AZDuffman
Posted by AZDuffman
Feb 28, 2015

Wheeling Island can use some improvements

So my buddy and I decide to go to Wheeling Island instead of Meadows for some variety. Some good and some bad, it comes down to is it worth it for a better game?

The good was there were no maniacs at the tables. In all a very soft game. Will consider going back based on the players.

The bad was that the poker room is more of a poker "corner" and very small. That is not bad in and of itself, but it seemed the Pit Boss was splitting his time between the poker room and the pit. There was no brush to sign in with, if you wanted a seat you had to wait for a dealer to inform you how to proceed. I could partially see this in early morning hours during a weekday, but this was mid-afternoon on a Saturday!

It seemed a dealer called off sick which put the entire place off-kilter. Break-time was weird. Everything stopped while they rotated dealers. And the smoke in the place? Like stepping into a time machine and waiting to see Don Draper at the bar.

I know that it is a small market that has lost much of their customer base to neighboring states, but this just feels like very sloppy casino management. At the least there should be a brush at the front desk to make players feel welcome and act as a go-between for the room and the Pit Boss if the Pit Boss is going to be watching the room.

I will go back for a softer game, but that is the only reaon.

Comments

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Mar 01, 2015

Only played poker?

AZDuffman
AZDuffman Mar 01, 2015

Yes, I only did poker. My friend played some slots, probably Quick Hits. Just didn't feel like anything else.

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Mar 02, 2015

probably will never go back to Wheeling, but I have to say the place had the only points program that caught much of my interest. That could have changed, it's the type of thing that does change.

AZDuffman
Posted by AZDuffman
Dec 09, 2014

Casino Party Season

We are entering the peak of casino party season. Last weekend and this are the biggies.

So they get us some new equipment! New layout, nice looking. Clean. New stick! New dice, sharp enough to cut yourself on, and of all things they are numbered, so they seem to be casino-grade! Then I pick up the new, wooden bowl, and the back falls off in my hand! My boss said it had already fallen off, but good grief, we didn't use it once yet.

So I get a player. He is the average "played before but still doesn't know the fine points." For example, he seems to be explaining that after makes a point then the point stays even if made. He knows what a hardway is, but not all the reasons it will lose. Doesn't matter though because he is more helpful than harming to the new players and at the end of a rare double header I can use all the help I can get. So he asks about the Field Bet..........

"What's that?"
"Easiest bet on the board to understand. One roll bet. Any of those numbers hit you win, they don't you lose."
"Hey, looks like a good bet, that is a lot of numbers there!"

You can't make this stuff up! Same guy kept betting boxcars, over and over. Bled himself dry even with a hit or two. How any dealer can end up a problem gambler is beyond me.

Comments

1BB
1BB Dec 09, 2014

How can a doctor smoke? How can a lothario engage in his risky behavior?



When Foxwoods first opened and there was no self exclusion list, many players sought employment there to prevent themselves from gambling. When Mohegan Sun opened four years later, the self exclusion list grew much larger. Human nature can be fickle.

mcallister3200
mcallister3200 Dec 11, 2014

Sometimes people become dealers BECAUSE they are problem gamblers.

AZDuffman
Posted by AZDuffman
Apr 09, 2014

Dealers seeing bad bets grinding players down

So another party last night, George and George were at my table and George was a craps guy. He comes up when I am setting up. I know it will be a fun night because he starts from the beginning teaching his employees how the game is played. Now, several are playing the field, and George is playing "snakes and boxcars" over, over, and over.

It is a fun night, not for money. But I just see grind, grind, grind. Mr "snakes and box" doesn't hit once. Grind, grind, grind. Right down to the rails.

Now, while it is for fun, the odds are still the same. And it makes me wonder. I know how bad these bets are but when you see it you really get it. This is not the first time I saw someone get ground out determined to hit a hop bet.

So what I do not get, why do so many dealers end up with gambling problems? I know it may not be the majority, but how can any at all?

