New Blackjack Players

Posts Tagged ‘etiquette’

Oh, what a fun time I had at the casino last week! I had the dubious delight of playing at the same table as two very strong personalities, both of whom I suspect to have small to large gambling problems.

The 24-Hour Guy

The first was a dapper fellow who seemed to determine to lose as much money as possible in the time he was within spitting distance of a casino – so apparently he chose not to sleep. I was hoping he was fastidious enough about his appearance to go to the hotel every so often to shower and change (in his case, a cold shower or he would’ve fallen asleep standing up). He was playing primarily at the $5 minimum table, but he had only green and black chips ($25 and $100, respectively, for those of you not acquainted with casinos) and was usually playing at least $100 and up to the table maximum of $300. He occasionally also played the $10 minimum table and the double deck games. During the shuffle (hand shuffle at this casino), he would play the slots.

As far as I could determine, 24H Guy had no betting strategy. His betting was all over the board, jumping from $25 up to $300 in an apparently random way. He also wasn’t a very nice person. In the 3 days (without sleep!) I watched him play at this casino, he never once tipped the dealer. He bummed cigarettes from his fellow players and I never heard him offer any kind of token compensation. By the second day, he was beginning to grumble and grouse about how other people played their hands and how they bet – and it was starting to piss people off. One player started making crazy plays – hitting a stiff hand against a dealer bust card or standing on 6 or 7 against a dealer 10 – for no other reason than to piss 24H Guy off. She didn’t even care that these moves caused her to lose – players and dealers alike were pretty fed up with the guy.

But it’s a hard fact of life in the casino – if there’s someone who’s won big money and they are then doing their best to lose it all before they leave, they would have to be very, very offensive to the other players before casino personnel step in and say something to them. And he wasn’t being overtly obnoxious – his annoying behaviors were very subtle, taking digs at other players for playing the minimum bet (what – did he think everyone was willing to lose as much money as he was?) and grousing quietly about plays he didn’t find agreeable.

The Noisy Drunk

It’s like there’s some unwritten code that every casino must have a regular player who is a noisy drunk and the casino I like to play at has one that is a personality and then some. This guy comes in mornings – and at 9 a.m., he’s already fully loaded and still chugging down more beer.

Fortunately for everyone, he’s a very gregarious and friendly drunk. Everyone in the casino knows his name because he happily introduces himself in such a loud voice that you can hear him throughout the entire pit – and sometimes half the casino, depending on how much he’s had to drink. Once he’s entered the casino, any hope of a quiet game of blackjack (or anything else) flies out the window. He’s one of those people who shouts “Yeah, baby! Hit me!” or “C’mon, baby, gimme a 10!” or “Hit it again!” – among other things, but you get the idea. Every hit, every blackjack, every win – for himself and frequently for other players at the table – is loudly announced. It’s like sitting next to a speaker at a stadium during a ball game.

His effusive congratulations (self and otherwise) aren’t limited to his table, either. He likes to stand up while playing, apparently so he can carry his enthusiasm over to other tables. Because, of course, everyone in the casino is his friend, whether or not he knows their name or has ever seen them before – or can even remember having seen them before. He will come over to another table and hug someone he thinks is a buddy. Not an especially pleasant experience for me, since I don’t like being hugged by friends, much less strangers or casual acquaintances, and he wears a muscle shirt and smells boozy. I put on my best “don’t even think about it” body language, which he has cheerfully ignored on more than one occasion.

This trip, however, was the first time I had the occasion to play at the same table and I discovered that he likes to coach players. Unlike 24H Guy, he’s not a perfect basic strategy player and he “coaches” people in error – or loudly proclaims your error in the friendliest way possible.

After awhile, the loud drunk guy gets on my nerves. He’s funny and entertaining for about the first 10 minutes, but after that it becomes annoying, especially when he’s playing at the same table. OK – it’s annoying when he’s at another table, too, because he is SO LOUD.

For me, half of playing blackjack is social and playing at the same table with these two personalities definitely wasn’t a good social experience. I was up a couple hundred dollars, so I cashed out and left.

I’m not always going to say where I was playing blackjack when I report on my gambling trips and adventures – I’m afraid one of these days someone will recognize me from the posts.

However, I just returned late yesterday from a three-day playing binge where I actually made some money. What I like about blackjack is the social experience. I talk to the other players, the dealers, the pit bosses – it’s all part of the game to me.

