[UA] Words from a Casino Floor

[Cassady Toles]

 I told you guys about my job a few months ago, but basically I work in a casino where my key job task is to separate losers from their money.  I do this by aggressively getting into the bank on tables.  Some other players try to do the same thing, though I have a few advantages (i.e. I don't have to wait for a seat, I have an unlimited bankroll, I play by a mathematically designed system that a computer has determined maximizes my house advantage and minimizes my player disadvantage, etc.).  Basically, my goal isn't to gamble, it's to put myself in situations where winning is inevitable. We call the players who aggressively chase the bank "bank-chasers."  Two nights ago I had a particularly rude and obnoxious bank-chaser on my table who was managing to get into  as many banks as I was (sacrelidge).  I was getting things under control.  When he first showed up, he'd copped the majority of the spots, but I gotten a couple back. During my cigarette break, my manager asked about the table and the bank chaser.  Actual conversation: James (my supervisor):  How much trouble is Papa on Six.Cassady (Me):  Temporary set-back at best.  The bank's a little cold.  It'll heat up in a half-hour.  J:  You need to get it under control.  We've come so far in the last few months.  You need to send a Sicilian Message.C:  Half-hour to bleed him.  Then I cut him off at the knees.J:  You can get him?C:  I'll eat his fucking children. Fifteen minutes later, the bank turns around (three good banks in a row with some more decent ones following).  Then comes the kicker.  There's a bank where my parter and I have enough money on the table to cover the first big bet and nothing else.  I cover the rest alone.  Awful hand, King high, in the bottom twenty possible hands--not twenty percent, twenty hands.  Kills the first big bet, loses everything else.  I'm laughing.  Everyone looks at me like I'm crazy.  I turn to my partner and say, "See, I told you--you go with corporation, you make money.  Don't care nothing else."   Everyone at the table laughs.  I take back two of his three partners.  Bank chaser gone. Here's what's UA about it, besides a general idea and the fact that it all takes place in a California Card Club like the ones described in Last Call. Imagine the scenario that a friendly Entropomancer is charging up inside and you're outside smoking a cigarette.  Two guys in suits, one with tattoos on his arms are talking in hushed tones.  You sneak within earshot and overhear the conversation above.  What if papa on six is your friendly entropomancer.  You have two different options for playing the adventure seed.  The first is the Stoon Lake approach.  Don't do this if you've already run stoon lake.  The punchline gets old fast.  The other way is to simply pick a group and a series of objectives for the two young tattooed men wearing cheap suits...Instant UA adventure. Cassady TolesDo you realize, every day, you become more and more a Tim Powers Character?-Excerpt from actual conversation 

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