My entry into the gaming business!

The following is a post I wrote in my blog about getting a job at a card room in California. I am just sharing my experience and opinions about working at a card room, it is a bit long!


So after these past four years of having a serious interest in gaming I decided the next step was to get a job at a gaming facility. I searched "casino" on craigslist and found a job opening for a chip runner at a local card room. During my interview I did most of the talking to the card room manager discussing my interest in gaming and my knowledge of games and California Card Room laws. He must have been impressed because he emailed me later that day to come back two days later to do the background paperwork.

Unfortunately the process took a lot longer than I would have liked. I interviewed on 1/31 came back 2/2 to do the paper work. After the card room pushed me through their background check process I was instructed to go to the local police department for a fingerprint and background check, this was done on 2/11. After a few more weeks I received an email saying March 4th was my start date. I was told my training would consist of working 10AM-6PM Friday, Sat,Sunday.

My job at the card room was to begin two days after I got back from my annual birthday trip to Vegas. While waiting for my flight to go home I received a text from one of my friends saying that the card room had been raided by the FBI and California Gaming Control department because the Chinese and Vietnamese gangs had been engaging in loan sharking and drug dealing. Since I had lost a bit of money the night before in a stupid double or nothing bet with my remaining gaming budget I was worried about my finances since I was expecting to begin working two days later.

Many of my coworkers told me they showed up Friday the 4th to find the place closed, I did not even bother I figured I was out of a job since the newspaper said the card room was closed indefinitely. Fortunately I found a job at the Oakland Airport working for HMS Host (the company that does all the food and beverage service at Airports) as a shift manager. I applied and received a call later that day to come in for an interview. I went in for my interview the following Tuesday and felt it went very well. This was on March 8th, they told me they would let me know the following week if I was chosen for a second interview. The week went by and I heard nothing, so on the 22 I called the person and she told me they were still interviewing people and she would let me know by the following week, well I should have heard by April 1st, but it is okay since things are going better at the card room now that I am working a regular schedule.

My training at the card room was a lot harder than I thought! After all my trips to Vegas and Reno I figured it would be easy work since I have a lot of experience visiting gaming facilities and I have done a lot of research on the mathematics of the games as well as casino operations. One thing that is a bit disappointing about the job is how boring it is to work in a gaming environment. I figured I had never thought about the fact that gaming is a very boring job for the dealers/other workers. Since the FBI raid the business has been very slow at the card room, I never saw the place before the raid but I did notice that the place is not very busy.

As a chip runner my job is to change all the cash into chips. At Native American/Nevada casinos when players sit down they give cash to the dealers and the dealers give the players chips and drop the cash into a box. At the card room the dealers can change the chips but they keep the cash folded in a slot on their chip rack. If there is cash on the dealers rack my job is to collect it and give the dealers chips they need. Sometimes players will come up to the chip runners and give them cash to change into chips. I am required to walk around the casino (which is 20,000 sq feet) constantly to ensure the dealers and players have chips. We are also required to carry a minimum of 200 chips (which was a bit heavy at first). The poker chip runners usually carry a rack of $1 chips and a rack of $2 chips. Each rack has 5 sections that hold 20 chips in each one. The table games chip runners each have their own preference to what they carry. I generally carry 5 rows of red $5 chips, three rows of blue $20 and one row of green $1 and one row of purple $100 chips. The chip colors were a bit confusing at first since I'm used to green being $25 and purple being $500. Since none of the card rooms have $25 chips I figure the chips must be used to represent an actual denomination of currency.

The card room is separated into two areas: The table games side (Pai Gow/Double Hand Poker, 3 Card Poker, "Blackjack"(more on this unusual variant to comply with CA gaming law) Baccarat/EZ Baccarat. The second area is the Poker side where they have about 20 tables. Texas Hold'em is constantly in operation with limits of (3/6), (6/12), (15/30), (20/40). There is also a 1-2-2- No Limit Game (whatever that means?) with a minimum buy in of $100. Occasionally there is a Omaha Hi Low game. The card rooms website advertises 7 Card Stud but I have never seen it in operation. Most of the poker tables are closed since there are not enough players.

There is a third section of the card room that is closed off, it is where the Pai Gow Tiles tables used to be. In order to reopen the card room had to agree to close this section for 30-90 days until the investigation from the raid could occur.

After I finished my training I was told I was going to be contacted by the scheduling manager for my permanent work schedule. One thing I really like about this job is the fact I have a set schedule and am guaranteed 40 hours a week. At other retail jobs my days off would change every week and the number of hours scheduled and if I would even work them would depend on business needs. Since I have a set schedule I will know exactly how much my paychecks will be. I figure it is a hazing ritual for new employees since they are always scheduled for graveyard. I work 10PM-6AM. When I was told this I was upset since I have never been a late night person, but working this shift has actually been a lot nicer than I expected.

