This is Amos. He is funny, kind and generous. But he never used to be that way.. because back in the day when he didn’t live in #Melbourne, he was a high-end dealer at a casino.
He started off werkin the floors as a $10 black-jack dealer and graduated to the high-rollers, V-VIP rooms and then Private Salons (millionaires who are flown in by The Cas, to play their own games in their own rooms, with waitresses, catering whatever they want). He has seen everything from proposals, to strokes, to people relieving themselves (1’s & 2’s) because they don’t want to leave the table.
Craziest thing you have seen?
A CEO flew over his top 40 sales men and women from around the world, for a pyjama party. Everyone was in bedding attire, drinking from the open bar and hitting each other with pillows. The CEO sat at the table in his business suit playing blackjack ignoring them all while they ran around rampant like drunk 6yr olds.
Who is the richest person you’ve met?
One of the world’s biggest land owners (he owns a section of The Amazon) who would fly in a lot to play baccarat. We were never allowed to call him by his real name, we had to refer to him in code aka ‘Mr A’. One night he was betting $725k per hand which was the max at the time. He won three times in a row, while his wife/mistress sat there watching in her PJs, hotel slippers on and the biggest diamond necklace you’ve ever seen in your life. When he won the third game (millions of $), he ashed out his massive cigar and looked me in the eyes for the first time, and said in a deep, broken Chinese accent ‘You’re my million dollar man’. He lit another cigar and kept playing like nothing had happened.
Happiest winners?
Two really drunk bachelors spent the day at the casino. They couldn’t stop winning, and ended up building towers of $5k chips, which stood around 2.5 meters tall and tallied over $1 million. They were buying top-shelf tequila for everyone in their sight, and were throwing $5k chips at the waitress whenever she passed them. She came past a lot.
Has anyone lost their sh*t at you?
Oh hell yeah. Patrons just smash anything they can, rip up cards, demand new dealers or scream at your face. There was a regular high-roller who would chant and curse us and our families if he ever lost. Some staff were scared of him and refused to work his table.
Do you feel bad watching people lose their money?
You do when you are a new dealer and you actually feel bad that people lose so much money. But as time passes and you get burnt by rude patrons and you see more and more money come through you start to separate your own emotions from the job and it slowly stops impacting you. The first day in the private salons was eye opening for me as people bet the amount it costs to buy a house and barely bat an eyelid. It’s hard to go from that to someone complaining about losing $5 and in your head you think “seriously it’s $5 don’t bet money you can’t afford to lose”
The Sprink is poor. If I decide to head to #Crown one night, what are your tips?
People often ask me that and I say ‘Fold your money in half, turn around and walk out’. There is no other way – the House always wins.