PaiGowDan's retirement a go.....

Well, well......
After careful negotiations with the Mrs., this has finally been approved...gave a long off notice to Stations (December 3rd)

The past week on dice was rough, and had me thinking, "Gotta work something out...."
Thursday night: Shot-taker #1 (False high-roller "John") just THROWS the dice into the boxman's (Andy's) FACE, then stares at him and LAUGHS. Really ?? !! This a retarded and unacceptable game interruption and abuse.

Friday Night: Shot-taker #2, "Ron," previously 86-ed from the place, tries to pinch back an $80 stack of nickels out the field when a six was rolled. His hand landed right on top of MY hand, and I chunked his losing bet right by the table bank, and read him the riot act ("F-bomb-free...") Ron later tells the stickman on the same game who called him on his antics, "You need to shut up and deal your game, jack." Ron was told that he needs to leave, and to go to Joker's Wild and see if they'll put up with that crap there....

Saturday night: Shot-taker #3 "Doug," does his routine. He's coming out, has the dice, makes a hop-hard-4 and hop-hard-10 bet, $2 action...rolls a seven winner, and I ask him if he wants to come back (on the hard 4 & 10 hop bets).
He says, "Yeah, but make it hopping the 6 and 8 hard."
I say, "okay, you're hopping the 6 and 8 hard, two dollar action..." and I set up the hard 6 and hard 8 hard hop bets before shipping the dice. He sees it set up.
He rolls a hard 4 - and says "Danny, I'm $31 dollars and down." I say, "No sir, you're just down Doug, - you changed to hop the 6 & 8 hard, and a hard-4 was rolled." He proceeds to holler about what a lousy dealer I am (for not letting cheats take shots on a live game, actually), and I point out that I re-stated the bet and I set it up for him AND Surveillance before sending the dice to him. Shift manager says, "let him have the small win, he gets one first shot at us..." He gets paid, storms off to the other table, and righteously loses his ass. WTF. If he wanted to hop the hardways honestly, he'd have thrown in $4. He threw in $2 twice, changing the bets each time. If he hits what he actually called, he gets lucky and takes down $31;if he doesn't, he takes a shot knowing he still gets paid. I hate this kind of petty-ante crap.

Last night. On stick, I feel a sharp, howling pain going from my left hip down my left leg. I need to walk to and from the Break room leaning on things or with help. Made it to 2:30AM when I went to the Urgent care clinic on Charleston and Rancho. I was wondering, "did I bust the ball and hip socket, or what IS this."
It was my sciatic nerve. (I guess after receiving all this nerve, my sciatic nerve gave out....) I leave the Urgent care clinic at 4AM with a prescription for Prednisone, a steroid, and Tramadol, an analgesic, with a note for three days off from work. Well, that was on my "Work Friday," so I get my weekend off anyway.

Thinking about this, I have had my fill. I have nothing but the warmest regards to Stations, and to the good honest players who always have a great time, but I am too old for this if I can start a new chapter.

Anyway, EZ Pai Gow is taking off, I'm showing new games, I got onto my wife's health insurance plan, and am looking forward to a new chapter in my life.

deleted

congrats Dan! It is nice to have the exit plan mapped out.
My plan had always been to retire in 2011, once I hit 30 years with my company, but then the thieving b@stards made so many changes to my pension that I ended up with only 60% of what I should have received. So my 'choice' is to keep working for a few more years. Hopefully I can stay out of the layoff crosshairs that long.

Dan,

Best of luck. I wish you great health and a good future.

Sincerely,

BigPete88

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

#1 is was a jackass and should've been 86'd.
#2 is a cheat and should be in jail.
#3 is a scam artist and should be 86'd.

It's depressing to witness; we have relatively few characters like that, but they stand out and poison the whole well.

Dan,

19 years into self-employment and I can assure you that you will not regret it.

Congrats.

Congratulations, Dan, it is a shame I shall never bet the Don't at your Table, it would have been an honor...the Craps Table is losing one of its best on December 3rd. I sincerely hope everything goes well for you, as it is looking like it will!

deleted

Sorry Dan, you can't retire yet. I haven't stopped in
and given a months ration of crap and then told you
who I was. Give it another year and I'll try to make it
in.

Thanks.

I was so hoping to come in for a few shots..
Like the one where there is much confusion
as to whether i am on the come or in the field,
Dealers and boxmen just adore that old ploy.
Well, I hope you don't go into surveillance,
Aything else, I wish you the best of luck!

