World
Poker Open - Day 5
A
lot of people have come up to me and asked,
"Gary, just what is it that you do here?"
I tell them I can't explain it in under
5 minutes. It's true. I don't know what
to call myself. I'll give you the details
of what I did today (give me 5 minutes
at least) and let you come up with a term.
First
thing I did today was gasp. It literally
took my breath away when I opened the
double doors and looked inside the tournament
area. Every table was full. Players were
milling about in the aisles, staff scurrying
about doing their thing. Everything was
just perfect. Well, not really. Supervisors
were in need of food comps. Players were
grabbing them up like trick-or-treaters
on Halloween night. Between 800-1000 people
go through the players buffet upstairs
every day. So I went to see Bill Hicks,
got some comps and gave them to the supervisor
and other key tournament personnel.
Stopped
by Terry Vanderlip's podium to see how
the single table satellites were going.
Everything peachy except we're short on
timers. Jot down in notebook, "Get wife
to get timers."
Waded
through the throng to the registration
desk and encounter a small problem with
our clerks being blinded by the lights
immediately above. Seems they called maintenance
to unscrew them. No, no, no. Bad clerks.
Surveillance must have proper lighting.
Big brother is always watching you. So
I dialed maintenance to come back and
replace the 90 watters with 30's. Clerks
happy, surveillance happy, everybody's
happy.
Next
off the see Pepper Munsey my counterpart
for this tournament and our regular poker
room manager who promptly handed me 7
or 8 Payroll Correction Request sheets.
Seems that many dealers incorrectly clocked
in or out and / or signed in or out. You
have to do both and obviously some don't.
7 or 8 really isn't a bad count taking
into consideration the first couple days.
What a nightmare those to days were on
payroll.
So
I'm off to see John Moss (I swear that's
his real name, and guess what, there's
two other temporary poker dealers by the
same name here for the tournament. Go
figure) to see how many hours these people
actually worked. On the way I meet Barry
Johnston, poker player extrordinare and
general all around classy guy. No Barry
I don't have comps dated for tomorrow.
How many you want? Three? No problem.
Give me 15 minutes and I'll have them.
I wonder if Bill Hicks is in his office.
I
stroll into the dealer's break room, noticed
the water cooler bottle supply was getting
low so into the trusty notebook got a
reminder to call maintenance for more.
A few dealers are there getting their
nicotine fix and I ask the crowd how things
are going. One guy says the hotel front
desk called him to say he's got to come
up with a credit card or $250 for deposit
or check out because he isn't teamed up
with a roommate. Seems his quit and left
for some silly reason. Is your name on
the roommate wanted list posted near the
supervisor's podium, I ask him. Yes and
it's the only one on it. Another note
gets jotted down in the book.
Next
it's out to the live action area. Table
7 needs a fill. Hmmm, all the brush personnel
are busy doing other things so I get table
7 the rack of white needed. Table 23 needs
a floorman. Don't look at me. David, that's
your call. And David quickly arrives to
handle it. Suddenly I flashback to last
years WPO when I was the swing shift supervisor.
Oh oh, better get out of the live area
quick. In the process of leaving 5 different
people try to hit me up for food comps.
No sir I don't have any. See that man
over there in the dark suit with his back
to you. Yeah the guy with the short blonde
hair. That's David our day shift supervisor.
He's got those tickets. I think poor David
as I scurry out of the live area and through
the double doors across the hall and into
the employee dining room for a Diet Pepsi.
All
this took up no more than the first hour
of work. I can't figure out what to call
myself when someone asks me what I do
here for the tournament. All I know is
I'm the grease that makes everything run
a little bit smoother. And it makes me
feel good.
Gary (...) Philips
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