The next step

I suppose I knew that it was coming. Without trying to sound cocky or pompous or anything I have a much better grasp on dealing craps than the others I have been attending class with.  It has been noticed by the teacher and also has been noticed by the classmates.

While I haven't even completed my 3rd week of class I've had multiple students this week ask me when I'm going to be auditioning and I always smile and tell them that I still need to work on a few things before that occurs.  I get a lot of funny looks because everyone seems to think I've got this great grasp of everything that's going on and most of my time at the class has been trying to help them through the routine and trying to get them doing their (future) job better.

When I notice that someone is struggling with a particular concept then I force the to hammer it out over and over and over and over when they are either dealing or they are on stick.  If you have issues figuring out a certain bet you are damn right that every chance I get I am going to throw that bet at you until you have it stuck in your head for the rest of your life.  In all honesty that's how I teach myself and I feel it's a good way to teach others.
Most of the time when I'm throwing out certain bets over and over again it's because these are the bets I am trying to get myself to work on for the day as well.  So, I throw them out there a lot hoping that they will hit and calculating the payouts every time that they hit and most of the time even when they don't.  Repetition is the mother of all learning.

While at the table today Mariko was talking to one of the other students about setting up an audition.  This particular student (we will call Frank) is struggling with the Horn bets and is trying to talk himself into just going back into surveillance instead of continuing with craps. He has been at the class for nearly 3 months and still struggles.  However, his struggles are his own fault.  He has admitted to me (when I've asked) that he really puts no time into learning when he is not at class.  That is his problem.  He needs to make some extra time at home or on lunch breaks or whatever to study.
So, she was talking to him about setting up an audition somewhere and telling him that she really wants him to give it a try instead of just quitting at this point and trying for surveillance instead and she looked at me and told me she wants me to do the same - which I ignored and focused on the game instead.

However, when I was checking out for the day she followed me and told me that she wants me to apply (online) to casino X this weekend or Monday/Tuesday at the latest so that I could set up my interview/audition.  I really can't tell you how thrilled I am to know that she thinks I'm ready to be tossed into the wild for an audition after only 3 weeks of class (and in reality, today was only day 12 so it's less than 3 weeks).

Here is the kicker - she told me that Casino X does not take break-ins.  They have contacted her looking for good dealers because they are running short and she thinks highly enough of me to send me there for the audition anyway.  I know I should be happy as horse shit (how happy is horse shit?) and take this as a huge compliment.  Having me apply and getting me an audition as a Break-in at a casino that doesn't take Break-in's is pretty f'n awesome if I sat back and thought about it some more.   But, as the sometimes perfectionist that I am I know I still have some stuff to work on.
I know I have stuff to get better on, area's to improve.
I'm not 100% sure how I feel about going out on an audition when I feel that I should still be working on improvement (though, in all reality we should all be looking to improve every day anyways).

Either way, I put my faith in her that she will not lead me astray and is obviously not setting me up to fail.  So, this weekend I've got some things I need to take care of.
1 - Online application.
2 - Trip to Casino X so that I can scope out their games, their table limits and their typical players and the bets that they commonly like to make.
3 - watch the table for a couple hours (maybe not all at once) and keep track of things. Watch the dealers and the payouts and make sure that I know the payouts for the bets that these folken like to make inside and out.  After all, if I were to get the job these would become my peoples.

Being that I'm currently looking to do this as a 2nd job and not as my primary job at the moment, it's a big step but not THE big step. I can't make any drastic changes like getting out of retail completely or even going part time until some other situations have worked themselves out.  However, I am looking forward to the adventure of something new and exciting.

We shall see what tomorrow brings.