David Heller:  

Life 1981 - I Moved to Las Vegas and dealt craps at the Dunes Hotel from 1982 - 1990. The job paid minimum wage, but they used to split tips in the dice pit "table for table," so we only split four ways. Some nights, tips were zero; sometimes, we'd make a score. We got paid in cash at the end of the shift, and the hotel didn't keep records, so the only ones who knew what we made were the other three dealers on my crew. In the 80s, a day shift dice crew at the Tropicana split $82,000 between the four dealers for their 8-hour shift. Two weeks later, the Tropicana changed the tipping policy, and tips were divided evenly among all dealers in the hotel. Other hotels followed suit. I felt like a hunter living off the land. Sometimes, I'd come home with venison; sometimes, it was just berries. I loved that job until the Dunes, like many other hotels, took away "table for table." Today, hotels give you a paycheck with the taxes on the tips taken out. -- 1984 Married -- 1991 Started and still own ITEX Las Vegas, a Business Barter Network (itex vegas dot com)-- 1992 Eliot was born - 1997 My wife died -- I became a single dad and raised Eliot from 5 years old (I remarried in 2009) -- Eliot played high school baseball & football. He was elected Master of UNLV's AEPi Fraternity. While in hig...Expand for more