THE DEAL WITH THE WHEEL
(interview with a wheel dealer)

The Roulette player (ex-player now) sat stunned. He fumbled the last five dollar chip in his hand, contemplating weather to play the one chip or change it for dollars and maybe give himself a better chance, than if he hit one for 35-1....wait, better yet split 5 numbers and give yourself 10 chances at 17-1...or...play the corners for 8-1, yah give myself 20 numbers, then if I hit one I'll still have nine dollars...It was hopeless.

Just thirty minutes ago he had over eight hundred dollars, he had all fifteen stacks of the purple chips, almost every purple chip on the table, next to that was a stack of twenty-$25 chips, five hundred dollars alone. How could it have happened? He was only betting twenty-five to fifty dollars a spin, the new dealer had come in, a really nice, personable guy, easy going, clean cut. He knew his job, and he knew it well. He made the game fun with his quick sense of sharp humor, sounded like he was from back east, maybe New York or Chicago. He was quick and he was clean. He had a monster spin, the one thing the last dealer seemed to have trouble with. When he'd spin the ball it was just a blur of white around the inside of the wheel, you could tell this guy was a real Wheel dealer.

What could he have done?, What the hell did this guy do to beat me outta eight hundred bucks in thirty minutes? He had to give the guy credit, and although he felt terribly desperate, even scared because he'd kept telling himself to cash out, but he just kept betting and betting. He had to admit defeat and handed the dealer the five-dollar chip and could only say "THANKS". It was the same sort of "thanks" you gave the cop when he handed you the ticket and your license back, as you contemplated putting the car in reverse and gunning it.

It was 2am and he had been at this thing since 7:30. He still had the twenty stashed in his wallet, his last twenty, good thing he paid for the room in advance. He went to the bar for the anesthesia that would bring enough relief to get him to bed tonight, then he'd worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. He ordered a double Jack Daniels straight, and as he was about to swallow it whole, he spotted the Wheel dealer across the bar waiting to order.

He was shy about approaching him since this guy had just "mugged" him for eight hundred bucks. Should I just walk up to him and lay this guy out? Probably make me feel better, but I don't have the bail. Better yet...He called the bartender over and asked what the dealer was drinking. "Metaxa, he drinks only Metaxa." "Do me a favor" the player said," buy him a double and tell him it's on me." The bartender over poured the Metaxa in a brandy snifter, he knew the dealer was good for $5-$10 bucks. The dealer looked up, raised the snifter, and saluted the player with a look that said "I accept the terms of your surrender, TRUCE."

The player approached the dealer. "How's it going" the dealer asked. "Ya got me man, you got it all." "Well you gave it all pal, you had your options and took the wrong one." The dealer went on. "The question, if you remember was 'do ya feel lucky? well, do ya?' Your answer was 'yes,' well that was the wrong answer if you weren't going to tip, it just took ya eight hundred bucks to figure that out."

The player sat stunned."But I was killing you, I was just ready to cash and....." "Uh Uh, excuse me, but you weren't killing ME, you were killing the last dealer." "Yah, then you show up...I was watching you man, I was watching you close, you weren't doing anything...were ya?" the player asked.

"You have any money left to buy another round?" the dealer asked. "I got my Visa for emergencies" the player confessed, "but I can't afford much after that one." He ordered another round and gave the bartender his credit card. "Look" the dealer said, "did you ever count the spins? Did you even see how many times I changed the ball?" the dealer asked.

"HUH? I never thought about counting the spins, AND WHEN DID YOU CHANGE THE BALL?" "Shit man, I changed the ball a dozen times, you never noticed once. I spun the ball three different speeds, did ya even see that?" "NOPE. I never noticed" the player remarked. "Guess I was too hung up in the game." "Yah, you were hung up all right," the dealer went on after a sip of the Greek brandy. "Hung up on how much you had won, how much you were now losing back, and the freakin' blonde with the bikini top, you were hypnotized man, you were playing, listening to my line of bullshit, the noise, the smoke, the badda-bing of the machines, shit, someone coulda' dropped dead next to you and you wouldn't have noticed." the dealer smirked as he finished the double brandy.

"Well, noise or no noise, I was winning man. You mean to tell me you were trying to beat me?" His mouth was wide opened now, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Did you tip once?, that five bucks at the end I could of shoved it up your ass by that time. What about the $185 hit the second spin, you remember that? You little shit... you were screaming 'YAH,I BEAT YA' I hand you nine stack of chips and you never threw me even a buck. That's when I decided you were done."

Holy shit, he thought. "I never even thought about it. I didn't mean to throw it in your face, that I beat ya I mean, and I just forgot to tip ya."

"Yah, well your forgetting don't pay my rent or feed my kids pal, your forgetting a freakin' five dollar tip cost ya eight hundred." He said as he waved the bartender down for another Metaxa.

"THAT'S IT? FIVE BUCKS?"

"That's it", the dealer said firmly. "A lousy couple bucks opens the relationship, the mutual outcome of that relationship is to make you money, and make me money. But when you just worry about you makin' you money and forget me...than FORGET YOU."

"Ok, Ok..so what'd ya do?"

"That'll cost you another double Metaxa", (pause for the pour). "First thing was that you were betting the same numbers all the time, I only had to drop the ball in a chunk of numbers in a few sections to beat ya. The ball and the zero hit the top of the wheel at the same time. I spin the ball EXACTLY twenty-five revolutions; the ball falls in the same sections I want it to fall depending where I start the spin. You change your numbers, I change my spin, now I spin it 18 times and drop it 180 degrees out. You try to beat that, and I change the fucking ball altogether."

