Megan Patel at the wheel
Megan Patel runs the roulette wheel, the Friday ladder and the teaching table. She also, we are told, bakes the Anzac biscuits.
Learning the wheel
Megan learned to spin a roulette wheel at a croupier school, in a classroom with a dozen other trainees and an instructor who never smiled. She spent her first months practising the flick of the wrist that sends the ball the opposite way to the wheel, and the hand movement that clears the layout in a single sweep. It took longer than she expected and she loved every minute.
After the course she worked in a coastal casino for several years, dealing roulette and blackjack to crowds she describes as keen and a bit loud. It was a good job, but she wanted somewhere quieter and a sky she could see all of. A friend mentioned a house in Barcaldine with an upstairs room and a wheel that needed a croupier, and she was on the road within the week.
She still keeps the wrist flick sharp. Before every service she spins the ball a dozen times on the empty wheel, listening to the clicks as it settles, and she can tell by sound alone whether the wheel is level. Todd once tried to fool her by sliding a folded coaster under one leg of the table; she knew in two spins.
How she teaches
Ninety seconds to blackjack
Megan's party piece is explaining blackjack in about a minute and a half. Get close to twenty-one without going over, beat the dealer's hand, and the face cards are all worth ten. Most beginners are playing a confident hand by the time she has finished, and a surprising number never need a reminder.
The wheel and the crowd
At the roulette table she speaks softly, calls each number twice and makes eye contact with everyone as the ball slows. Guests say she has an instinct for building suspense without ever raising her voice. She can also tell, from the first spin, who is new to the game and who is only pretending not to be.
Away from the tables
When she isn't dealing, Megan walks the dry creek beds behind town looking for birds, and she keeps a notebook of the ones she sees. She'll deny baking the Anzac biscuits, but the tray always seems to appear when she has a free afternoon. If you'd like to learn a game, ask for her at the stairs.