Im 20yrs old at uni been playing poker online seriously for about 4 months and have a decent w/r. pretty much all i play is cash games, 6max mostly but i know the casino doesnt run those games and rarely play live much besides apl donkaments or flipaments or whatver you want to call them (which is a joke of tournament, the average stack when blinds are 500/1000 is like 4k LOL) but yeah i've wanted to start playing live for a while now to grind up a bankroll from 200nl, i figure these games are as soft as the micros online just from what a few mates tell me. unsure if its worth puting in the hours and a bunch of use would of have already tried this before, would appreciate some advice.

lol as I said there is competition. Star city isnt the only place in Sydney that runs live cash games

We mean compoetition by another casino.

Please tell us the exact location of this competition.

Yes, please tell

I work at the Star and that wouldn't happen at my table. The problem with poker now is a lot of the new dealers are in there at the moment.

I haven't heard the high five rule and even if it is allowed, I wouldn't do it at my table. Its not right to the losing player or the rest of the table.

The rules might be nonsense but as dealers we don't choose what rules we use and what rules we don't.

The high denomination chip on the top is something I always do as a habit. And as far as I'm aware is the way we are supposed to deal. Maybe it was new dealer and they have been trained a different way?

The trouble was this denomination issue has happened with three separate dealers in the past 2 weeks. On each occasion I politely asked a simple "large denominations on top please dealer", on each occasion I get a blank stare and the dealer dealt the next hand. The trouble is when the bad dealers and bad supervisors are on shift together it is quite laughable.

Good to see a dealer with common sense. The high 5 rule is (or was at some point in the past couple of weeks) correct as someone at the table confirmed it with a floor supervisor (who at first thought they were pulling his leg until he went to check, I personally was just as dumbfounded as he was when he came back and confirmed). Apparently it was introduced for the pit games and some bright spark thought it would be really great for the poker room to allow it too. I guess this all ties back with my point, there are plenty of good dealers and floor supervisors there, it appears there are just one or two people in management who don't quite get how poker works. Replace these with people who are experienced running a poker room rather than being a pit boss and the place could really take the fight to crown. I may be wrong but this is certainly the impression I am getting.

I personally never hold dealers to blame for dumb rules, I am well aware there is nothing they can do about it so as long as they do their job well (such as, funnily enough, keep high denomination chips on top, not let players collude etc.) I don't have any issue with them at all (and many dealers at star are quite good - even some of the new dealers seem really on the ball). It is when you get a dealer who loses control of a table or is obviously not paying attention that things start getting rather uncomfortable.

Also, and this has a lot of players very peeved, we pay a time charge yet if the table is short of certain denominations a player will be asked to go and fetch some more. We have to pay to do the casinos job for them?! Of course that does not go down too well.

Anyways, thanks heaps for responding from a Star dealers POV. Always good to get the other side of the story.

Also when a player does say "lets just check it down" As a dealer I don't have many options.

All I can say is, guys, you cant say that. Its collusion. And give them a warning.

So its hard to enforce as were not supposed to pass it onto the supervisor until they do it again after the warning.

And even then the supervisor wont do anything until they do it a 3rd or 4th time.

Imagine how I feel when I run out of $1 chips to take the rake and the supervisor has to find a player or chips on another table to get them. Most of the time though a player will do it them selves before I tell the supervisor.

That's one of the better things about Crown, having a dealer walking around with the chips.

Re the High 5 shenanigans, down here at Crown Casino in Melbourne, we have that too I believe, but ONLY for the pit games which are located in the poker room, not for poker itself. Recently they have tried to sex up the pit games in the poker room: dealers, pit and waitresses wear casual, music is very loud (too loud), and they have screens playing video clips. Playing poker within earshot is annoying.

"let's check it down" is the least of my worries and most people who check it down are regs who in general are relatively honest. Now on the other hand... I have seen a player out of the hand tell a player in the hand to call an all-in on the river because he was sure the guy was bluffing - right in front of the dealer and dealer said nothing even when first guy complained. I have seen a guy tell his friend the range of hands he put his friends opponent on when facing a river bet to help him with the decision (thankfully supervisor stepped into that one, dealer did not say a word). I have heard of 3 players agreeing to check down the hand post flop after someone else moved all-in pre in PLO (this is blatant cheating, not a simple "let's check the hand down") to try to bust the guy - in front of dealer and supervisor.

I'm not a rules nit and will let most things slide, the things mentioned are hardly on the nitty side.

Again this is not an attack on all dealers there, as I keep saying there are many good ones and more than enough good supervisors to run a world class room. It's just that there are also heaps of bad ones that spoil it for all and give the rest of you a bad name.

Thanks again for taking the time to post here.

That's obviously unacceptable and as you probably know, some of the dealers don't care about poker and don't deal it properly.

The people that want to be in poker/deal poker well don't get in there as much.

Does dealing pay well?

