My local casino started doing something weird. Apparently this is something that they were instructed to do by management. I can't really figure out why.

For example, let's say there will be between 3-5 players pre-flop with bets out in front of them. The dealer will collect the bets from half the table, burn and deal the flop, then collect the bets from the the rest of the table and make change if necessary. Then action continues. On subsequent streets, if there are two players on opposite ends of the table, the dealer will collect one bet, deal the turn or river, collect the other bet and make change, etc. before action starts. If both players are on the same side of the table, the dealer will deal the community card(s) and then collect and make change if necessary.

This seems bad, prone to errors and not saving much time if any at all. My observation is that players tend to sit there deer-eyed until the dealer stops doing what they're doing before they will act at all.

Thoughts? Possible pitfalls?

Sounds like a horrible procedure. Forcing the dealer to change gears like that between handling chips and handling cards can't do anything good for the dealers or the players trains of thoughts.

If I had to guess, management thinks it is faster to do the things one one end of the table, come to the middle and do the things there, then move to the other side and do the rest of the things.

To us and the dealers and players, this is bad. To management, it makes total sense. They are not thinking beyond the left-to-right motion.

Putting a card out before pulling in any bets will lead to more early burn and turns, probably, since there is no longer as much warning that the dealer thinks the street is over.

Doing half the table first is better in that respect, but is overall more chaotic and increases confusion and the potential for mistakes (and betting irregularities).

As a general rule, I prefer making change and pulling all the bets in first for all players. In the right game, with tidy stacks and attentive players, putting the next street out before collecting bets is also acceptable, but I wouldn't want it to be SOP for all games.

I know dealers who do that .... I have never known management to direct it, and generally they direct that all bets be brought in first.

I have also seen a few dealers do it, mostly to speed things up to begin the next betting round sooner. But for someone to direct it, maybe it was one of those dealers in the past, or they just don't have a clue.

I know it may annoy some people, and I hope that I am generally dealing fast enough to not have anyone actually worry about it, but I 99% pull in all the best before I ever burn. If my management decided to mess with this, I can assure them I will burn and turn early a great number of times more than I do now. (I haven't had one in at least two years). I just feel like it's a setup for failure for a lot of dealers.

Poker generates a lot of procedural arguments as it is, so performing half of step A, then processing step B and then going back to complete step A sounds like a recipe for disaster.

This isn't good. There will be situations where 4 players will all bet a $5 chip to call the $3 big blind. Is the dealer supposed to pull in $10 from two players total, put out the flop, and then try to figure out who gets $2 change? You'd think it would be easy; just give change to the players with the cards. But some players like to hide their cards and some players will fold.

Really bad procedure; errors will be made and the casino will lose rake money.

did the floor/room give any justification on why they do it this way? I can't seem the upside here...

Yep .. it's a speed thing. In general I like the dealers that put the card out first which gives the table some 'thinking' time during the pulling of the bets, but I do agree that it could lead to more premature exposures. Perhaps this is an attempt at both speed and reducing the exposures, but I also think it would create some confusing.

If I were to implement something like this I would make it more complicated yet and require the dealer to pull the bets from the 'half' of the table in front of the button before the deal of the next card so that those players can start their action while the dealer is pulling in the other chips closer to the button. GL

And so that the dealers attention would immediately have to to the side of the table opposite the action? Good plan.

I didn't say it was a good plan ... I just don't want a player trying to make a bet when there are chips already in front of him from previous closed action. But if management came to me and said 'do this' then I would suggest that.

Even if the dealer always did the bets to his left first before the deal, he would be non-attentive 50% of the time anyway.

I would certainly prefer the all or nothing approach to this if given the option and have already stated that I prefer the nothing approach if the dealer can handle it. GL

I don't know. F it ... I"m retired and don't have to worry about such things. I will say this: any procedure the dealer has done hundreds of thousands of times that gets changed is asking for trouble, asking for mistakes.

One of the worst ones I saw was when one joint started having dealer grab winning hand first and place it next to the flop (then kill other live hands obviously). Two things blew up. First, since the dealer had spent a career mucking the first hand they grabbed, they now inevitably at times when they grabbed that hand first, the winning one, mucked it just like they always had the first hand they grabbed. The other thing was since the winning player didn't have his hand he couldn't possibly protect it ... and the dealer would more often push the pot in the wrong direction because he forgot whose hand it was.

Horrible. Quit effin with procedure.

I've seen a couple of dealers do this but I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because they can do the side with their free hand faster and they leave the slow side for after the next card is out? Or they leave the easy side to do while directing the action?

Leaving bets out in general is an advanced technique and should only be done if the dealer is experienced and confident they can do it without getting lost. I do it most of the time (all of the bets, not just one side) in cash games but only if I'm feeling alert enough on that day and the players on the table are self sufficient. Even on a hand by hand basis, sometimes there are just too many people needing different amounts of change so I stay safe and clear it out before proceeding.

I'd make it known to suits that you think it's a bad idea.

You leave the bets out for previous streets?

Barring a heads up situation in a high low game....bring the bets in before you move on to the next street. I don't need "easier for you", I need less chance for error/grabbing chips.

Leaving bets out isn't "an advanced technique." It's just poor dealing, plain and simple.

+ 1

Did someone actually claim that?!

good grief

When I said "leaving bets out" I meant what the OP described but for the whole table - putting out the flop or next card then pulling in the bets/making change while they act on the next street.

Are you trying to say that's poor dealing or did you misunderstand?

To be fair, when I read it, I remember thinking "man, this guy leaves all the bets out through all streets?" and then I just figured you meant a split pot limit game or something.

I might have enforced the confusion with my reply. I also thought you were saying you leave the bets out through all streets, suggesting an alternative to what OP was describing.

I thought that's why you were calling it an advanced technique

I probably shouldn't post right after dealing for 14 hours, especially when I dealt for 13 hours the day before.

I can't speak for what he meant. But I'll go ahead and say its bad procedure. I know you think its faster.....

It is bad procedure. It leads to confusion, and sometimes to serious problems. Collect the bets, then put out the flop or whatever.

Keep it simple and clear. We're there to play poker, not to watch the dealer show. Please don't screw up our game.