Comments

RaleighCraps
RaleighCraps Apr 09, 2014

I always ask my craps dealers if they play the game, and I am surprised at the number who do not play. Some say they used to play, but gave up because they see so many people losing all the time. I have noticed that the ones who do play, tend to be better dealers. My guess is they still enjoy the game, so it's not really a job to them?

FleaStiff
FleaStiff Apr 10, 2014

Some dice dealers simply transition to degenerate dice players and have only to keep TWO things in mind. Which is the casino they have to work at and which is the casino they play at.



Some dice dealers seem to still play craps but focus more on poker.

AZDuffman
AZDuffman Apr 10, 2014

@Raleigh: When I was in dealer school the instructor said few students will play. I do it as I do because it makes the side-hustle "almost" not a job so I would have to agree with your statement.

Sonuvabish
Sonuvabish Nov 14, 2014

George Soros was there! OMG he is the biggest threat to the world. Did you take Faith 101 at Beck U yet? I haven't, I'm saving it for my last trimester.

AZDuffman
Posted by AZDuffman
Apr 05, 2014

Landman History story

Just wanted to share this because this was one of the most interesting "backstories" about a piece of land I ever have had. And it shows how pretty much everything is online or eventually will be on this once-called "information superhighway."

For those just tuning in, I am one of the two-known oil and gas abstractors here on WoV. What we do is take any piece of land no matter how small and follow the chain of title back to pre-1859 so as to be sure who owns the mineral rights to the property. As you do this you read all kinds of documents, and do some additional research to fill in blanks. The "blanks" are often fascinating.

I cannot give real namnes as this is a property that may be drilled so names are not real except for the famous ones.

So I get the assignment and start working from present day to find who owned it before 1859. We need to show someone taking title in a clean manner before this year. I finally work my way to what we call a "clean conveyance" in 1821. A woman had it in trust for her daughter. But how this happened became amazing.

The deed stated she was "a woman of color" and she was given the land "in trust for her infant daughter." Weird enough for the era. It further stated that the shed or the grantor (I forget which) was from Maryland. Not uncommon for the time. So I google the grantor......

Seems he was a prominent guy at the time. The land had some dispute in ownership, but the deed said this already. Some of the names matched in both places. (HISTORY CONTENT: This is the kind of "common element" that you look for in not only deed research but any kind of history to know you have the right person and not some "George Washington" from Albany, GA.) What the deed did not say is that there was a mini-land war over this and the guy almost died over it. A bullet that killed someone else was meant for him. Additionally, the land once belonged to Robert Morris whom a local university is named after. Said university makes March Madness as a bottom-seed every few years.

Prominent guy from Maryland granting a woman of color 100 acres of land for her infant daughter in 1821??????

There is really one real conclusion to draw from all of this information.......

You kind of have to assume the guy knocked up a slave woman he owned and wanted her (and his) daughter to be free but this would not be possible in Maryland. PA phased out slavery starting in 1780 as the first state to do so and by the 1820s there were barely 200 slaves left in the entire state while in Maryland it was still going strong. You have to draw this by asking what are the odds a black woman would be able to buy 100 acres of land in 1821 with no mention of a husband on the deed at all and only keep it in trust for her daughter? Then ask what would you do if you were the owner and helped cause the situation? Society would not be friendly to you to say the least. So ship them off to a better place!

Why I love my job---you get to be half-a-historian.

Comments

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Apr 05, 2014

you've probably figured it out correctly



Quote:

he ... wanted her (and his) daughter to be free but this would not be possible in Maryland





Freeing a slave involved more than simply granting manumission. If the slaveowner just freed a slave "and that was it," it was found to be a social problem. States then made laws you had to do more than that, such as provide a house and some land, perhaps otherwise show the freedman was going to successfully be independent. Sometimes slaveowners would select a state with less onerous laws. Illinois for example passed a law that freedmen could not settle in the state; such coming from KY had been a problem. To avoid any confusion about it, all Blacks "period" were prohibited from entering the later named "Land of Lincoln" [state constitution of 1848]



So, it might have been easier for more reasons than one to pick this spot you researched. Still, to provide the land may have been legally required.

