[Radar]

I forget if you mentioned that before. I'm curious about one thing and that is: how much contempt do the dealers actually have for the players?

Depends on the players. I've had people walk up to my table and say, "I don't tip. Now give me the dice." and of course I want this kind of asshole to die. I've had really nice people who always put something down for the good guys so we could play too and we want them to win. Unfortunately it seems like the people we hate the most win more than we'd like and those we like the most lose more than we'd like.

I also hate the guy who buys a 25 cent el stinkadora, stands next to me and blows his nasty ass cigar smoke in my face. The worst is people who don't tip. I've had people who played at my table everyday for a week or two and didn't drop a single dollar. One time I was dealing at the California Hotel (Best Craps in Vegas) and I gave a guy $40,000 in 20 minutes and he picked it up and walked away without giving me a dollar.

OK three things. What was the longest winning roll you ever saw? And the longest losing.

The longest roll in history was at the California Hotel. A Hawaiian guy (they cater mostly to Hawaiians and fly them in) named Stanley (Golden Arm) rolled for 3 hours and 8 minutes without losing a point. They ran out of $500 casino checks and had to call gaming control to get permission to pay people cash at the tables to buy the checks back so they'd have something to deal. They roped off the table and wouldn't let any new players in. I wasn't dealing that night, but I know it to be true. They have a statue of a golden hand and when people roll for longer than an hour, they'll engrave your name on it.

The longest roll I ever saw was probably about 1 hr and 45 minutes. I was dealing at the California Hotel and I remember the table was on fire. I called eight hard 8's in a row. The odds of that happening are 1 in 2,821,109,907,456 (I am not making this up, I used a calculator) That's almost 3 trillion to 1.

Everyone had the table limit on the hardways and I remember screaming the numbers at the top of my lungs and the dealer across the table from me couldn't hear me. My boss told me if they rolled another hard 8, I was fired. We checked the dice to see if they were switched a hundred times. I told him I could only call the numbers on the tops of the dice.

As far as longest losing rolls, you see those everyday. You'll see a guy down to his last 5 bucks and he puts it on the passline and rolls for a half hour making everyone else at the table rich and then he'll lose his point and not even get his $5. But usually others at the table send a few bucks his way.

OK five things: what was the best cheat you ever saw? How often did you see cheats?

The best cheat I ever saw was Steve Forte. The Casinos use him to teach surveillance people how to spot cheaters. He makes video tapes you can buy on the subject. When you do surveillance, they teach you how to cheat so you can spot other people doing it.

I didn't see cheats very often except in the worst fleabag hotels. They know the surveillance in the expensive hotels will nail them and they know the weaker dealers are in the cheaper places. I did see some though and I nailed my share of them.

(Aw shuddup you. The house vig is in my entertainment budget and it's as cheap as a big night on the town. And working out the house advantage in my head makes for good math skills, or something.)

I used to like to play at the Horseshoe or Vegas club because you get an automatic buy on the 4 and 10 so you don't have to pay a vig unless you win. But still the California has the best dice game in town and I had the most fun dealing there. I also worked at the Gold Coast, the Sahara, the and the New York, New York. I broke in at the El Cortez (the scummiest casino in Las Vegas). You've got to pay your dues before you can work on the strip.