MWRT 2025 – First day in Milwaukee – Potawatomi Casino

The Potawatomi (pronounced pa-ta-wa-ta-me, all strung together) casino is the tallest habitable structure in Milwaukee west of I-94 boasting 18 stories in the hotel. It’s located very near Lake Michigan. I had never seen Lake Michigan and had to find a park located on the banks of the great lake before leaving town. But first I was going to see if I could take some of this casinos money 🙂

I arrived at the casino around 1pm hoping to find some decent playing conditions. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The environment just wasn’t really appealing to me. First impressions walking in from the parking garage was pretty good. Very brightly designed with unique architectural artwork amenities adorning the pathway to the casino hall. The casino area itself, not-so-much (the novelty of this excursion is starting to wane a bit).

I scouted around the gaming tables like I usually do to see what they had to offer. There were two table games pits. One was very crowded while the other was rather empty. For me, an empty table to play heads up against a fast dealer would be ideal. Not that I don’t enjoy the banter with a table full of other players. That can be fun and amusing at times. It’s just that those tables are so slow, they are hardly worth playing. So, I chose a empty $25 minimum table to start with and sat down to play some Blackjack.

I was immediately disappointed as the dealer offered me the cut card which I quickly sliced though the middle of the 6 decks and then the dealer proceeded to cut off almost two whole decks. I don’t know why casinos instruct there Blackjack dealers to cut off so many cards. It just means they are going to spend a lot more time shuffling and less time dealing, greatly reducing the number of rounds that table is going to play each hour, and consequently reducing the casino profits. I played anyway and fortunately, the cut started getting closer to 1.25 to 1.5 decks throughout the day, depending on the dealer.

This was dealer dependent as the relief dealer came and cut closer to 1 deck and dealt twice as fast. When the regular dealer returned, I left that 25 min table and then started at the 15 min table. This was looking much better as the cut was truly 1.25 and the dealer was fast. I was playing heads up for awhile. Then another local joined the table and then the dealer was relieved by Eric, a newbie. I don’t mean to be nasty, but I’d never been dealt to by such a slow and dull dealer. I imagine all new dealers go through a period of jitters. Especially when they may be dealing with high rollers wagering as much or more than a month’s rent. The other player who new all the staff well just continued to maintain a pleasant attitude even though this dealer was a disaster zone. I chose to emulate his good attitude, after all, everyone deserves a little grace.

Before Eric was brought in for his OJT (on-the-job-training) I’d already won a few mid level bets for 250. Eric dealt me a pair of 8’s against a dealer 8. I was playing two spots and on the second one I had a 9. Basic Strategy says your always split a pair of 8 because 16 is the worst hand in Blackjack, busting more than half the time. An 8 is not a ton better so I was not really feeling it as I split the 8’s and got another 8. I split this 8 as well. Then I was dealt two 18’s and a 17 on the three hands with the 8’s on the first spot. I got an 18 on the second spot. Against a dealer 8, it looked good to at least push three of the four hands.

The dealer drew a 6 for 14 and my heart beat raced upward thinking “alright, looks like a dealer bust is coming”! Today was not going to be my day. The dealer hit for another 6 and a total twenty beating all my hands, ugh. No matter how many times I’ve experienced this same situation, it is always a big deflator. But I allowed my left brain to logically inform my right brain this was to be expected and there would come another hand, another situation, where it would all go with me instead of against me.

I continued playing into the next shoe which the newbie dealer cut only one deck, which was a real bright spot at this point. However, he was so slow, didn’t play hands correctly, didn’t observe hands signals, and when I colored up, couldn’t count and exchange my chips without help from the Pit Boss. The poor guy was so darned nervous I felt genuine sorrow for him. Everybody has a first day or week on the job when the new territory is a bit overwhelming. He had a good coach though, and I’m sure he would eventually make a fine dealer. Still, grace not withstanding, it was time to move on so I pushed my meager chip pile forward and asked him to color me up. Little did I know this was going to be a major challenge in this young man’s development, ha!

His trainer looked Eric in the eye and told him, “ok, you got this, I’m not even going to watch”, to which she turned her back (the pit boss was not far away and they have an uncanny nack for counting cash and chips out of the corner of their slitted eyes!). Eric seemed to know the routine as he gathered all the denominations, grouping them together, putting them into evenly stack piles, spreading the last stack for the cameras, etc…. Then it came time to actually count the total amount of the chips so ceremoniously arranged before him. Ooops

Eric was obviously struggling, intimidated by the whole process. The coach still had her back turned. Eric hesitated and then awkwardly began pulling piles of chips from the neatly arranged groups and moving some of them to the other side of the table. I’m not sure if this was helping him at all, but at that point the pit boss decided it was time to step in. The first point she made to Eric was that he had violated cardinal rule of chip exchange number one. You never mix the incoming side of the table with the outgoing side. Poor Eric had my incoming chips scattered all across the table. So, he got some gentle instruction and I got my colored up chips in return, all good. I wished him well and made my exit. It was time to leave Potawatomi behind.

Here is my view of Lake Michigan from the overlook steps at a local park named Koble park nestled on the edge of the lake just inside a beautiful neighborhood of stately homes.