[FeliciaLee]

You had me all the way until you got to the $18/down part. I'm sorry, but lots of pro players don't make that much per half hour.

As far as the stress of dealing the higher limit games, yes, it exists, but usually there is one player causing most of the fuss, whereas the mainstay players seem to be decent.

One time I asked Linda, who has dealt at Bellagio since they opened the doors (and Mirage long before that), how she was treated by Ted, since he had become my friend, and I couldn't imagine him being "abusive" to any dealer. She went on to say that he was fantastic. Then I was told that so was Barry, Danny, Chip and Doyle. Soooo, I truly believe that one or two players are being rude, whereas the rest are just expecting a competent, fast dealer.

I also heard that many of the big game dealers are given tokes on the side, by these same "good guys," and that they can amount to quite a bit per down when they do come around.

Linda has always been very candid about dealing the big game on her blog, but she has also been honest, that they are getting toked, just not in proportion to the pot size, and I don't believe that is a requirement of high limit play.