Let's talk shop...

I got into my first "official" jackpot last night...

I was watching the dice section in the only pit with dice tables. Even though it was Friday, we only had two games scheduled, so I thought it would be like a day off. It was a pretty easy night, right up until the last hour of my shift.

A group of New York youths show up, one of whom has a $10k credit line. He uses it all, and looses it all. He then starts buying in with cash. For reasons I can't explain, the man buys in in $7,000 increments. He's a nice guy, easy to deal with (as long as you aren't in a hurry and don't mind some rough language amongst his friends), and is tipping the kids nicely. He goes up and down for the better part of an hour, finally reaching a high-point of winning about $10k. Then, after many shots and drinks, he switches to the don'ts... and the slide into oblivion begins.

At one point, he's in $14k in cash, and grabs another wad of cash and says "Three thousand plays the don'ts!" while he throws in the money. PA doesn't let cash play, so we are counting it out and lammering up the bet while the dice roll a point of 10. He wants the balance of his buy on the lay (which would have been $4k) for a total of $7k in action. With me so far? We're still counting, but I book the bet. Inevitably, the dice roll a winner 10... and he's back to broke. Another wad comes in, and he says $3k plays the don'ts. I book it, and another stack of lammers goes out. Point of 9, and the player calls "What's my max lay?"

Our house has 3-4-5 Odds (3x on the 4-10, 4x on the 5-9, 5x on the 6-8), so I tell him (very loudly) that his max lay is $18k to win $12k... and he says "Max lay plays." Both the box and I clearly say "BET"... and the beef begins.

Mind you, we are still counting his $14,000 of initial action, and I now have more than $21,000 in booked play up. With the almost certain results that any of you can imagine are coming... the dice roll a winner 9, and he is back to broke.

Now, one or two rolls go by, and we are still counting his money (the dice never stopped, mind you), and he throws in another wad of cash. He says nothing, I say nothing, and the box says nothing. We did not say "Change only" because we thought this was the balance of the $21k that he had booked for the point of 9... but once I had the money out, proved and took the lammers down, splashed the cash, and then sent the dice... he wants to know where his last $7k in chips are for the "change only" he threw in.

I'm not without blame here... I know I should have NOT booked the max lay without getting a dollar amount from the mouth of the player, because his calling only "max lay" was ambiguous enough to cause a doubt that will have to go in his favor (given the inexperience of the Gaming Commission in this State). The beef progresses, but I get the guy calmed down and tell him I'm going to get it fixed, but I'll need to let my pit know that I'm giving him back money I had previously booked as a live bet, and that no further "courtesy books" would be made until I knew the man had chips in front of him. So, I give the same explanation to my pit that I have given you guys, and do you know what the man asks me... before anything else is said?

"What does "max lay" mean? I thought the 9 paid 3 to 2..."

Needless to say, the man proceeds to make himself look pretty silly, and does his best to make me look responsible for any "trouble" that he may be in, but when I talk to the shift manager about it (and the incoming pit boss for swing shift), it becomes pretty clear to me that they believe ME, and not him, and that it isn't that big a beef that it can't be fixed without involving the PGCB. We give the man his $7k in cheques, tell him (and the incoming floor and box) that there are no more courtesy books unless the chips are in the rail, and the game moves on.

None the less, it was a $7k beef, and I'm not going to be totally surprised if I have to sign something when I get to work tonight... but I don't see it going any further than that. At least, not without my putting up a bit of a fight.

When I leave (30 minutes late), the kid is into the table for $42k in cash and his $10k in markers, and still throwing it away. With any luck, the man is as broke now as he was when I left, and seeing a $50k+ winner for the shift might make the chances of me signing a write-up a little slimmer.

If I do have to sign, though... it better be from someone that knows what the phrase "max lay" means on a dice game...