Are you sure. many years from now on your death bed, you won't say , " I wish I had spent more time dealing and putting up with all the jerks." LOL

Seriously, this is a great decision for you and proves once again you married a "GREAT " woman.

Why she married you, I have no idea !

deleted

I know the feeling, Dan.

It is a funny thing what happens to a guy when he realizes he doesnt have to take the crap anymore. There are very, very, very few jobs out there a guy would keep going at when he realizes he has the money to just walk away.

The health insurance is a biggie. Glad you got that covered. I see myself working till I'm 65 just to keep that, retiring earlier always comes up against it.

You're an entrepreneur anyway, Dan. You'll keep yourself busy, and that's important too.

Quote: buzzpaff

Are you sure. many years from now on your death bed, you won't say , " I wish I had spent more time dealing and putting up with all the jerks." LOL

Seriously, this is a great decision for you and proves once again you married a "GREAT " woman.

Why she married you, I have no idea !

Me too. She was strict on this issue earlier ONLY because she wanted what was best for us; charity begins at home.

Congrats Dan, you deserve it!

Quote: odiousgambit

I know the feeling, Dan.

It is a funny thing what happens to a guy when he realizes he doesnt have to take the crap anymore. There are very, very, very few jobs out there a guy would keep going at when he realizes he has the money to just walk away.

I wanted to find out. One of our wise and fine crap players, Ke, said that if I have the resources to retire, I absolutely would not regret it. It's about getting onto the "Left-hand path," where you find your own truth, do what you feel is right without a boss or a landlord or a "false customer" telling you otherwise, while never sweating the money if you don't have too.

Quote: odiousgambit

The health insurance is a biggie. Glad you got that covered. I see myself working till I'm 65 just to keep that, retiring earlier always comes up against it.

It sure is. at 52, a few things are starting to break down. Cardiac concerns, a cyst on a kidney, back pain and Sciatica from standing 8 hours a night. I am not a teenager anymore, and know it. I have to properly play my current hand.
One of our crap dealers, a good young man from China, Yu, works here and at a low-end strip casino, to maintain a stay at home wife and two toddler kids, with rent, two cars, childcare expenses. He often looks exhausted and depressed on the game at times, and it scares me. He resents me at times because I am in a position of "not trapped in the grind" anymore, (he sometimes bows down and says, "oh, look!....the Crap MASTER" to me, - like Ed McMahon introducing Johnny Carson as the Great Carnac or something) - but I feel for him and totally understand. I never felt trapped, the good customers who played a clean game made it all worth while, but at times I feel, "this chapter has to end..."

Quote: odiousgambit

You're an entrepreneur anyway, Dan. You'll keep yourself busy, and that's important too.

I will. This gift of time cannot be blown. I have new games to come out, and that is going to take some work. Those attending G2E shall see at least one of them.

Congrats Dan......Sounds like an occasion to buy you a beverage when I am in town for G2E!

Congrats, Mazel Tov, and best of luck!

Quote: Paigowdan

... back pain and Sciatica from standing 8 hours a night.

That being the case, why wait until December? What's so special about the next three months?

First of all.... Congratulations!
Second of all.... Congratulations!

No laughing allowed.... do you get any sort of pension?

Congratulations Dan! May you never have to return.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Congrats, Mazel Tov, and best of luck!

Quote: Paigowdan

... back pain and Sciatica from standing 8 hours a night.

That being the case, why wait until December? What's so special about the next three months?

Well, because my Sciata is being treated (I'll be okay soon enough), and to transition allow planning for me and for dealer development. I was originally a Poker dealer and Pai Gow Dealer pressed into dice service; it isn't all that easy to get good dice dealers for a casino so far from the strip, and to allow time to develop them from the existing crew. I wasn't going to be a prick and bolt out without good notice, to a company that treated me very well.

Quote: Paigowdan

Well, well......
After careful negotiations with the Mrs., this has finally been approved...gave a long off notice to Stations (December 3rd)

The past week on dice was rough, and had me thinking, "Gotta work something out...."
Thursday night: Shot-taker #1 (False high-roller "John") just THROWS the dice into the boxman's (Andy's) FACE, then stares at him and LAUGHS. Really ?? !! This a retarded (emphasis added by quoter) and unacceptable game interruption and abuse.

While your choice of description for the unacceptable game interruption is unfortunate, I believe you will be better off with your new life. Best of luck in your future endeavors and may EZ Pai Gow multiply.

