Don't forget tipping out the chip runners, dealer captains, floor staff, the cage... and the base minimum wage is often taxed at a much higher rate.

I'll say that if you're a good dealer in a good shift at a good location with good games, it can be a good wage considering the type of work it is. Better than flipping burgers, not as good as stripping.

$7-11 base wage? Where exactly is that? The base wage at the 2 casinos I've dealt in 2 different states has been $4.25. I've heard that at some places it can be as high as $6.

You're not going to get benefits either for a long long long time. People who have full time gigs aren't in a hurry to give them up.

I don't like to suggest non-2+2 sites, but in this case I think casinodealers.net might be more helpful for what you're asking.

One of the reasons that dealers do not want discuss how much they earn in front of the players who tip them is that it is usually a lose/lose scenario.

Let's say for example you're a player, I'm a dealer, and I tell you that last year dealing 5 days a week I made $42,162 dollars (totally made up figure). Now there are 2 bad possible reactions.

1. "Wow that's a lot of money, they don't need to make that much all they do is sit around and deal cards I'm going to tip less from now on."

2. "He sounds like he's begging for tips! I can't believe he would go around basically asking for handouts. That's pretty low. I'm going to tip less from now on."

Now you may be one of the many people who thinks those two lines of thought are quite ridiculous. However, it seems the topic of tipping is very sensitive to quite a few folks. Very VERY little good can ever come from a dealer discussing how much he/she makes, and that's why whenever the question comes up we try to be as helpful as we can with our responses without getting into specific numbers. Just remember that when that dealer says "thank you very much" when you tip him, he really genuinely is appreciative.

i'm not a dealer, but have been told from the dealers that i know from the room i frequent, they make an average of $300 a shift, but only get 4 shifts a week. these dealers work the night shift. this comes from more than one, but it's not MY data, so take it at what it's worth. i know i see them with their boxes almost full at the end of their shifts, 4"x6"x16" approximately.... so figure how man chips might fit in that area and it seems they're probably telling the truth.

the cocktail waitresses from the same room claim their average is 250-300 a shift also.

California minimum wage is currently $8.00, up from $7.50 as of the first of this year.

Local clubs (San Jose), poker dealers are in the box 6 hours out of your 8 hr shift. Most games are Limit Holdem, around 42 hands hr. (No stud, maybe one Omaha game, and maybe a fifth of the games are Spread Limit).

Roughly $250 in tips at Bay101 per shift. (minus tipping floor, lead floor, chiprunners, etc).
More than half of that is tax free (tip compliance agreement with IRS).

They might hire a walk in, if he has a lots of experience. Generally they hire and train from within. Poker dealers and Asian Games (Pai Gow, etc) dealers are separate.

This seems to indicate 64+125 = 189 in taxable income and 125 in non-taxable income, for a take home of 250-275 for an 8 hour shift. I think 42 hands per hour is a bit high for bay 101, but also think that 1 dollar per hand is low, so we'll call it a wash and stick with 250.

Assuming you got 4 shifts a week (which sounds about right), you'd be taking home 1000 dollars a week, or 52,000 dollars a year. For some people that probably sounds very high, but I'd suggest you keep in mind that we're in the Bay Area and things (gas and houses, specifically) just cost way more out here.

All you have to do it put up with live poker players for 24 hours a week and you're golden

Huh? If an established dealer wants 5 shifts, he/she gets them (at 101. GC might be different with the less than stellar management there).

Sure, then five shifts. I think everyone hear is capable of multiplying by 1.25 and getting the bigger number that would ensue

Thats the funny thing about it, is that it is valid question, but I also understand the reasoning behind the non answer, but you are correct I have noticed more often than not responders prefer the tap dance/berate method over good solid answers.

I have been told by dealers its anywhere from 45-70 depending on how many shifts and how hard you work your shifts. This is in a medium sized cardroom in the midwest.

Unless something has changed to reclassify dealers like they classify waiters, the minimum wage is higher than you are quoting.

I know at FtMcDowell they are getting $7 to $9 an hour for pit/poker dealers.

1) Dealers need to chill out. You don't have some Top secret job where you can not tell anyone how much you make. If you personally do not feel comfortable saying, then don't post, but dont berate someone for asking.

