The casino I now work at brings in all new hires as dual rates if they want to be full time.

Our room does something similar. But dual shift/pit.

In my room you have to be dual rate to be full time. The only loophole is if you're on graveyard you rarely need to floor because we don't need an extra floor that late.

Looking to hire a dealer with casino experience for my home game in Northern Virginia (near MGM National Harbor and Maryland Live) who wants to moonlight. What is the best way to go about this?

Go play at NH and ML and start making friends with the good dealers.

Also be aware that in Virginia any raked home games are technically illegal. That would mean that any dealer who is licensed is risking their license. That is not very likely, but there's a bigger non-zero shot that their employers would frown on it even if the game was never busted.

Which isn't to say you shouldn't ask or a dealer should say no if you did. They should know the risks, though, and make their decision keeping them in mind. And you should keep this in mind that anyone who does deal your game is taking a (probably small) risk doing so.

its a true no-rake home game thx

While some games are legal it may still not be worth the hassle of dealing with Gaming should a picture/video leak out. When the casino in our area started poker there was almost a collapse in the home game scene with Dealers who dealt and/or played in these games fearing that 'someone' would leak intel and get them in trouble if they weren't happy with them over 'whatever'.

You would obv hope to position yourself with a host and Players that respect the situation. GL

No idea about your jurisdiction, but in mine you would still lose your gaming license/chance to get a new one. Know plenty of people who have done the math and has worked out for them. Know some that it hasn't. Shrug.

Many employers have a stipulation regarding not "engaging in work that competes with blah blah blah." I know people who've had their employment terminated over this in the industry.

When I suggested making friends with the dealers it wasn't just to ask them if they want to deal. I don't mess with home games but I'm in touch with former casino dealers who do and have heard a number of players talking about how they deal home games.

So I can be a good resource, and treating me well would help earn the trust of any dealers who happen to be playing.

Yeah, at the first casino I worked at, one of the dealers had a home game. It wasn't raked but some regs would play there along with the dealers. Well, one of the dealers wound up taking some loans from some regs and when the dealer didn't pay them back as quickly as the reg thought, he started complaining to him in the casino. Bosses found out, dealer got fired.

I have dealt in a couple of home games, but none regularly. Generally I don't think it is worth it (even if legal, i don't want even a hint of anyone questioning me doing anything potentially illegal). The risks are not worth any realistic rewards. I do not want a player with a grudge showing my current employer a covert video of me dealing a home game. Sure i can argue it is legal with no rake, but it is even worth being questioned like that.

That said, a player I knew who was well known approached me and asked if I would be willing to deal a home game. He explained that it was a home game among friends. They played fairly high stakes ($5/$10, but most players having a few thousand on the table), but it was a very friendly game among friends.

Basically each player payed $X amount and they got free food and drink. The players took turns hosting. No money was made off of the game as $X went to food and alcohol. Before they were dealing the game themselves (literally the dealer button was dealing the hand). As a group they collectively decided they were playing high enough stakes that they could afford to get a professional dealer. For one, it speeds up the game, but it would also provide some level of protection (amateur dealers make tons of unrecoverable fatal mistakes).

After some reluctant negotiations, I came to an agreement with the player over an hourly rate (plus tips). I wasn't keen on dealing, but I was curious, so I said I would give it a try with no future promises.

The hourly rate was only slightly more than I could make working regularly at the casino, but it was also for only 6 hours and the tips would be a bonus. After that we could renegotiate with everyone who was left.

So the first night I go to deal I find out that they also want me to be banker/cashier. Ok. No big deal. I deal my 6 hours and the game goes great. There is no tension, no arguments. It is clear all of the players can afford to play at these stakes so no one is under stress. Literally the best I can ask for.

After the 6 hours is up there are 6 players left. We quickly renegotiate the rate, I ask for $10 an hour more. They ask for 4 hours minimum. No problem. Everyone throws in the money.

All night whenever someone cashed out and leave they would tip me anywhere from $25 to $100 (except the players that busted obviously). So at the ends of the night I was looking at making a rate that was more than I was making at the casino (which included tips) plus tips on top of that. Plus the game was super easy to deal with literally no stress.

Near the end of the extra 4 hours a player busts and another couple of players say they have to go soon so the game naturally breaks. Everyone cashes out and tip me.

I made slightly more per hour than I would have working at the casino for 10 hours, plus just short of $900 extra in tips. A good night.

