E.B.R. Clubhouse?

None other. Love those guys, such a warm family.

(I'm off tonight, I'll get to the rest.)

This is a delicate subject. I'm not comfortable discussing exact numbers. People generally fail to consider that for the vast majority of dealers there are no health benefits, no retirement packages, no paid time off, and no room for advancement. An 8-hour shift is lucky to see 5 or 6 hours of working. There is zero job security; people get fired all the time for little reason. There's not even much security for income. After working at a steady part-time clip all year, my hours were reduced to zero for a few weeks this month, simply due to lack of players. Also, many places have some kind of tipping out system, which can be as much as 30% of your toke drop.

Generally speaking, low stakes tip the best, middle stakes NL tip the worst, and high stakes are typically very bad, because the players (rightfully) have higher standards. I'm not your typical dealer. I do very well in high stakes games, so I bite my tongue when I hear everybody else whining about it.

Low Stakes NLHE: These are kitchen table players. They lose their minds over an $800 pot, and will usually tip very well, because it's still far less than the 10-20% they're accustomed to tipping for service. But they're also a LOT of work, because nobody knows how to follow the action or handle the playing pieces. They go rather slowly.

Low Stakes FL: These were my bread and butter in California. The games move quickly, and the pots have more physical chips in them than NL. Very consistent.

Low Stakes PLO: I usually do okay at these, but they can be rough. The players don't understand traditional PLO conventions, but they don't want to look stupid, so they can be stubborn. For example, it was a chore for me to explain to a 1/2 PLO table that typically postflop bets are in increments of 5, and that the loose change is rounded up. They insisted I do "true pot," not even rounding the SB. Hey, it's their game.

Mid/High Stakes NLHE: These games are the worst. They're filled with young dudes who think they're hot stuff. They don't understand the tipping culture, nor do they understand what I'm doing for the game. I once had players criticize me for asking them to follow very basic rules, until an older player sat down, watched me for a few hands, and then said, "Wow, you're an incredibly efficient dealer."

They're also usually dead silent, with very little soft money. These are players who are out to prove how awesome they are, and they don't understand that this isn't how poker works. NLHE is a dead end once you're beyond the low stakes.

Mid/High Stakes FL: These are my favorite games. Very fast, and the players understand what I'm doing, so they appreciate it. I make bank at these, simply through volume and good will. The players are usually joking and laughing.

Mid/High Stakes PLO: These are my second favorite games. First off, because they're interesting, and the stacks can get huuuuuge. It's an exciting game, and the players also usually appreciate what I'm doing. Secondly, because most dealers are terrible at it, so I really stand out. I understand the language of the game, so I can adapt to whatever conventions they're following at the time. They'll test me, but I usually pass. I accept criticism well at these tables. I'm there to serve them, not the other way around.

The tips vary, typically less than low stakes NL or mid stakes FL, but that one giant pot with that one substantial tip makes up for all of it. Dealing nosebleed PLO is some of the most fun I've ever had at poker. It's a front row seat to the biggest game in the world.

Most dealers bitch and moan about high stakes, because they don't understand how it works. "I pushed an $80k pot, and he only gave me $1!" The players pick up on this attitude, so it only makes it worse for them. People don't get rich from being loose with money. A 75/150 O/E player might only be up half a bet after an hour, because that's how that game works. A buck is a compliment, two bucks is high praise, and getting tokes from both players on a split pot is a letter of recommendation. The players pick up on my genuine appreciation, which helps everything.

Every tip is a gift. The players don't owe me anything. I operate in service of the game.

I played low stakes. 25/50¢ NLHE, 3/6 FLHE, 4/8 FLO8. So only a few hundred. Not very exciting.

I mostly ground out the $8.80/180s, so nothing really big. My biggest online bink was $2k, and in person it was just under $3k. Small stakes stuff. The year I played a lot online, I had a 58% ROI, 19% ITM rate.

My biggest poker tournament profit was from taking a piece of KurtSF the year he finished 7th in a WSOP bracelet event.

