I dealt for my first tonight; I made $48 an hour with tips.


The boss is like a dictator and I'm the oppressed country. "Faster!"

What are some things I can do to speed up how fast I can deal a hand, and as a result get paid more money?

not shuffling the cards will hjelp you shave of some valuable time, maybe an extra 5 hands per hour. and trust me noone will notice you didnt shuffle.

if you need to give the small blind change, do so after you've dealt all of the hole cards out

ex: 2/5 nlhe, both blinds have $5 chips out... deal to entire table THEN make change to the small blind

• Quick Shuffle
  
  Quote:

  I shuffle as follows:
  Step 1: (Quick wash/scramble)
  Step 2: riffle shuffle two times
  Step 3: strip once
  Step 4: riffle shuffle once
  Step 5: cut the deck
• Faster/more fluid Pitch
  
• Table Control (i.e making change, pulling bets, following action, reminding players its their turn to act, knowing rules and procedures.)

A shorthanded and/or observant players at your table will speed up your hands per hour.

Also with practice and time you will get faster/more efficient.

Hope that helps....

Springer,

Here are some of the things that helped me become faster at dealing:

1.) as bjohnson said, give change as soon as your hole cards are out. This really does speed things up, and is one of the tricks I learned that got me an extra 2 hands per down. It takes some practice though, as you don't want your action to slow down as a result.

2.) Make sure you let your players know who the action is on. A lot of dealers will just look at the player and not really point at who the action is on. Don't point directly at them (they may take this offense to this) however, you can keep your hand on the table and point to the person who is to act next. This can speed things up too because you don't always have someone who is paying attention at your table and might be sitting there waiting for you to tell them it is their turn. Also, if someone is sitting there for a long period of time without acting, don't wait too long to remind them it is their turn. Sometimes they really are contemplating a bet/raise/fold, but sometimes they just have no idea the action is on them. You can waste a lot of time with them just sitting there.

3.) Speak the action that is going on loud and clear. If you are not being loud enough, you are going to get a lot of comments like "How much is that?" "Is it on me?" or "The raise is to what??"

4.) Make change for the rake while someone is deciding on their action. If someone raised and you have a player thinking for a few seconds, this is a perfect time to make your change in the pot for the rake. (Also good to make change while no one is betting and everyone is checking..) Some dealers do this after the hand is over which can slow your hands per down significantly over the long run.

5.) Keep dealing fast even if you get stiffed. I see so many dealers slow down their dealing when they get stiffed as if that is supposed to help their cause. You will only hurt yourself more if you do this. Not everyone at your table is going to stiff, so just keep dealing fast and hopefully the next person you push the pot to will be gracious to throw you a tip.

6.) Be friendly (this will help your cause in many ways..) but don't allow your conversations to slow you down. Learn to talk to your players while still maintaining your speed at dealing. I didn't realize at first when I first started that when I got into a conversation with a player that it was slowing me down significantly. Once I got more comfortable with my dealing abilities, it allowed me to converse without letting it take away from my hands per down. After a little while, it will be like second nature to you so you won't have to think quite as much.

7.) Practice, practice, practice. Your floor person cannot expect you to be the fastest dealer in the world your 1st day. If he does, he's being a little unfair IMO. Make sure your pitch is spot on, that you run the action well, and you are good at making the pots (i.e. side pots.) This will be the biggest key in improving your speed.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

I'll write more on this later, but here are some things you should be doing first, before you start worrying about speed:

1. Money in, money out. Always put the $5 chip into the rack before you take out the five $1 chips. Most dealers these days don't bother doing this because they weren't taught right and nobody who's supervising the room has a clue. Just try and not follow this procedure in the blackjack pit tho, you'll be gone in about two hands.

2. Always, ALWAYS say thank you for any tip, big or small, no matter the size of the pot. Don't be sarcastic if someone wins a big pot and doesn't tip, or tips only a buck or whatever.

3. Make sure you're not exposing your burn card. This can give players at one end of the table a significant advantage if they're watching and you're burning in such a manner as to expose the cards.

