Sunday, July 31, 2005

Frustration In Paradise

I got sent home from work last night. Seems that because I haven't completed orientation, I cant work. Nevermind the fact that I've been working for the last two weeks.... Looks like some time off for me 'till Wednesday. I'm just glad the rents paid and my gas tank is full.

Funny story from last week, I was riding with Erica after we had just left the gym. We were in her car because the air conditioning worked, and I hadn't fixed mine yet. It really makes a difference in 110 degree weather, trust me.

We were headed west on Sahara when she saw that a police car was following her. When I asked her what the big deal was, she told me that her plates were expired. She was slyly changing lanes and making turns to try and shake the cop before he noticed the expired plates. He matched us at every turn, but never turned on the lights to pull us over. She finally decided to pull into a little strip mall business park and see what happened. The business out front was some engineering firm, and there were several more as we drove thru the parking lot. As we got towards the back I started to notice a whole lot of Ford Crown Victorias with stubby little antennas all over them. There had to be at least 30 of them. That's when I saw a sign for a private forensics lab, and behold, right next door was a sign that said CSI: Las Vegas. Probably not the best place to try and ditch the police. By the way, he never did pull us over. It did inspire me to fix my A/C.....

Mitch and I went on a grand adventure last night. After I got back from work, I agreed that we should drink some whiskey and generally blow off doing anything productive for the rest of the night. First we watched Bill Mahrs HBO Special. Mitch realized that Hollywood Video was closing in 20 minutes (it was 11:30 PM).

Mitch has a system - He goes right before closing time and looks for movies that are guaranteed in stock. If they are out of them, you get to rent it free next time you come in. He also spied that they were out of XXX 2. We got to the counter and I'll be damned if they didn't have one under the counter. We told them that we had changed our mind and just rented The Alamo.

Back at home several drinks later we decided the movie sucked, so we walked over to Steph and Ericas house to see what was going on. Boooooring. Everyone was wrapped up on the floor watching White Noise. We stole a couple pieces of pizza and left. I set off Stephs car alarm on the way out for good measure. Spilled my whiskey running away.

Steph called later and asked if we wanted to go into work with them. Since it was the Spearmint Rhino, one of the best nudie bars in the world, I quickly agreed that we should go. We polished off most of our whiskey, leaving just enough to fill a flask. We tried to cowboy up a little, but Steph wouldn't even let us in the car with the Stetsons on, so we left them. The Rhino was crowded as hell, but we were already toasted, so it was a good time.

The only remarkable thing from there was that Mitch and I got into it with a 4 foot tall guy who tried to sic his 'posse' on us - 10 more 4 foot Arabs. I guess security was already watching them, cuz they stepped in before anything really happened. Didn't say a word to us, but threatened the other guys with expulsion if they so much as blinked the wrong way. Good times.

I woke up this morning with something digging into my side. I guess my flask fell out of my pocket while I was sleeping....

J

Monday, July 25, 2005

Chicks Who Don't Know How Check their Oil

They should make it part of drivers education to show women how to check the oil in their car. This is not a broad generalization of women, just my general idea about a few broads I know.

I only worked 4 hours last night, and was on a single table push the whole time. It went like this... Came in at 5:30, got sent to break. Dealt for 1/2 hour at 6:00, then another break. It continued like that for 4 hours before I finally gave in and took an E.O. (Early Out). I picked up another shift tonight, the 5:30 again. I hope it is busier, or at least a few less dealers so I can make some $$$. I did finally make my first sighting of some Wendover regulars who recognized me right away. The crazy part is that there were 3 different people and they weren't together. It did feel good to be recognized, and the extra $$$ helped salvage an otherwise slow night.

I tried stopping at Santa Fe Station after work around 10pm. The jackpot is up to $307,000 and change. Not a chance in hell at getting a seat. I spoke to a guy who said he had been waiting almost 4 hours for a seat, and the place was packed. I decided to take my $60 and do the responsible thing. I filled up my empty gastank and went home.

It was at the gas station that I saw something that would make M.A.D.D. go bananas. Budweiser has a promotion going that gives you $2.00 off an 18 pack of beer if you fill up your gastank. Couldn't pass up $8.99 for an 18 pack.

J

Ps. Went out on Freemont Street. Tons of people, but I missed the show. Maybe tonight.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

2-4, The Kamikaze and Big Bad Beat Bonus

Wow, I guess it does rain here once in a while in Las Vegas... I was on my way home from work, taking the exit on 95 and Rancho to go try for a piece of the $302,000 Bad Beat Jackpot at Santa Fe Station. I guess the roads were slick from the rain, because I ended up doing a 360 in the dirt after I lost it going around the curve. Lucky for me - no harm, no foul. Got the heart pumpin though.

Really, that jackpot is making people insane. It has gone down to quad 2's or better getting beat. I couldn't believe how much action there was at 5am last night because of it. It was all anyone could talk about, and everytime the phone rang, some jackass would say that it hit..... Everyone would yell and get excited, and then it would start all over 5 minutes later. An extra $1000 or two would be nice.... I have 8.5 hours credit in the room there, 50 by the end of august will get me into the $200,000 freeroll September 10th.

I worked the 8pm swing shift at Binions last night. I couldn't seem to hold a table together. It was a walking party at almost every table. It started with a kamikaze Asian on a 2-4 table. He had 2 moves, raise and fold. He didn't fold much. The game was very tame and friendly before he sat down, but a mere 5 minutes later and he was making enemies faster than I could deal. He actually had a couple of guys tilted enough that they got up and left, calling him an asshole to his face on the way out. I agreed with them, as the guy was a black hole. Not one toke in 25 mins, and I pushed him at least 6 pots. By the time I left the table, there were only 4 players left.

