Scene: A beautiful football filled Sunday morning in the poker room. Not too busy yet, as the promotions for the games today haven't yet kicked in. I'm close to finishing my down.

"Is this a one ball? Is this a one ball?" The guy who's pushing me in a couple minutes (America's Dealer, or AD) comes by and checks the bravo display over my shoulder and sees BRK > 16 listed in the lower right corner. "Yes!"

"What's up AD?"

"I gotta go across the highway!"

Maybe I should explain.

As you probably know, sportsbetting legality is different all over the country. I work in a very strange specific area in which mobile online sports betting is not legal where the casino is located, but is legal very close by. Like... 2 minutes by car close by. It's so close by that earlier this week I regaled a few of my fellow degen staff members with an amusing tale of how on Thursday night in a hurry to get a bet down after my shift, I discovered exactly how far you have to go to unlock the geopositioning of the mobile sportsbetting app. "Exit the employee lot, go right across the highway, turn left into the parking lot for the swimming pool, first row of parking spaces as you get in. And if you want, there's a shady spot under the tree." Smiles all around.

But now AD was threatening to take things to the next level. Traveling across the highway, getting his bet in, and making it back for the next push was both bold and appropriately hilarious. While I admired the commitment to the gambool, I worried that this could go badly. So of course, I offered to help because there's nothing I appreciate more than breaking up monotony of work with an interesting idea.

Very soon, AD is pushing me out, no doubt the thought of his wager he was about to make in a half hour's time weighing heavily on his mind. "You should say you're not feeling well, so that if you're late I'll tell them you're in the can or something."

This notion hung in the air for a good 8 seconds while AD considered this idea.

After a moment I prompted him: "How you doin?"

"I think it was something I ate."

I did not see the speed in which AD left the room after his down, but I did see him return, just in time, nodding his head at me victoriously like he had already won a 7 team parlay and he made the next push without a problem.

"So what were you in such a hurry to get down?" I asked him as he tapped me out.

"So many I can't tell you all of them."

I'm anxious to see if we're a big winner. I feel very invested in his action.

I hope you get a cut.

I feel like I can picture AD in my head and he's currently rushing to get on the EO list while talking about how many points he has left to "use" this year.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-betting...163204160.html

America's Dealer Sunday afternoon betting results:

Wow! Oh.

A few months ago I was dealing in a tournament where there was a player who to put it bluntly was being a dick. He was constantly trying to cause conflict with each and every player. If the blinds were $200/$400 and the player threw in a $1000 chip and said "raise". The dickhead player would argue that the chip hit the table .0000013 seconds before he declared raise so therefore it was a call. This happened multiple times and it was quite clear that he was trying to create controversy and trying to piss off other players. The floor was called multiple times. After I get tapped off of the table I talked to the regular floor and explain that the player was intentionally trying to push the limits of acceptable behavior. The floor agrees and saying he will take that account for future rulings.

Despite it being a 10 or 11 table tournament, due to extraordinary circumstances I got directed to this table 3 times. The 3rd time I tap into this table, the regular floorman is on break and the tournament director is covering for him. Now this tournament director is widely respected (deservedly so) and many serious tournament players would know him. Unfortunately, he doesn't know the history of this player here.

So I am dealing my 3rd down at this table and the dickhead decides that he needs to make my life hard. Each hand after he folds, he walks away from the table to text someone. Unfortunately for me, he starts to push the limits of what constitutes "being at the table" to have a live hand for the next hand that is dealt. Initially, he would stand 3 or 4 feet behind his chair as the cards were dealt and wait until the last possible second to acknowledge he was aware of hands being dealt. So he was making it extremely difficult to determine if I should kill his hand or not. After each hand he would walk further and further away from the table and wait longer and longer to react to the cards being dealt.

Finally I reached my breaking point. There was a hand where the was the button, he was 20 feet away from the table and as I finished dealing the cards he did not flinch from his phone, so I killed his hand. He returns to the table and starts abusing me. He calls for the floor. Of course it it is the tournament director (who doesn't know the history) and not the regular floorman, so the TD tells me that I shouldn't kill his hand. He even uses the words "we are not in the business of killing hands so we should err on the side of keeping hands alive if at all possible". The dickhead smirks, and then just makes my life worse for the rest of the down. Fortunately my down only lasts a few more hands and I tap out.

I take his words to heart and going forward I try to error on the side of keeping hands alive if at all possible and reasonable.

