Looking after the baize and the wheel
A good table needs more care than it appears to. Rachel Harvey explained to me how the baize, the wheel and the chips are looked after.
A tidy table is a fair table
Rachel Harvey arrives an hour before the doors open, and she begins with the wheel. She checks that it spins freely, that the pockets are clean and that the ball is the right weight. She turns it by hand for a full minute, listening for the faint hum of a worn bearing, and she has never yet found one, though she says it is only a matter of time.
Next comes the baize, which she brushes in long strokes, always in the same direction, to lift the nap. The green cloth on the blackjack table is replaced once a year, and the one on the roulette layout every two years. When the cloth is cleaned, it is done with a damp sponge and a good deal of patience, and never with soap.
Finally the chips and the cards. The chips are counted into their trays, ten to a column, and checked against the list. The cards are opened fresh each week and replaced if one is bent. A table that has been prepared in this way does not look like much, but a guest who sits down at it feels at once that it is fair.
The nightly routine
Counting back
At the end of each evening, the chips are counted back in the presence of the last guests at the table. Each player sees their chips go into the tray, and nothing leaves the room. This is a ritual rather than a necessity, since the chips are worth nothing, but it reminds everyone that the game belongs to the house.
The strongroom
The trays go into the old strongroom, along with the cards, and Rachel locks the iron door. I keep the key. It would be fair to say that the strongroom is the grandest storage cupboard in East Gippsland, and that the objects it protects are among the least valuable in the district.
Why bother
Rachel's answer is that a game played at a clean table is a better game. She thinks guests can feel the difference, even if they cannot say what it is. I believe her. The care is invisible when it is done well, and it is the best thing we do.