The dealer was talking like a professor teaching college Roulette 101. All the player could say was "I didn't even notice there WAS two balls. I'd just figure one was just a replacement incase you lost one."

"Yah, well if you ever looked at the balls, or even listened to the sound when it spins, you'd hear two different sounds. Ones a little larger, a little heavier than the other. If I spin it full with the small ball I get 29-30 revolutions. If I spin the big one full, I get 24-25 revs. Each spin drops the ball within a few numbers."

"So what happens if I tip ya?" the player asked.

"The guy across from you with the gold bracelet, did you even notice him?"

"Yah, sort of."

"Well that second spin, when you hit $185 bucks and gave me nothing, he had two on the number and hit for $70 and gave me $10. He was only betting five numbers and hit three times in six spins. He cashes out $250 bucks and tipped me $30. That's George."

"George who?"

"Not George, the name...George. it means a good tipper. He got my attention right away with the $10, let's me know he tips when he wins. Now we have an understanding, a relationship, I feed his kids, he feeds mine, get it? And damn if he ("I") didn't hit one number back to back. I even tell him to change two of the numbers and he listens, I tell him to bet the five numbers all in the same section, he listens, and damn if he didn't win, and damn if he didn't give me ten bucks every time he hit,....HUH? What'd I hear? was that the sound of you waking up? Or are you just choking on that five dollar tip at the end now?"

"But when I changed my numbers you still beat me," the player said apologetically.

"When you hit, I pay you, the first thing I do is to see if any money crosses the layout for a tip, but all you do is stand up, grab a handful of chips. That I'm thinking you're goanna cut my tip out of, and you start chunking the chips on the layout instead. So I just take the big ball, you'll never see me change it, and I spin 6-7 revolutions, a really slow spin, I call off the bets immediately when you only have maybe five bucks on the layout. That's called a 'freeze out,' cause you're stiff, so I cut you off, hit one of the numbers you always bet but didn't get a chance to get at."

"And I make sure YOU know that I KNOW that it was one of your numbers. Then I tell ya' you gotta be a little quicker man, just a little quicker than me. But I say it in a nice way just joking, the rest of the table was laughing, but you were too busy sweating. Now you hear me say that and the next spin I slow play ya. I hold up the spin, I get you to chunk 60-70 chips out there in a mad dash to beat me, instead of the usual 30-40 chips, and that's when I beat the shit outta you. Three, four spins I got you stuck for $300 right there. Now you're wounded, now you're scared you're gonna lose. You're getting nervous 'cause you just realized that the fifteen stacks of chips you just had are gone."

"Now they're neatly lined up, back on my side, and I make sure you know it! Remember when I looked at the empty spot where you had the stacks of chips and say 'What happened man? Where's all the chips I just gave ya?...why, here they are!' and I slap the stack of purple chips and say 'I gottem' right here for ya when you need them...just one catch...."

"Shit, I even got a chuckle outta you when I said that. More like a nervous laugh I guess. Well now you're not standing up and chunking chips anymore, now you're not cheering out loud anymore. Now little beads of sweat are on your upper lip and forehead. You're looking around for the cocktail waitress 'cause you need a drink and you need it bad. The cigarette is burning in the ashtray and you go light another one forgetting you even had that one lit."

"I got you read like an old book man, and believe me, I KNOW the ending, and it ain't good." The dealer lifts the glass, looking like he knows the end of the movie, but instead of telling you, he wants you to watch the whole movie yourself to see the ending.

"Paints a sad picture" the player admits, "I never even saw it coming, I would have tipped you if I'd have known."

"Yah, I know that," the dealer says," but I can't remind you to tip, that's your job. It doesn't mean you would have won. But I can tell you, that when you were losing it back, if I were on your side 'cause you were tipping, I'd have grabbed the stack of $500 in green you had left, and without asking, changed it for five $100 black chips and called the floor man over to write you a comp F&B (food & beverage). And believe me, I would have had you convinced to head to the bar with the $500. You'd be buying the drinks right now on that money, not your damn Visa card." The dealer stood to leave.

"Well, so now you're gone, you think if I buy back in, say a hundred, I'd have a chance?" the player asked sheepishly.

The dealer answered honestly, "When I left the table, and clapped out, did you hear what I said to the graveyard dealer that took me out?"

"No, what'd ya tell him?"

"Real simple, I just said 'Welcome to Tenth Avenue', have fun."

"What does that mean? Tenth Avenue?"

"It's the title of a Bruce Springsteen song/album...Tenth Avenue FREEZOUT, means the whole table's stiff, and you were still there, and he's even a better dealer than I am."

Enough said. The player knew the song, and admitted to himself 'So much for Roulette tonight.' He swallowed the last of the Jack Daniels, hoping that it was enough to get him to bed. But for sure, he'd be up for a while thinking of the $800 and hearing that damn Springsteen tune in his head 'Tenth Avenue FREEZOUT' as he handed the bartender the last seven dollars he had left for a tip, not wanting a FREEZOUT at the bar too.

The dealer finished the Metaxa at the same time and said "You asked me if you could beat me when I came on, I told you you MIGHT, beat me, but if you COULD...well, I thought everyone understood the difference between MIGHT and COULD."

-Ken Pearlman