I tell everyone I will be back next week.

The next week I show up and things are going great except that a couple of the people who cash out early don't tip out very much (like literally $5-$10). After 6 hours we come to the same agreement for 4 more hours. Again the game naturally breaks around 4 hours later. We start cashing out players and players and again they are tipping much smaller ($5-$25).

I go to cash out the last player and the bank is $125 short. Everyone stops and tries to figure it out. After double checking a couple of the last cash outs that still had not been collected we verify they were right and the bank is $125 off. Now people start to mumble. There are veiled hints that I took $125 from the bank. I quickly try to squash that and say that while I will admit that I may have made a mistake, I definitely wasn't stealing anything and if anyone was suggested that they could shove it.

It got a bit heated. Furthermore, it was noted that $125 was unlikely to be a mistake because it involved two different denomination of chips. A couple of people left started suggesting that i needed to make up the $125. Finally, at one point, one of the remaining players suddenly remembered that 4 weeks ago they were $125 over. Furthermore, player X had not played since 4 weeks ago so he must have went home with $125 in chips and then cashed it out tonight (he was long gone so couldn't verify).

Everyone cooled off and the player who hosted 4 weeks ago (who benefited from the $125) was required to make up the difference. Everyone (but me) went home happy.

I talked to the player who initially asked me and told him that I wouldn't be back. Not only did I only make less than $150 in tips, it wasn't worth the hassle. I know I was honest and I know I was a good dealer/banker, but I was also human so if I was going to be held to make up any banking mistakes that it wasn't worth the stress. What if I have a brain fart and accidentally made a $2000 (stack of black) banking mistake. Unlikely, sure, but with no cameras or anything I don't want to take on that type of liability. Literally not worth it.

He argued that all of the players were honest so they would all correct me if they were overpaid. I said, it doesn't matter. I don't want to count on that.

Furthermore, making only $150 in tips was terrible. He explained that the first week that the players were confused. They thought I was working for free and had to be tipped. They didn't realize the increased fee went to me for an hourly wage. After it was explained to them, they tipped less. I explained that it was simply not worth the risk to do this if I was only making $150 more than working at the casino. If I needed the money that badly I could literally ask the casino for an extra day or two of work and they would give it to me.

He then came back to me and asked if I would be ok dealing if the host was responsible for the bank and he personally would give me $100 each week above and beyond everything else (he was by far the best player in the game and made a ton of money each week in the game).

I told him that I was sorry that I didn't need the money so it was not worth it. I was willing to accept $900 to deal the game simply from a curiosity standpoint but it simply was not worth anything less, especially if combined with any stress.

It turns out the player found a different dealer at the casino to deal the game. I have had subsequent conversations with the dealer and the player. They both admit that he is raking (stealing) money from the occasional big pot for himself. They are both ok with it. However it is interesting that they each give me very different numbers about how much he makes. The player thinks he is raking about $600 per night or so, the dealer insisted he is skimming more than $1000 per night.

Who knows who is closer to the truth. What is sad though is that assuming the median, they could have have me for the same price except I would have been above board for all of it.

Honesty does not pay sometimes,but I am ok with it. I probably would have quickly become bored with the game and even though it was an easy game to deal, it was also clear that drama is always a millisecond away. Not worth it.

That is the problem with home games (both as a player and a dealer) drama is always a millisecond away and there is no regulating authority involved. You could literally be finding yourself arguing over lots of money with people who you do not know and who are willing to use force (or at least the threat of it). Even if you are 100% clean and honest and in the right it does not matter. There is no authority to back you up.

Not worth it.

Should you ever consider doing that again one of the ways to lesson the 'bank' issues at night's end is to have a chip bank of $2k? and then have the host responsible for keeping you full .. just like a casino tray. The host is responsible for the cash outs and an error on your part is relatively quickly caught by the 3-4th rebuy.

Question .. were some Players tipping 'per hand' and/or at the end of the night? That would be the only way I can see some sort of skimming going on by the Dealer. I would see or hear way too much activity by the Dealer to not catch a skim in a no rake game.

As with any 'staking' arrangement, it's best to nail down the details before the game/play starts. GL

PS .. It's still a wonder how a Dealer could skim in a no rake game without it being very obvious. A banking error, sure, but skimming even in front a bunch of Recs would be hard to pull off IMO.

Wow, the dealer actually told you that he was stealing $1000 a night from the game? Even if he is getting away with it and the host doesn't care, it's hard to believe that he would basically be bragging about it to another dealer. Did that surprise you?

