Irony

It's like 10 thousands forks when all you need is a bike.
I never understood that crazy bitch.

By this point most everyone I deal with on any type of a regular basis knows that I quit the casino job for various reasons, one being my mental well being.  Every time I had to talk about it I felt like shit and way too late I realized I should have just made up some cue cards or something and handed them to people when they started asking questions.

This evening I was doing something - playing on Facebook or reading Volume 1 of The Walking Dead - and received a call from a buddy who was going to his second Craps Audition tonight.  He outright nailed his first and the floor person kept him on the game for almost a full shift.  However, he had one big stumble right at the end which was really him just over thinking something.  Minutes after the fact he could ramble off every bloody thing he did wrong and what every payment was supposed to be on that last roll.  He knew he blew it and it bugged the shit out of him.

Tonight he gives me the call a few hours before his audition just to solidify some stuff in his mind.  There was one particular bet that he just wasn't wrapping his mind around this evening and he wanted to hash it out with me.  After about 15-20 minutes I felt very confident that he had it down and was just nervous and over thinking things because he didn't want to fail a second audition.  I have 100% confidence that he will call me either tonight or tomorrow to tell me that he nailed it and was offered the job on the spot.

I'm looking forward to that conversation, I really am.

I finally decided to start reading The Walking Dead comics and I'm really loving them.  I bought them right before Season Two started to air as they were finally released digitally and Comixology was running a sale.  Having never watched any of the show I decided I wanted to read a bunch of the comics before doing that.  This way I could have the original and then follow along with the show as well.
After the first volume I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying the shit out of them.  The all black-n-white at first felt cheap to me but now I'm good with it.  The story has been good and very character driven instead of action driven and that's nice and refreshing.  The more I read the more I want to keep reading.  At the end of each book I want to just dive into the next.  Within the next week or so I'm going to sit down with Season 1 on Blue Ray and burn through that as well.

I need to buy some new beer because all the stuff I have went out of date around December.  Sure, it hasn't gone bad yet but it doesn't have that same great taste that I'm used to.
I also need to go over to my buddies house and get my bottle of Jaeger out of his freezer and put it in my belly!

Nervous over my first few days

So, as time moves closer to me actually starting to work in the Casino I'm actually getting a bit nervous.
I've been watching some busy craps games in my spare time especially if I see anyone at the table who is betting big.  There is no real reason to watch when people are making $5 or $10 wagers, but when someone starts with $160 across and $40 or higher on the pass line I take notice.
At one point one player had $100 on the pass line with $200 in odds which is simple to figure out on the 4/10 and 5/9.   On the 6/8 he was doing $250 in odds which ended up being easy to figure out after I just stopped looking at the dollar figure and looked at units instead.
However, it's the place bets that worry me. I know that a big money player is going to present challenges to new players.  The dealer on his side was obviously a vet, but just looking at the bets my head swam for a few minutes.
The 6/8 would get placed for $30 for every new shooter.
With the 1st hit he would take it to $60.
With the 2nd hit he would take it to $72.
With the 3rd hit he would take it to $90.

So, after I took the time to look things over life became easier - but until it clicks my mind sometimes goes into "oh shit" mode.

On a 6/8 the place bets pay $7 for every $6 you have - therefor $30 pays $35.
That one is simple - it's one you should memorize because you're going to pay it all the f'n time.
So, Hit #1 pays $35 and he presses to $60 - He gets $5 in change - Easy.

Hit #2 took me a few moments just because of the way the dealer was doing things, but here it is.
$60 pays $70 - He takes his bet up to $72.
The easy way to do this is he throws you $2 and you give him his place bet back ($60) and put the $72 as the new place.
$72 pays $84
(I'll probably just have to memorize this as well as going through this motion it appears as though it might actually end up being a common bet.  Most of the small games I have ever played have skipped this because once they hit the $30 denomination they just usually press in increments of $30.  $30, $60, $90, $120, etc).  However, if someone starts off with a $30 base and looking at the math above it appears as though it might end up being more common than I had previously thought).

So, $72 pays $84 (breaking it down $60 pays $70 and $12 pays $14) and he then presses to $90.
How does this press work?
It appears as though the easiest way to do this would be Payout $85 into the come and from the $72 stack hand $1 back into the box (you are over paying by $1 so you give $1 back to the house).
Then take 1 $5 chips out of the (now) $71 stack and hand the rest back to the player.  You are left with 3 greens and 3 reds for $90.

After looking over this situation and taking the time to analyze it away from the game it all seems easy and makes 100% sense to me now.  However, when I was watching I just kept thinking to myself "Self: I really don't want to be in this situation too soon because I don't want to look like a fucking idiot."
Now I won't.

Also, above I noted how this same player (and a guy next to him) had $250 in odds on the 6/8 when it was the point.  Until I saw it paid twice my mind was in "big money oh shit" mode, but after taking the time to break it down my mind then said "Oh, that was f'n simple you eediot."

Your odds on the 6/8 (bet behind/backing up your pass line bet is called Odds) pay $6 to every $5 bet (don't get confused - the Place Bets are the ones that pay $7 to every $6 - Odds pay EXACT odds whereas the place bets have a house edge).  So, on a $25 bet you pay $30. Multiple that by a factor of ten and it's easy to come up with $250 pays $300!

The lesson for today is that my teacher is 100% right.  STOP THINKING and just do it.
STOP LOOKING at denominations and just look at UNITS.

In this case you just go up the color chart!
$5 odds pays $6 - 1 red and 1 white.
$25 pays $30 - 1 green and 1 red.
Simple.

Until next time - Stop thinking and start doing!
I love when I figure shit out!  After typing this whole thing up I just became less nervous about my first few days - though I still haven't quite figured out when I'm going to get sleep.

I came I saw I fumbled

1st off I need to start off today's offerings with a link to Waffles blog.  My nipple appears to have won a competition of some sort and for that I am proud.

Now, while he has not actually posted my nipple (I have given my blessing) you can still read his post.  So, if you're looking for soft-core aging balding male nipple porn you are out of luck.

Now that the important matter of my nipple is out of the way - I'll continue.

Skip to the bottom for the TLDR version

As anyone who read my last entry is aware - Today was a big day for me.

So it's just fitting that it started out pretty piss poor.  I had debated on a few things to start my day.  I contemplated calling of from my retail job so that I could sleep in and feel well rested.  Then head to class to get some last minute instruction in before heading over to the casino for my audition.

I also thought about telling work that I had a doctors appointment so that I could leave early and head to class.

However, I ended up just going to work and putting in my full shift.

Before the store even opened I had a manager come into the office and drop a deuce on me and add extra work to my load.  Something that he was informed about on Tuesday and had to be completed by Thursday at the latest was brought to my attention on Friday and of course this is important and needed to be completed by noon because he had promised someone else that it would be done by then.  Excellent, so all the work that I'm supposed to be doing now gets pushed off to begin the day and this is ultimately what ended up causing me to work my full scheduled shift.

Then to top it off I also had a visitor in the store and that pretty much forced me to abandon any idea of slacking off.  I wanted a nice relaxing day where I had no stress and didn't have to do any thinking or reasoning. I wanted to remain a blank slate just thinking about my audition - The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Cockroaches I guess.

Making a long story longer - I worked - I drove home to shit, shower and shave - then I drove to the casino.

I arrived fashionably early like I always do. Talked to one pit boss who sent me to see someone else.  The 2nd person I talked to called the guy that I was supposed to talk to and I stood around and made small talk.  I was informed that while they are looking for Craps dealers they always want you to know more and deal more and yada yada yoda!  I said I understood all of that and was willing to do whatever it took to get my foot in the door.

