American Casino has hit the Discovery Channel as the latest peek into "real" casino life. So what's the difference between this show and all the hundreds of other looks into "real" casino life?

It was years before Lefty Rosenthal's story of "Casino" could be made, simply because of the fact that it was the truth. It was the truth and it wasn't pretty. Names were named, places were identified and there were still too many Mafioso alive that made enough of an impression on the producers to keep the story on paper and off film. Sure, everyone in Las Vegas knew the mob ran the Strip, but everyone else around the world only THOUGHT they knew the mob ran the Strip. It was the intrigue that brought them to Vegas, just to see if they could find a real Mafia guy and maybe rub elbows with the bad guys. The players here in town would go out of their way to avoid anyone they thought were "made men", if for no other reason then you just didn't want those guys to even notice you.

Now the entire world knows everything about Las Vegas (or at least Hollywood's version of the real Las Vegas) thanks to those looks at casino life and thanks to the money from the Discovery Channel, so you thought. But now even the Discovery Channel has tripped into a real story that even they didn't expect to find and it's "American Casino" on Tuesday nights at 10 pm. So what's different about this show that all the other shows haven't been able to touch? The simple answer is that they were all concerned about showing players winning money and simply that; just money. They wanted to show "real" life on the casino floor, so they were constantly following the high rollers, probably the most boring of all players simply because they all think they're better than everyone else. They think they're better than anyone else because they have more money and it's up to the casinos to keep their fantasies intact. They're all spoiled because of their money and the casino's job was to keep them happy by kissing their asses, so the casinos hire people based on their ability to kiss the players' asses and their boss's ass. Now this new documentary actually shows the world who those people really are that do the ass-kissing and then in return pull their pants down and present their cheeks for kissing from their subordinates.

A few of us went out for drinks after work and we met up with a few other managers from the casino/hotel. One guy was Matt, the hotel manager that drank cheap Scotch like we were headed for prohibition next week. He was really high strung and it took an hour for him to mellow out of his rampage about his weak and insufferable slaves that "couldn't run a wheel in a hamster cage." That day, three high rollers sat in the casino waiting for the deluxe suite to be cleaned, when they knew they were due and he couldn't understand why it wasn't done before they got there. He was getting calls from the casino manager who was getting calls from the shift boss who was getting calls from the pit boss about the three of them getting really pissed off that the room wasn't ready. Now there had to be a "meeting" between him and the casino manager as to why the room wasn't ready.

This was where I broke in, "Why didn't you just go up there and see what had to be done or offer them rooms until their suite could be done?"

"I offered them lunch at Tony Roma's while they waited but they just wanted the room to shower and change clothes" he said.

He was visibly upset and slugged back his Scotch and slammed the shot glass on the bar for another round and it wasn't the first time I saw what corporate stress can do to a person. He called a meeting with the room service manager, who called a meeting with the cleaning staff and now there wasn't a bar big enough to hold all these people after their "meetings". And so the appropriate chewing out was done; this time nobody was fired only because the room was ready before they blew their tops and peace was restored. By the end of the day the high rollers lost a ton of money, which was the real reason nobody was fired.

Then it was the shift boss's turn to fire. "You think you had a bad day? Let me tell you what a bad day is all about." But first he had to order a double Jack Daniels before he started.

"I walk in and a guy's in an argument with his wife and they're ready to come to blows but when I call security, they're busy on the other side of the casino with a heart attack victim which turned out to be nothing more than indigestion or something. All I know is I gotta get a grip on this before they come to blows and when I tell the guy to take a walk, she turns around and screams at me to shut the fuck up before she kicks my ass. Now it's two or three minutes before security gets there and all I can think is what the fuck are they doing watching some guy have a gas attack while all hell's about to start at the tables. And what if someone was robbing us? Are you gonna tell me the asshole on the ground is more important than a fight at the tables? Now I gotta call the casino manager so he can "meet" with the head of security about this."

He took a deep drag, now I began to see the "chain-in-command" in the casino business. The fact is, if I have a problem, I have to take it up with the floor man who takes it up with the pit boss who takes it up with the shift boss who takes it up with the casino manager who takes it up with the head of casino operations who takes it up his ass and gives the casino manager the answer to give it to the shift boss who gives it to the pit boss who calls me in for a "meeting". And Lord help me if I go straight to the shift boss or the casino manager. My question was, if you didn't get a satisfactory answer from the floor man or the pit boss what would happen if I just took it to the shift boss myself, or even the casino manager? It was the looks I got that gave me my answer. The look was the "Who the fuck are you?" look. We've all seen that one where the eyebrows go up while they sip a drink while looking straight ahead instead of at you then the blank stare while they take a drag on their cigarette.

But now it's hit the airwaves and the truth is out. The casino business that looks so glamorous and glitzy on the outside is ruthless (yep, without ruth) and backstabbing on the inside. It's full of normal people put in abnormal situations where nobody is as good as the guy above you; where you're only as good as what you accomplished in the last hour and nothing else you did before that means a shit. It's a place where people are fired simply for sitting and having a cigarette.