Please forgive my informal usage of the word; in no sense did I mean to ridicule mentally disabled people as a group with this colloquial usage, I really didn't. I meant it in the sense of the player's action being very stupid and unnacceptable. If I had known that someone would have taken offense, I would have re-worded it.

" From a tiny acorn, the mighty oak grows " Always liked that saying !

Wrong Dan thread DUMMY ME LOL

Quote: Paigowdan

.... I wasn't going to be a prick and bolt out without good notice, to a company that treated me very well.

"Bolting" was the furthest thing from my mind.

I would have expected you to do the right thing. I just didn't expect the right thing to be that long.

I assume the 3 months was discussed and arrived at by mutual agreement. As such, you did good.

Well, I could have left in two weeks, but I feared a couple of dice dealers may soon jump ship, and the two dealers studying dice are a couple of months away from constant live play. Working strip dice dealers are not running here, and dice school newbies aren't ready.

In my last job in New York seven years ago, I was given five months notice of being "outsourced," and was asked to spend the five months converting the current systems to the new system that was to outsource me. Since I was on good terms with that company, and had my Vegas moved planned, I did that work, and it worked out best for all.

I also wanted some time to plan out my own next steps with my time.

Congrats! And I wish you the very best of luck with your table games.

What is a "false high roller"?

Quote: bigfoot66

Congrats! And I wish you the very best of luck with your table games.

What is a "false high roller"?

A false high roller is a shot taker or casino cheat who uses large and impressive betting amounts to make it appear that he is a valuble customer to the casino, masking his real purpose - when in reality he tries maneuvers on dice games to give himself an illicit edge. By betting large amounts, he believes he is more inclined to catch a favorable break from floor supervision or shift managers when one of his stunts in called into question by the crew.

" Since I was on good terms with that company "

That's the key thing. My brother-in-law Joseph worked for Maryland Cup and thought he had a great relationship with them. Until the day they told him he was being replaced by this college student, But they were going to allow Joe to remain on the payroll 2 weeks to teach this new kid his job.

Joe had just bought a new truck and really needed that 2 weeks pay. There was no union and no severance pay. He did not even bother to clean out his desk. Just got up and without saying a word walked out to the parking lot and got into his truck. The manager
had followed him out and actually tried to open the car door to continue berating Joseph. One look at Joseph's face and the manager
remembered that while Joe has always been a gentle giant ( 7 feet tall ) he better walk away while he could.

Joe never went back and made them mail his last check. Joe is now 74 years old and just out of ICU. But I am sure he considers his actions on that day as one of his best !

Buzz, very sorry to hear about Joseph.
Quite often when someone gives a fine consideration or gesture to someone else, such as a boss, and in good faith, it gets mistreated or abused. To get a two week notice after being a fine worker for many years is horrible.
This wasn't my own experience, thankfully, with my last two jobs, and I try very hard to make sure I have a cushion.

There is a saying that many workers are a few weeks from homelessness if a job loss occurs, and I have always considered being a dealer a very vulnerable job, - and it generally is. But I will say, that from what I have seen, and aside from a few individuals who are now gone, that Stations is a very decent outfit to work for in this industry.

I tried to warn Joe. Maryland Cup was the scumbag of scumbag companies. I worked with a guy who's wife was in payroll there.
the plant was in Owings Mills, a suburb of Baltimore. It was the 1980's and they would hire housewifes a lot.. promise them a 50 cent raise
after 6 months. But if you asked for that raise then, you were put on midnights. By then the family was hooked on that paycheck.

Nothing worse in a plant or a casino than going to work at a job you hate. But once you have a family, society owns you. I really like the commercials about your family suffering when you are in jail. Especially the kids. My church has a ministry serving prisoner's families. Hey, the wife and kid did nothing wrong !

There's nothing worse than having a job you hate
that involves working with the public. Its why I
got out of the bar business, for the most part.

At the start, you give guys a break because they
have a substance abuse problem and they really
don't get to you. But as time goes on, you tend
to forget the booze and just look at them as jerks.
Thats when they start to get under your skin and
you better get the hell out, or become one of them.

wow.. how many yrs have you worked at stations?

whats your retirement package?

and do dealers make regular minimum wage (ie: $7.50) or waitress minimum ($2.30/hr)?

Best of luck!
and dont blow your retirement $ on PaiGow!

Thanks!
I won't blow it this time, Lord willing.....

I Worked there six years.
Retirement is not funded by the small amount I have in my 401(k) with them, but from other sources.
Dealers make $7.50 + tips, which range from $35 to $65 a day, on average.

