I apologize for my hasty response. I know in my experience in midwest casinos, they are usually a death knell.

I'm thinking a part of it is related to your room being cards only. The poker room gets all of management's attention instead of being some quaint waste of space that is held in contempt. The best people stay in the poker room.

New dealers are brought in as seasonal workers and asked to stay on if things work out.

Dealers who develop bad attitudes are fired.

Abuse players get banned right away. Dealers don't have to deal with bad players and don't have that as a reason to be in a bad mood.

People from that state are genuinely nice.

I watched a kid get mouthy with a bartender the other night, and it occurred to me, "OMG, this kid thinks she owes him something. He's thinking, 'I am a customer, and you owe it to me to overlook things like I didn't bring my ID,'" or whatever it was they were arguing about.

Two nights later, this guy shows up ITT to complain that a dealer didn't give the respect he was "owed". Not respect that he had done anything to earn, but respect that he expects to be granted.

The problems are clear. About every time I've ever thought to myself "unions are archaic and should be disbanded" some company will do something so insane I snap back and remember why unions were formed in the first place.

But I see no evidence dealer unions in Vegas are actually useful. I'd be happy to learn otherwise, but best I can tell the unionized pit dealers in Vegas are no better off than the non-union dealers.

But something should be done about the insane part time craze sweeping Vegas. Almost every poker dealer is part time. And almost every poker dealer seems to work two (or three jobs). Gee... so you have hundreds of dealers each working 20 hours a week for CET and 20 hours a week for MGM. They are working fulltime, but get no benefits. Ain't that clever of the oligopoly?

He's paying attention.

Three times he heard the dealer tell him it was his turn.

Intentionally holding up the game. Even more disrespect that you are giving him credit for.

Well lets be realistic about this. There are 2 union houses in town. And both have only recently ratified contracts. In the relatively short time the contracts have been in place what basis would any of us have to know there has been much effect.

We do know that the existence of the contracts protects the dealers from arbitrary unilateral changes in there employment agreement and that is the most important benefit they need. Whether in this short period of time the company's would have imposed any such changes is just not known by us.

We can also suppose that these contracts are not the best possible for the workers because of the timing of contracts at an economic slowdown and the fact that dealers are still overwhelmingly non-union meaning during these contract negotiations the unions were not bargaining out of a place of power. But over time those things may change.....

In early 2001, two casinos voted to unionize. They excluded poker from the bargaining unit. I left Vegas shortly after that, but my understanding is that the dealers ended up with less money in their pocket.

I have no idea what happened in 2001. When I arrived in 2004 none of the dealers were union.

Since then Wynn dealers and Caesars Palace dealers have joined a union. Caesars Palace dealers only ratified their contract in July. The Wynn Dealers ratfied theirs about 2 years ago. I do not believe any previous union efforts resulted in a contract.

As to ending up with less money in their pocket. But I remember my days as a member of the UFCW. My dues were trivial. I understand that there are some fields such as electricians and plumbers where the dues may be substantial but typically they function in a very different capacity actually sending members out on jobs ......

From what I have read paying dues is optional for the dealers, and those that pay are paying about $36 per month. Thats going to be barely noticeable in each pay check.

Certainly the unilateral toke grab by Steve Wynn cost much more for those dealers than their union dues. And while the Wynn contract ultimately had to accept that (pending the legal actions) he never would have been able to pull that off if dealers had been union all along. Its a lot harder to overturn that then it is to stop it from happening in the first place.

In early 2001 (maybe late 2000) pit dealers at every property (that I know of) voted on the union. The Tropicana and the Stratosphere voted to unionize, the rest voted against it. My understanding was the union then decertified because they had no strength to get concessions from the casino (specifically they started paying dues, but saw no offsetting increase in pay). I left Vegas shortly after the vote, so I do not have firsthand knowledge of the aftermath. My understanding is that the union left those dealers feeling cheated; that the union was unable to do a thing for the dealers.