I don't have a favorite giant corporation.

There are no normal people living in Vegas.

Whatever sushi place near me has a balance of value and quality. When I lived near Lake Merritt in Oakland, I frequented Mijori, and Drunken Fish near Piedmont Ave. On the expensive side of things, Tokyo Go Go in SF's Mission had fish that melted in my mouth. In Vancouver I've been very pleased with Kadoya downtown.

My other favorite cuisine is Ethiopian. When I lived in Tucson, it was Zemam's. In SF and Oakland there are countless choices, all of it delicious. I fear I won't find it in Vancouver.

Everybody in Home Poker!

RR, psandman, and bav are consistently solid posters, with quality information regarding how a game should run. For sheer entertainment value, I quite enjoy limon, frommagio, and 27offsuit. Many of the regulars in the Casino Employees thread are also good story-tellers, with youtalkfunny and Quadstriker jumping to mind.

But seriously, HP is my favorite corner. Almost every thread is enjoyable. We get along pretty well here.

38.

Thanks for participating!

When I lived in North Oakland, it was Berkeley Bowl and farmers markets, because you'd be insane to go anywhere else. Seriously, check out this produce section: http://www.berkeleybowl.com/produce.html ... Very fresh, very good, very cheap, and each item had a record of where it was from and how it was grown. Local food FTW!

Casinos have an Employee Dining Room, so my major meals in Vegas are eaten there. I get breakfast and snack food from Albertson's, cuz I'm lazy and it's right there.

Oh, back to the restaurant question... Peppermill in Vegas is a must-visit. It's just a slightly upscaled Denny's, but really damn good at it.

When I lived in California, there was a dispensary not too far from the Berkeley Bowl, and conveniently a couple of blocks from the BART station. I could stop by on my way to taking the train into the city, peruse the wide selection, and pick up a traveler for the night.

Before I had my card... uh... well, I mentioned all the hippies at my weekly poker game, right? Can't beat that kind of convenience.

Damn, I miss it there.

I originally used Bug-Eyed Earl:


...but people complained it was too creepy.

So I looked for the most adorable picture I could find, and here we are.

HIIIIIIIIIIIIYA!!!!


I have no way of proving this but I'm pretty certain this is the only video on youtube in which I have the highest thumbsed-up comment.


I guess I should ask a well type question. Hmm... Favorite "known" poker player you've dealt to?

Mine:

If you ran a university and created a major in poker playing, what would be the structure and courses offered? Include 100 , 200, 300, and 400 level courses with pre-requisites, required classes vs electives, etc

Your perspective on why of all games NLH is the prominent game of choice?

Heh.

Will the Thrill was a pretty fun guy, very sociable and friendly with everybody. Mike Mattusow's first words to me were "f*** you". Robert Mizrachi couldn't have been sweeter in Chinese Poker.

But the top two are the same event, late in Day 2 of a $10k PLO last year. Phil Laak was reading an "Omaha for Dummies" book at the table, and I enjoyed his overall demeanor and way of handling himself. The other was your boy, Erik Seidel, who told me that I was the best dealer he had seen all day. (/brag) I wanted to say something like I was a big fan of his tweets or the like, but about all I could muster was, "uh.. er... thank you, sir!"

They're two of my favorite players, and it was a pleasure to serve them during a big event.

Where should the kitty bill his "business-building consulting fees" to?

Oh, on the "favorite celebrity to deal to"... How could I forget Jennifer Tilly. Dat tshirt...

Jason Alexander was fun, but not for the same reasons.

I dealt the $10k PLH from around twenty down to three tables last year, which was a who's who of poker stars young and old. The conversations were highly entertaining and the play rather interesting.

Really? They both have large breasts.

I looked for a comparison, but only found this.

Dang you caught me! There goes my plan to draw upon pfap's genius to start my grand poker playing university empire and take over the world!

Actually I got the idea from >here<

I'm gonna have fun with that answer. I've been at work for 16 hours (still here), and I work again tomorrow, so it might have to wait a day.