tapping to his music and was shocked that the dealer and four players behind took it for a check. Okay another simple ruling of significant action and the river card will stay.....but I am getting slightly annoyed

Five minutes go by and one of the tables call over for three on board. As I am watching the action another floor call.....the two dingdongs from earlier and back to getting mouthy with each other so I tell them to knock it off as the hand I am watching finishes up and sure enough a jackpot is dealt so while having to shut the two up from across the room I am having to go through the ritual of calling TGO, shift and casino manager and surveillance to start the jackpot procedure while another floor call happens for a card down on another tabe......The jackpot takes precedent because if procedures arent followed to a T you can be written up and fired.....so after a couple of minutes I have forgotten about the down card until security rheems my ass for failing to follow procedure on the down card.

Finally my floorman comes back asking if anything happened while he was gone....naturally my reaction was taking my tie off and throwing it at him (sorta playfully) and picking up my rack and box and heading to push back into the lineup.

One thing I always have respect for as a dealer and player is a floorman because they have a tough job handling a room full of players and staff even when things are smooth let alone when all hell breaks loose while as a dealer luckily only have to manage 9-10 players at a time

Oh and of course I was given a written warning by the shift manager about failing to follow proper procedure on the down card......

Three aces on board. If a casino's minimum BBJ qualifier is AAAJJ or similar, three aces on the board makes a jackpot much more likely. The dealer will call over a supervisor before action continues to ensure that the players don't collude.

TGO is probably Tribal Gaming Office.

Good stories Gil! Keep 'em coming.

So lets make a big production of the possible jackpot ourselves so that the players don;t have to do it.

Assuming the rules of your jackpot require players play both cards in their hand .... isn't A A A on board a situation where collusion is no longer a concern ... if they are going to hot the jackpot its already a done deal (the only issue is getting enough money into the pot to qualify but do they really need to collude to do that?)

Would not surprise me if people tried to collude. Knowing the typical BBJ chaser, there's a chance the hand doesn't qualify as a BBJ until the river and there's $8 in the pot because it's your average OMC-filled game and they need $30-$50 in there to qualify.

There's also the possibility of an AAAxx board where A shows KK, B shows QQ, C then tries to muck Ax because his kicker doesn't play and it would nullify the jackpot. More often than not, table share is more than the pot so C will concede the pot. I've dealt in a room with a similar BBJ and every day the nitty morning regs would talk about that exact scenario and preach it to their neighbors about how they have to muck in the above scenario. Most BBJ rule sets I've seen have a rule stating the house is allowed to see all called hands in the event of a jackpot.

"I wanted to put the hooodoo on the dealer, but not in a way that might slow down how many hands I see"

I LOL'd.

Nothing annoys me more than pointing out a safety issue, and seeing the bosses act like it's not a big deal. I cut myself on something that was jutting from a handrail near the employee entrance, and got halfway up the chain of command before finally finding someone to take it seriously enough to address it (It was a two-minute repair job).