Weird first down tonight. Big pot breaks out in a limit game, three people to the river, board shows 98789r. All three check.

SB has to show or muck first. He mucks.

BB is next. He hesitates.

Button turns up his cards, tabling 76. I announce, "Nines and eights, with a seven."

BB mucks. Everyone gasps.

OK, so that's nothing new, so here's the interesting part:

SB, who obv had just mucked a winner, demands of BB, "Why did you muck??? He was playing the board!"

And it wouldn't be as funny, except it happened again, later in the same down, with three different players! First to show decided to muck her unimproved A-high rather than show it, and then was stunned when I shipped the pot to some dude with unimproved K-high.

Does anyone know when the venetian will be hiring for the next DSE? I'm not working, and going to use the tourneys to keep me afloat until I can land a permanent dealing job. Thanks in advance. Please pm me if possible with any info, it is much appreciated.

Much thanks to whoever ran that douche out of this thread.

I hope the posts were moved rather than deleted. The guy himself was clearly a profoundly negative example, but the ensuing discussion touched on some important issues such as what responsibilities staff have toward abusive players, how to deal with that sort of player, etc.

Have you tried calling the V and asking them this question? They would be the best source for info such as this IMO.

I do wish you GL in finding a permanent gig though.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...eacts-1242275/

He hasn't had much of a chance to respond recently because I had to tempban him for trolling a Poker Venues thread. Hopefully he'll come back a bit calmer.

But was it what he said or how he said it?

Yes.

Oops, I forgot the other weird thing, same down:

Five players see the flop for two bets. I put down the flop, and as the first player bets, the third player asks me, "Dealer, was there a raise preflop?"

"I'm not allowed to help you recall the action on previous betting rounds," I explained as the second player called.

"I understand that," said the third player. "But I never called the raise, and if there WAS a raise, I owe the pot three chips."

"Oh God, don't tell me that!", I blurted. I count the pot to see if it's wrong, all the while thinking, "How on earth are we going to sort THIS mess out??? Can we bring back the flop after a bet and a call? He DID speak up before the flop action began, it just wasn't clear that he was pointing out a problem, so we didn't stop the action....I've been dealing 12 years now and have never needed to bring back a flop, this is so humiliating...."

Luckily, the pot was right. Thank God.

The player just wanted to put in what he owed, even if nobody else noticed he owed it. He had no idea that this would involve any more than shipping in what he owed. When I explained all this to him, he laughed and said, "In that case, I'll keep my mouth shut next time!"

That was one weird down to start a shift.

did you just count the pot or did you re create the action? did you announce the size of the pot?

i was just thinking that he could be getting the information he asked for depending on your response. it's not much of an advantage to gain, just curious.

Just wanted to report that my technique of shooting imaginary force lightning at the floor while on a deadspread in order to get an EO worked perfectly.

Try it!

I stacked the pot, and cut it into five two-bet-sized stacks, to show the pot was right (five players saw the flop for two bets, including the blinds). But no, I didn't announce a dollar amount, only showed that it was right, and assured everyone verbally that it was right.

If I recall correctly, you've made a few videos on proper dealing techniques before. I think a video of this technique could be really useful for your fellow dealers as well!

I had an all in at a tournament the other day, Player 1 (SB)had $4100T (after the antes) and shoved.

Players 2 (BB) checked and 3 called the BB of $5KT.

I ran out a straight on the board and now had a pot to split 3 ways, sort of,

One player said he was going to the restroom while "the dealer tries to figure it out".

I pulled out $4100T and gave it to the SB, gave $5KT to the each of the other 2 players then chopped the antes 3 ways.

The player who went to the restroom missed a BB hand.

When he came back, would have been great to tell him you couldn't figure it out so you just gave everyone back their bets and chopped the antes.

I use the Jedi mind on trick on rotation coordinators. I’ve had limited success. What they say about it only working on weak minded individuals seems to be true. This one guy, I won’t even try it on. I’m afraid he might be a Sith Lord.