I’ve been a regular at a somewhat local casino for the last several weeks and encountered a dealer I nicknamed the Stern Asian Dealer.  I think in all the times I’ve been at her table, she’s cracked a smile once or twice. Most of the time, however, she’s just there to do her job. And I gotta give it to her – she does it very well. She deals the cards nice and neat, not too fast, not too slow (another dealer at the same casino is painfully slow – and he always seems to come on shift at my table just when I’m trying to make a few extra bucks before I have to meet my deadline to leave). The Stern Asian Dealer does not give any indication to players that their blackjack strategy is good, bad or nonexistent – she just deals the cards, plays her hands and collects or pays out the chips. If you want to hit a hard hand against her bust card, go right ahead. She will not even hesitate to give you another card – you don’t even get a polite “are you sure?” – which, for most dealers, is the nice way of saying only a complete moron would hit this – are you asleep or just drunk? Not the Stern Asian Dealer – she will stand there with one hand on the shoe, waiting to pull a card out of it once you are done agonizing – but she will not offer unsolicited advice.

Now, should you ask her what you should do, she will quietly and nicely tell you what “the book” advises. Her basic strategy is good – she knows how the game is played.

But that’s only if you ask. If you don’t ask, she will deal you a card if that’s what you want. She will watch while you double down a 4 and a 2 against her 5 or 6 and then efficiently lay your next card face down over the others. If you put out a matching stack of chips and indicate you want to split your 10s, she will line up the cards with the chips and deal you a hit on the first split hand.

At no time while the hand is being played will her facial expression or other body language indicate to you that you are about to spit in the face of basic strategy for blackjack and do something no player with a brain would do.

However…….

When the hand is done being played, she will look at you and tell you – in a tone of voice I’m positive her children never want to hear for as long as they live – exactly what you did wrong and how it affected the play at the table for that hand. God help you if you do something stupid while playing at the table where Stern Asian Dealer is dealing cards! If you thought your fellow players were tough to deal with after a stupid move, it’s nothing compared to the stern matriarchial expression and tone of voice you’ll encounter at this table!

So remember: if you’re not sure about your basic strategy, don’t hesitate to ask. Some dealers will give you subtle signals, but table etiquette says not to tell someone else how to play unless they ask and there are some dealers who won’t even give you subtle signals.

I was playing blackjack at the Chumash Casino, in the beautiful Central Coast region of California (near Solvang) last Friday night. I had a deadline for leaving and a goal for how much I wanted to win before I left.

Yes, newbies – you CAN win at blackjack. Some of us are actually there to win – if we weren’t at a casino, it would be called earning money, but for some reason when you have to work for winnings in a casino, it’s called winning, not earning. I haven’t figured out why because – thanks to people like the ones I’ll feature at this blog – it sure FEELS like earning.

My husband comes home and complains to me about the stupid people he has to work with. Well, honey – I can’t call them co-workers, but when I sit at the blackjack table with some of these people, I feel like I have stupid co-workers.

I especially want to thank the older gentleman who thought it was amusing to play around when placing his bet, rather just plunk his chips down in the betting circle. Fella, you’re screwing up the average hands per hour. And when I have to leave in 15 minutes and I am a mere $20 from my goal for the night, the extra time you spend doing what you (apparently) think is cute and funny isn’t so much funny as it is just downright annoying.

I could’ve lived with that, but your lack of attention was another issue that just added to the annoyance of your coy betting habits. You’re sitting at the blackjack table, honey. What the hell is so interesting at the other tables, the slot machines behind you – and apparently everything else in the casino except the table where you’re sitting? I mean, really – do we have to poke you every damn time it’s your turn to signal your hand? And God forbid the dealer should hand you the cut card because it will take the rest of the table 5 minutes to bring your attention back around to the table so we can get the deck cut and continue playing.

And apparently, you learned to signal your play at the same place you learned to place your bets. The dealer is unable to interpret facial expressions and grunts. It’s necessary for you to give a hand signal that the cameras can see and interpret. Screwing up your face and looking like you’ve got really, really bad gas is not cute – it’s a waste of time. Look at the cards, geezer. The dealer has a 10. You have a 6 and a 2. Do you really have to spend a minute trying to decide what to do with that??

In spite of the antics of this player, I managed to make my goal and I was only 5 minutes over my designated departure time.

So what’s the lesson, New Blackjack Player (hereinafter referred to as NBJP)?

1. Yes, we’re having fun. That doesn’t mean we aren’t also serious about our fun.
2. Play the game and pay attention. It’s okay to chit-chat with others – heck, one reason I love blackjack is because I’m a social animal – but don’t let it interfere with the play at the table.

Thanks and I hope you come back to NBJP soon!