Eventually I get the Pit Boss who knew I'd be coming and he talked to me for a few, asking me what I was here for and the like.  I told him craps and he looked around at an empty table and I informed him that I'd be willing to come back later. He said "we might not have a game then" and I told him that I'm willing to keep coming back until they have one - I'm in no rush.

So, he calls up to security and explains that he has an Audition for Craps with no game going so he was going to "borrow" a stack of Red and Grey and once he was done he would replace them all.

He then took his jacked off, got his chips and we were on our way.

I asked him for any bets and he threw me a horn.  I booked it as I passed the dice (clumsily as hell by the way).  He threw them and we established a point, his bet was a loser.

I pull the dice up and ask if he'd like the hard ways and he throws up $5 for the hard-ways high on the 8.  I book it and then he adds "make em hoping" so I book that as well.  While moving the dice to him he throws out $6 and says "two way eleven" which I book as well without touching the chips.

Just as he grabs the dice two players walk up to the table.  He throws the dice and it lands on a hard six.

He announces that he's done and to give the money back because we have live players and comments "Man, and I hit that hard six too." So much for having to use my noggin - SAVED!!!

One of the new guys buys in for $40 or $60 or some small amount and the other guy doesn't.  He stands over by a base dealer and I inform him that he needs to have a pass line bet in order for me to pass the dice to him - so he puts 5 on the table.  The other guy comes over to stand right beside me and I ask him if he wants any action. He informs me that he's never played, just turned 22 and wants to watch because he's doesn't know how to play.  I tell him (as I'm passing the dice to his buddy and stumbling a little) "That's good because I've never dealt before and I'm here to learn as well" which prompted a chuckle.

His buddy tossed the dice, I grabbed them and asked if he wanted some hard-ways - he throws one which I book and then adds two more.  I book them as passing the dice and he tosses an unimportant number.

I bring the dice back and set up his Hard-Way bets and his friend asks me if they lost.  I explain that they stay up until they hit or the nasty number rolls.  Hit easy they come down and hit hard his buddy gets paid.  Over the next couple of rolls he kept asking some questions and I answered them while keeping a good pace on the stick and calling out the numbers.  Hit a winner on a roll and then hit a 7 during a come out (also a winner) and I called everything correctly thankfully.   After a few I was tapped out and stood off to the side waiting for whatever was next.

The Pit boss came back to me and was talking to one of the dealers who asked if he was going to put me on base and the Pit Boss said "no, no use." And then we started walking off.

This was where my dread set in.  I don't know if he didn't want me dealing base because I had done a pretty crappy job on stick or if it just wasn't worth it because there was only one player and it would be too easy.  Either way it ate at my brain only being able to do stick and not base.

He asked me if I could do 21 and I said yes, asked if I could pitch and I said yes so he pointed to a game and told me to tap out the dealer.

I came in and proceeded to fumble my way around a bit because they had a bet that was unfamiliar to me.  I had to have it explained to me and how it worked and what to do with the extra money, but after that I was good.  I finished out the shuffle, got to use the auto shuffler (another thing I had to be shown since I had only ever hand shuffled) and then deal half way through a new deck.

I made one counting error which was quickly caught and corrected. I got to do a few payouts, collect a tip for the crew and then I was tapped out.  I washed my hands and thanked everyone for humoring the new guy and went on my way.

Now I got to stand around and just watch the actual 21 dealer deal for a while because the Pit Boss was over paying attention to another game that was going on.  After probably 5 minutes or so he came back over and apologized but I told him everything was cool - I've got patience and his job comes before anything else.

He then took me to an empty table with the "interview" paperwork and told me that there were two ways to do this.

1 - He could ask me a bunch of questions that I answer and he writes everything down.  I told him that sounded like a pretty boring thing to do and probably the worse of the options.

2 - He could leave me with a pen and the questions and then just come back later after I filled out the paperwork.  I told him my writing hand was in good shape and asked for a pen.

So, I got to sit there and write my own answers to the questions while wondering what the hell just happened.  Did I do a shit job? Was it acceptable?  I have no info and I fully was expecting him to come back and tell me that I did a good job but I need some work - do a few more weeks of class and come back to try again.

However, what happened was the Casino Gaming Director came over and introduced himself while asking me a few questions.  I answered everything and felt things were good.  He asked me what I was looking to get out of this, what my plans were, what my availability is and all the standard stuff.  Then he said "lets go to HR and start your paperwork."

TLDR

I auditioned - I was good enough  - I'm now waiting for the background check to come back so that I can begin my new part time gig!

WOOT?

:)

grrouch out

What will Friday Bring

Friday has it all this week.

First - and this is something I haven't been able to say in a long time (I almost said coons age), this Friday is actually my Friday.  I have the whole bloody weekend off and I'm pretty damned happy about that. It's been over 2 months since I have had more than even just one single day off in a 7 day stretch.

Second - Friday is (was) the last day of my Craps class because starting Monday work has me working normal 8 hour shifts again (and 5 days a week).  The other person in my office still is out on her FMLA and work really wants me to be there during normal hours since I am the only one in the office for now.  And as an aside to that they still haven't bothered to give me anyone to train to help me do my job even as a just in case something happens to the grrouch and we need a stand in for a day or two.  They did ask one person if she wanted to train in the office but she had to rebut them with "I'm probably moving soon and will be of no use to you outside of the state."  And that, as they say, is where the dog died.  

I really want to put in for a vacation and take a week off but that's not possible under the circumstances.

Third - I have an audition at the casino that I was secretly hoping I could get into.  I just happened to check on their job openings one day and earlier that day they had posted it.  I submitted my application and got the call the next day.  So, Friday it is.  

This audition is in the afternoon which I'm really kind of hoping means that the tables are not loaded up with a ton of players, something nice and casual would be really fitting.  It is a locals casino and it is a Friday which means probably a whole bunch of old cranks who just got their medicare checks will be out and about trying to triple up so that they can tell Madge she can finally afford her smokers lung transplant but most likely losing it all and cursing at me because I'm the one who forced the seven-out by accidentally sending the dice to them with the wrong number facing on one of the 6 sides - damn old bastards and their superstitions.

So, I don't know if I'm going to have to load up on energy drinks or pop some no-doze or just try to go to bed at like 6pm Thursday night, but I gotta make sure I can make it through my work day and still have energy for the Audition.  Maybe an entire body blood transfusion after work will do the trick?  Who knows.  Either way I'm really looking forward to it.

I got some good Black Jack practice in at School today.  First I dealt a few times through with a double deck on the pitch, then I dealt single deck pitch, then I dealt 6 deck shoe.  I feel comfortable enough without putting a ton of time into it that I can nail the BJ portion of it.

Afterwards I went to the Craps table and got stuck on base for about 40 minutes or so and got put through a few progressions which was nice.  I only made one wrong payout (by $1 on a weird bet) and I never gave the money to the wrong player.  I felt pretty good about it and even though I wasn't on the same wavelength as the teacher for the way she wanted me to press certain bets I was still able to know what I was doing and get the job done.

Tomorrow I'd like to get a good 40 minutes to an hour on the stick (in multiple sessions if I have to) so that I can feel more comfortable there and make sure I'm not missing anything.  I'll need to study some of my Horn payouts and whatnot because I still do the math on some of the bets instead of just having them memorized - Oh well.  At least I get the right answer when called upon.

Hi Low

It's a double entendre of a title without all the creepy sexual meanings.

Obviously I could be referring to the Craps bet of a High/Low where you throw out a sum and it's split evenly between the 2 and the 12.

However I could also be referring to the general way that life works, full of peaks and valleys.

Lets focus more on meaning number two for now.
Over the last month or so I've had a few new subscribers and I want to thank all of them right now.
The newest is Vegas Linda Lou who runs an interesting blog full of life observations.  She is also a practicing comedian (which as some of you know I eventually want to give a try) and has a book out (which my kindle will find soon) about moving to Vegas and getting into comedy.

