A
“Duke” is a monster hand on a crap game, which
all but casino owners wish would go on until the end
of time. “He shot the dice forever in the name
of John Wayne,” a dealer would say after a lengthy
roll concludes.
Those of us fortunate to work the south end of Lake
Tahoe know a “Duke” as employee Steve Ditchkus,
who worked at Bill’s Casino. Unfortunately, our
loss is someone else’s (players, fellow employee’s)
gain, since he’s moved on to
work for Harrah’s
in Topeka, Kansas. I wish I had 2000 words just
to share the fun times we’ve all had working,
playing, gambling, etc. with Steve, but suffice
it to say that if someone were to write a book on
gambling at Lake Tahoe and didn’t mention “the
Duke,” they wouldn’t have done their research.
