It all seems strange to me.

most places i know of in Atlantic City dealers report their own tokes when they swipe out their hours. They also only get paid 4.xx an hour (less than minimum wage).

It seems strange to me, too, but don't bite the hand that feeds you.

I work in California. Trust me, it's a good deal. The only problem that arises, is that on black and white it looks like you don't make alot money. That can be a problem when your trying to get a big loan or something.

PS: I always ask seats 1 or 9(nine handed where I deal) their intentions if it's not abudantly clear. Amazing how many problems dealers can avoid by simply asking questions. Even more amazing is the amount of dealers that don't bother to ask.

If the economy turns up by the end of the year I'm thinking about going to Tony Sheltons Poker Dealing school. Think there'll be any chance of getting a job?

In some California cardrooms they let you claim less than you make in tips. This does not apply to Native owned casinos in my experience. Cardrooms kinda fly under the radar, but casinos are watched very closely by the IRS.

Many places have a negotiated rate with the IRS. Dealers pay a set amount per hour worked.

Our Poker dealers have a rate, and our blackjack dealers claim 100%.

When I was buying a house a couple years ago, this was something my loan officer asked me. Once I assured him that all my income was all reported it wasn't brought up again.

Like Quad, we are taxed onthe full amount of our tokes. They are counted up at the end of the day and added to our checks at the end of the pay period.

401K is better funded as a result.

I can document my income so buying the house and car last year was easier. I could always afford it but now I could prove I could afford it.

Best way to get a job in poker now involves a "hot Tub Time Machine".

Seriously, before investing a lot of money in a dealers school, ask around the casinos you might want to work in. Find out if they hire from outside or only from within.

In many cases, they only want to hire from within, rewarding those employees who have proven themselves loyal and have a track record they can refer to.

If the casinos you would like to work in hire poker dealers from within, see what jobs they have available. Start there.

If they hire from outside, they may very well want experienced dealers only or they may prefer to train the dealers themselves. Taking the class MIGHT make you less attractive as a prospect if they think they may have to break what they consider bad habits.

I tell anyone who asks me about getting a job to start by becoming friendly with the floors at the room you want to work in, let them know of your interest in dealing, see what they can suggest. Listen to their suggestions.

What about the DeLorean version? That any good?

Any experienced pit dealers who can discuss how most places go about training dealers to learn new games?

semi-hijack, I wish more casinos would crosstrain their dealers. I would definitely like the ability to deal pit games.

It ain't brain surgery, trust me (And I agree, I would love to be able to train for poker)

I don't know anything about Tony Shelton's Poker Dealing School, but I do love me some Tony Shelton. Dude is old school, if he's teaching, you can rest assured that you're being taught the RIGHT way.

Tony used to floor at Binion's poker room on grave shift (back when the Binion name meant something). He'd walk into the room, and it looked like one of those old movies where the Heavyweight Champ walked into a bar, and everyone in the joint smiled and wanted to shake his hand.

I'm just glad someone told me who Tony Shelton is.

When I have seen people from the pit deal poker, they have always been bad at it. In fairness, if they were good at it I wouldn't have known they were from the pit so there might be more that are successful at it than I am giving credit for. I do know that craps dealers have a shot at dealing poker, but blackjack dealers seem to be a lost cause to me (and yes I know that most craps dealers also deal blackjack).

I had new employee training with aa 30+ year LV veteran of the business, and I learned that BJ dealers have the stereotype of being the bottom rung. That guy had more good stories about working in the gaming business than anyone I've ever heard. Well, maybe it's because he had plenty of time to tell them to me because new employee training was a ridiculous FIVE days. (Care to guess the company. I know you can!)

I'd like to learn dice if Arizona ever legalizes it. I think that would be good to know. I've heard the saying that if you know dice, you can always get a job. That still true today?

Anyone deal dice here? Do you like it?

I think you're selling the pit dealers short because you're accustomed to a high level of poker proficiency, which is going to be lacking from any break in poker dealer, regardless of casino dealing background. I have a hunch that a bj dealer who was also "trained" to deal poker got a one week class, and only gets a day here or there of actual table time. It's tough to hone your skills if you don't get the practice.

We had the luxury of training 60 casino dealers to deal poker. It's a huge advantage to the casino from a labor standpoint. If the poker room is slow, the casino gets to open more tables than planned. Additionally, there are always enough poker dealers on property to run full spread.

Every dealer gets 3-5 days in the poker room per week. It gives them a break and changes it up too. And with that much dealing time, they become proficient very quickly.

Yes, you are right. It isn't the dealers it is places that mix and match have pit people running the poker room and figure if they can deal they can deal poker. It would certainly be advantagous to have poker dealers be able to deal in the pit and I have never seen it done where they bothered to actually teach the dealer to deal poker. I went to one room where they did this and there were dual rates that didn't know how to cut the cards.

At a new room in Pennsylvania I work at, we have our tips counted and get to take home half of them and the other half show up in our checks. We get taxed the full amount.

really? You think the guy with a hand that qualifies for the bad beat is going to fold?

I know the big rooms in Vegas use tax compliance. Basically the IRS and the casino determine an hourly amount the dealers will get taxed on, and that is the number that the base pay gets taxed on. Fair amount of dealers in those rooms end up with close to $0 checks after taxes/benefits get taken out so they are basically all cash.

In Harrah's Chester in PA, I know the dealers have everything counted up and taxed, but then get half put on the check and are allowed to take the other half home in cash.

I had something like this recently, older guy sitting next to a younger Asian gaming at slot machines, the review shows the old guy lean to his left in his chair for about a minute, Asian guy is staring at him wondering WTF is going on, finally old guy falls to floor (was having a stroke), Asian while never taking his hand off the max bet button looks down (still gaming), looks around and then back to his machine until someone else eventually called us to come help him.

Not at my Casino, but one close (Casino at a Racetrack - seperate companies) the Racetrack would give a $5 buffet to the Casino employees, this one Employee would bring his family in on his days off to eat on the single $5 ticket he would purchase, he was finally fired.

Don't you love the guy who rebuys with crumpled 1 dollar bills. Man I love that guy.