First-time players

3 May 2015

By John Grochowski

Casino players aren’t born knowing every rule and procedure in the books. Sometimes we run afoul of policies, especially when we first start to play and haven’t yet learned the casino facts of life.

Do you remember a time when the rules took you by surprise? These players do:

Vic: This was one of the first times I ever played table games. My wife and I were on this little place with only a few tables and a few hundred slots. It was a little way off the Strip – I don’t remember the name. I decided to play some cheap roulette while my wife was playing slots. I mean really cheap. There was a $1 minimum bet and you could break it down into 25-cent chips.

I hit single numbers a couple of times. I kept winning, and before I knew it I was ahead by more than $50. My wife came over from the slots, and we decided to cash in and move on. When the dealer counted up my roulette chips, he gave me $65 in casino chips – it was the first time I’d ever had green chips! I left $5 for the dealer and he thanked me, and the pit boss even smiled and nodded.

Then I looked over to my wife and started off on the most direct open route to her. Unfortunately, that took me behind the tables. My wife said, “Um … I don’t think you’re supposed to be back there.”

Then I saw where I was, and moved fast. The crew was laughing. No doubt they knew a raw rookie when they saw one.


Cormac: This was one of the first times I played Caribbean Stud. One guy only got four cards instead of five. The dealer had to call over a pit supervisor to sort it out. She told the player she’d have to void his hand. That was OK with him, because he’d seen the four cards and they weren’t much. The rest of the table was going to just play out as if nothing had happened.

That really irritated another guy. He said, “Hold on a minute. This happened last night and the supervisor voided the whole table. Shouldn’t we have the option of voiding the hand?”

The supervisor said no, there was no reason to do that. And the player said, “Of course there is. If he’d gotten his fifth card, then I’d have gotten a different card instead. Everybody would have different hands. That’s why they voided it last night.”

The supervisor wasn’t buying any of it. He told the dealer, “Void this hand. All other bets stand,” and took two steps back and watched. They played out the hand, and the guy who was mad folded his hand, picked up his chips and walked away. The supervisor said, “Look, I’m sorry the guy’s upset, but that’s the correct procedure.”


Wally: This was at a riverboat, playing roulette. The place was a little cramped, but I got a seat by a Plexiglas barrier right at the end and stretched out as best I could. That included putting my elbow up on the barrier, and I guess that was a no-no.

The dealer said, “Are you comfortable?” I smiled and said, “As comfortable as I can be.” She said, “You’re not supposed to be,” and nodded to my arm. “You’re not supposed to have your arm up there. I thought you knew.”

I didn’t know, but I took my arm down. I kept playing, just a little less comfortable.

Look for John Grochowski at www.casinoanswerman.com, on Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/7lzdt44) and Twitter (@GrochowskiJ).