"Shuffle up and deal."
Those are the words that tug on the heart-strings of the degenerate gambler.
Like "Play ball!", "Gentlemen, start your engines!", and "Let's get ready to rumble!", the words at the start of a poker tournament fill players and dealers alike with anticipation, excitement, and fear.
That will be MY world during the next two weeks.
I am a poker dealer. And I will be dealing for a World Poker Tour event in Biloxi, MS called the Gulf Coast Poker Championship. It will be held at the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino and will feature ten events with entry fees ranging from $300 to $10,000 per entrant.
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I became a croupier about three years ago in Atlanta, GA. True, there is no legal gambling in the bible-thumping state of Georgia, but that doesn't stop the daily enterprise of corporate casino nights, charity poker tournaments, and the inimitable home game.
I have dealt cards all over. I've dealt in a church with an open bar (gotta love those Catholics), for a bar mitzvah full of kids so hopped-up on sugar that they tried to steal my cards, in the tent-covered, insect-filled grass of a college campus, in a garage next to an oil-dripping car engine on saw-horses, at a strip-club employee party where the strippers brought their families, and in the penthouse of the most expensive hotel in Atlanta.
I have dealt to students, movie stars, pro-athletes, church-ladies, cops, rappers, firemen, lawyers, swingers, doctors, fraternities, sororities, and even my grandmother.
What I have NOT done is dealt in a real casino. Until now.
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Dealing cards is basically a fun past-time for me. I have a regular job as a technical writer and office manager at the corporate headquarters of a mega-transportation company in Atlanta. I do not have aspirations of moving to some casino town and being a full-time dealer. But I am a perfectionist and I wanted to see if I could muster up to the challenge of dealing to the highest level of poker players.
After sending out a few feelers, I was invited to deal for the 2007 World Series of Poker. However, the dealers are required to spend TWO MONTHS in Las Vegas and my day job simply wouldn't allow it. So this is the next best thing.
Over the next few weeks I am going to attempt to tell this tale here. I say "attempt" as I am not sure if I will have the time or energy to make daily posts.
But we'll just see, won't we?
