Blackjack Dealer Audition--Royal Flub

Here's the continuing saga of my casino-dealing adventures:

In 1996 after months of grueling practice at A.C.E.S. casino dealer's school, I broke in as a blackjack dealer at a northern New Mexico Indian-run casino. At that time, all casinos in the state were run by the Indians. Each tribe (everyone of which was a separate sovereign nation) had a compact with the state.

The Ohkay Casino owned by the San Juan Indians was nothing more than a small glorified tent near quaint Espanola, NM. My shift consisted of 20 minutes of fear that I'd screw up while dealing interspersed with long periods of boredom standing at a dead table.

Then a disastrous event occurred after 4 months. I was renting a small adobe house in a quiet area. Being a non-Hispanic woman and an outsider in this clannish town that traced its ancestors back to Spain, I kept a low profile and minded my own business.

I came home after my shift one evening to find my front door standing wide open. Someone had broken in through the tiny bathroom window, the only entrance that didn't have bars on it. (Later I learned it was drug dealers.) They took my Southwest jewelry, clothing and even furniture, but luckily the computer with months of Slick's story on it was safely stowed in the trunk of my car!

I resigned and returned to Albuquerque. At least I was no longer a break-in dealer. Ha! you could say that in spades!

Now an Indian casino just south of Albuquerque was advertising for a BJ/roulette dealer so I decided to go over and fill out an application. With paperwork complete, the pit boss said, "Listen, it's pretty dead out there. Let's put you on a table and see what you can do." This wasn't a question. It was an order.

I tried desperately to weasle out of the audition, knowing I'd be in real trouble out there. I stuttered, "Gee...I don't have my audition uniform with me." (Black dress pants and white formal shirt with black bow tie are standard.) "Let me come back another day."

"Naw," he said. "We're not too formal here. I'll just let security and the eye-in-the-sky know."
With that, he dialed a couple of numbers, then took me out to a BJ table with 3 players at it.

I tapped out the current dealer and took his place, trying to make my voice sound friendly and calm, but I was shaking so badly I could barely get out the words, "Hi. How ya doin'?"

One player looked at me with disgust and said, "Sure hope you don't kill me like that last dealer." I managed a weak smile.

Here's why I was so nervous. I wore some fake press-on fingernails for a jewelry commercial I auditioned for that morning. It's tough enough dealing anyway, so you can imagine my handicap wearing fake nails that bent every which way. And there was no time to peel them off before I started shuffling the 2 decks. It must have looked awfully strange to see the nails bend slightly backward each time I shuffled the deck. I managed to get out a couple of hands, determined to make the cards land just where I wanted...not too bad, I thought. Then the most horrible thing happened.

I pitched a card to one of the customers. He reached up. "What's this?" he said, examining the small red thing that had landed squarly on his forhead.

Before I could answer, the pit boss called in another dealer and yanked me off the table. "All right," he said. Let's see if you can redeem yourself on the roulette wheel." His pleasant smile had turned to a grimmace.

By this time, I prayed for a swift end to my agony. Maybe I'll faint and they can haul my body off the floor. No such luck.

Instead, I found myself tapping out the roulette dealer. I flashed a friendly smile to the two patrons, spun the wheel and said, "No more bets," as I waved my hand over the layout. That didn't go too badly, I thought, encouraged by my mistake-free delivery. I spun the wheel again, but the pit boss had a fit. Through clenched teeth he snarled, "What the hell are you doing spinning the wheel in the opposite direction?"

I quietly told him that I was trained by English people at San Juan Casino and in England they alternate the direction of spin. I can't repeat his actual answer since this is a public site, but his word selection went something like this: #%&*!.

"This is your last chance," he hissed. "And it better be good."

With encouragement like that, how could I go wrong? "No more bets," I squeeked and spun the ball clockwise. Well, I put a little too much force behind it. The ball bounced once and flew out into the room. Wouldn't you know, the ball hit the floorman, who stood in front of the roulette table, directly in the crotch.

Yes...I lived through the most embarrassing moment in my entire life. And no...I didn't make up one word.

Stay tuned for more.

Yours truly,

CR

Answer to What is Las Vegas Throat

It's hard to pinpoint when the term Las Vegas Throat first appeared on the scene. But its name came from the dry, raspy throat vocalists and other performers acquired due to the ultra dry, desert climate of Sin City. Seems a small price to pay to collect some of those astronomical paychecks!

Las Vegas Throat

Do you know what Las Vegas Throat is?