Glad you'll still be there on Friday, 5 Oct. I plan to stop by in the early evening to shoot a little and say hello!

Quote: Paigowdan

Thanks!
I won't blow it this time, Lord willing.....

I Worked there six years.
Retirement is not funded by the small amount I have in my 401(k) with them, but from other sources.
Dealers make $7.50 + tips, which range from $35 to $65 a day, on average.

woah.. on $16/hr on avg?

dont u make more as a poker dealer?
avg $1 tip per hand from the winner. poker dealers deal 20 hands/hr.
thus $20/hr + minimum wage (either 2.30/hr ot 7.50/hr)

You state that "stations is a very decent outfit to work for" Dan, but $7.50 an hour is $60 a shift BEFORE taxes, plus another $50 (average) in tips. That looks like $100 a shift if you are lucky. I don't know how anyone with a family can support them off of that. I am guessing that someone trying to support a family off of this wage would qualify for several of the government assitance programs that Mitt Romney spoke of. Not to combine politics into this thread, but my point is, it doesn't sound like stations is such a decent place if they can't even pay a wage that will keep it's workers off of government assistance. And as you previously mentioned, you are standing 8 hours a shift to make that and dealing with the public, which has obviously gotten under your skin.

I wish you well in your retirement Dan. Good health and some time to enjoy life. Feel free to come across the table and join those of us that play against and legally beat the casinos. I mean if the funds are not going to pay the employees a livable wage, no sense in it going in the CEO's pocket. :)

Quote: kewlj

You state that "stations is a very decent outfit to work for" Dan, but $7.50 an hour is $60 a shift BEFORE taxes, plus another $50 (average) in tips. That looks like $100 a shift if you are lucky. I don't know how anyone with a family can support them off of that. I am guessing that someone trying to support a family off of this wage would qualify for several of the government assitance programs that Mitt Romney spoke of. Not to combine politics into this thread, but my point is, it doesn't sound like stations is such a decent place if they can't even pay a wage that will keep it's workers off of government assistance. And as you previously mentioned, you are standing 8 hours a shift to make that and dealing with the public, which has obviously gotten under your skin.

That is the going rate, and is average for a lot of local places, and even for some less ritzy strip properties.
Most dealers have working partners, roomates, other sources of income, and the single jobs dealers live in one-bedroom apartments and carpool with co-workers. Not easy.
Stations I will say is generally very fair to employees, provides great benefits [health, dental, 401(k)], and avoid "supervisory goon squads" of false accusation. They do what they really can for workers, and seem to care. Very few old-school abusive dickheads in supervision, just generally very professional people by modern standards. Certainly beats the crap out of working at most downtown joints.

Quote: kewlj

I wish you well in your retirement Dan. Good health and some time to enjoy life. Feel free to come across the table and join those of us that play against and legally beat the casinos.

Thanks, we'll roll some dice. (No cheap shots in the pit will be tolerated!)

That's all I need - another successful games inventor working full time on designing games :-)

Seriously though, I wish you the very best in your transition to 'Full Time Inventor'.

See you at G2E!

Quote: Switch

That's all I need - another successful games inventor working full time on designing games :-)

Seriously though, I wish you the very best in your transition to 'Full Time Inventor'.

See you at G2E!

Geoff - I won't go anywhere near Blackjack - if you stay away from Pai Gow and Baccarat! :)

Quote: Switch

That's all I need - another successful games inventor working full time on designing games :-)

Seriously though, I wish you the very best in your transition to 'Full Time Inventor'.

See you at G2E!

It just occurred to me game inventors must fret quite a bit about "intolerable rivals" ... that's a subject on my mind these days.

Quote: odiousgambit

It just occurred to me game inventors must fret quite a bit about "intolerable rivals" ... that's a subject on my mind these days.

No. Not me, anyway.
Here's a story of my second game - which I discovered was already done - and blocked:
....in 2007 I was dealing a lot of Pai Gow (which I loved), and mini-pai gow, (which I could't stand), so I felt I could do a better job of creating a better Pai Gow variant.
In 2007, I created my first game, Pai Gow-8, an eight-card full Pai Gow game with 3 card poker in the low hand, with a regular five-card high-side. A bit complicated, but actually easy to play, and at that time, there was bad opinions of trying to come up with a pai gow variant at that time, due to the weakness of mini Pai Gow's introduction and market penetration; it was just not taking off, and turned distributors and casino operators off to Pai Gow Poker variants - at that time only. That game of mine was shelved for several years, and is just now being released at this year's G2E as a front-running new product with DEQ this year. I had to accept that the market "has a timing of its own," and had to wait until now.