Chad W has also started following me, better known as 24fanatics to the interwebs.  He does not run a blog because No One Reads It.

k9dr, Lucki Duck (a poor lost Cowboy fan) and Pokah Dave are all recent additions to my cult.  ~coach, Flasherman (what a great name) and Colors of my World all round out the "within the last month or so" additions.

So, thanks all for stopping by and reading the shit that runs through my brain.  I'm happy to have ya here and hope you finish your dinner so you can get your just deserts!!!

I'm currently listening to Slash with Myles Kennedy Made in Stoke which is a pretty sweet album.  The more I listen to him the more I enjoy Myles Kennedy.  I wish I would have been able to see the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame set they played but I'm sure I'll be able to catch it on YouTube soon enough.  Really looking forward to Slash's new album - the only song (You're a Lie) is great rock.
My ultimate dream would have been for the original Gunners to set aside their differences even if only for one night to accept the award and play a set - though I understand it was not possible.
Like him or hate him, I think Axl is probably the last great Rock personality.  He's a rebel, he speaks his mind and he doesn't care what anyone else does or thinks.  He is his own man whether it's good for business or not and I'm still a fan and hope that (the new) GnR comes out with another album soon.  I think I'm one of the few that really enjoyed it the whole way through!

On the low side, I'm just a bit burnt out and I blame it on the opening shifts at work.  I am not, nor will I ever be, a morning person.  Being awake before 5 am is punishment for some sort of sin that I don't realize I have committed yet.  I'm looking forward to going back to a normal working schedule and eventually getting into the Casino Gaming Business.
I'm also running on low because I've been running so much.  Wednesday is the last day of my "out and about" phase for now and I'm looking forward to some quiet time at home with myself, my dog and my PlayStation!

Hi-jinks - or playing catch up

Well, Consider this me playing catch-up.  I'm a couple days late and my sleep schedule has been thrown off and things are not going to be getting easier anytime in the near future.

I'm sitting here with dinner on my lap, keyboard under palms and a few thoughts flowing through my brain about things going on in the near future.

Other than Food I do have some distractions going on though and that is the NHL Playoffs - Specifically Penguins vs Flyers and the score is 3-0 Pens after 1 period.

Hell's to the Yeah's

So, the H in today's posting is Hump, as in Hump-Day (Wednesday yo).
Yes, My postings have slowed down but in reality I probably still post way too often anyways.  The main reason is this whole waking up at the butt-crack of dawn for work and then heading off to class afterwards.  I'm so much more tired by the end of my day than when I was going to class at 10 and then heading to work afterwards.  I was getting about the same amount of sleep, just at different hours is all.  I don't know why mornings always force me to drag my ass.

I is for interesting, as in Interesting developments.
Today I headed up to Casino X2 dressed the best this fat man can and introduced myself to the morning boss and let her know that I've been through school and looking for a dice job.  She seemed interested, was very pleasant and told me that they were indeed looking and to apply online and she would make sure my application was pulled. (I'll be getting to that shortly).
Then I went over and talked to some guy at the craps table for a and some local came up and started rolling. I decided to just watch and chat instead.  However after he hit his 5th point I couldn't resist putting a few bucks on the table.
After he finally Seven'd out and the next guy followed suit it was my turn to roll and I didn't fair much better. However I still left up $20 or so and ended up tipping the dealers somewhere in the range of $20-25 as well.

Yes, this is really me and yes my crotch lights up every time I open my fly

After that I drove across the city and went to class instead of going home.  Ended up at the black jack table with my Chinese crush and practiced that for about an hour or so to get more comfortable with it.  Talked to her about auditioning, trying to convince her to go out and just do it as she is ready but for some reason she lacks some confidence and says she's afraid her nerves will get the best of her.
By the end of our dealing and chatting session I think I have her convinced to go down to the old strip with me this coming Friday so that we can apply at one of the places down there that takes Break-ins.  She is going to be annoyed with me when she finds out she still has to fill out an application (her complaint is that her English is bad so it takes her a lot longer than us native tongued people to do them).  However, after that I'm hoping that they'll let us audition so that we can work her through her initial nerves and worst case scenario one, or both of us, walks away with a job offer.
On the interesting side for me is that when we were walking out to our cars after class she told me that if we got offered a job she would treat me to dinner!  Score one for the fat man.

Ingestion:
I have found two places that I really want to try out.  I have this favorite spot of mine that serves Bahn-Mi sandwiches where are pretty f'n good.  However I have been reading reviews on different places and I have seen a trend of people saying that the sandwiches that I like are average at best and overpriced for what they are, they then give another place as a suggestion to go instead which is supposed to be heads and shoulders above the place I like to go, Hue Thai.
So, this new place is on my short hit-list and I am not going to divulge the name of this place until I have gone and devoured a few morsels.
The 2nd place I want to go serves a Bahn-Mi burger which really intrigues me and it's about 10 minutes away from class.  I'm thinking that maybe tomorrow I'll hit it up and give the burger a try as it might be my last chance for a while.

File this under: There isn't enough time in the day and I'm going to be bloody exhausted.
Or - Juxtaposition; as in I normally have a ton of free time and never take advantage of it but now that I've got little free time I find myself doing more and imposing on what should be my sleep schedule.


Friday two of my friends are coming into town and they will be here through Monday or Tuesday.  So probably on two of those evenings I'll be heading out to spend some quality drinking time with them.  Looking forward to a good time especially a nice relaxing and lots of fun time which I do not do enough.
Then when they are boarding up and heading out the CAC (Cauliflower Alley Club) is back for their yearly celebration of all things Wrestling (mostly old time).  So, I've got my seat reserved for Tuesday and Wednesday and am really looking forward to the dinner and shenanigans.  Last time I went I got to meet some of my idols.  Terry Funk, Jim Ross, Dr Death Steve Williams, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brett The Hitman Hart (Plus a host of others).   The evenings were filled with people telling stories that spanned back decades and most of them entertaining.  I'm a dork, so what.

I'm not even sure who's coming this year but I'm looking forward to the stories, the photo ops and the autographs.  WoooOooo!

Now to go finish the Pens game and cheer them on to a 1-0 Series lead before getting some shut eye (oh, and applying for a job or whatever).

GWAR and other nonsense

Starting with the random:
I'm tired as all hell but I think the 5 hour energy helped me get through work with no issues.
I debated chugging another one and going to class but I decided that driving across the city was not a good idea in my current state. Especially if I ran into a slow pocket of traffic and had to try to stay awake during that.
So, instead I came home to relax, play video games and probably nap (not necessarily in that order).

Teach wanted me to get all snazzed up and hit up a Casino SF today. They are hiring Craps dealers so she thought it would be good if I made my way over there to introduce myself and let them know that I had gone through class and was looking to make my way into a casino.  One of the dealers that works there was at class yesterday and his suggestion was to show up dressed up with good slacks, dress shirt and a tie to talk to the supervisor and make a good impression.  If they were to ask about audition let them know that whenever it is convenient for them I could do it and to bring my Black and White's along with me just in case they wanted to have me go right then.
However, since last nights festivities had already been planned I informed them that I'd be showing up Wednesday instead as I don't want to show up bloody tired and not in the right frame of mind.

I know yesterday was H and today is I - I don't care.  I'll get to it all in my own due time and more than likely I'll make up for it within a week with an extra post or two and catch back up.

So, GWAR GWAR GWAR.


What a f'n awesome show last night.  We arrived right at the beginning of the first bands (Legacy of Disorder) set and they were pretty damned good.  I'll probably end up getting one of their CD's to give them another couple of listens and see how much I like them in a non-live setting.

