The smell: A combination of body odor, Red Bull, and desperation.
The sounds: The constant clickety-clickety-clack of the poker chips. It's a seriously incessant background noise. The staff announcing open chairs over the microphone. The dealers shouting, "Winner at table xyz!" The spectators talking and commenting on the games (why watch? I find it as exciting as watching paint dry. Maybe because I don't understand the games...)
The sights: Players wearing hats and/or hoods...and sunglasses indoors! Apparently famous players plastered with advertisements all over their clothing and hats. Lots of fake boobs and ankle-breaking high heels. Media all over the place (though I've never heard of the magazines/websites.) The flashes of cameras going off in my face as my client is being photographed (he was famous, or semi-famous...who knew?) Almost everyone with an MP3 player of some sort, and either earbuds or HUGE headphones.
Altogether a fascinating experience, even if I didn't make very much money. I felt like I was doing research, maybe for sociology or something! Anyway, I was told that it's always slow the first few days, and that tomorrow and Saturday will be better. I sure hope so. But I'll always be able to say that I worked at the World Series of Poker!
9 comments:
Hmmm... body odor, Red Bull, and desperation is something I do not want to smell.
Eh, it's only really bad when somebody farts. THEN you want to run away!
Marvelously descriptive post. And it will make good research fodder for a sociology class.
WV:fartime
Holly, sometimes I feel like an alien from another planet. I need to learn to raise one eyebrow so I can play Spock. "Fascinating."
I'll take a wild guess that tips should improve when people are "in the money".
Of course something like 80% of the players will be gone so it is a quantity or quality dilemma.
MSJ, there are literally thousands of players right now. And in the serious tournaments, the best players could be sitting for over twelve hours. So hopefully I'll be getting more work! I'm not worried about tips, I just need to get that one player who wants a six hour massage (happens frequently, actually!) At two dollars a minute, of which I get half...well, do the math! ;)
"I felt like I was doing research, maybe for sociology or something!"
Most definitely. Speaking ONLY for myself... that would be the only reason I'd be there...
You know, I always suspected those dudes on TV with the dark glasses had fake boobs....never knew they had high heels on too!
Velly intellesting......
Buck, it's the lure of money that drives me there, that's it!
Roismhaire...*lol*! Naw, it was the arm candy I saw in the hallways and watching from the spectator area I'm referring to! (And some of the LMTs had suspiciously LARGE boobehs...just sayin'.)
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