One of the reasons I believe in generosity in your home card room, and friendliness as well, with the staff, is that you get "in the loop."
You can get to know a place so well, from the porters to the GM, that you CAN protect yourself. You'll know which dealers and players are new. Which dealers have gambling debts, or suddenly bought a new car, or whatever. You'll know which players are always sitting in certain seats with certain other players in certain other seats. You'll know who owes whom money, whose getting staked, whose partnering. I'm not just being friendly when, to every new dealer here, I ask where he's from, where he's dealt, who he knows (it's a small poker world; I'll know someone he knows).
One of the best lessons I ever got, early in my career, was at the Stardust, back when they had games, obviously. I was playing 10-20, a big game for me at the time, and doing well, and tipping a couple of bucks a hand (standard in Maryland, unheard of in Vegas at the time) and the dealers liked me for it, and because I never blamed them, cussed at them, threw cards at them, etc.
One day, when the 10 broke, I was full of piss and vinegar, stacked high, too, and said to the dealer, "think I'll go play that 30 for once."
That dealer looked at me and shook his head. I said, sincerely, "I'm not good enough?"
He said, sincerely, "Good got nothing to do with it. There's five guys earning a living off that game, and you're not one of them."
I took his advice, later finding out how legendary, for the worst reasons, that Stardust 30-60 was.  | 
BETCRIS 
10-06-2001, 03:16 PM
(j/k, not allowed in my jurisdiction...)
