There’s more to working at one of our events than dealing cards for a few hours. Anna explains all.
At peak times of the year I’m working every Friday and Saturday, and work for Red alongside my day job. I really enjoy entertaining people and putting on a show, and this recent family birthday party was one of my favourites.
When Paul asked me to write about an ‘average’ day working at an event it was actually quite hard. All our events are different in some ways. Most require a couple of hours driving and every venue has its own quirks and challenges.
The event actually starts months beforehand, when the job goes in the diary. I got a full brief emailed to me on Monday, with all the details I need including venue, times, dress code, contact details and my role on the night. We always try to make a bit of an effort, we’re going to a party after all, and have something to eat before heading out to arrive at the venue around two hours before the first hand is dealt. I leave the house at 5:30 in the evening for this one, for an 8pm start.
6pm I arrive at the venue. Today’s event is held in central Peterborough, which is pretty close to home, so I make my own way there. A lot of the time we’re a few hours away, in which case we’d meet at the office and travel together in the van – so it’s nice to have a bit of a later start on this one. Paul has already been here for about half-an-hour and has unloaded the bigger stuff out of the van, which is nice.
6:15pm Paul and I have already put the tables in place, checking with the event organiser to make sure she’s happy with the location before we put the roulette wheel in place. There’s an oval photo booth at this event too, so that takes longer to put up. It used to take me over an hour to set-up, well over an hour, but now I can do it from memory in about 40 minutes. Between the two of us, it’s up in 30.
6:45pm Guests are expected to arrive in around 45 minutes, so we get the last few bits out of the van and Paul moves it from the loading bay to the car park. This venue’s up two flights of stairs. That’s usually a real pain but this one’s actually quite good as there’s a lift which is big enough for the roulette table and is close to where we are set up. Nice.
7pm Doors open at 7:30pm, with the fun casino entertainment booked from eight through to 11. Paul texts the croupiers to give them instructions for parking. They should be here in around half-an-hour. In the meantime, Paul and I get changed into our formal uniforms. We wear branded polos for setting up but for the actual performance we wear our white shirts and red bow ties. I tidy my hair and make-up, grab a quick drink of water and make sure my phone’s on silent.
7:15pm Doors open in 15 minutes so we do a last minute check to ensure everything’s tidy. We clean the surfaces with anti-bacterial wipes, set the chips up and brush down the tables. Now that the venue lighting has been turned down, we focus the camera, set-up the lighting in the photo booth and lay out the props.
7:30pm Doors open. It’s a reasonably sized casino party with four tables and the photo booth. The booth is generally unattended throughout the night, as guests are able to operate it themselves using the touch screen, but we need to keep an eye on it. There’s no massive rush but a few guests wander over and I show them how to use the booth. Meanwhile our two croupiers arrive. Amy and Simon are regulars of ours. They’ve worked in real casinos in the past and will deal on the roulette and blackjack tables. Paul and I, who are trained to a good standard on the games, will look after the second blackjack table, the wheel of fortune (or Super Money Wheel, as we call it) and photo booth. We’ve all had a pre-event brief by email, but we have a really short pre-event brief to go over the format of the event and make sure we all know what’s happening.
7:45pm The croupiers are away getting changed into their uniforms when a few guests wander over. Paul and I are actually dealing from the blackjack shoe at the time to get ourselves warmed up. We give them a bit of a tutorial ahead of the official start time. I quite like it actually, as it’s nice to get into the groove before the official start time. I can be all fingers and thumbs for the first few minutes. I also show them how to play roulette and it’s nice to get some practice spinning the ball and calculating the winning bets. I know the game well but I don’t deal anything like as elegantly as the professional croupiers. We almost always use pro croupiers on roulette for that reason, although I do try to sneak in a few spins every night!
8pm We’re all in position and officially open. The DJ makes an announcement and there are around 10 guests at the tables. Simon and Amy are looking after the roulette table and the big blackjack table between them, while Paul and I take care of the second blackjack table, wheel and booth. The booth is technically self sufficient, but as I’m on the wheel it’s my job to keep an eye on it and engage with any guests who might need help.
9:15pm After a slow-ish first 15 minutes the tables have been rammed for an hour when the buffet comes out. That creates an exodus from the tables and although we stay open, it’s quieter and I take a 20 minute break.
9:45pm Back from my break! I deal a few rounds of roulette while Simon takes a quick comfort break and take five minutes to restock the photo booth before the party gets back into full swing and I am back on the blackjack table.
10:30 After an intense 45 minutes the tables are starting to thin out a little bit. Our typical booking is two-and-a-half hours, which is perfect in most cases. This is a three hour gig and the event organiser has put up a prize of a nice bottle of wine for the winner. Sometimes the organiser asks us to have a play off between the leading players but on this occasion it’s simply a case of the player who has the most chips winning. The lady leading was one of my players on the money wheel. She hit the 50x segment and is going to be hard to beat. I go over to tell the DJ to put an announcement out, informing players that there’s 30 minutes left, and the tables fill up again.
10:50 Ten minutes to go and we declare ‘last three hands’ it’s pretty much all in now. Most players bust out and no-one beats Sarah’s score from the money wheel.
11:00 Closing time. We tell the event organiser who the winner is and they make a presentation, much to Sarah’s embarrassment. We all pack up the cards and chips from the table, putting them neatly into their packing cases, before Amy and Simon head off.
11:15 I ask the DJ to put out an announcement saying the photo booth will be closing in 15 minutes, before Paul and I dismantle the tables and carry them out of the room. It’s a quick job and we’re able to do it discretely at this venue, before heading back up to the room to switch off the photo booth.
11:30 Photo booth closed. Disassembly is always much quicker than setting up and it’s down and packed away in 15 minutes. At some venues getting out can be a challenge, and you have to take extra care when you know guests have been drinking, but tonight the layout of the venue makes it all relatively straightforward.
11:45 Packing the van is always the hardest thing. It’s so tempting just to throw everything in, but it’s important to take care and avoid damaging the equipment. As it is, we’re done just after midnight. Six hours in the venue is a pretty typical event for us but, as I live just down the road from this one, it is an early finish.
It’s been a fun evening with players of all ages, from kids through to pensioners. If it’s busy and the guests have a good time then I really enjoy the events. We’re always really busy in December, which has been great for a bit of extra Christmas money too!
Fancy entertaining our guests and working as an Events Assistant with Red Casino Events? Check out our Jobs page or drop us a line using the form below.