Fast forward a few months, I am dealing in a large (20+ table) tournament. As I am dealing, I see a missing player accross the floor hurrying back to the table. So I leave his hand alone as I finish dealing. Another player speaks up and asks why his hand wasn't dead since he wasn't at the table when the hand was finished being dealt. I explain that he I saw he was on his way and that we were not in the business of needlessly killing hands. Of course the late player gets AK and three bets a raise. The initial raiser complains that his hand should be dead. I call over the floor and explain the situation and explain why I did not kill the hand. To his credit, he immediately sees the problem. He rules the hand live and allows the 3 bet to stand.

After I tap out I go over to him and explain why I did not kill the hand. He quickly understands and tells me a similar story. He tells me that literally 20 minutes earlier, he was standing next to a table and he saw a 80+ year old man who was hurrying to the table in order to not miss his hand. He immediately told the dealer to not kill the hand and told the man to relax and not hurt himself rushing to get back to the table. The 2 hands later at the same table a much younger player was missing and the dealer killed his hand, but he too was hurrying back to the table, but no one saw him so his hand was killed. He complained and asked why he didn't get the same treatment. The floor explained that not one saw him and that was why. He was understandably pissed off.

Either situation is a no win situation for both the dealer and the floorman. Both are trying to run a clean tournament while still recognizing there are gray area. Unfortunately there are players who will take advantage of those gray areas.

Yep .. pushing limits can be a full time job for some.

I'm surprised the Floor didn't pass on some 'notes' heading to break .. like, 'watch seat x on table y'. GL

It sucks when various floors dont communicate to other floors instances when they tell a dealer to let a rule slide. Its a setup for different call in the same situation., with the dealer taking the fall.

In our room we are much more lenient in cash games than tourneys on this. In fact we changed the rules to accommodate players returning to tables. It used to be that if a dealer dealt n a player he saw returning to the table, but then that guy stopped to talk to someone, it was a misdeal that pissed all the other players off. Now, if that happens, the dealer can just kill his hand instead. Even if a guy posts a blind and says deal me n, if he isnt back in time its not a misdeal anymore.

But in mtts with tda rules we follow the rule closely. If you arent close enough to touch your chair when the button gets his last card, the dealer immediately mucks that hand. Doesnt matter if you are running and i see you, or you give me a nod but remain away from your chair. Either you are within reach of your chair or not. I prefer this bc it eliminates the problem of different players getting treated differently.

Yeah, it's always struck me as strange that this would ever be a misdeal. All I can come up with is that many players think it's really important to get "their" cards and that dealing someone in might screw that up. But really....

It's almost as strange that rooms don't use the time game rules universally and just deal in everyone until they miss a blind.

I agree except for ADA considerations; then the idea of "treated differently" gets complicated. Imagine you see someone in a wheelchair coming back from the bathroom, in the cutoff, five meters from the table when the last card hits the button. Are you going to argue there's no "reasonable accommodation" that allows her to play her hand?

This would probably head down similar lines as PGA Tour, Inc., v. Martin, where the Supreme Court wasn't too sympathetic to the argument that walking a golf course is an essential part of the sport.

Do a lot of rooms still do that? Our room doesnt deal in absent time game players regardless of blinds status.

I only know of a couple, but they include big rooms like Bellagio.

The room I work in now deals in everyone on our time games as long as they don't have a missed blind button.

This was probably just a 'room to room' rule, but has been getting more exposure as of late with all the streams popping up and Players seeing those empty seats get dealt in .. and even seeing some nice holdings mucked!

The concept being that if you've paid your blinds/time then you are entitled to a holding each hand whether present or not.

I've played in 5/10/20 time 5-6 handed feeder tables where a bathroom break is pretty expensive .. posting $35 upon return. These were time games that didn't post or deal in missing Players.

Another potential spot for this to become relevant is for a BBJ where the rules may have language concerning payouts to 'all Players dealt into the hand'. There is a growing trend in the Midwest that Players not at the table will receive a share as long as they don't have a missed 'BB' button (can miss the SB). GL

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Dealing in players that aren't there in time games is super cringe. It reeks of entitled prats demanding "I want what I paid for!!!!1!!" despite being unable to see or make use of it and being a waste of others' time.

One table running.
Four people on the list plus one call in.

Dealer 1 - In the box, going home.
Dealer 2 - Started at 6, it's now 8

Two dealers starting at 8 at the podium with Dealer 2 who just came off break.