Next up was Ghoul who were pure Thrash I think, however I highly enjoyed them.  They had some sort of black/demonic pope open the show for them and then they came out and played with burlap bags over their faces as if they were captured and tortured by terrorists.  Where their mouths were was blood to make the torture look more real.   One of their songs had a "voodoo priest" come out on stage and rip the head off of a chicken which spewed blood into the audience.  Later they had two Gwar-like figure's come onto the stage and battle each other for a song or two.   Pretty good set and schtick but not the type of music I'll ever listen to on a daily basis.

Final opening act was Municipal Waste which is best described as Party Thrash I guess.  Think old school Anthrax music with songs about drinking and getting wasted.  Lotta fun and good crowd interaction.

Then, the main act - GWAR.
Being this is the first time I got to see GWAR live I was stoked to begin with.
They paid nice tribute to Cory Smoot (Flattus Maxiumus) who died on tour a few months back and they really played an awesome set full of newer and older songs as well.
Playing a number of songs from the Scumdogs disc got me pretty damned excited. Salamanizer, Maggots and Sick of You.
Their whole set was awesome, their "props" were fabulous and just everything they did I loved.  Bringing out "Snookie" was the funniest part of the whole evening.  Also, the World Maggot making an appearance and eating a group of hot chicks was pretty damned nice too.
Last song of the encore they dedicated to Flattus and it was The Road Behind.  This song brought the mosh pit to a crawl.
After it was over they left the stage and a spotlight lit up to illuminate the guitar that Flattus used night in and night out and they blasted Frank Sinatra's My Way.  Once that was over they took the guitar down and booted everyone out.

Cory "Flattus Maximus" Smoot R.I.P.

Mosh Pits
Over the course of the evening the Pits got more and more brutal, however they did remain very courteous of each other which was kind of unusual from what I have seen in the past.
If anyone fell or was knocked over people stopped moshing and immediately helped that person back up.  There was a bunch of slam dancing and running into everyone, but punches and kicks were not being thrown.  It was great to watch and by the time GWAR got on the Pitts were full force and I got to be one of the people right on the cusp of it - helping people up and getting run into constantly.   Great fun and my body took a small beating but I loved every minute of it.

This is the first time in quite a while that I have been to a metal concert and I really miss the music and the atmosphere of it all.  I cannot wait to do it again!

Now, I think it's time for that nap I was telling y'all about earlier.

Evening Update

Jane you ignorant slut!

After work today I'm driving towards class when the teach calls me and asks me what happened.
I gave a brief explanation and told her I could go into better detail soon as I'd be in class shortly.

When I got there she took me to the side and asked me what happened and I gave her a very unbiased opinion of the whole situation.
I was a bit nervous, I was slow because the stick was awkward and also the info about how the other dealers were not booking bets and only some little old lady next to me was doing it.
Teach told me that the other two people who were sent to audition on Friday night both got turned away.
The chick got turned away because they didn't have a record that she was supposed to audition and the guy was told to go home because his black pants were too tight.
All of this was with the same pit boss that let me be on stick for a total of like 4 dice rolls.

After hearing that I feel a bit better because it's seems the guy is an old curmudgeon and I wasn't the only one who got the short end of the stick.

Oh well - you live and learn.

Now I have to work on lining up my future auditions for my future job and do a better job of kicking ass and taking prop bets.

My A-Z entry might end up being late tomorrow instead of early because my first day of waking up at 4:30 am has me a bit wore down.
Also, anyone who requested a letter - I replied to all and handed them out.

Bounce Back

Yeah - not the most creative use of our 2nd letter in the alphabet.  I could have gone with Brass, Boo or Balls (all words in which I have thought of at least a paragraph worth of material).

However as I sat here this evening looking for something to type (Typed it the day before I'm posting it, not very spontaneous of me eh?) I was at a loss until Bounce Back flooded my mind.

You see, life will not always deal you winners.  You cannot always smell like roses, it's not possible.  Life is going to give you peaks and valleys and it's how you handle both of those that will determine your character.
The peaks are obviously easier to handle - that's your moment, your time in the sun so to speak.  How are you going to deal with your time to shine and how will you deal with that time when it no longer exists?

However, it's the valleys, the low's that I'm more concerned with at the moment.  How do you deal with a blow to the ego?  How do you find a way to dig down and pick yourself back up off the pavement to continue along the path you were already traveling.

I'm not good with rejection and this has played a big role in my life.  You see, the fear of rejection has caused me to not attempt relationships with women over the course of my life.  No matter how close I have become with some and no matter what kind of chemistry that I thought existed - I have avoided actually making any moves to take the relationship to that next level and that has left me cold and alone in the friend-zone for most of my life.  All because I don't know how to handle the rejection if I'm turned down.

However this also carries over into other aspects of life.  Fear of being turned down for a promotion for instance. Or fear of trying something new - which is the point at which I am in my life.

Over time I try small things to try to get over my fears and internationalism (that's the word spell check told me to use, I hope it fits).
I have a horrible fear of needles and that is the main reason I got my first Tattoo.  I knew I wanted one but taking the step to actually get it and face my fear was big.  In fact, I ended up passing out during that session. Blood sugar dropped, sweating like a pig, faint and dizzy and then complete black out sitting on the chair in the middle of a shop with other people around.  I don't know how long I was out for but I woke up feeling embarrassed as shit and I wanted to run.  However I downed some Mt Dew and when I started feeling better the guy finished me off and all was good in the world.  Those damned needles just ate at my brain until I couldn't take it any more.  I've got chills thinking about it.

Now, I am at a point in my life where I am trying to change career paths and my fears are strong in me.  Saturday night was very hard on me.  Getting to my audition didn't bother me at all.  Tapping another dealer out and taking their place didn't bother me at all (so I thought).  However I felt out of place standing there and trying to push the dice around.  The stick felt foreign in my hands and I couldn't control two dice to move them or push them around.  I felt like I had never done that in my life before (let alone spent the last month doing just that every day).  It was horrible, it was embarrassing.
Being pulled off the game in less than 2 rolls was a huge blow to my ego, I'd been excelling in class and here I was failing in front of a ton of strangers and possible future bosses.  I am unaccustomed to this.
They gave me a second chance at a second table with less players and I still stunk the joint up and was pulled off.  I couldn't work the stick and I tried too hard to book my bets and set the table up instead of just booking and dealing with the aftermath after the roll was over.
I'm sure it was ugly watching it and I felt like an ass for even showing up and giving it a shot. I felt like I just wasted all their time.
After my "exit" interview I took a walk around the entire perimeter of the casino in order to clear my head enough so that I could drive home, defeated and broken.  By the time I made it to my car I turned it on and just sat in it for an indeterminable length of time.  I have no clue. I just sat there in dead silence, staring off into space feeling like a complete failure.

I told anybody who broached the subject that I didn't want to talk about it. I sucked and that was all that matters.
I'm really not excited about facing the class tomorrow, having anyone ask me how it went and having to tell them that I sucked.  Especially some of the others who are being told to audition but feel like they aren't ready.  All of them have been telling me I'm 100% ready and will nail it. I don't want the fact that I failed to put any type of fear in them about going since they feel that they are not quite to my level yet.
I also am not looking forward to seeing the teacher again - she who believed in me so much that she sent me to this casino who never auditions break-ins.  I feel like I have failed her but I hope the casino doesn't hold it against her or the school for sending me before I was evidently ready.

I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to muster the courage to go through that again, but I do know that my time is running thin.  I have 4 more weeks where work has allowed me to alter my availability in order to go to class and after that I will have no time at all to go.  Then I'm left to my own devices and left without any ability to practice.  So, I'm going to have to find a way to Bounce Back and find the courage to go through this whole process again knowing what the results were last time and work on trying to change them for the better.

