Today was the big day: orientation. This was when we found out our schedules and got answers to all the questions.
It began with an introduction to the staff. There is an army of folks needed to put on a tournament of this size and I was surprised at how many support folks were on staff.
The first speaker was the event director and he gave a rousing speech about the tournament. Some of his points were:
- This is the first major poker tournament ever held in Mississippi
- The start of the tournament was scheduled to coincide with the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As a result, there will be large media attention. Don't be surprised to hear about it on CNN.
- The location and/or weather have not scared away any players. The Beau Rivage held a block of 400 rooms for the event and they filled those rooms two months ago without any significant cancellations. Organizers expect every event to have 600+ entrants and the final main event should attract over 1000 players.
- The Beau Rivage spent $50 million on its property since the hurricane and this event is the culmination of that incredible effort and dedication.
- There are 120 dealers, that will be working two shifts: the Day Shift, which will generally go from 11 am to 8 pm and the Swing Shift, which is from 7 to whenever. There is no Grave Yard shift, so the Swing dealers will pick up the slack and sometimes deal until 5 am. I was hoping to be on the Day shift, but instead I am on Swing. This means I will be sleeping during the day and working most of the nights. Good thing my bed is comfortable.
- I received my MS Gaming Card, my employee badge, my tournament rules and regulations packet today. It appears that as long as I don't get drunk and act crazy, I will be fine. Will not be a problem for me!
To be honest, I am a bit nervous. I am fairly confident that I am a good dealer, but the tournament is going to be extremely taxing, with possibly 16-hour days, and mostly at night. Also, because I am working late, I will be closing up tournaments, rather than starting them. The players will be cranky and belligerent if their chance to win gets derailed by a lousy dealer.
The reason for the long shifts is that despite 120 dealers, we are about 40 short of what we needed for the event. More money for us, but also less sleep!
I will also be dealing more of what they call "live games", where the chips represent real money instead of tournament chips. The players all play these live games whenever they get knocked out of the tournament events. these live games are short, usually lasting about 90 minutues.
Anyway, I am off to take a nap and start getting ready for tomorrow.
A few last notes:
- "mspokerdealer" means Mississippi Poker Dealer, not Miss Poker Dealer. Sorry for the confusion, although everyone I sent this link to understands that I am a guy. Hello.
- I was encouraged to buy a fanny pack to keep tokes (tips) in while I deal. I have always kidded people for wearing these in the past, so now I guess I'll be buying a minivan and start wearing black knee socks with my shorts!
