Sands Bethlehem
Spent some time at Sands Bethlehem Thursday evening, Friday morning, and Saturday afternoon. The one overwhelming take away is their staff shortages and the inexperience of the dealers. They don't have any where near enough dealers, so many tables were not open and it can be hard to get a seat. Some of the dealers were pretty good, but some others were really, REALLY lousy -- making mistakes on every other hand that led to long delays (even getting the pit boss's attention sometimes took several minutes because they were so busy resolving issues at other tables) and in some cases led to arguments because the resolution offered did not necessarily seem fair to the players. I actually felt bad for the dealers, because many of them had clearly just finished the six-week training course and they are now thrown into the actual casino environment with a lot of people yelling and screaming at them, and there is real money involved. I have to imagine it is very easy to get rattled in those circumstances, and that probably just raises the likelihood of more mistakes. In truth, though, I think some of these people are really not cut out to be dealers.
Rumors I heard: 20 dealers had just quit a couple of days earlier because they couldn't handle the hours or the pressure cooker environment; also, they supposedly have a new class of dealers just about to finish the training course, so hopefully things will get better soon.
I understand the owners committed to hiring 80%+ of the staff from the local area, so that's good news for the local economy. But it also means -- a lot of inexperienced staff, at least for now.
On the positive side -- some of the dealers' mistakes are in the players favor, e.g., paying off when they shouldn't or declaring a push when in fact I had lost the hand. Silence is golden in those cases, of course. But the bottom line is that you have to watch what the dealer is doing very carefully, and make sure you call the out of the dealer makes a mistake in the casino's favor.
Other particulars: 8 decks, ASMs (I didn't see any CSMs), late surrender, DOA, DAS, Split to three hands (except aces), penetration seemed reasonable for the most part. No significant heat -- I think they are too busy watching over the dealers to worry about advantage players.
