Mountaineer Table Games

I have been crazy busy preparing for the opening of table games at Mountaineer. I started taking classes for Roulette, Blackjack, and other table games back in October and the casino went live on Dec 20th. I will be working the swing shift from 8 pm til 4 am and the only days off I will have any time soon were Xmas eve and Xmas. So far I have only dealt Blackjack, but I did get to work the High Limit room for a couple nights. That is good and bad... good because it means that management trusts you to work the big tables and deal to the top players, but bad because it is slower in there and the players are not as energetic at the tables since they are gambling hundreds of dollars (or thousands) instead of ten or twenty bucks.

The first player I dealt to in the High Limit room won $4k on one hand which was pretty cool. He had 6's while I was showing a 3, split them, got another 6, split it, got 16, 16, and an Ace for 17, Doubled that down and got a 10 to keep the 17. I flipped over another 3, then a 5 for 11. I thought he was toast, but then I flipped a 2 then a 10 to bust so he won big. I got tapped out then and he left a couple hundred dollars in tips which was cool. But the rest of the night was hit and miss. I might have a player for an hour, but then would go an hour without anyone. There were always players in the room, but they often tried to join in to other tables rather than be the only player at a table so one table might be busy while the next one had nobody.

I did work a $15 table the one night and it was a blast. A couple of girls from Pittsburgh were at the table and stayed for hours. They knew everybody's name at the table and made it fun. Unfortunately I was coming down with the flu and just couldn't get into the fun. I had to focus really hard on the cards and dealing and trying not to pass out. I asked to be let out early but the Pit Boss forgot and by the time 2 am came around I figured I would just tough it out.

And I will tell you right now, dealing is 100 times tougher than I ever thought it would be. I feel like I got run over by a truck by the time I get home every night and the constant struggle at the table is murder on the head. The player's are happy when they are winning and act like your best friend, but when they go on a losing streak (which is often), they curse you under their breath and act like you are ruining their lives. They know that it is just the cards, but since you are dealing it must be your fault somehow. I just always root for them to win and try to have fun with it and I think they appreciate it. I seem to do pretty well with tips so I must be doing something right...