I have an amusing story from star city a couple of years back. I was railing a mate, and in this one hand he'd flopped a pair of aces, bet the flop, bet the turn, both streets he was called by just the sb, who played every hand. Anyway, it goes check check on the river, and the sb flips over 76s for a missed flush. My mate flips up just the ace to take the pot, and then mucks his hand. The dealer says "you have to show both cards to win the hand", and the sb immediately jumped in said "yeah you have to show both". My mate argues in vain for a bit, but the dealer pushes the $100+ pot to the sb.

Now this is all well good because it's in the rules at the time, but the dealer, a tiny little woman, then needles my mate by saying "this is not a home game". And then the sb laughs at him. He actually laughed quite openly.

Anyway, my friend gets up and leaves calmly, which a much better way than I would have handled it.

Technical ruling was correct, 2 cards to win (I run into this so many times in home games, person shows only the A "I'm showing the A that beats his hand, I don't have to show the other card") . Most competent dealers will say "2 cards to win" to prompt the tabling of the second hand without telling the player to do it which I find is a good middle ground.

Totally out of line for dealer to needle player afterwards though. Dealer should NEVER needle a player, ever. I would have lodged a formal complaint as that is way out of line. A simple "sorry sir, those are the rules" should have been the end of it. As for sb openly laughing about it, very poor form which reflects on him as a person but nothing against the rules there. He is under no obligation to remain quiet after winning a hand (though he likely won't make many friends along the way and will probably cop a ribbing if he loses a big pot).

Unlucky that you still get raped by the rake thier with no where else to play

It pays ok, but much better if you work nights/weekends.

Well it was the correct ruling, but the problem with that is in some cases if a player shows 1 card that is enough and the other player mucks their hand, then you dont have to show the 2nd card.

Not sure if that is in the rules but I have been directed by supervisors in the past to do that.

Yeah the dealer shouldnt have said that, I cant say you should lodge a complaint for one small comment as it can get a dealer in serious trouble. Unless they have done it before or keep doing it, then go ahead and lodge a complaint so they know they cant do it.

About the player leaving, its a tough spot for the dealer as technically its against "poker etiquette" but cant really tell him to stop laughing. Starts a lot more problems. Unless he starts mocking or swearing, then its easier to say something to him.

Back to the showing one card. Some dealers just muck it as its technically a fold. I will say 2 cards to win and give them a chance. Some people might not agree with it if its them in the hand and would win if I muck the cards. But its the same for everyone.

If I tell them 2 cards to show and pause for a second, I will then reach out and much his hand. Its one of those things, like string betting/posting if moving seats that differs from dealer to dealer.

If you owned the casino, would you drop the rake? Or you could just not win any pots then you wont pay any rake.

I heard today that the Poker Managers are working on finding a fix for this. But it takes a lot to change a small thing with that state government.

Also in Melbourne they have drop boxes on the table so a dealer can walk around. A dealer cant be trusted walking around with cash on them so I doubt it will come in at the Star. More likely a buy in desk will be right near the poker pit, so it wont be as much of a walk.

And if a player does get the $1 chips for me, then they can jump the queue. So dont have to wait, plus I will generally deal them in, regardless of how far they are away as they are doing me a favour.


On a brighter note, It was good to see event 1 max out on the 3 days. Massive first prize for a $330 entry. Something near $60,000 for first.

Was recommended to lodge a formal complaint regarding the chips thing as apparently that will help the poker room's case (from what I hear from discussions with supervisors everyone hates not having a cashier in the poker room and thinks it's ridiculous for players to have to do runners for $1 chips).

Nothing wrong with that, however the reason the 1 card wins has nothing to do with them having the best hand, it is because they are the last player with a live hand.

Classic example of this last night, board double pairs on the river, Player A tables 33 playing the board, player B says "I have a K" and mucks his cards (Kx would have won). Dealer has no choice, Player A wins the pot with the only live hand remaining.

The $330 event certainly attracted a solid turnout, hopefully the room can keep the numbers coming!

of course I wouldnt Star City has a monopoly

Denks, I've moved to Pyrmont and walk through the star everyday on my way to and from work. If you'd consider wearing a red rose while you play, I could rail. What do you say?

Wear a red rose? Hate to disappoint but I'm a guy :/

Woah, slow down big fella. I was just suggesting an obvious way to identify yourself.

Here is one of the worst lolstarcityaments I have heard of in a long time.

Mate plays socially so is not that familiar with the rules. All in on flop, turn, river dealt. Mate tables overpair, vil mucks. End of hand right? No, of course not. Person next to vil tells vil that he rivered a straight (lets start with OPTAH violation), dealer takes cards out of muck and doesn't give them back - he tables them for vil and awards vil the pot!

If cards are tabled, then regardless of whatever happens after, cards speak and I have in the past argued to my detriment to have the pot awarded correctly in this regard. In this instance we have a dealer retrieving mucked cards and tabling them for a player! Seriously wtf?!? Seen a few of these "dealer tables cards for players" instances recently so I'm guessing it is not taught in dealer training.

Are the lower limits even beatable with time charge and rake here?