Well...I'll give you a hint. It's not a Sin City callgirl technique!

Look for the answer in tomorrow's blog. (Friday, May 9.)

Remedial School of Blackjack Dealing

As I said in my last blog, I'm going to add more personal information from my adventurous background, especially writing about mobsters and working in casinos.

Here's how I got into blackjack dealing. Well, it was 1996. The owners of the TV station where I worked as manager in Santa Fe, New Mexico sold the station to the local Fox affiliate. Abruptly, we were all out of work as Fox already had its own employees.

New Mexico is beautiful, but it's like a Third World country when it comes to wages. There were no other media jobs available so I looked for something else that paid fairly well.

Now Indian casinos were springing up like tumbleweeds around Albuquerque where I lived and I'd heard through the grapevine that casino dealers received great tips. I decided to investigate. I interviewed every dealer who would give me the time of day. They all said that dealing was where the money is in this town.

Next step: I decided to enroll in A.C.E.S. Casino Dealers School owned by Larry Smith. From the minute I stepped inside the school, I knew I was out of my element. Don't get me wrong. I'd done so many different things in life that I lost count. And I sure was no kid. But this was different. I was intimidated and even a little scared since I hardly knew how to hold a deck of cards.

Well, I signed the contract (can't remember how much) and plunged in, determined to become a blackjack dealer or bust. I was so lousy, I swear they put me in the "remedial school" of blackjack dealing!

Dealing any of the casino games is strictly procedure. You learn a standard method of doing everything from how you shuffle the cards to how you pitch the cards to how you cut chips (take chips from your tray and pay out), etc. Eighty percent of those procedures are the same no matter where you deal and twenty percent change from casino to casino. The reason it's this way is to protect the house. So when a supervisor or the eye-in-the- sky looks at a dealer, they can tell exactly what's going on...no funny business.

This one day several weeks into the class, a very goodlooking guy came to watch our class. When my turn to deal came up he watched my fumblings with a little smirk. Finally he fixed his baby blues on me, leaned over and in a loud whisper said, "Honey, just relax and pretend you're making love." Instantly the cards went flying all over the floor and everyone roared with laughter. It just made me more determined to get this dealing thing right.

Next time I'll tell you about my first hilarious audition! You won't believe what I did.

Yours truly,

CR

INTRODUCING: NEW THREAD ON MOB SPEAK

From day one this blog has been about book signings, interviews and other events involving Slick's and my book, THIEF! The Gutsy, True Story of an Ex-Con Artist. We've also featured true crime stories about the Chicago Outfit, Las Vegas mobsters and sometimes showcased authors and other mob authorities. None of that will change.

What WILL change is that I'm going to share more personal experinces from my life and background as a mob writer. I not only welcome feedback, I invite comments both positive and negative. I'll answer questions honestly. This is your chance to ask someone who writes true crime the questions maybe nobody else will or can answer. Obviously, I can't know everything, so I'll call upon my true crime experts--fellow authors and others--whose opinions I respect.

Why am I doing this? People ask me questions such as, "What's it like working with mobsters?" or "How did you end up writing Slick's story?" A while ago I addressed that last question in 2 parts which opened up a whole slew of other questions.

In my next entry, I'll talk about how I broke into casino dealing. There are a couple of really funny incidents seeing as how I'd hardly held a deck of cards in my hand before enrolling in A.C.E.S. Casino Dealer's School in Albuquerque, NM.

Stay tuned and please send me your comments and questions. I'll take your cues and see where this goes. Hopefully, you'll be entertained and maybe even educated a little.

Yours truly,

CR

Ebb and Flow

Did you know that the most important trait of a good gambler is knowing when to leave. The longer you stay in a game, the greater the house odds of your leaving broke. All casinos try to keep you playing as long as possible because they know the odds are overwhelmingly in their favor. Gambling is like an ocean tide. When it’s coming in, play a lot...when it’s going out, take it easy. It’s called ebb and flow. So know how to make the best of run of luck and leave when you're on a losing streak.

This professional poker player said it even better:

The poker winner doesn’t perform any miracles. His luck may be only average, but he will win because he makes the most of his cards by building up the pots he expects to win and staying out of those hands he’s certain to lose.
Johnny Moss

Black Gangsters of Chicago: GREAT READ!