4. Accuracy is far more important than speed. Speed comes with time and practice. Don't rush things trying to make more money. This inevitably results in your making a big mistake somewhere along the line, which will cost you money, not make it.

5. Shut up and run the game, not your mouth. Experienced dealers can sometimes afford to be sociable if they shut their mouth and do their job when the pressure is on. I'm pretty friendly but if there's a big pot with a lot of action i will stop the conversation immediately to make sure the pot and action is right. New dealers like you cannot afford to be chatty. You will screw up if you're running your mouth. Shut up and deal.

6. Making sure the action is clear and unambiguous is top priority, especially in no limit games with a lot of money at stake. i often make players confirm their action (mainly because I don't hear well in noisy casinos) but this also has the effect of making things run very smoothly at my table because everything is clear as day. Angle shooters prey on weak dealers, but they don't succeed if the dealer is strong and on the ball. I've had about 4 total "burn and turn" errors since I started dealing. However, I've been on the floor where a single dealer who's not paying attention has burned and turned too early three or four times in one night, and probably 100 times a year or more. They simply aren't paying attention because they don't care.

7. don't be one of the new dealers who could care less about poker and just wants to deal because it's very good money and you don't need much education. This epitomizes what's wrong with poker these days, people want the money from poker, but could care less about whether they do a good job or not. I can pick out good dealers versus bad ones very quickly and i don't tip the ones who are "just there for the money." Take pride in your work or get a different job.

8. If for some reason you haven't already done so, get the poker dealer's handbook, available on this site. If you follow everything it says you'll be a very good dealer with experience. If you don't do the things that are discussed in this book, you're probably going to be a downright lousy dealer.

Focus on developing the essential skills of dealing NOW. Don't worry about speed. Speed comes with time and practice, but isn't worth a damn if you make mistakes or don't serve the needs of your players. The money will come. Don't expect $48 an hour all the time either, that is unrealistic.

i gotta go but I will check this thread later and add more to my comments.

al

This is obviously terrible advice. I would notice immediately and not be very nice to the dealer who's trying to skip shuffling to get more hands out, and hence more tips. The floor would be called immediately as well.

al

There is no quick shuffle. It's shuffle, shuffle, box, shuffle or shuffle, box, shuffle, shuffle every single time. There are no exceptions. The only way to quick shuffle is to get a lot of practice and be fast at shuffling. If you don't perform a good shuffle however, speed is worthless.

The one thing that really speeds up the game is a dealer who controls the action well. However, you cannot force the action faster than a certain maximum threshold, which is a function of the players at the game. 45 hands an hour is simply not possible at a 2-4 limit game full of tourists. Trying to rush them will only make them uncomfortable and cost you money when they get pissed off and don't tip you, or they leave and the game breaks.

al

I don't like this one bit for poker. This is a pit procedure designed to protect the casino's money. Since the dealer will be making up any shortage in the rack our concern is protecting the pot from being shorted by a less than honest dealer. The five $1 chips should be place in front of the rack, then the $5 chips taken from the pot to the rack and then the 5 $1 push to the pot.

I agree 100%.

A chip from the pot should never enter the tray until the correct change has been removed from the tray and laid out clearly for surveillance. Letting the chip go into the tray first creates an opportunity for theft (or, at best, puts the risk of mistakes onto the players, rather than the dealer).


q/q

Tell your boss to hire a second dealer, and take 30-minute turns. You'll each make $24/hr, and won't fatigue.

Bad for you, good for your boss.

lol why would he want that one then?

I'm quite surprised by your response here. Of course I very much respect your opinion, but here's my dissenting opinion...

One of the problems I've seen over and over is dealers being short on their racks. Over and over I see it happen, dealers pull out five chips and never put the redbird back into the rack. Some casinos are starting to be real ball-busters about variance with their poker dealers (1). IMO it's because (having seen many variance reports) shortages are far more common than overages, and shortages are usually $5 missing from the down of a dealer who doesn't do "money in, money out."