I got encouraging news yesterday, I am now officially on the schedule at Binions, getting prime shifts 4 days a week. Looks like I'm there wed-sat at 7pm. Hopefully I'll get more tournament dealing action. Last night downs were worth $20.25 per half hour. Last time I checked, $40 an hour is pretty good coin.

I still haven't actually seen the Freemont Street experience yet... Maybe tonight.

J

ps. Stuck $50 in the 2-4 at Santa Fe last night.... Can't seem to find the handle lately. Congratulations to my buddy Joe, who has just been killing the tables lately in Wendover. Keep the rush going!

Friday, July 22, 2005

My Real Job Cont.

Rewind to Tuesday the 12th, just a week and a half ago. I was back to looking for any kind of work here in Vegas, and the 110+ degree temperatures were making it pretty miserable. I had gone to a few places to follow up on applications I had put in, but none of the people I needed to see were working. I decided to try downtown again, since I had put in an application to the Golden Nugget at a job fair back in late April.

The first obstacle I faced was parking. I finally settled into a side lot next to the Gold Spike casino, just 1 block off of Freemont Street on the northeast side. They had several large signs in the parking lot stating that parking was for Gold Spike patrons only, violators will be violated etc. So I put on a good show and darted in the first casino door. It was strange, because it actually took a few extra seconds after breathing for the awful stench to hit me. The place was really a dive strong with the stench of stale smoke, sweat and rotting garbage. I gagged and stepped right back outside, resigned to being violated for not being a patron. I didn't have to worry, because in the two times I used their parking lot, nobody ever said a word.

I walked the block over to Freemont Street without incident, and once I was under the canopy (The Freemont Street Experience) it cooled off a little. Maybe only 108 instead of 115. Golden Nugget 1 block Straight ahead.

I had never visited the poker room at the Golden Nugget and didn't know what to expect. Turns out that the Golden Nugget is one of the nicer places in downtown Vegas, but the Poker Room is kind of smallish and out of the way. I stopped in and asked about my application, but no one there was able to help me. As I walked out the door I saw Binions across the street and realized where I was. I crossed and went inside to the poker room. I happened to show up on the perfect day at the perfect time, as they were hiring dealers on the spot to help keep up without the overflow from the World Series of Poker Finals that were to be held there in two days.

I gave them a resume answered 3 or 4 questions and, without even auditioning I was hired and told to come back Wednesday morning at 9:30am to get processed. I showed up the next day, parked at Gold Spike again and walked over to Binions where I was told to come back at 1:00pm because HR wasn't there to process us. (there were 10 or so others there to process also).

My house is 20 minutes from Binions, and by the time I got out it was already 10:45, so I decided to stay downtown and look around a little, even though I was shortstacked - had about $6.78 in assorted change and bills. I looked into several of the gift shops and casinos up and down the street. I was up on one end when approached by a 'got some spare change? Guy'. I brushed him off with the excuse that I was looking for a cheap lunch myself. Would you believe he recommended the hotdog/beer for $2.00 special at the Gold Spike? Incredible....

Anyways, to shorten this up a little, I'll just say that I showed up at 1:00, got processed, and was home by 1:45, with instructions to return the same night at 7:30pm for my first shift.

OK, one gripe here..... The uniform. Basic black and whites - that is black slacks and shoes and a plain white long sleeved dress shirt. That part I don't mind. Its the tie. Colonel freakin Sanders to be exact. If my neck were an ankle, I'd look like a shoe. Small price to pay for greatness I guess.

7:30 shift - Painless. Great money, easy games, and other than finding my way around all of the newness, everything ran smooth. The two most memorable things were actually upstairs. The break room is up on the 3rd floor, and every time I'd go to break, I walked past the entrance of Bennys Bullpen, a kind of convention room on the 2nd floor. The doors were open, and past the curtains I could see the play area and bleachers being set up for the 3 final tables of the World Series of Poker that would be played there the following day. Kind of awesome to see it happening right there in front of my eyes. The other cool thing was the break room itself. They have a full kitchen/buffet line set up. From what I could see, it looked like you swiped your badge and walked through a turnstile, then you loaded up whatever you wanted. Since I hadn't been issued a badge, I just sat off to the side and watched TV. It wasn't until 2 days later that I figured out that you didn't need a badge, it was just one big free for all. I felt kind of stupid for starving myself the first two days...

I was placed on day shift for the rest of the weekend. I was to report 11am sharp the very next day, so I went straight home at 2am and crashed in anticipation of the main event happening while I was working.

coming soon - recap of my first day shift and the second to last day of the World Series Of Poker.

My Real Job

Well, Its official! I am now a Poker Dealer at Binions on Fremont Street. Nice big room with 40+ tables and 4 daily tournaments. At any given time you can find a 2-4 and 4-8 game, sometimes a 3-6. They also almost always have a 1-2 no-limit game and some tournament action, both single table sit-n-go's and 4 multi table tournaments per day. If there is enough interest, they will spread anything you like.

I started at Binions last Wednesday night as a temp dealer during the World Series Finals. I didn't get to deal the final tables, apparently Harrahs brought there own (Bastards), but there was plenty downstairs to keep me busy. The biggest game I dealt was a $25-$50 pot limit Omaha. Most pots were in the $5000 - $8000 range. It was fun but a little rough with all the hundred dollar bills being passed around.

I found plenty of things about Binions that made me want to stay on, so when a full time position was offered, it was an easy decision. Sorry Texas Station, but your room is too small.....

to be continued....

New Beginnings

Hello both new and loyal readers, I am back after a short hiatus from writing. I have several updates on my scene which will be soon forthcoming. If you need to get caught up, visit my old blog at http://jrdurham1.tripod.com.