Swings: The Clock Strikes 12!

A local non-profit (not my organization) asked me if I would deal blackjack for them at a fundraiser last night to benefit a young person seriously injured in a sporting accident. Basically, it was a "cheese, crackers and keg beer" kind of event with 8 blackjack tables set up in the corner. Tables were busy all night with the normal $2/$5 wagering, which is typical of a prudent charitable gaming event. Insofar as the tables are open for only 4-5 hours, if you have a bad swing, you don't get hurt too bad even if the clock hits 12 ending the event. Anyway, at that pace, the house will net about $100-$300, again, using charity gaming rules. I've done it a million times.

Well, about 11:00 PM the beer was flowing pretty good and a few of the tables were allowing players to wager $20 per-spot (not mine). Then, all the other tables were doing it (except mine). Then, I could see players had $100 stacks in front of them. And, by the amount of hooting and hollering, I could tell that the house was getting murdered.

I called the event chairperson over to my table and politely told him" Look, you don't want to be doing this." He looked at me like I was from frick'n Neptune as said, "Oh, well get it back". WRONG!

I did not stay for the final count but the head cashier just called me saying the house lost just over $7,000--and that was with some of the people donating their winnings to the cause. Most kept their winnings.

So, this organization spent $500 to rent a room. $450 to rent BJ tables, $1,000 on food and booze and, on top of that, LOST $7,000 on gaming! On the bright side, they did gross about $2,000 on selling tickets to the event (duh) and another $1,000 or so selling beer.

BTW..after 4 hours of hard work, my table made $80! Some fun.

Did the free flowing beer include the dealers at the other tables?

How did the house lose so much if the rules are so bad at charity BJ?

Quote: FleaStiff

Did the free flowing beer include the dealers at the other tables?

How did the house lose so much if the rules are so bad at charity BJ?

Yes, dealers were drinking.

Again, this was not my own organization. I merely volunteered for a worthy cause. The biggest rule advantage in charity BJ is the house takes ties. All that is posted for all to read. Well, that's not an advantage when the dealer busts-- A LOT. And, it's not an advantage when the dealer busts paying out $100 per-spot with only 30 minutes in the night to recover and, having made only $1,000 from all the tables in the first 3 hours of the night.

Now, if the room had stayed open until 6:00 AM and with the beer flowing and "if" the players stayed at $100, I'm sure most of that money would have come back to the house. Taking ties ultimately makes that happen but, you have to be able to play hands to take ties. Then again, if you bust, it's irrelevant.

Well, at least you were able to back up your comments by having a win at your table.

Got out wonder how much the other dealer's drinking affected things. I mean, were they hitting (and busting) when they should've stopped?

If the limits are so low, where are these $100 hands coming from? What are there, black chips in the rack, on a $3-$5 game? Dealers drinking? Smart move.

No way can a THREE tables lose that kind of money in that short a time, with charity rules, assuming there is nothing weird going on. I suspect dealers are to blame.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Got out wonder how much the other dealer's drinking affected things.

That is why I asked about dealer drinking. Its a two step process... the bored dealer starts to imbibe and gets tipsy enough to violate the rules on bet size but the dealers are perhaps also tipsy enough that they are too drunk to add properly.

Quote: RS

If the limits are so low, where are these $100 hands coming from? What are there, black chips in the rack, on a $3-$5 game? Dealers drinking? Smart move.

No way can a THREE tables lose that kind of money in that short a time, with charity rules, assuming there is nothing weird going on. I suspect dealers are to blame.

Again, was not my game and I hardly know the person in charge. And also agree that dealing and dealing is a bad mix but again, not my game.

It wasn't 3 table. There were 8. And, what happened is EXACTLY what happens at charity games everywhere, specifically; the house allows its own wager structure to got to hell during the last hour of the evening. I entirely blame the event chairperson for that. Yes, dealers started it however, the house allowed it to continue thinking they'd make a big score and be the hero.

FYI... there were only 2 denominations of chips last night, $1 and $5. For a $100 wager, they would simply put out a stack of 20 $5 chips.

The entire point I'm trying to make is that yes, charity BJ rules are tilted gigantically tilted towards the house. However, when you go from the first 3 hours of the night handling $1-$5 wagers and then flip to $100 wagers for the last hour and, a few of the tables go stone cold, taking ties is irrelevant. Simply put, there isn't enough time to recover. Moral of the story, unless you allow $100 wagers from the starting bell AND take ties, you should not permit it only during the last 1 hour of the event.

What was meant to be a worthwhile fundraiser for needy individual turned out to cost the charity $5,000 (net) with $0 passing on the the injured person. Pretty dumb, eh?