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to next week. I'm not looking forward to that next audition.  I went in feeling like I was going to nail it and left feeling like shit.
I hate failure, but I will do better next time.
I will bounce back - I'm just not looking forward to going through the motions for the next few days.


Also - I'm willing to take any suggestions for topics over the course of this A-Z experiment.  If there is a certain word or phrase or whatever that is coming up that fits that days alphabet listing (or a future one) feel free to suggest it in your comments.
I don't care what it is.  If there are multiples for a day I will weigh the pro's and con's of each and possibly use the one that I feel I can best touch upon.

Thanks for reading - I appreciate it more than you all know.

Seven Out

First audition sucked.
I'm not going to bother to go over it at the moment because I'm obviously not in the mood.
I also don't want to bitch about what went wrong from my perspective as I know I wasn't nearly as good as I should be.  I don't know what it was.  I don't feel like it was nerves but that means I have to chalk it up for not being ready - and I also felt ready.  So, whatever.
Monday starts another week at school where I'll have to buckle down and get more practice and come back better and more prepared next time.

Going to kick back a few cold ones right about now and then pass out. Tomorrow is a new day.

seven-out

Swing

The good news is that I didn't have to wait too terribly long.
I got the call for my audition today and after asking about my availability it has been determined that the only shift I can work is swing, which I already knew.
So, after I nail my audition and get hired into the illustrious world of the Casino's I'm going to have to figure out a way to get the proper amount of sleep on the days that I'm stuck working both jobs.

Maybe I should have taken up Roulette instead?

For those of you unfamiliar with casino shifts, swing is either 7pm - 3am or 8pm - 4am.  This is going to make life interesting.  I'm hoping that I can pick up 3 shifts per week and if I get really lucky one of those shifts will be on a day that I don't work at my retail job.
The other two days are going to be complicated with power naps.

I have been told that Poker is sexier than Craps

Of course this is slaughtering my chickens before they even hatch.  I actually have to go through with the audition and conquer my nerves and the table before I can actually plan working multiple jobs.
The other thing is that once a casino hires you, you have to go out and spend money on a sheriff's card and everything else that goes with that which is pretty much a $150 right to work tax if you ask me.
However, them's the rules as laid out in Las Vegas and I'm just a guy looking for a job.

In other news, I am now the proud owner of a Black Jack felt to go with my Craps and Roulette.  One day I'll just own a whole casino!

Lego Craps, Poker and BJ - Get the kids hooked early

The Dark Side

In craps, the Dark Side is often used to refer to someone who is betting the don'ts.

Don't Pass and Don't Come.

Talking to a friend at work the other day he indicated to me that there are only two ways he ever plays when he is at the craps table and most of the time he is playing the Dark Side.

He will have his Don't Pass bet with odds and he will play one or two Don't Come bets with odds as well.

Basically, he is the jerk at the other side of the table who is happy when everyone else is losing.  His theory is that the house always makes their money so he should be on their side as well.

The other way that he occasionally plays is to place the 5, 6 and 8 and play the field as well.

This way you win money with every roll of the dice (except the 7).  Granted, you win less with the 5, 6 and 8 because you are getting paid for those bets but you are also losing your field bet at the same time.   This is a strategy that people have employed a lot in craps and it is probably best to play this way if you are going to take all your action down after 2 or 3 hits.  It's boring and it's slow, but it's consistent.

Speaking of The Dark Side - Rob is back in town and he owes me some grub.  I will most likely be meeting up with him tonight for food and then some No Limit action at BSC.  Food will be tasty and I will be satiated and hopefully when I hit the tables I can go on a hot run and triple up in a matter of 3 hours.  That would be nice and it would put me back in business to play once or twice a week again.  

Other than that I believe that every single one of you should check out Splitter's website again on Tuesday (if you aren't already in the habit of checking it out at least once a week that is) for a very special Ask Tom Tuesday with a Very Special Guest (wink wink nudge nudge).  I've been informed that somewhere around 12:45 am on the east coast side of the States (9:45 pm ish here in Vegas) the post will be up for your viewing pleasure.

seven out - Pay the Dark

Lazy Dealers

Because of my interview and hopefully audition I took a jaunt down to Casino BS (this is my new name for it, Casino X was too boring) to check out the game, the limits and the action.  Sure, showing up in the morning is only going to paint half the picture but it left some impressions none-the-less.

1st impression is that the dealers are mostly lazy.  Now, lazy might not be the correct word.  Comfortable might be closer to the real truth.  However, it doesn't change the fact that of all the stuff I have been shown on how to properly do things I am surprised at how much "proper" does not get done.
I'm not going to go into details because it would require too much explanation and would also be long and boring, but there were a whole bunch of "technical" errors that were made and I chalk it all up to just being too comfortable with their jobs, lazy.

The game was also comfortable and slow paced, there were not a whole lot of bets and it all seemed pretty easy, but as I said this was the morning shift.  Maybe the locals go crazy when the sun goes down.

Either way, I hope that I luck out and there is a semi-full table running when I head in tomorrow so that I might be able to get an audition while I'm already there.  If not I'll have to come back some other time which I'm sure will prolong the nerves a bit.  Either way, I feel like I'll ace the test and hopefully be offered a nice part time job.
I just wish that there were some sort of way to figure out how much the dealers make at which casinos so that I know what I'd be getting into and what to expect beforehand - without having to wait until I'm actually working to be surprised or disappointed.

There's no need to fear - Underdog is here!

A Rant in D minor

This has been bugging me for a little while now and I have instead decided to focus on other things and keep an eye on the positive side of things.

However, I can't sleep and I have nothing better to do than to type for a while (and yes, I know this is my second post of the evening and the 1st will probably get overlooked).

I'm going to start with this.  Normally I hate to be complimented. I don't know why but I have always felt this way. I don't want you to say nice things about me, I don't want you to point out my successes.  I don't want you to congratulate me on a job well done.  I don't particularly want any of this and I really don't f'n want it done in public with other people around who are going to over hear it.

However, at my Craps class I'm just eating that shit up.  Seriously, I have never liked it before but now I'm reveling in it.  Not just from the teacher but from the students who call me a "rock star" because I've caught on so quick and advanced faster than they have.  It's a huge ego boost and I'm eating it like a fat kid eats fucking chocolate.

Now here is where my issue lies.  There are people have have been in this class for 2-3 months straight. Showing up 4-5 times per week and putting in 4-6 hours per day.   Some of these people are starting to feel discouraged and put off because they have been at it so long and they are still struggling daily with certain concepts.

I want to take these people and point out the differences between them and me.  I want to tell them what they are doing wrong and I want to help them to become better so that they can achieve what they want, to get a job dealing craps and enjoy the shit out of life, rolling in fat stacks and sleeping with hot tourists who are attracted to a guy who carries a bent stick and yells "Yo Eleven. Good field, Good Cum."

So I'm going to set up my little tale of two worlds.

When I'm dealing or on stick I focus heavily on my task at hand.  I'm trying to remember everything that everyone is doing and I'm trying to pay attention to the whole table while focusing on what I'm supposed to focus on.  When I'm dealing I'm scanning my board constantly before every die roll and seeing what bets exist. Thinking about my next set of actions depending on what number is hit.  Do I have any don't bets to be cleaned up on any of the numbers?  Is anyone betting the don't come?  How many come bets are out there? How many field bets?  Who is betting on the middle so that I can remember to pay them if one of those numbers is hit.

When I step away from dealing and become a "player" I watch everything the dealer is doing and I watch every bet being made by the other students.  I'm calling every payout silently in my head and double checking if I'm correct or not.  I'm analyzing every move the dealer makes and correcting him if he does anything wrong, pays anything wrong, does something out of order.  I'm doing this for myself more so than I'm doing it for them but I'm sure it helps them as well.