But later in 2007, I then created "Pai Gow-32," or pai Gow poker with three card poker down, and a pair/two cards up. Really easy to play, but not quite a great distribution of interesting hands, but a HELL of a lot better than mini-Pai Gow. I did a huge amount of independent work, until I found that a man in Arizona, Roy Ritner, had designed and patented exactly the same game to a "T" while doing a thorough patent search ! TALK about a Rival! I had such high hopes!! His game had beaten me by a short time, and we both were EXACTLY on the same wavelength with an improved pai gow-Lite that was better than Mini Pai Gow. We worked in parallel on the same game design in different states, but I had taken my time and labored over my first provisional patent. Roy was quick and he honestly was the first to show up with the game at the U.S. Patent Office. I admitted defeat, that I was second to the show, and shook his hand on it. Good guy, too.
In 2008, I did my third game, A commission-free variant of regular seven-card pai gow, and this time I RAN to a patent attorney (Phil kantor) to patent it, and there was no other competing game design or patent. But I did not chance it, - nor do I do so now! (There are a LOT of people working on game design, and it is severely competitive!)

Around the end of 2008, the Vice president of Sales at DEQ, Paul Omohundro, stopped in at Fiesta to play Texas Hold 'em Bonus which I was dealing that particular night. By coincidence Paul Omohundro is also the game inventor of Texas Hold 'em Bonus, and he got into a conversation with my relief dealer, Steve Jones, who was my business partner in our fledgling game company. When I came back from Break to deal to Paul, we continued the conversation, and exchanged numbers, but he said (at THAT time) that DEQ was not interested in table games, but in electronic bonusing systems like their G3. He took my number anyway. A few months later, he dug my number out, gave me a call, and mentioned that they have a similar commission-free style Baccarat game, and wanted to see how my Commission-free Pai Gow game was going. I said I pretty much completed it, patent and all, and he asked to see it at his DEQ office on Warm Springs Road. DEQ liked it, signed me up, and got it into the Barona Casino in San Diego in July of 2009, where it took off like gang-busters, but only there; the game was unknown to the rest of the industry until Ameristar picked it up for the Council Bluffs, Iowa Casino, where it also did well. The game did NOT really take off until the Fiesta Henderson adopted it in March 2010, followed by the Cannery Group here in Las Vegas in July or so. Now it has finally gotten some very strong momentum, where we are doing well and really accelerating, thank the Lord.

In terms of "intolerable rivals" between game designers, - I've noticed absolutely nothing of the sort at all; we are all fellow members of a fairly elite club, and treat each other very well, and quietly act like fellow members of "the officer's club," if we do not act like pricks to one another. All seem to be great guys: Paul Omohundro, Stacey Friedman, Brent Weiss, Roger Snow, Derek Webb, etc., we're all on fine terms with one exception there [ahem], and often have lunch at fine places and talk here and there. There ARE some occasional squirmishes and legal bickering, but it's rare. When generals go to war, it can get ugly. There are VERY few primadonas. Overall, the game designer's club a good club, with little fuss or dart-throwing, for the most part. I'm still waiting for Steve Jones to join this club, and he will.

You're still going to be working when I come down, but the first time I'm in Vegas once you're a free man, I'll teach you the basics and you can join me and Andy in a "Race to 86" at the Four Queens. I'll save my last downtown single deck game just for you.

Glad to see that you've been able to make this idea of yours turn into something positive with regards to a life-changing experience. Who knows what 10 years from now will bring?

Quote: Switch

That's all I need - another successful games inventor working full time on designing games :-)

Seriously though, I wish you the very best in your transition to 'Full Time Inventor'.

See you at G2E!

To keep the universe in balance, I will remain an unsuccessful inventor. It is a Herculean tack I have undertaken.

Quote: CRMousseau

You're still going to be working when I come down, but the first time I'm in Vegas once you're a free man, I'll teach you the basics and you can join me and Andy in a "Race to 86" at the Four Queens. I'll save my last downtown single deck game just for you.

Lol! It begins... come to the dark side, we have cookies

since it's siatica, why not move back to being a poker dealer?
you sit down. (plus it pays more)

The AP's at poker would frustrate Dan.

Quote: buzzpaff

The AP's at poker would frustrate Dan.

Why?

AP poker platers win money from losers that are the lifeblood of casinos.