What do you do?

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I'd open a new table even though its short, then have a 2 table push with 3 dealers. Start it with dealer 2 going to existing table 1 and dealer 1 going home. Dealer 3 opens new table 2. Dealer 4 on break. Next push D2 goes to T2. D3 goes on break. D4 goes to D1.

Iguess you could ask waiting players if they would ne willing to start the table as a must move. Our room doesnt do that, but Ive seen some that do, bc players are willing to play 3 handed in the must move just bc they prefer that to waiting and not playing. But if players say they wont do that, then you can just open it as a regular table.

In my room newly arriving dealers either take someone out, start a new table, or become an additional break/chip runner. We don't bump someone about to push into a table unless they've been locked in for a while.

D2 goes to the existing table and the new dealers draw for who goes to the new table and who gets to start on break. Players on the list can lock up their seat and start playing when they're happy with the number of players.

In our room it used to be that everyone, fulltime and part time had set shifts and days. So there was a priority list for each shift that determined who started first. If you were at the top of the list for your shift, then you went into rotation first, and were first of your shift to EO. The next day you would be at the bottom of the list.

But then they went to a flexible scheduling system where FT had their days locked in, but their start hour could vary +/- an hour or so depending on projected workload. PT no longer had days or hours locked in. So to determine priority the scheduling program generates a random ranking list of dealers for each shift. That then determines who goes in first and who EOs first. So you could randomly end up at the top of the list two days in a row.

Yeah, I think either Bellagio or the WSOP side games would be the last place I played big enough to pay time. You know how people in Las Vegas are (often with good reason); whatever the rule is there, I'm sure everyone just tossed it out like it's the rule everywhere.

Yeah, I think that's some of the origin of it but it also seems like it would save a lot of nonsense -- people asking to be dealt in then not making it back in time, dealers looking up to see if they're running back, etc.

Sincere question: Is it more irritating to deal a half-dozen hands unnecessarily (to get to the BB) than to crane your neck or try to track who said they'll be coming right back? I think I'd prefer the extra hands, but I'm not a dealer, so I may be underestimating what a pain it is.

I appreciate these responses.

Had I been flooring I would have let Dealer 2 tap into the active game and had the two 8 PM arriving dealers draw for spots. One of them would sit on a dead spread and the other would go on break. We would open the dead spread as soon as we could.

I was not flooring, instead I was dealing. Specifically I was Dealer 2. I got back from break thinking I may get to go home (which was fine with me but I also understood keeping me) and the supervisor made all three of us draw for spots - active game, dead spread, break.

I wound up drawing the break which meant I was on break twice in a row which I considered not very fair and I made a mild complaint about it to the Shift Manager. I am glad to see that I was probably not out of line in doing so.

As it played out the dead spread was opened by the time I got back from my second break but I only got three downs in (plus one more break) before a table broke and I got to leave at 10 PM. Which was fine.

You just described half of a normal 20/40 OE table.

I think its already been answered but the lineup should be, 1-2(DS or Brush)-Break. Dealer two is still pushing like normal and dealer three and four draw for whichever goes to Break or 2(DS/Bru).

This was a nightly occurrence in my first room so we were well rehearsed in this. My favorite way of solving this was instead of drawing we would either spin the high hand wheel and whoever landed on the highest amount got first pick or (depending on who was floor) we would play one hand of open-faced chinese poker. I wish that game would be more available (to us cheap f***s)

One thing I did not realize until this past Sunday is how relaxing and care-free my Sundays are since I stopped dealing. I actually get to enjoy casually watching games now without having to worry about who's playing and when scores are getting ready to happen so I have to note who has missed three hands and all that crap. I dont have to listen to "bad beat" betting stories (You took the Jets you deserve to lose all of your money) I do not have to listen to people whine because their table was not called in the last two scores. I do not have to listen to people complain about tables being called (they are obviously reviewing the play call your ass down).

I say all of this because when visiting my sister last week she noted that since I quit dealing my demeanor is a lot happier and I do not seem as miserable as I was. Thinking back I have been a lot happier since Ive stopped working in the casino because honestly before covid shut everything down I was so burned out on poker and dealing that it affected my entire life both work and home. It also helps having a job where I do not deal with the general public, I think that is one of the best moves I've made.

It was no surprise to me that so many dealers in the US decided to not come back when their rooms re-opened. I'm glad it was a good move for you. I know I don't have many years left in me.