To prepare myself for this I did research online to get tips from people who work these hours. I had to adjust my body so I started staying up as late as possible. The first night I made it until 2AM the next night I made it until 4AM.

My first night of graveyard went a lot better than I expected. I was sent to the poker side (which is where all the chip runners want to be since the tips are MUCH better). During the graveyard shift the management is a lot more relaxed and friendly. There are fewer players which makes the work easier.

It has been a week since I began working graveyard and I feel I have made the full adjustment, I generally sleep from 8AM-4PM. I take care of my errands between 4-9 and relax between 6-8. Since I am getting 8 hours of sleep a night I am doing okay for my rest but the hardest part of working graveyard are my days off. There is absolutely nothing to do between 10PM-6AM when I would normally be at work. I do not want to interrupt my life/sleep schedule, but I feel so detached and lonely on my days off since everything is closed and everyone is sleeping. All I can really do is sit in front of the computer or TV. The only things I can think of that are open between midnight and 6am are the gym or another casino. I definitely do not want to go to another casino and the gym can keep me occupied for a couple of hours so I am going to try making that a regular part of my days off.

Overall my entry into the gaming business has been a bit of a disappointment. It is not as fun as I thought it would be and my desire to play myself has decreased significantly since I am surrounded in an environment of big loss. I was a bit depressed during my first few weeks, the environment of desperation was rubbing off on me but I have grown cold to it. I always figured people are free to do what they want with their money but observing the same people lose thousands of dollars every day (yes they come every day) evoked sympathy from me.

One other aspect of the job that I am a bit disappointed in is the tips. I read online that the chip runners generally make $50-100 a day in tips and my results have been more like $10-20 on a good night, but often if I am in the table games section I get nothing. The only way people get tips in the poker side is when people color up (exchange a bunch of $1 or $2 chips for higher denomination) they usually throw a couple bucks. On the table games side the only tips come from dealers who reward speedy service to keep the players playing. One of the other chip runners did say the $50-100 was the norm before the FBI raid, hopefully business will pick up.

I do not want to work in a casino for the rest of my life, but for now it is a lot better than a food service or retail job. I am still searching for that professional job with a living wage! I have to make my BA worth something or find a way into grad school.

Nice post, Nick! It won't make up for the tips, but I bet you will have some interesting stories ...

Well many of the players there are terrible, they do not know what they are doing. I saw a guy that doubled on every non bustable hand. I could share stories of the worst plays ever! I also have some unusual side bets I sent to the Wizard a few weeks ago, I can also post these here for others to comment on.

Why don't you get a share of the tips on the table side?

I'd have to say a creeer in the casino business is a positive thing. Look how it's grown in the past 10 years, and it'll get busier as the economy recovers. Poeple have to start somewhere, and I'm sure there's a good many stories from the higher-ups that can match what you're currently experiencing.

So why didn't you just bypass the "casino" completely.
Go to the firm that banks the blackjack games and play blackjack.
In Los Angeles, its a great gig for alot of actors... the firm that bankrolls the blackjack games hires the out of work actors.
The smart money bankrolls the games, the peons run the casino.
Those Pai Gow Tiles games had orientals bringing in attache cases filled with cash.

What do you want to do? Move to Vegas and start all over as a chip runner or pit clerk?

You think California Card Craps will make you a craps dealer in Vegas??

Beautiful post.
There's little glamorous or glorious in being a dealer, chip runner, cage worker, floorman, pit boss, shift boss, you name it, although life is more lucrative in a "strip" casino on Las Vegas Blvd.

Gambling and gaming may be your life and my life, but dealing or chip running isn't the final destination in this business; (or it very well can be, - with money and a life outside of the casino pit helping, etc.) In casino pit work, some of the roughest people are the gamblers and pit bosses you gotta deal with, though sometimes some saints come through. It is generally a very rude business in the front line areas....and it's all front-line work.

I was a computer programmer on old Burroughs/Unisys Mainframes working in New York City until 2005, where I was outsourced from a dying Unisys mainframe market, and I moved to Las Vegas to become a dealer in Las Vegas as a retirement career.

All in all not bad, though some days you will need to vent: I've dealt with cheats, scammers, players who hit (Hey, I just call the dice, I don't roll them...), co-workers covering their asses by blaming innocent co-workers, etc., while sweating out mortgage and car payments. There are great days and bad days, an interesting mix. A great quote is in Las Vegas, you may live broke before you die broke....But it was better than the semester I spent teaching math in a high school in a rough area (CCSD)...I went from 35 teenage ganstas in a classroom to gamblers with their rent money and booze on the table (- after 20 years in a computer systems room writing and analyzing DMALGOL code), I could have written a book. I still may.
It's important to look upwards and to move up....Deal, floor, supervise, manage.....

