About The Designer

Unlucky, was the patronage of the casino. Soames Casino was (I think it's closed down now) located in the heart of China Town in Manchester, and was the favorite haunt of the ‘Triads’ (the Chinese Mafia).

MY INTERVIEW TO GET INTO THE TRAINING SCHOOL

My interview for acceptance to the training school was held on a very cold, rainy day, in January. The entrance to the casino was via a very dark and narrow set of stairs (very different from what I became used to later, in other countries of the world).

When I entered the casino the first thing I noticed was the level of noise. The place was crammed and I couldn't hear myself think! The second thing I noticed was the haze, due mainly to cigarette smoke, but also damp clothing, due to the cold, rainy weather. Third, and by far the most important, was the level of game activity at EVERY game. Most of the tables were roulette tables, and every table was stacked nearly a foot high with chips on every number. Croupiers were calling out a winning number, and marking the number by putting the 'dolly' (that's what a marker is called in England), on top of the chips. "How do they do that", I thought? They can't see any of the numbers!

I found out later that Soames Casino was by far the busiest casino in Manchester in 1990, mainly due to the patronage of the Triads.

Chinese Mafia or not, the Chinese people are EXTREMELY proficient at math. This is due to the syllabic nature of the Chinese number system. Please feel free to do your own research on this subject. I have done mine, and it seems to be conclusive, both in my research findings, and more importantly, in my own personal experience!

All through casino training school I was warned of this proficiency, and as the Chinese were regulars at the casino, could add up even the most complicated bets quicker than the dealers. I was later to learn that this was very true.

MY FIRST DAY AS A CASINO DEALER

On my very first day at the casino I was assigned to day shift. New dealers are always assigned to day shift; because this shift is usually pretty quiet, so new dealers will hopefully not get into too much trouble!

I walked to my empty table, and stood, reciting roulette times tables in my head, praying wholeheartedly that the first person to come and play at my table would not be Chinese!

My prayer was not answered. I looked up to see a very old Chinese man shuffling slowly toward my table.

At the sight of him, every times table magically disappeared out of my head and I started shaking uncontrollably. If Chinese people are good at math, then OLD Chinese people will slaughter me!

He placed £50 (the rough equivalent of $75) on the table.

With shaking hands, and sweaty palms, I picked up the cash, announced to my table inspector that I was changing £50, and passed the equivalent amount of chips to my very first player.

In training school we had been trained to add up very complicated bets with payouts in the thousands. We had learned all sorts of tips and tricks of the trade, in order to deal with the heavy bets that the Chinese routinely made in this high traffic casino. I was told constantly, and was later to learn correctly, (when I was assigned to Friday and Saturday nights), that Soames Casino was one of the busiest casinos in Manchester, and would therefore provide the best ‘on the job’ training.

As my very first player placed his chips on the roulette layout, all of my training blurred before my eyes, and I immediately forgot everything I had learned. I was petrified, and kept glancing toward my table inspector to make sure that she was with me, to help me get through this ordeal.

Completing his bets, the old Chinese man looked at me, expectantly; ‘You can spin the ball now’, was the look in his eyes. He had placed exactly 5 chips on the roulette layout. Three splits, and two straight ups.

I looked at him and nodded, my fears melting away. I breathed slowly, and prayed that I would be able to get the ball to spin around the roulette wheel the requisite number of times. Four was the minimum.

Learning to spin the ball around the wheel is much more difficult than it looks! It was definitely the hardest part of learning to deal roulette for me. That blessed ball would drop immediately out of my fingers, or bounce around the wheel, or even shoot straight out of the wheel! I could never get a smooth spin. Getting better at it though, my roulette trainer decided that I was worthy of at least the day shift.

So now here I was, a ‘real live’ player in front of me, and now I had to get the stupid ball around the wheel at least four times, without it bouncing around like a grasshopper!

To my amazement, the ball cleanly completed about 7 turns around the wheel, and dropped into a number that was empty on the layout. I placed the dolly on the empty number, cleared the layout of all five chips, removed the dolly, and announced in a clear voice, “Place your bets please”.

My very first ‘deal’ was over. I had survived. I thought, ‘Maybe this isn’t so bad after all.’

MY ADVICE IF YOU'RE SCARED OF YOUR FIRST DAY ON THE JOB

The moral of this story, is that I hear from brand new dealers, about to start their new job at a casino in a day or so, saying that they are absolutely petrified. Remember, if the casino did not think that you had it in you to be a dealer, they wouldn't have hired you in the first place. Also remember that the casino doesn't want you to fail. They want you to succeed. So they are not going to put you on a crazy game on your very first day. Odds are, they've assigned you to a quiet shift, and will put you on a quiet table, until you get the hang of dealing to real players. If the game gets too much for you to handle, they will change you out with a more experienced dealer, and put you on a quieter game, until you get your confidence. So don't worry. The casino managers know what they’re doing!