There’s the problem. On average bigger games tip less, so there isn’t an incentive to want to move up.

Imagine sports were like this. A rookie comes in and is offered a small contract like most rookies get. Coach comes up and says “Listen Rook, right now you’re not gonna get much playing time, but if you ASPIRE, and WORK HARD, and make the most of your opportunity, you’ll get more and more playing time...... and once you show us that you can do that we will reward you by paying you less money! Go get ‘em, Tiger!” Good luck with that.

Also, poker players as a whole are generally very lazy, unmotivated, and greedy. The majority of poker dealers are just players who realized dealing is their best way to make money at the poker table. Most of them give absolutely no ****s about anything than their toke box.

I think it's safe to say that moving up for dealers means something entirely different than moving up for players.

I got a good laugh out of the whole "wanting to move up to deal bigger games" thing.

I guess I am lucky. In the rooms I worked in the larger games all had decent tippers that more than made up for the occasional tank. Of course, the largest games I dealt were $10/25 NLHE which is nothing compared to many in here. I deal in primarily $1/2 Hold Em rooms where the $2/5 game is considered large. I also did well in a room with a consistent $5/5 PLO game.

In my experience this is completely false. The vast majority of the dealers in every room I've worked in hardly ever play. And even fewer dealers were regular players before they learned to deal.

Most dealers stumbled onto the business somehow or another with no conception of casino poker.

Majority was inaccurate, but I'd argue you're more likely to find a terrible employee in a poker room than most other industries. Casinos attract the worst of the worst and a few of them end up as team members.

As a vet, you already know that 'moving up' isn't what it might be perceived as by a newbie ... but the newbie doesn't know until they get there. Whether prompted by the employer or not I've found that most people starting a new job have some level of excitement and drive to them. The longer that remains within the employee's mindset the better it is for the overall business and customers ... (but not necessarily for the employee in this case).

I'll tell you this ... Dealers in our casino do whatever it takes to get an extra down in the PLO games. That may be shading my POV, but every new Dealer learns how to add 'pot' real quick since it does have an impact on their bottom line.

Poker in our area isn't riddled with casino Pros either, so there's less 'real bottom line' Players at the table. GL

Dealing top section games may be hit or miss but I’ve never gotten a hundred dollar tip from a 1/2 game.

Mostly been miss for me. The larger games in my room have made the players collectively pay $25 to the dealer because we wouldn't get anything otherwise, and these players tip red and green birds to the waitresses when they come around. Sometimes I can get up to $40-$75 on these games but it depends on who the pots get pushed to.

The only times I've made bank on these bigger games have been due to specific players. The biggest tip I received from a regular was $40 when she won a huge all-in and the biggest tip I've ever received in my 8 years of dealing was $50, when some Saudi oil prince won a decent sized pot.

Usually, if I'm not dealing a game with an automatic $25 tip, I'll make between $10-$15. Better than a tournament table, but I'd give up every big game in exchange for dealing non-time raked games only (1/3, 2/5, and PLO).

A young player is singing along to the song on our system. Another young player asks her who sings it. First player says I dont know but I think he was a famous guy. Third player says ask the dealer I bet he knows.
Its Stevie Wonder I say as a wave of oldness washes over me.

Was waiting for "lets keep it that way" as young player's response to the answer.

Trying to see when a nearby joint is going to open so I had a glance at their job listings. It's always funny when HR just copies and pastes table games listings in a poker listing.

Poker Shift Manager
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
"•Must utilize basic strategy and warning signs of advantage play to either identify the possibility of an advantage player, or accurately rule out a guest as an advantage player."

Forget increasing rake, if you want to protect the fishies, just plain throw out the sharks.

Someone get Daniel on the phone.

I'm pretty sure you missed the point of quadstriker's post.

Yeah that's a big *whoosh*

Hey all. I'm not currently a gaming employee, but I'm interested in trying to break-in as a poker dealer at an open audition near me, maybe eventually audition for WSOP next year. I've been practicing a lot, with advice/pointers from a floor at a different room. But I would love some advice/roasting from here about my shuffle & my pitch. I go a little slower than my "standard", all technical advice is appreciated.

My shuffle


My pitch

Looks pretty good. Better than plenty of my colleagues.

Put the cut card where you're going to use it before starting to riffle. I would do a couple more strips but I don't think it's too big of a deal. Didn't have time to watch the pitch.

Your shuffle and pitch are good enough to work in any cardroom, and speed will come with time.

This.

Also, your pitch is better than a lot of people who have worked in cardrooms for years.

Your pitch is good. Your shuffle is pretty good but there’s no need to bend the cards when you shuffle. Just press the two corners together. When you bend the cards, they show to the 1 and 9 seats.

Just wanted to say RIP to YTF. I come back to this thread once every year or two to catch up on all the stories I missed. And every year the highlight was seeing what "the guy with the squidward avatar" had posted since last time. This thread certainly will not be the same without him. Very sad. Great wit and a great storyteller, he will be missed, glad to see the rename in his honor!

Thanks for the pointers & compliments on my pitch & shuffle. Been practicing up a lot at home, but I still have some nervousness about going into a full speed game on a full size table, even if it's a mock game with other auditioners/brushes. Any tips/pointers on how to handle/train for that?

Just go slow. They don't care how fast you go. From my understand, they're looking more for a lack of mistakes than an abundance of greatness. Obviously how you handle yourself too I guess. They know you'll be nervous.

Your shuffle and pitch are good. How is your chip handling and counting? Do you know what games will come up in the audition? It looks like you have chips to practice with but it wouldn't hurt to get a few stacks of the chips from the actual casino to play with.

The WSOP dealer guide has a lot of good stuff in it. Practice handling side pots, reading a bunch of hands at showdown, etc.
http://www.wsopdealersandstaff.com/d...formation.html

Don't worry about being nervous, it's expected. If you make a mistake calmly stop and correct it. Be nice to everyone you encounter from the moment you park your car at the casino, even those you will be competing against.

Dry wit is dry.