I've moved up in the industry, too: I've now got a casino table game out (EZ Pai Gow), and possibly three more to come. That was both the toughest part and most rewarding: seeing, even dealing your own game in a Las Vegas casino. From generating the $50,000 in cash to pay for patents, gaming math, studying contracts and patents and getting still more legal advice, - to sweating the first ten tables out (and our inpatient[sic! - Impatient!] investors at times) - all in a "make or break" fashion, it was worth it, all in all.

Would not have missed it for the world, black eyes and all, so to speak....so don't ever feel you've gotten stuck and ask, "How did I GET here??!!" Where we go and how we live are the choices me make.

Some bruises, but Zero regrets....

Quote: FleaStiff

So why didn't you just bypass the "casino" completely.
Go to the firm that banks the blackjack games and play blackjack.
In Los Angeles, its a great gig for alot of actors... the firm that bankrolls the blackjack games hires the out of work actors.

There are very few grown up professions on either side of the table...it is just a "gig," not a career...you may never get hired in the industry as a paid counter.

Quote: FleaStiff

The smart money bankrolls the games, the peons run the casino.

The smart money is in the hands of the casino owner.....

Quote: FleaStiff

Those Pai Gow Tiles games had orientals bringing in attache cases filled with cash.

The guy bringing it isn't the money's owner......

Quote: FleaStiff

What do you want to do? Move to Vegas and start all over as a chip runner or pit clerk?

You think California Card Craps will make you a craps dealer in Vegas??

It may...it's certainly a better industry start than working in retail for much less money...

Thanks Dan, I wasn't trying to just complain, I am grateful I have a job and extra grateful I have a job in a field I am interested in. I am just sharing my experience in this first month working. To FleaStiff I don't think I can become a craps dealer in Vegas, that isn't my goal right now. The CA Card Room atmosphere is A LOT different than the Nevada casinos!

Very interesting, makes me sad and happy I missed the cut in dealer school. Just accepted a new job in the oil and gas drilling industry which is booming here so dealer school will not happen this year for me. Anyways I have worked the night shift and enjoyed it myself, but there are some things you need to do to adjust:

1. If at all possible, get to a dark room BEFORE the sun comes up. This might not always be possible, but when they were testing the Stealth Fighter this was a #1 priority among the pilots. You don't have to be in the dark, actually, but seeing the sun up tells thebody you need to be awake.

2. Make the room as dark as possible. In AZ where sunrise is before 5:00 AM I had a room faced the back of the house and lined the windows with aluminum foil with heavy paper from shopping bags behind. You might have to vary this as it looks like a meth lab from the outside, consider a big American Flag poster with the reflective foil behind. Key is you need zero sunlight coming in.

3. Some people think they will "stay up" after work and set an alarm, waking up and going to work like a normal job. Fugheddabaddit. Go home and go to bed right away. I found I would sleep until 1:00 or so and wake up, getting 5-6 hours sleep a night. I then went to bed "early" or about 2-3 AM on my days off, "catching up" with about 10 hours sleep then. It takes a good 6-8 months to get used to this, but you will settle in of your schedule stays the same.

4. Eat meals for the "right" time of day, not your body time. This means no bacon-and-eggs when you wake up in the middle of the afternoon. Minimize stops at the bar that opens at 7:00 AM after work. (We have one here in town, gets those shift workers. It was in "Flashdance" and is locally famous.)

5. For the days off you are right in you are pretty much screwed for things to do. Make good use of a DVR. Find an all-night diner and befriend the workers. Night workers tend to bond fairly easily as night work draws the same personality types.

6. Try to keep up a semblence of a personal life during the day. The temptation is there to veg in front of the TV, get out of the house. Even if you hng out at the library, get outside. You need the sunlight or it is very easy to become a sort-of vampire. This is even more true in the winter when there is so little sunlight.

Good Luck!

Quote: AZDuffman

It takes a good 6-8 months to get used to this, but you will settle in of your schedule stays the same.

That confirms a problem I had.

About 30 years ago, I was a computer operator in the banking industry. The shift was rotating 12 hours, three days a week.

For 4 weeks, the shift was 6:00am to about 6:10pm, Mon-Wed. Then 4 weeks of 6:00am-6:10pm, Thu-Sat. Then 4 weeks of 6:00pm-6:10am, Mon/Tue to Wed/Thu. Then 4 weeks of 6:00pm-6:10am, Thu/Fri to Sat/Sun.

Working three day shifts with four off was bad enough - too much free time to spend the money. But then doing it at night really was bad.

The worst part was the rotation - getting home Sunday morning and having to adjust and be back Monday morning - it was impossible. Everyone was dragging their ass that day. I lasted there 9 months.