I'm analyzing every payout that the stick is calling out and trying to have them in my head before he calls them out.  If my number is different than theirs I need to figure out why.

I'm also thinking about every losing bet and what they would have paid had they actually won instead.

Another thing that I do is when I am trying to work on a new concept, or I'm trying to memorize how to quickly come up with a payout for a certain bet then I am constantly throwing that bet out every single roll.

I'm throwing it out in different denominations and when it hits I'm trying to calculate the payout before the stick man can.  

I also throw out bets to help the other players.  One guy is auditioning at a place that has dollar tables and so I throw out a ton of bets in small denominations that he's going to have to learn to calculate constantly.  

Now, the other side of the pillow.

The other students, when they are "players" are not working on their game like they should be.

It really pisses me off some days.

We have some who are constantly on her phone. Texting, playing games, talking, whatever.  Constantly not paying a bit of attention to anything that is going on around them. Not improving their game and not helping anyone else to improve theirs.

A couple others are in constant conversation with other "players" and sometimes with the "dealers" as well.  So all they are is distractions to themselves and others.  No learning is going on in their heads when they are not dealing.

You want to know why the fuck you still can't get certain concepts after being in school for 3 months? It's because you're not fucking trying.

Shut up and pay attention to the game.  Stop bitching that it's too hard.

Stop bitching that you just can't get it. 

How much time to you spend studying when you are away from school?  Not a damn bit. You've admitted it to me and to the others at class. It's nobody's fault but your own that you don't understand.  You are not making the effort.

If you can't figure out what a $5 Hi/Low pays then try to figure out a way to fucking learn it.  I heard you bitch about it and then I sat there and threw the bet out every damned roll for 2 hours and you didn't pay one bit of attention to any of it because you were too busy talking to someone else.

I just made the effort to try and help you and you show up to class just as stupid as the day before.

Also, when you are a "player" stop playing the game like you were at the casino.  This is NOT the purpose of the class.  We are not here to pretend to play craps, we are here to learn how to deal craps.

The fact that when you "play" at class and you make the exact same bets every single time and never vary it up at all just means that you aren't even working on improving.

You always bet the horn, you always make sure your hard-ways are out there, whooptie-fucking-doo.

I have yet to see you throw out a Hi/Low bet, or a world bet, or anything else remotely different than you throw out every single time.

Now, you just put a few bets out there and then turn back to your phone or conversation and stop paying attention.

You don't know if you weren't paid properly.  You don't know if you were even paid.  Shit, you look surprised when you see extra chips on the table that you have to pick up.  You are not helping the other people in the dealer position learn anything because you don't even care enough to pay attention to what is going on.

Why waste your money and show up if you are going to be so self absorbed that you won't pay any attention unless you are dealing.

Wake up and smell the failure. This is just like everything else in life.  Garbage in - Garbage out.

Do you want to be a Craps dealer or do you want to be someone who bitches because it was just too hard to master?

There is a reason that I am auditioning after 3 weeks of class and you were stuck on the kiddie table for 3 weeks or longer and it's not because I'm some super talented naturally blessed guy. It's because I have the hunger to succeed and get a job while you look confused when something is explained to you for the 50th time like you never heard the concept before.

Maybe a little BJ

I'm fairly certain I have gone over my allotted quotient of posts talking about my boring ass craps class (not boring to me because I'm going through it, but boring to all y'all because it doesn't really add up to a whole lot of interesting to read) but here we go again.

Today I got stuck being the dealer (second time for the day) when a "hot roll" occurred.  I'm fairly certain that the moment I went to the back to be the dealer Mariko set me up to test me.
Here is why.  We have one older Asian guy who has showed up randomly and he obviously knows what he is doing.  I have never seen him get on stick or even deal, he usually places bets and helps instruct people on what they are doing wrong or what they should be doing.  Today when I went to deal he mysteriously ended up on stick and ushered the game along at a pace we have not dealt with during class yet.
He was quick to make his calls, he was quick to get the dice back out again.  He went efficiently and briskly and he kept me working like a son-of-a-bitch.

I started with 3 players on my side of the table who all were playing place bets and come bets and field bets - the usual.  Not too hard to keep up with.  Then Mariko ended up on my side of the table and threw out some more bets and another student came up beside me and threw out some bets that we had never "practiced" before but I was able to catch on.  So, now I was up to 5 bets, people were pressing, throwing me odds, throwing other bets out there.  Playing the don't come just to f'me up, etc.
For the most part I kept up pretty well.  Once or twice I accidentally paid money to a wrong player. Once (maybe twice) I put odds on the wrong persons come bet and I did not pay one player for one bet though I acknowledged it at the time I missed and I know 100% why it happened and how to avoid it in the future.

During this "hot roll" with the quick stick man I think I was dealing for about 35-40 minutes before a 7-out which let me clean up the rest of the bets, pay the don'ts and the last comes and then clean up to be tapped out.
I was tired, I was sweating a bit from being worked so hard and I needed a small break to get a drink.

As I walked away to get my water Mariko followed me and pulled me over to a Black Jack table and had me practice shuffling cards for my last 15 or so minutes.  She gave me pointers on how to do it properly and sent me on my way with two decks so that I could practice and get used to shuffling up to two decks.
I believe over the next couple of classes she will probably be giving me a crash course on how to deal Black Jack so that when I do go for an audition (next week or the week after) I'll have another game up my sleeve and won't be limited to just Craps.   That is all 100% speculation right now but I don't see any other reason why she would now, randomly, show me how to shuffle cards when I have never signed up to learn to deal any other game than craps.  Either way I appreciate it and getting lessons on anything else is a huge bonus.

As far as my job situation I'm approaching a snafu and I'm not entirely sure if it's going to work itself out properly or not.
My co-worker is going to be going for surgery on the 30th (yes, Next Friday - but not staring Ice Cube) and she will be out for probably 2-3 weeks.
It is impossible for the office to run itself during the day without someone being there.  Me coming in at night will not allow things to get done properly and timely - Somebody has to be there during the day.
Installers call during the day, customers call during the day.  All the issues are generally reported during the day.  All of the installs leave the building between 7 am and 2pm most of the time and I don't show up until 3pm right now.  This is a problem without a currently solution and I don't get the sense that management is taking it seriously.
Yesterday my Store Manager asked me how much longer I need to keep this availability because of the situation approaching and I reminded her that she signed of for two months and I haven't even completed 3 weeks of it yet.  Though I did say that if things work out well I might be able to go back to mornings quicker - but no promises.
I just have a feeling that sometime next week they will be asking me to change my schedule and work the mornings again with the other person going on a temporary leave of absence to take care of her issues.  Not really looking forward to that conversation!

I still don't own proper "audition" clothing.  I really need to go out this weekend to buy the white button up shirt.  I should have black dress pants and dress shoes, but I might also need to pick up some black dress socks.   Also, I'm probably going to have to shave which I hate.  Hoping that after I get hired they at least allow me to keep a nice trim beard because I sure do hates-a-shavin'!

The next step

I suppose I knew that it was coming. Without trying to sound cocky or pompous or anything I have a much better grasp on dealing craps than the others I have been attending class with.  It has been noticed by the teacher and also has been noticed by the classmates.

While I haven't even completed my 3rd week of class I've had multiple students this week ask me when I'm going to be auditioning and I always smile and tell them that I still need to work on a few things before that occurs.  I get a lot of funny looks because everyone seems to think I've got this great grasp of everything that's going on and most of my time at the class has been trying to help them through the routine and trying to get them doing their (future) job better.