AZDuffman
AZDuffman Apr 05, 2014

I have seen other freedom papers and in fact have one if anyone wants to see it PM me your email. In every on I have seen they grant the slave freedom but it is after a period of one to a few years. Now I have not seen close to a representative sample, but other things I have learned on the subject of freeing slaves surprise most people the first time you hear them.



Lets forget the laws and any discrimination against freedmen. Imagine you are a slave all your life and then one day your master walks up to you and says, "hey, I've granting you freedom! Now good luck and be out of here by the weekend!" What on earth do you do to survive? Chances are you have few skills and are illiterate. Well, lots of whites were illiterate then as well. But you are now having to compete with slaves for labor. You will have a tough slog of it.



I read about a modern day slave I forget where, probably Africa or the Middle East who had a benovelant master who freed him. It lasted about a year, then he asked to go back to how it was. He could not handle it.



Back to the spot in question, I do not think he bought it for her, I think he already owned it and that is why the spot was picked. Either way I still found it fascinating.

AZDuffman
Posted by AZDuffman
Jan 11, 2014

Silly craps players II

Girl is at the table, right to the left of third base. I can hear her explaining the game to some other new players and am glad as it takes pressure off of me. She throws the dice, using the "Rosebud Grip" after setting them so even a half-blind floorman would assume she knows the game well. Then the dice fly.......

they die right on the "COME" box.

"NO ROLL!"
"What?"
"Dice need to hit the back wall."
"You mean I need to hit the back wall?!"

I sometimes seriously think the craps gods are trying to give me a stroke.

Comments

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Jan 12, 2014

you've got me looking up the rosebud grip but I've had no luck ... what is it?

FleaStiff
FleaStiff Jan 12, 2014

IF she had not been "no rolled" would she have won?



By the way, what exactly is the rosebud grip? Mia used to throw the dice under her upraised leg, those who cared to look away from her anatomy always saw the dice hit the back wall though.

AZDuffman
AZDuffman Jan 12, 2014

Sorry on dropping the Roesbud thing. By "Rosebud Grip" I mean the way they were gripping and lobbing the dice on the "Breaking Vegas" show. If it needs to be called something else I'd do that but it is the best I can describe it. But whatever you call it when I see it to me it means the player has seen the special and has some clue how the game works.



Note: That does not mean I believe or do not believe it works, it means the player understands the concept of a point, etc. Remember, 90% of who I see barely knows you use dice.

AZDuffman
AZDuffman Jan 12, 2014

Oh, she would have crapped on the come-out. Had a 3 IIRC.

ontariodealer
ontariodealer Jan 12, 2014

the place where i deal has put a lot of dual rates who are new to craps sitting box.....they arrive with big ego's. the other day one of them says to the shooter, next time you don't hit the wall i'm calling no roll....I whisper over to him, never say that, just warn them that they have to hit the wall.....he snaps at me and threatens a write up. Three or four rolls later ( and tons of money on the table) the dice don't even come close to the wall and its a seven out. the box says nothing and the place goes nuts, guys are just screaming. The pit comes down, finds out what went on and writes up the box.

odiousgambit
odiousgambit Jan 13, 2014

>its a seven out. the box says nothing



best weapon in the arsenal to enforce hitting the wall: selective no roll calls. I agree the box screwed up how to use it [let the players wonder when you will enforce it]

AZDuffman
AZDuffman Jan 13, 2014

How does someone with no or little experience sit box? Here in PA I believe you need a year of real experience to sit.



Interesting about selective no roll calls. I called a no roll when one die hit the puck. Still could be random, but drives me nuts. How hard is it to throw dice four feet?

ontariodealer
ontariodealer Jan 14, 2014

i've been doing this for 39 years and have never called a no roll unless dice off the table ........we have actually had situation s where a newby dual rate will be dealing and the game gets too busy so they dress him/her up to sit box.