Oh by the way, which one's pink?

Due to the slowing business on the Strip these days, I was only scheduled to work three days this week, which was expected. I worked a full five-day week last week beginning with Super Bowl Sunday and ending on Thursday. The pick-up in business due to the big game was VERY welcome as it was the best tip week I've had at my current casino since sometime last summer!

Well, yesterday I got a very big surprise when work called out-of-the-blue and asked if I could come on in. The bigger surprise though was that I was being called into a casino that I've never dealt at before!! It was one of the "big boys" on the Strip.

You probably know that most of the casinos on the Strip are owned by just a few major companies, my casino included. It's actually fairly common for one particular sister property of ours to call my casino when they are short-handed and need some extra bodies. Since starting last April, I had NEVER been one of these fortunate souls called over to the big house......until yesterday!

One problem though was that I NEVER expected to get called into work Saturday. So the night before, I was up until 5am drinking various adult beverages and playing low-stakes poker with my roommates! Chris was one of the participants and he DID have to work on Saturday, but then again, he's like 7 years younger than me and can rebound a bit better from an all-night bender. So when the phone rang at 10:30am telling me to report at 12noon, I almost didn't answer it! It would have been poison to turn down the shift though, so I dragged my ass out of bed and Chris and I carpooled into work, hangovers in tow.

My first shift at the bigger casino was pretty unnerving. I wore a different uniform for the first time since escaping Boulder Highway last March, I didn't know anyone's name (including the dealers and floor supervisors) and my string of tables included a game that I had NEVER dealt or played....or even seen before. So I had to get used to my new surroundings for a day, learn a new game on the fly, deal with much heavier action than I'm used to.....all while not exactly feeling a 100%.

The action was much heavier than what I've gotten used to the past 9 months. The table minimums were twice that of my casino, which would repulse any players at my place making the tables automatically dead. It felt weird having players repeatedly sit down and re-buy after busting out on tables that are literally TWICE the minimums that I'm used to seeing! I was also pretty surprised when players would actually bet red chips for the dealers and toss in green at the end of sessions for tips, as opposed to having to grind out a meager toke living one dollar at a time like I'm used to. I was on a couple tables that are good toke magnets for dealers (including my new game, Crazy 4 Poker), but I managed to drop around $400-$500 into the box yesterday. I'm hoping that it'll be about a $175 toke day for us, which is more than twice the average at my current place!

I'm hoping this isn't just a "cup of coffee in the majors", but it probably is. There are some dealers at my place that have been there much longer than me and have never been called over. I really can't explain why they called me into the big house on a busy Saturday unless it was just a freak thing and they needed a couple warm bodies over there at the very last minute. It was nice while it last though and I'd obviously be happy to help them out whenever I can!!