When I notice that someone is struggling with a particular concept then I force the to hammer it out over and over and over and over when they are either dealing or they are on stick.  If you have issues figuring out a certain bet you are damn right that every chance I get I am going to throw that bet at you until you have it stuck in your head for the rest of your life.  In all honesty that's how I teach myself and I feel it's a good way to teach others.
Most of the time when I'm throwing out certain bets over and over again it's because these are the bets I am trying to get myself to work on for the day as well.  So, I throw them out there a lot hoping that they will hit and calculating the payouts every time that they hit and most of the time even when they don't.  Repetition is the mother of all learning.

While at the table today Mariko was talking to one of the other students about setting up an audition.  This particular student (we will call Frank) is struggling with the Horn bets and is trying to talk himself into just going back into surveillance instead of continuing with craps. He has been at the class for nearly 3 months and still struggles.  However, his struggles are his own fault.  He has admitted to me (when I've asked) that he really puts no time into learning when he is not at class.  That is his problem.  He needs to make some extra time at home or on lunch breaks or whatever to study.
So, she was talking to him about setting up an audition somewhere and telling him that she really wants him to give it a try instead of just quitting at this point and trying for surveillance instead and she looked at me and told me she wants me to do the same - which I ignored and focused on the game instead.

However, when I was checking out for the day she followed me and told me that she wants me to apply (online) to casino X this weekend or Monday/Tuesday at the latest so that I could set up my interview/audition.  I really can't tell you how thrilled I am to know that she thinks I'm ready to be tossed into the wild for an audition after only 3 weeks of class (and in reality, today was only day 12 so it's less than 3 weeks).

Here is the kicker - she told me that Casino X does not take break-ins.  They have contacted her looking for good dealers because they are running short and she thinks highly enough of me to send me there for the audition anyway.  I know I should be happy as horse shit (how happy is horse shit?) and take this as a huge compliment.  Having me apply and getting me an audition as a Break-in at a casino that doesn't take Break-in's is pretty f'n awesome if I sat back and thought about it some more.   But, as the sometimes perfectionist that I am I know I still have some stuff to work on.
I know I have stuff to get better on, area's to improve.
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about going out on an audition when I feel that I should still be working on improvement (though, in all reality we should all be looking to improve every day anyways).

Either way, I put my faith in her that she will not lead me astray and is obviously not setting me up to fail.  So, this weekend I've got some things I need to take care of.
1 - Online application.
2 - Trip to Casino X so that I can scope out their games, their table limits and their typical players and the bets that they commonly like to make.
3 - watch the table for a couple hours (maybe not all at once) and keep track of things. Watch the dealers and the payouts and make sure that I know the payouts for the bets that these folken like to make inside and out.  After all, if I were to get the job these would become my peoples.

Being that I'm currently looking to do this as a 2nd job and not as my primary job at the moment, it's a big step but not THE big step. I can't make any drastic changes like getting out of retail completely or even going part time until some other situations have worked themselves out.  However, I am looking forward to the adventure of something new and exciting.

We shall see what tomorrow brings.

3 way craps bets

Today's lesson is paying a 3 way bet.

There are several forms of a 3 way bet and the most common is the 3 way craps.  Under most circumstances someone will toss the stick-man $3 and say Tree Dolla Tree Way Craps (well, maybe only people who leave near Josie will actually say it like that).

A "crap" is defined as the 2, 3 and 12.  So a $3 three way crap is essentially placing $1 on the 2, $1 on the 3 and $1 on the 12.

Now we have to look at the odds of each bet.  Not the true odds, but the odds that the Casino will be paying out.

The 2 and the 12 can only be hit one way (both numbers identical) and as such they have a higher payout.  $31-for-1.
The 3 can be hit 2 different ways (die 1 rolls a 2 and Die 2 rolls a 1, or Die 1 rolls a 1 and die 2 rolls a 2). The payout for a 3 is 16-for-1.

So, one of our players tosses in a $3 three way crap and the dice are rolled:

If a 2 or a 12 hits we will pay $31-for-1 minus the original bet, or $28.  The reason you subtract the original bet is because a "crap" bet is a 1 roll bet.  If you pay the full amount of $31 the players bets will come down. The house doesn't particularly like that so you pay $28 and keep the players money working for one more roll.

If a 3 ends up hitting then you pay $16 minus $3 or $13. (once again subtracting the original bet in order to keep the bet active for one more roll).

Easy right?

Well, what about when people start making larger, crazier bets?
If you can do the math in your head then more power to you, but other people need to be able to have formula's to reach the conclusion once the bets start to get larger.

A $15 3-way-crap is going to have a payout of $140 on the "hard" side (2 or 12).
Both those numbers pay 31-for-1 and all 3 of the crap numbers essentially have $5 on them.
$5x31 minus your original bet ($15 in this case).
$5 x 31 = $155.  $155 - 15 = $140.

Easier way to do it.

Take your total original bet and add a zero to the end of it.  Then subtract your losing bets (only the number that hits wins, the other two bets are your losing bets.).

so, $15 and add a zero = $150, then subtract your two losing bets of $5 each (or $10 total) and you get $150-10 = $140.
So much easier and quicker than doing multiplication.

How about on a $9 bet and the number lands on 2?
$9 and add a zero for $90 and subtract $6 - $84 payout.
Easier right?
Will be once I have that formula memorized like I do the payouts on the place bets.

Now what if the 3 hits instead of the 2 or 12.
Well, payout on the 3 is 16-to-1.

So for the $15 bet you get $5x 16 and subtract out your action.
$5 x 16 = $80. $80 minus $15 = $65.

Or we have a key of 1/3rd of our bet. Add a zero and then add your total bet back in.
$15 3-way-crap would then look like this.
$5 and add a zero.  $50 + original bet of $15.  $50 + 15 = $65.

On a $9 bet where it lands on the 3.
$3 and add zero for $30 plus our bet of $9.
$39.

keys are a great way to simplify the game and make things easier for you as a stick-man paying out horn bets, World bets, 3-way crap bets and hop bets. Once you memorize and know them inside and out your life becomes so much easier than it really looks.

One last thing.
3 way bets are not limited to a 3-way-craps.

Someone wants to hop either the 6, 7 or 8 - that is also a 3 way bet because there are 3 different ways to make each of those numbers.
For the 6 - 4/2, 3/3, 5/1
For the 7 - 4/3, 5/2, 6/1
For the 8 - 4/4, 5/3, 6/2
In the case of the 7 - a 3 way hop is always going to pay out the low side because there is no "hard" way to make the 7.

However the 6 and the 8 each have two "lows" and one "hard"

Just like with your 3-way-craps the "hard" is going to pay 31-for-1 and the "low" is going to pay 16-for-1.
The only thing that changed is the numbers you are betting on.
Simple right?
Hell yeah it is :)


May all your 7's appear on the come-out and hopefully someone at least read all the words above.

(I only write to help myself learn - I realize that I'll get a lot fewer hits on this type of post and a hell of a lot less comments, but if it helps me learn then screw you guys :)

Brain Numbness

Short and quick.
I just got done with a 2-3 hour session of craps in my bedroom with another guy from my class who started the same day that I did. We are going to refer to him as Guido for the remainder of his life on my blog.
We didn't really go in depth into a whole lot but we did get a good amount accomplished.

Basically Guido came prepared with some situations that were giving him trouble and from there we broke things down and came up with some answers and why and he claims that it definitely helped him a ton - so that's great.

However, what I mainly wanted to talk about - or touch up - when I think about you I touch myself..... Damned Divinyls, why are you in my head?

In class, right before I left class, Mariko (not her reall name but the name that i'm going to give her because it's Japanese for "pure knowledge" which is pretty fitting for a teacher if you ask me) went over some "keys" to learning craps.