This is one of the things I look for when auditioning new dealers. Basically, money in, money out, exposing the burn card, and not saying proper thank you for tips are three primary things that I look for when deciding whether a dealer should be hired or not.

I'm good friends with a man who was formerly casino manager of a major las vegas casino. Later in his career, after he had retired (and gotten bored of retirement), he got into poker, mainly for something to do. We agree on this point. I'd like the opinions of some of our top poker supervisor posters on this (where are you Rick?).

Your procedure is acceptable to me, but I'm not all that fond of it. It's far better than what most dealers do these days tho, which is take out five whites and maybe they put the redbird back, maybe they don't. You and I both know this is due to poor management oversight and poor dealer training.

al

(1) this is no doubt because the bean counters, poker management, and dealer training are so far removed from each other that the overall picture is completely missed

I was taught, by someone I respect and who has been in the business since the 80's that money goes into the rack before anything comes out.

I won't tip a dealer that does money in, money out.

You take a $5 chip and place it next to your tray. Then you bring out 5 $1 chips from your tray and they them cascading so the cameras can see. Then you take the $5 chip and place it into your rack and then push the $1 chips into the pot. Anything else and I will not tip you.

Fill out some employment applications to become an internet dealer IMO,

The best thing a dealer can do to speed up the game is watch for players whose action it is and they don't know it.

There are a group of players who routinely have the action of them and for some reason don't realize it. (ADD, distracted by something, drunk, etc.)

Keeping an eye on these players and letting them know the action is on them when it's apparent they are in lala land will speed things up alot.

I'm not a believer in having variance reports in poker. I believe if the rack is short the dealer needs to make it up. If the rack is over put it on the slide and drop it (I am ok with a variance for the rack being over). I am more concerned with the players being protected than the casino, because the casino can protect itself by requiring the dealer to make the rack right if he shorts it. This becomes more of a concern in LA rooms where the dealers keep any overage (the rack is theirs); in those rooms it is very important that the dealer be clear that they aren't stealing from the pot.

I'm not real fond of this the dealer makes up a shortage thing because it slows the game when every down your new dealer has to count your rack to the $. Counting the rack to to close enough can be done with a quick eyeball.

If my room expected me to make up every small shortage, I would stop my game and count my rack down to the last dollar every down.

And I agree with Al about the $ in $ out thing. And while you refer to thios as a pit procedure, it seems to me that I have always seen the pit games operate the other way . . . with both the money going in and the money going out be placed in front of the rack. (except craps where the procedure involves dropping the money to the boxperson)

Thanks for all the great advice.

My boss only wants me to shuffle twice, and then cut and deal; he's a hard ass.

The table I deal at is really, really thin. There's no room for a pot, mucked cards, burned cards, and whatever else. The pot is usually splashing into seat 5 and 6 and it's terrible passing the pot to a winner. But I'm nearly certain the winner is not supposed to give me his cards until he gets the pot.

Should I grab all the cards except for the winners while pushing the pot over? I ask because the community cards sometimes slide to the winner with the pot and really slows things down.

Where do I put the mucked cards? I usually put them with the chips in the rack because there is no room.

How do I put the chips in the pot? My boss wants me to put them in stacks of 20.

Also, I don't know what box or striffle means. And where can I get that dealing book or guide?

Deal the first hand out and then count. Also I have generally seen +$5 or sometimes +$3. The box should be counted while standing behind the dealer so all you have to count is the cash in the well.

I know basically nothing about pit procedures, but someone told me this is a pit procedure.

Dealers Hand Book

Shuffle Video

That video is the correct way to shuffle except sometimes you should have a wash/scramble before. But either way, Rifle, Rifle, Box, Rifle, Cut, deal.

I think he is lifting the cards too high in the video, during the riffle.

Riffle, riffle, strip, riffle, cut. Anything less doesn't sufficiently randomise the cards.

There are some corners that can be cut to speed a game up. Compromising the shuffle is not one of them.