Not tip per hand. Everything was on cash out.

I do not know how he was stealing because I am not there, but I am guessing it had to do with the high hand. They take 5 per hand (on any $50+ pot) for a bi-hourly high hand. Plus, reds ($5) are notoriously short on the table so the dealer is constantly changing up $25 chips.

It wouldn't be hard to take $10 per pot instead of $5 (or take $25 on big pots) and temporarily keeping it in the rack and then pocketing the extra on breaks (breaks were taken fairly often).

Plus, the game is very naive. Just a couple of months ago it was dealt by the players.

Basically.

I knew he was dealing the game after I left so one day on break I asked him how it was going? I mentioned that the tips dropped. He said that he was raking the pot (the word "steal") was not used). Furthermore, he says the player who asked him to deal suggested raking the game.

I know, shady as heck, not for me. It just reinforced my belief that home games are not worth it.

I, and several posters (who no longer seem to post; makes sense given how long ago we started dealing) can attest that these games were snatched from. There was a balancing act for the dealers as there were targets to make for rake and everything else was gravy. The vast majority of regulars were aware this may have been going on (though they might not have been aware of the specifics), and pots won by players who weren't paying attention got skimmed more than those of a hawk.

If you need a dealer for your home game, maybe check the yellow pages for a dealer school, and hang out in the parking lot? Or find a "casino night" charity event where student dealers might be working, and hit them up?

Since I first started to learn to be a dealer, the first thing that I was told, as if it were the first of the 10 Commandments, was DON'T ROLL THE DECK! Whenever a new dealer posts here about tips for auditions, the most common advice given is DON'T ROLL THE DECK! Rolling the deck is spoken of as the original sin of dealing. It must be avoided at all costs. And I certainly understand the reasoning of why that developed. Of course exposing the bottom card would be a big problem.

Now this may be a blasphemous thought, but I find myself wondering if, given the universal use of cut cards in poker rooms, if the concern of rolling the deck and card exposure is really still the big security issue it once was, or if it is a tradition from another time that really isn't the mortal sin today that it once was. Because of the importance given to not rolling the deck at all, I learned, and practiced to the best of my ability, keeping the deck perfectly horizontal with the table. But that came at a significant cost in shoulder pain in my left shoulder as I reached to bring in bets with my left hand, esp from seats 2 and 3. It isnt really a natural position to keep the arm rotated like that while extending it. And while it may be a smaller problem for the young dealers, certainly as one grows older, maintaining that position for hours a day, year after year, contributes significantly to shoulder issues.

A properly held cut card eliminates the concern of exposing the bottom card. Allowing the left hand to rotate slightly upward while using the deck hand relieves a lot of stress on the shoulder and wrist joints. So my question is, recognizing how heretical it sounds,is: do we really need to keep rolling the deck as the apex sin of dealing procedures, or are we subjecting our joints to undue stress and damage at the altar of a technique that long ago lost its original purpose in a time when cut cards weren't used and the bottom card was actually subject to expisure?

I am self taught but it's definitely something that is on my mind constantly. I pitch left handed, so when bringing in bets with my stub hand, going over/around the shuffling machine can be a PITA. I turn the deck a bit inward, no more than ~7 degrees above horizontal, and gather the bets from seats 7/8 using my middle finger, just to get them around even with my right shoulder before putting them in the pot with my left hand.

I definitely still see it as one of the cardinal sins just because I walked by a dealer who had the top card of the deck exposed (black 8) with a near 90* rolled deck and obviously not squared away properly.

It was everything, everywhere all at once. Dealer school can only prepare you so much, but nothing simulates having a brain fart while 9 impatient players are staring back at you all knowing what you're supposed to do next. Reg's in the room were patient, understanding when I made a mistake and quick to correct me without making me feel like garbage. The first down I dealt at 2/5 when I got pushed all the players threw me $3-5 and told me welcome to the room. All my coworkers are great as well. Occasionally, mostly on the weekend, there is table captain who's ego is fulfilled by jumping on me when I make a mistake. I'm about a month in now and finally feel comfortable 99% of the time. I'm really happy with how things are turning out as a dealer.

I'm 10 years in and still get table captains trying to run things for me. It doesn't even require a mistake - sometimes they just can't help but jump in and take charge.

Just keep looking for tiny improvements to make and you'll get that last 1%.

Thanks for the advice