I guarantee you will be hooked by author Ron Chepsiuk's riveting, journalistic style in his book, Black Gangsters of Chicago.
You can read all about it here: http://www.blackgangstersofchicago.com/home.htm

Ron comes with some big chops. Yeah...it's a lot of reading below, but Ron hasn't been sitting on his hands during these many years. Here are some facts straight from his bio (bold is mine):

"Ron Chepesiuk is a freelance journalist and film producer based in Rock Hill and Surfside Beach, South Carolina. A native of Thunder Bay, Canada, Ron worked as a Fulbright Scholar to Bangladesh in 2003 and is currently a Visiting Professor of Journalism at Chittagong University in Bangladesh. He is also an adjunct journalism instructor in the Extension Division, Journalism Department, UCLA, where he teaches courses on investigative journalism, feature writing and news writing. Ron is currently serving as an expert consultant to the History Channel's forthcoming series tentatively titled 'Gangland.'

Ron holds a B.A. degree in history and political science from Minnesota State University Moorhead, a Master’s degree in library science from Atlanta Clark University and a post graduate diploma in archival science from the National University of Ireland, University College Dublin. Prior to becoming a full-time freelance writer, he was a professor of library science at Winthrop University in Rock Hill.

Ron's latest completed media project is a co-authored book and co-produced documentary both of which are titled Superfly: The, True Untold Story of Frank Lucas, American Gangster (www.franklucasamericangangster.com). The projects examine the myths Hollywood has created about the main characters played by Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the recent movie, ¨Ämerican Gangster¨. For background, go to http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_406.html) (my article) and http://www.blowbackproductions.com/blog.shtml (my interview)

The book and documentary are the first completed projects of Street Certified Entertainment LLC (http://www.streetcertifiedent.com/), a new media company Ron co-founded and co-owns. Street CertifIed will produce true crime books, films and new media products. This month, they began work on thier second project, Black Caesar: The Rise and Disappearance of Frank Matthews, Gangster Legend (http://www.blackcaesar.us/). Ron's profile of Matthews can be read at http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_406.html, and you can view the trailer for the forthcoming documentary at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da-jkbaDJV8.

In addition Ron has signed a contract to do a biography of Leslie Ike Atkinson, a major drug trafficker of the late 1960s and 1970s who pioneered the Asian heroin connection to the U.S.

In all, he has published 24 books and about 4,000 original articles in FHM, USA Today, Black Enterprise, Woman's World, Modern Maturity, The Rotarian, New York Times Syndicate, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Collier´s Encyclopedia, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, the New York Daily News and more than 400 other print publications. He also published original articles on 60 plus web sites, including americanmafia.com, Crime Magazine, the Chicagosyndicate.com, Global Politician and the New Criminologist. Given the viral nature of the Internet, his articles have been published at least 10,000 plus times. He has served a contributing editor and writer to more than 30 magazines and newspapers, including Asian Week, Rolls Royce Magazine, the Year in Computing, Irrigation and Green Industry, Crime Beat and Environmental Health Perspectives. His articles have covered every topic except gardening.

Ron's book, Drug Lords: The Rise and Fall of the Cali Cartel (Milo Books), originally publisher in hardback by Praeger Publishing as The Bullet or the Bribe, is an investigation of history's most powerful drug trafficking mafia. A new and expanded edition was published this past August. Ron's books on Black organized crime include Gangsters of Harlem: The Gritty Underworld of New York City's Most Famous Neighborhood (Barricade Books, http://www.gangstersofharlem.com/), which came out Britain as American Gangster, and Black Gangsters of Chicago (Barricade Books, http://www.blackgangstersofchicago/).

Ron is a former writing instructor in the Writer’s Digest School and has taught journalism classes at Winthrop University, Coastal Carolina University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. He has also taught workshops for Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Society of Professional Journalists and for The Daily Star, Holiday, The New Age and other newspapers in Bangladesh.

Ron has received several awards, including the OCLC-Bogle-Forrest Press Award in 1999 for “significant contribution to international librarianship,” an award from South Carolina Commission on the Status of Women in 1989 for promoting status of women in South Carolina, a 2003 DEA Watch web site Honorary Drug Enforcement Administration Agent of the Year award for his book, The Bullet or the Bribe, and several writing awards for the Florida Freelance Writers Association.

He has also received grants from the Kaltenborn Foundation to study the media in Hong Kong and Colombia, from the Fund for Investigative Journalism to study working conditions of women garment workers in South Asia, and from the South Carolina Committee for the Humanities to produce a television series on “women leaders in South Carolina for ETV (Educational Television). He is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors, the National Writer’s Union, the International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association and the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime.

Ron’s wife, Magdalena, is a native of Colombia, South America."