Before I continue, the term Keys really just means some sort of short cut that you can come up with and remember in order to derive certain payouts without having to sit down and figure the math out every time.  Basically a shortcut.

So, she went over about 7 different Keys and showed us how she came up with them and had us write them down so we could practice and learn them and make dealing this game easy.

After that some people asked questions and Mariko answered them with detailed explanations.

It was during this question and answer session that I realized I needed to leave for the day and give my brain a rest.  I understood everything she was saying when she went over the keys, however when she was answering questions and giving examples my brain shut down and refused to take anything in.

I know she was speaking English.  I know she was using words I have heard before and terms I have heard before and even just going over some info that she just gave us less than 10 minutes ago, but not a damn thing made any sense any longer.

My brain was on overload. It shut down completely and if she turned to me and asked me a simple math problem I would have froze like a deer in headlights, staring blankly at her as if she spoke an unfamiliar language.

Moments like that are really weird. It's like I was staring and hearing, but I was unable to comprehend anything at all.  

I have so much more to learn. I cannot wait for tomorrows class.

May all your 7's occur on the come out!

A tale of two Tables

Went out for a bit-o-poker tonight and ended up at O'shaes because I saw a 1-2 NL game going on as I passed. It had a couple of open seats and I sat down next to the dealer like I always try to do.
The seat to my right was open and the seat after that had chips but the player was missing.  However, when she came back I realized that I had chosen the wrong seat.
It was the wrong seat in more than one way though as I ended up playing poker for about 1 hour and 20 minutes total.  During that Time I got re-raised pre-flop 4 times and I know for a fact that 3 of those times were with Pocket Aces.  The other time I strongly suspect it.
The last time it was folded to the button - the lady two to my right, who limped.  I looked down and saw AQs and raised it up to ten and then she immediately made it $22 total.  I didn't like it but with basically a min-raise I called to see the flop.  Flop comes out 10 high and she makes a big bet so I fold and she shows me her rockets and their red glare.  Ugh.
My last hand consisted of me flopping middle pair and straight draw, turning a flush draw and hitting 2 pair on the river.  However, the river also gave someone else the nut flush (this ended up being a 3-way all in pot) and the rest of my chips were pushed asunder.

Not wanting to go home I was going to play craps but the only $5 table was packed and rocking and nobody was giving up their spot anytime soon and thus I took the short walk to the Imperial Palace.
As I entered I was greeted by AVP's Poker Muffin (I sure do think that's why she goes by there - I know she went by it on VPN.  And by know I mean I strongly suspect).  Funny thing is she greeted me with "Hey grrouchie" and when she went to put me on the list she admitted that she remembers grrouchie but never remembers my actual name.  Score one for the good guys.
After waiting longer than my patience would allow I went for a walk to observe the craps tables.  Now that i'm trying to become a dealer I really love to watch the live games and see how complicated a real game gets.
After watching for a few minutes and seeing that my name still wasn't up I played a while.  Went down to $27 which I was going to walk away with no matter what and then hit a roll to get me back to dead even.  So I walked back to the poker area.

Once again, still 1st on the list but too much of a weight.  No one was busting except the guys who kept calling for a rebuy and I didn't want to sit in the 2/4 game nor did I want to sit in the Mix Game because even though it might be fun I didn't want to burn through my money in games I don't know well.
Also, another deciding factor is that Poker Grump was at a table and there were no open seats there - if I were going to play I'd rather it be with a fellow blogger so that I could read about the "fish" who kept asking for the rules.

Craps tables call my name.  Gently at first but sometimes it gets louder.  I walked over to another one, a different one and after observing for a few I step up to it with my chips.
Some guy gets in an argument with a dealer, says the dealer is being rude and isn't answering his questions etc. Dealer does not handle the situation well and pisses the guy off more so that he starts swearing and ends up calling the floor over to vent his frustrations.  Guy is explaining his stance and the dealer says to the floor "The guy is lying, he's in a bad mood and lying probably because he's losing too much money."

To me this is unacceptable, the dealer should have been taken off the table and either sent home or given time to cool down.  No matter how he felt about the situation he should not have interjected a comment like that to the floor while the floor was talking to a pissed off customer - but that's just my opinion.
Also my opinion that the dealer was probably having a bad night.

Either way, angry guy swears more, takes his bets down and storms off so I move beside the dealer. Partially to watch every move he makes and partially to lighten the mood of the table back up with some conversation.  I roll next.

My point is 8, I place the 6 and 9 and I probably roll 30 times.
Problem is my 1st ten or so rolls are all 4, 5 and Ten with the occasional 3 in there.
I kept rolling but I kept missing all my bets.  Finally around roll 20 I had hit the 6 once and then hit my point.
Rolled another point and then finally hit a place bet or two before the dreaded seven.

During my roll a Bronco fan joins the table to my right and we're chatting it up.
When the dice pass I put a dollar on the fire and put $5 on the pass line.  Bronc asks me if the table is good and I tell him I really haven't been her long enough to judge.  Just figure'd that I did well enough and hope that it turns the table on.
Next guy rolls for a good while.  he hit 6 points - but the problem was 3 were 5 and 2 were 9 with another one being the Ten.
When he seven'd out he was on the 4 would would have been nice because that's the first payout for the Fire-Bet.
Even though he missed that his roll was good and I collected a lot on place bets and points to make my poker losses up and add an additional $40 to my roll.
Also, when he was rolling I put the dealers on the line with odds and ended up tipping somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 during that guys roll.

After his roll I decided to leave the table because they jumped the table min to $10 and I don't roll like that yo.

One final thought - during the last two rolls that I was at the table for (mine and the one after) the table was rocking with lots of numbers being rolled and two people shooting a good amount of times each.  However, even during a hot roll and a half I kept observing every single bet that was being made by everyone on my side of the table and even though there were a full 8 of us there were less bets and less variety than in a typical 20 minute period of my craps class.
Oh yeah - she's preparing me to be able to handle any situation at the table and most of the time it's going to be boring with a whole lot less action.

Weekend Homework

Other than memorizing the payouts of the Horn, world and 3 way crap bets I (we, but I don't really care about the rest of them) have been given a homework assignment for the weekend.

I have to memorize a very specific set of payouts for the place bets.  Teach said this took her 3 days to do when she was memorizing it and if possible she wants me (us) to have it memorized by Monday.
I'm fairly confident that when I show up on Monday I will have this memorized and I'm even more confident that I will be the only one who does.

Today she showed us the bets and went through the payouts and gave her reasoning why she wanted us to memorize it - all perfectly logical stuff and if we can just "know" them then it's 100% easy for us to know pretty much any payout that we will be faced with by doing simple math.
When I say simple math I mean simple.
$1 place bet on the 6 or 8 pays (without rounding) $1.16
This is a bet we need to have memorized.  Why?  it's simple -  If we can recite this off the top of our head then we already know the payout for a $10 bet ($11.60) and a $100 bet ($116).
Easy Peasy!

The other bets all have similar reasons for being memorized.

So, tomorrow before work I will give it a whirl - tomorrow after work I will hammer it multiple times reciting as many bets as possible and then working on memorizing the ones that I'm struggling with.  Hopefully before going to bed tomorrow I will be able to accomplish an entire round correctly (no matter how long it takes me to do it).
Then Sunday I will repeat this routine - One before work - hammer it after work and recite it before going to sleep.
Monday - wake up and recite it.  Go to class and mess it up completely because now someone is watching and judging me lol.


So, without further ado - the pictures I took of the board set up ......
The order to memorize is this.

Starting with the Ten and working Towards the Four - Starting on the Lower Outside corner.
Then when finishing the Lower Four - loop around to the top and work towards the Ten.
The last pic is extra bets to have memorized for the 6 and 8 - (up to a $60 bet).

Easy fucking peasy right?  Right??