One of the stories I lived through just recently was the firing of a crap table crew. The player was a VIP and everyone knew it when he walked into the casino. He was followed by the casino manager and the casino host in tow while they explained the newer table games they had and how they were played in hopes of grabbing a bundle of his money before he hit the blackjack or crap tables where his odds could turn in his favor simply because he had the kind of cash that it took to take a real shot at a casino.

It was when he hit the crap table and had a crowd , just watching him throw his black checks around like we throw dollars and making plenty of bad bets like the hard way bets and couldn't hit any of them. Then he threw a quarter on each hard way and $40 split on the hard ways for the dealers. The hard eight hit and when the dealer went to pay him off, he suggested they let it all ride and they put the winnings on the hard ways. The next roll was twin nickels and the boys cleaned up, that is until the "eye" called the shift boss and told him what happened. He calmly walked over to the crap table and asked the four players to please move over to the other game that was in progress. None of the players knew what was happening but the crap crew had a pretty good idea. The shift boss pulled the plexiglas shield over the bank and locked it up with the dice, then called the crap crew into his office. When they came out, instead of heading back to the crap table they just headed down to the locker rooms with two security officers right behind them and another headed to the employee dining room to get the crap dealer that was on break, so they could escort him off the property also. As it happens, no dealer is allowed to press their toke winnings. Even if I'm dealing blackjack and some asshole puts 50cents up for a bet for me and I win I pay myself a dollar and I can't let the dollar ride to make a lousy two bucks; I have to take the dollar and lock it up. Yes, if I let it ride, they would fire me without an explanation for a lousy 50 cents.

And so now this show about the life behind the curtains in the casino business could just about end the same way when they start seeing the worse side of people that have nothing else to do than kiss their managers asses in a business that has nothing more to offer anyone but empty dreams. Green Valley Ranch, where the filming takes place hasn't done themselves any good nor have they done the casino business any good by letting them film the heart of the casino business. The truth is, it's a cold heart just made up of some real people, some not. They're people that don't have a product to show us how it's made. They have jobs that they don't even know for sure how to run it since it runs on the whims of their players and on the whims of their bosses and they never know how a player's going to react to them until they try, where they never know what mood is going to strike their boss's that day and if they'll keep their jobs another day or not. There are plenty of times where the high rollers are swept up in their bullshit and they love the treatment, but there are plenty of times where they can see through their game and actually one time where my own job was saved by a whale.

In 1995 I was badly burned when a camping stove blew a gasket and sprayed gasoline on my clothes. When I returned to work three months later, I still needed to wear specially made gloves to compress the still-tender skin on both hands. The shift boss had only one reaction: "You can't work with the gloves on and if that's the case I'll have to let you go." And with that he got a phone call and asked me to wait at a closed game while he took the call. At the time there was a guy from L.A. that came up twice a month. His name was Tony and he loved Roulette and Blackjack. We knew each other by first name and he always sat at my game; he was one of the nicest guys to deal to regardless of how much he was worth. He was sitting at a blackjack table when he saw me sitting alone at the closed game. He walked over and then saw my hands and asked sympathetically what happened. I explained the accident and he offered to give me any money I needed. I told him what had just transpired and he just said, "Hey man, don't worry about anything, let me take care of this." And with that he walked into the casino manager's office. In a few minutes both he and the casino manager walked into my shift boss's office. I waited a few minutes and the three of them walked over to me.

"Kenny, let me see your hands" the casino manager said.

I showed him my hands and Tony said "Why don't you just see if he can deal anything before you fire the guy?" And with that we walked over to some of the poker games. I didn't have any trouble with my finger tips and could pick up checks and make my way around the table. On Blackjack I had a little harder time but still managed to make the game look pretty smooth (I guess the two pain pills helped a little) and Tony said, "See, he gets around the layout better than most of your dealers without gloves. Besides the gloves are skin tight, he couldn't possible hide chips in them without anyone seeing."

And the casino manager just said, "Get your uniform shirt on and get to work." Tony just winked and went back to the blackjack game. When I got on a game he came over, handed me his card and said, "If they give you any shit just call my cell phone."

And with that he was done for the weekend and headed back to L.A. after dropping over $20,000. I sent him a cheesecake shipped from Chicago and he came back faithfully for five years to check on me and make sure I still had my job.

But no kindness is heaped upon the stars of the American Casino show. The casino manager is on the P.R. manager's ass for doing a half-assed job. But he really doesn't know his job too well to be honest. He goes out for drinks then he chews out his staff after getting chewed out. The hotel manager is hot at the VIP receptionist for not escorting a high roller to his room personally. It seemed she had gone home to let the dogs out. She in turn chewed out the head of the hotel whose job it was to take her place. The only people that are getting along are the security force that has its hands full with the players and doesn't have time to bicker amongst each other like all the others do.

But this is the real thing, folks. Don't miss this if you want to see what REAL life is like behind the tables and behind the lobbies. I'm warning you, it ain't pretty. The question is whether anyone will want to stay at Green Valley Ranch after seeing how hateful and spiteful the business of cash really is? On this newest look at Vegas life, I'm afraid the gloves are off but the cameras are on and who really knows if this whole thing is scripted or not, after all would they be truthful to make the casino look bad? But like they say 24/7/365, SMILE before they fire you too. Remember, the casinos aren't selling anything but bullshit and dreams and aren't they the same thing?

-Ken Pearlman