But when a pregnant lady walked up to my table and took out an old, crumpled ten-dollar bill from her old leather purse and said sheepishly "Can I play?" I smiled and said "Sure" before I noticed just how pregnant she was. She could hardly reach the layout let alone place the chip on the spot. I pushed it up to the spot for her then asked, "You sure you want to play? Just how close are ya?"

"Yah, my husband left me to go across the street to play, he said I was bugging him and I don't have anything else to do and I only have about thirty dollars," she said looking down at the near-empty leather coin purse with the lone twenty in it.

"I'm due in six weeks, but it feels more like four." Ah, great I thought, I'm going to take this ladies diaper money. Then I pictured Kirk Kirkorian, the owner of this joint, sitting in the penthouse with all his millions calling down to the pit "Tell that kid to change that fucking $10 bill and if she loses he'd better take that money, and oh yah, send up another bottle of champagne and a couple more lobster tails.

"Lady please, just sit and have a coke or something and we can talk if ya want, but I don't wanna take a pregnant ladies money." She laughed as she rubbed the baby like rubbing the Buddha before the game starts. "It's ok, I'm just gonna play this ten and wait for him." I looked around as I shuffled the cards, feeling guilty I felt as though every one was watching me shuffle talking about the poor pregnant lady and how the big casino was going to take that ladies money.

The Ace fell just above the King and I never had a more satisfying black jack. "There ya go, buy something for the kid." as I laid down the $7.50 she took $6 of it and put the other $1.50 up for a bet for me. "You don't have to do that." I thought I would choke on those words, normally I would have, but now faced with the possibility of having to take the babies milk from her mouth, because of me it might mean powdered milk and government cheese.

I could see the mother begging for bread in front of Caesar's Palace or worse, handing out those filthy little pamphlets in front of the Flamingo. I almost caught myself, it came out so sudden and clear like a warning shot before the war, I don't ever remember saying that to a player before, but I never had an 8 month pregnant lady trying to tip me before either.

"No, you're a nice guy, I want to tip you." It was too late to give it back to her and the casino wouldn't dig it too much either so I pushed the two tens to her hand and busted mine and paid both of us off, I thanked her and now I felt like I wanted to take the $3 she just tipped me and open a savings account for the kid. Maybe a 401K and a Chevy.

As we talked and played I noticed right away she didn't really know how to play and I walked her through the tougher hands telling her the simple points of the game. She was smart and caught on right away. "You're the first dealer that ever offered to help me." "This isn't help, all I'm doing is evening up the odds a little, give you a chance at them, at least get your ten bucks worth." I told her.

She reeled off a couple blackjacks and those $10 hands soon became $20 and those $1.50 tips soon became $5 tips. I was still very uneasy with her tipping and told her "If I tell you to go, will you go?" "Yes." she agreed. "If you think I'm on a bad streak let me know." Now she was hitting 19 's and 20's and learning to split 9's against the 8 and doubling on soft hands against the 5 and 6. She wouldn't hesitate with an 11 and I admired her concentration she had for the game and she listened closely and the $10 became an easy $100 and the $100 turned into $500 as she began to bet $25 and $50 and doubling the same way she did with the $10 bets and she was off to the races.

I hadn't noticed but a little bunch of people had gathered to watch her play since she stuck out in the crowd quite a bit more than the other players. Even the other dealers were noticing the commotion around the table as she laughed and played and increased her bets accordingly and when she put the first $25 bet up and hit a snapper with that, even the floor man noticed and asked if she wanted anything from the waitress. "Just some orange juice please." And that's the way it went for the hour, she won, she tipped.

I asked her not to tip and just save it for the kid but she insisted. She had just over $800 now and it was my break time." Will you be back?" she asked, "I'll be back, but at another table, we rotate all day." I said, "Don't lose that back, you cash out before you lose anything back will ya?" I thanked her and wished her luck and took off for the break room.

In the break room the dealers sat at a large round table in the dining room and the conversation went immediately to me "What the hell Kenny, was that your wife or something?" "No man, can you believe I had to deal to a pregnant lady. She's due in like 4 weeks and if she didn't win I'd feel like shit, but she bought in for $10 bucks and snapped the first hand and hasn't looked back since, she's got almost $800 now and she's given me a hundred easy and I told her she could keep it for the kid."

Well that kind of shut every one up, and with that we went back to the tables. When I got back she was sitting at the table alone, the sign had changed from a red $5 limit sign to a green $25 limit sign, she had at least $1,000 in green now and a $10 tip ( her original buy-in) up for the dealer in front of the $75 bet.. There were ten dealers all coming back at the same time and as we gathered at the front of the pit the floor man walked over with the line-up "Hey Kenny, the pregnant lady asked for ya, she wants ya back man, BJ 7, you wanna go?"

"Yah man" the dealers agreed "We don't want to go beat the fat lady, let Kenny go kick her ass." The sarcasm wore thin real quick as those pictures popped into my head again with the lady and the little hungry kid.

"Pai Gow Mike, she don't know Pai Gow, please don't put me back there, she's nice and all but I don't even want the tips let alone her money." The dealers looked at me like the Senate checking out the aliens as they walk off the UFO for the first time on the White House lawn. "Did he say what I thought he said?" "OK " Mike said "Who wants the pregnant lady?" and picked Judy, one of the girls who has a husband and kids to deal the game. I headed to Pai Gow chickening out of the whole mess. I figured the girl who dealt to her has kids and can talk her out of this insanity.

My next break would be my last as I was headed home and since I hadn't heard from her just hoped she got out of there with a few bucks we gave her. At five minutes to eight I could see the swing shift dealers lined up in front of the pit ready to relieve us day shift dealers when all of a sudden from around the corner from the Roulette table walked a 150 pound bouncing fat pregnant lady, complete with 8 month and one day old baby in the oven and grinning from ear to ear holding a rack of chips, three rows of green and two rows of red chips for a total of $1,700 DOLLARS, and all of it from the $10 buy-in.

"I lost a couple hands in a row and I remembered you telling me to get out if that happened, so look what I did, this is for you." and took out four $25 chips and started to hand it to me on the dead Pai Gow game and I stopped her and said "No honey, just cash out and take that $100 and start a 401K for the kid, and when he's 16 buy him a Chevy."

And thus my day was complete, like the feeling you get every time you finish the biggest lobster the Bellagio has to offer, smoke a big old Fuente Hemmingway cigar from the humidor, a snifter of warm Metaxa, then the casino manager walks over, shakes your hand, tears up your bill and lights the cigar for ya with a hundred dollar bill from the casino cage, and asks if he might shine your shoes before you leave. Then on the way to your free Jacuzzi suite on the 23rd floor while watching the water show on the way up, you'd see your self standing in the gold frame mirrored private elevator, you'd turn to the girl from the Penthouse magazine and say "SWEEEEETTT".

-Ken Pearlman