2) The numbers I am going to give are for a fulltime dealer. You will prob not make this in the first few months(or even up to 2 years) . Also the tax law I am going to site is for law vegas, everywhere esle is different

Your Wage- I am going to say on average in Las Vegas you are going to make 7 dollars an hour. This is a pretty good standard, and will not vary much, it's prob +/-1.50. As far as taxes go, I am pretty sure LV dealers only have to claim double their hourly income. So when you go to do your taxes, It would be the same as if you made 14$ an hour.

Benefits- Pretty sure you will have to work at least 30 hrs. a week, and be employed for at least 6 months. Most places very.

Tips- Obviously there is no way to determine How much you will make on any given night in tips, but if you are a good dealer you could estimate 30-40 dollars hr. Basically you can project 1$ per hand. Do not forget if you are on an 8 hour shift, you will not be dealing the entire time.

These stats come from a friend who deals is a casino off the strip in LV. Take it however you would like. But if you can get yuorself into a full time dealing job, you can expect 1200$ a week plus benefits.

Percula,
The dealers at Fort McDowell make $5.15/ hour. Unless they've just been messing with me for a couple years.
This $7 to $9 range is a fabrication.

I don't see a single person berating anyone or being out of line at all in this thread.

Mr. Hankey I don't think you don't have a real world understanding of money.

By the way the highest avg/ yr right now is at the Wynn Las Vegas. 150K a year. that's just what i;ve been told.

I've been told that women earn meaningfully more than men. Seems reasonable to me since a lot of guys my age are more than happy to average an extra $1 tip to any girl that even remembers his name. I'm sure I do.

Quadstriker - I hear what you are saying about lose/lose, but when i found out more about dealing economics, I just started to tip more, not less.

A few things.......

The minimum wage for a job where tips are expected to comprise a large portion of the employees income is lower than the standard minimum wage. At least in California. So if the min wage is $8 an hour, dealers only receive something like $5.50 an hour. Or something like that.

The reason no one answers is as TT correctly pointed out....there are too many variables involved. If you can actually deal and get juiced into an evening shift at Commerce that includes Friday and Sat nights and doesn't include a stop at Omaha, you can make $60K a year+. The high number I've heard there is $75K. While I've never actually seen a tax return from a Commerce dealer, I do know one that with her own money derived entirely from dealing was able to buy a condo in Huntington Beach(back in the early 90's), drive a nice new Acura Legend, and have $25K+ in savings. So this indicates a reasonable level of income to me and makes me believe that the numbers I've heard are correct. I heard the number $35K from a day time Bike dealer, and the same amount from a HP dealer. Except for the Commerce dealer I knew, these are all totally unconfirmed numbers.

OTOH, if you are dealing a small Vegas room, you will not make much. Dealers at Strat in Vegas told me $13-18K.

So take that FWIW. Frankly, I can't imagine at this point why one would aspire to be a dealer. The money I quoted for LA doesn't go that far anymore due to the run up in housing prices, and I think you might live like a pauper trying to make a go of it in other locations.

Wrong. At least in California. No difference for tipped workers.

When there is a dealer change i'll tip a female dealer as soon as she sits down.

You're probably confusing Wynn cocktail waitresses with Wynn poker dealers.

Florida poker rooms seem to have a little higher tip rate as I have seen regularly since the inception of nl is 5 bucks a hand. If that's the case the place to deal would be Florida....... So go 25 hands an hour and probably 4 hours at nl that's $500+ a night, but if that were true everyone would be a dealer and there would be no players. Just a note they make 3.77 an hour.

thank you everyone for the useful info just to clear things up i do not aspire to become a dealer but it seems like i simply cannot concentrate on school work at the moment and if im going to take some time off perhaps indefinitely why not become a part time dealer. besides the decent pay it could potentially improve my poker skills. just another question.. how many ppl on 2+2 play poker for a living? and what does it take?

lol i hope this account is just a giant level

this really depends on where you deal. i know that dealers who sign a tip compliance form w/ the irs are taxed on roughly $22/hr. therefore the irs is assuming (although they probably would rather tax them higher obv) that these dealers are making about 45K/year, when in actuality it's probably a little higher but not much.

imo-

the best dealers on the strip who work at the big three (bellagio, wynn, venetian) probably make on average $25/down. so if you're lucky enough to work at one of those properties and also put in 40/hours week you're making $50K/year from tokes and your hourly wage provided by the casino will usually cover your tax requirements, i.e., the best/most fortunate dealers (top 10% maybe?) make the equivalent of $75,000/year. This in addition to good benefits make it a great job in this day and age.