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The Other Side of Casino Layout
端木佩仪 发表于 2008-07-11 12:25:54
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Book Review
Dummy Up And Deal: Inside The Culture Of Casino Dealing
by H. Lee Barnes
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: University of Nevada Press (August 9, 2005)
ISBN-13: 978-0874176223
There are tons of books with the keyword of GAMBLING. Basic strategies of blackjack, so-called beating systems, compulsive/pathological gamblers, legalization of gambling, Indian tribal casinos, sports betting, and so forth. Just pick up one you like. However, the point of view is either of players or of some bystanders. The real persons who know the gambling industry- table game dealers- are always in the scene, but only a part of background. This is why this book Dummy Up And Deal is so special. It tells you the real Las Vegas, viewing the gambling industry from the other side of the layout.
The author Barnes is a faculty of the Community College of Southern Nevada. He has worked as a dealer for several years. As Barnes states "this book is narrative nonfiction"(1), it contains short stories of various length. Although there is no footnote or any reference book, they are "the interpretive data of daily life and express humanity in a way that cannot be rendered in cold numbers"(1).
Dealers are in a weird position.On one hand, they are treated as the representation of the abstract HOUSE. The house is neither the fancy building nor the cheques(chips). When someone is losing and tries to find out the house to blame, he/she will ask the dealer, "How could you do this to me?" Dealers are just the medium of the chance, which is set up in the favor of the house. They have no control over the cards, the roulette ball, or the dice. On the other hand, dealers are paid by the minimum wage plus tips. Whether they can pay the bills really depends on the players. They are hoping players to win in order to earn toke while dealing the games in favor of the house, in which no player can win in long run.
A good dealer can "make the cards perform ballet in the air", "spin a roulette ball at speeds approaching the sound barrier", or "pay twelve bets on a layout [craps] faster than a car salesman can calculate his commission"(5). The criteria of their job performance are pace and accuracy. However, both the house and players are more concerned about the money rather than how well the dealer deals. No matter the house is hot or cold, "the dealer's job is to dummy up and deal"(2).
Like other uniform jobs, dealing is sometimes boring. But there are way too many things happening in the casino. "A casino is itself a microcosm of a society that desires immediate gratification, risk without danger, reward without labor, recognition without earned respect"(6). Each table is a stage, on which everyone is both performer and audience. Human beings are complicated. A dealer doesn't need too much time to meet all kinds of persons, especially freaks.
Dealers are at the bottom of the casino structure. Some are juiced, whereas some are abused. Female dealers had a hard time in the seventies and eighties. How about nowadays? Maybe better, maybe not. Mattress politics is pretty common. Moreover, there is a chapter titled "You're Fired, Have a Nice Day". Funny yet sad.
"In those days we used to work six days a week at the Showboat. This one kid was getting married, and he went up to Pete Amante, who ran the schedule, and told him that he was getting married and needed three days off. When the next schedule came out, Pete had given the kid three days off- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday"(82). What can you do as a dealer? Dummy up and deal.
Some other words:
I'm interested in gambling. I have read several books and some academic journals in this subject. Sociological surveys mostly express moral concerns, and movies depict casinos or Las Vegas as adult's Disneyland. This is an amazing book about the crude reality.
I hope you will like it.
[All quotations are from Dummy Up And Deal by H. Lee Barnes.]
Book Review
Dummy Up And Deal: Inside The Culture Of Casino Dealing
by H. Lee Barnes
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: University of Nevada Press (August 9, 2005)
ISBN-13: 978-0874176223
There are tons of books with the keyword of GAMBLING. Basic strategies of blackjack, so-called beating systems, compulsive/pathological gamblers, legalization of gambling, Indian tribal casinos, sports betting, and so forth. Just pick up one you like. However, the point of view is either of players or of some bystanders. The real persons who know the gambling industry- table game dealers- are always in the scene, but only a part of background. This is why this book Dummy Up And Deal is so special. It tells you the real Las Vegas, viewing the gambling industry from the other side of the layout.
The author Barnes is a faculty of the Community College of Southern Nevada. He has worked as a dealer for several years. As Barnes states "this book is narrative nonfiction"(1), it contains short stories of various length. Although there is no footnote or any reference book, they are "the interpretive data of daily life and express humanity in a way that cannot be rendered in cold numbers"(1).
Dealers are in a weird position.On one hand, they are treated as the representation of the abstract HOUSE. The house is neither the fancy building nor the cheques(chips). When someone is losing and tries to find out the house to blame, he/she will ask the dealer, "How could you do this to me?" Dealers are just the medium of the chance, which is set up in the favor of the house. They have no control over the cards, the roulette ball, or the dice. On the other hand, dealers are paid by the minimum wage plus tips. Whether they can pay the bills really depends on the players. They are hoping players to win in order to earn toke while dealing the games in favor of the house, in which no player can win in long run.
A good dealer can "make the cards perform ballet in the air", "spin a roulette ball at speeds approaching the sound barrier", or "pay twelve bets on a layout [craps] faster than a car salesman can calculate his commission"(5). The criteria of their job performance are pace and accuracy. However, both the house and players are more concerned about the money rather than how well the dealer deals. No matter the house is hot or cold, "the dealer's job is to dummy up and deal"(2).
Like other uniform jobs, dealing is sometimes boring. But there are way too many things happening in the casino. "A casino is itself a microcosm of a society that desires immediate gratification, risk without danger, reward without labor, recognition without earned respect"(6). Each table is a stage, on which everyone is both performer and audience. Human beings are complicated. A dealer doesn't need too much time to meet all kinds of persons, especially freaks.
Dealers are at the bottom of the casino structure. Some are juiced, whereas some are abused. Female dealers had a hard time in the seventies and eighties. How about nowadays? Maybe better, maybe not. Mattress politics is pretty common. Moreover, there is a chapter titled "You're Fired, Have a Nice Day". Funny yet sad.
"In those days we used to work six days a week at the Showboat. This one kid was getting married, and he went up to Pete Amante, who ran the schedule, and told him that he was getting married and needed three days off. When the next schedule came out, Pete had given the kid three days off- Monday, Wednesday, and Friday"(82). What can you do as a dealer? Dummy up and deal.
Some other words:
I'm interested in gambling. I have read several books and some academic journals in this subject. Sociological surveys mostly express moral concerns, and movies depict casinos or Las Vegas as adult's Disneyland. This is an amazing book about the crude reality.
I hope you will like it.
[All quotations are from Dummy Up And Deal by H. Lee Barnes.]
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