You sit at a slot machine, gazing longingly at the smooth table players while you mechanically push the button that starts up another round of mismatched numbers or sea animals.

Lance Allen, the director of table games at Firekeepers Casino in Battle Creek, has a remedy for that.

Among all area casinos, Firekeepers is the only one that offers classes where patrons can learn the ins and outs of a couple table games before hitting the gaming floor.

Firekeepers offers hour-long black jack classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and tutorials for the more complicated game of craps on Mondays and Wednesdays. Classes are always held at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on each respective day.

"We have guests that come in who have said they are a little intimidated in sitting down at a table game," Allen said. "We want to be able to alleviate that intimidation so when a guest walks in, we are willing to provide a full-service facility for them so they can feel comfortable sitting down at a black jack or craps table and feel comfortable with the basic skill set they have."

Allen stressed that the classes create an intimidation-free zone for beginners, and newbies shouldn't feel constrained from hitting the live tables right away.

"One of the easier ways is just to come in at a less-crowded time during the week and, this way, you can have the one-on-one time to speak with the dealer and ask your questions," Allen said. "At any point and time you can ask a question of a dealer or a supervisor. That's part of what we do. We don't expect every guest that walks in the door to know everything about everything we have on the floor."

Part of the reason why many casinos haven't found the need for classes or practice tables is the prevalence of both table game information on the Internet and online casinos. Matt Harkness, general manager of Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo, said the only thing a player should walk in with is the very basic knowledge of the game.

"If you have even a rudimentary knowledge of card games, I don't think it's that complicated for a novice player, with a helping hand from the staff, to get started," he said.

Harkness, who started his career as a dealer, hammered home that dealers are service providers, not the competition.

"It's not the place of the dealers to tell you what to with your own money," Harkness said. "But, it's certainly the place of the dealers to help people to get an idea what the best type of approach to play is."

But, for those that just can't get along with others, Harkness has yet another solution.

"A lot of casinos, including ours here, offer electronic games that mimic the actual table games," he said. "It's not on all types of table games. ...We're soon going to have black jack. There is less of, I think, an intimidation because you're playing on a machine and it's more similar to a slot machine."

Black Jack Classes
Firekeepers Casino, Battle Creek
Tuesdays, 11 a.m.; Thursdays, 5 p.m.

Craps Classes
Firekeepers Casino
Mondays, 11 a.m.; Wednesdays, 5 p.m.

firekeeperscasino.com, (269) 660-5722