I'm very thankful I learned the proper way to cut checks from the start.

In the beginning, spend most of your time learning to deal on the bases. A lot of new dealers spend too much time learning keys for props and not enough time working on properly paying place, come, and line bets.

Memorize all the stick calls even if you don't use them. In my experience, most dealers don't make full stick calls. If you know them, you can replay them in your head when you are on base and they will tell you what to do.

Always remember to cut out payouts with your inside hand (closest to the box) and hand them off with your outside hand.

You should be able to pick checks too. Get some stacks of checks and practice drop cutting and picking. Practice a lot and do it with both hands. You need to be able to cut and pick checks with both hands.

Learn these things and work on your 7x tables like Wetdog said above.

Had a stinky situation last week. There were rumblings among some poker staff that one guest had a foul odor. Not only that, but it was a large female and she was sitting in the one seat. Now I was about to push in and was joking with my floor that I have a weak stomach and if I called him over he might have to relieve me.

I meander to the table, and pace a few times behind the woman, and find that it's noticeable, but not bad. I then tap out and sit down, and the stench hits me like a ton of bricks. One other dealer described the smell as "rotten pussy." I immediately took defensive measures of nearly sitting in the 10 seat's lap, not turning my head to the left, and breathing through my mouth the rest of the down. Despite those measures, I would get a whiff every few minutes and stopped myself from heaving a few times. While trying not to die, she is yapping about how it is her birthday, and winning every pot and has 5x starting stack in level 3.

Once I hit the 20 minute mark I decided to tough it out, and when the push came through I power walked away from the table and conferred with the floor. Here is where it goes from a guest issue to a staff issue. After telling the floor that it's a level of bad that needs to be addressed, the floor calls over the manager on duty(MOD), who we explain the situation to. The MOD at first is resigned to his fate of an awkward situation, but decides to wait until the break in 28 minutes to talk to her.

By that time the MOD has brought over another manager to have a meeting of the minds, and I jump into the conversation. The other manager asks if any players have complained, and we tell him that to this point it has only been staff members almost vomiting. To which he spouts some bull**** of "Our policy is that until another guest complains, we allow them to continue playing." To which my first reaction is 'bullpoop that is a policy' and secondly he basically said he doesn't care about his employees. I was so mad I had to leave the conversation and immediately took an EO. Had I been told to go back to that table I would have adamantly refused and maybe spouted off at someone, so definitely one of my better EO decisions!

I've never worked in a room that wouldn't immediately ask the guest to leave or do something about it. Proper hygiene is a requirement every where I can think of.

It's a TDA rule I believe. If not it is one of our house rules. We brought this to the attention of the MODs but they continued with "our policy..."

If its not bothering other guests --- then whats the problem? Are you so fragile you can't be near an odor for 30 minutes? I don't really care if the dealers don't like it .... they are getting paid to be there and its not a safety issue.

My only issue would be about whether its bothering guests who aren't speaking up. If I were the manager i would wait for the break and then approach the neighboring players and very discretely see if anything is bothering them (You don't go and ask them if the player next to them smells bad, you show some discretion).

For sure, and the floor suggested doing exactly that until the MOD took over and didn't want to get involved.

I tend to agree with you, but you need to know this was one of the worst odors I have ever smelled on my life. There was another dealer that EO'd because of it and he needed to get some hours in. Luckily I am now on vacation and didn't mind a lazy week prior to it.

You can't rely on the other guests to speak up. They may not know who the offending player is, or they may feel uncomfortable bringing it up.

New shooter coming out bet craps any seven hi-lo yo. Get your bets in now while the dice are in the middle. Dice are out.

Eight no field eight mark the eight. It came easy who wants it hard. We have second roll yo, crap check, hard ways. Get them in now while they're in the middle. Dice are out. Point is eight.

Nine nina center field nine,comes and don'ts to the nine. Dice are out, point is eight.

Q for the poker dealers: when you deal tournaments i assume you get an hourly wage out of the tournament rake. how does that hourly compare to your average hourly when dealing cash games?

Something like $10/down as opposed to $20/down on cash. It will vary from room to room though.

My hourly wage is the same for cash games and tournament (our hourly wage doesn't come specifically out of the tournament fee), I have worked in many rooms and Vegas and that is standard here. The only exceptions I have seen have been private tournaments events. (often these are the types of events where you expect no tip, and the players aren't paying an entry fee).

If you are asking about whether after tips we get paid better for tournament or cash that is going to depend. I have been in places where the tournament downs were typically better than a dealer would do in a cash game (but both obviously can vary). Although in more recent years I have generally found that tournament downs have gone down and are often significantly less then we would expect to make in a cash game. In large part this is becoming more common as players seek longer structures which spread out the tip/"withheld for staff" money even further.

I can tell you that in my room dealers are generally disappointed if their rotation consists of too many tournament downs.

Looks like I'm heading to Golden CO!

Lest anyone think $20/down is standard, it isn't.

I got a nasty pm once from someone outside the industry that told me I must suck as a dealer if I don't average at least $40 a down. I figured out how to use the ignore function that day.


We probably shouldn't open this thread up to what is/isn't the standard for tipping though. It always invites the trolls to this thread.

As a non-dealer, what the heck does "burn and turn" mean to a dealer? To me, the phrase means the dealer is burning a card and dealing the turn. What am I missing?

When we say it like that, means for a premature burn and turn.

Oh, so like the action hasn't completed yet?

Yes. It's both easy to do if you're not paying attention, and has a huge impact because the natural turn card ends up changing, making it one of the highest visibility problems a dealer can bring upon himself.

Just to nail this down for us civilians…

Does “turn” refer to turning a card over, or does it refer to 4th street? In other words, could a burn and turn occur on the flop or river?

We use the phrase to refer to a premature river as well ...... not so much a flop....

But I'm not sure if the actual phrase evolved from the term "Turn" meaning the fourth card, or "Turn" meaning to turn over the card.

Almost certainly the latter.

The flop used to be called the turn, and the fourth and fifth streets didn't have special names. That's the way it was when Brunson wrote Super System.

ME: FLOOR!

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR: What's up?

ME: Thinking that the action was complete, the young lady in Seat #3 tabled her hand. But the action wasn't complete--

SEAT #1: (with a mischievous grin) How do YOU know what she was thinking?

ME: Objection sustained, I'll rephrase...

***

Two downs later, I swear:

SEAT #1: Reraise (makes it four bets preflop)

SEAT #4: YTF, is that legal?

ME: Objection overruled. I'll allow it.

Limit poker, stakes high enough that the players should be paying attention, and we're playing 4 chips/8 chips, so the pots can look big. UTG raises preflop, the entire table calls around to the button, so there are a million chips out there waiting to be pulled in. SB notices that I'm looking at him, which tips him off that it's on him, and he asks, "Did someone raise?"

I turn my head and look back to make sure the entire betting area of the table is littered with a series of two-bet stacks. It is. I assure him that yes, we're playing for two bets now.

"Who raised?"

"Well, let's examine the evidence. Judging by the splatter patterns of the chips, I'd say the Point Of Origin was right here," pointing to UTG's raise.

When we finally got past this and I got to pull in the bets, I muttered, "I'm doing 'CSI: Shakopee' over here..."

Funny burn and turn story. My first live down after training, right before i go in and with no physical training on the rake, my boss says "oh yeah, for the rake, you burn-turn-rake. Burn, turn, rake. Got it?" I answer yeah, seems easy enough.

I get to the table and deal my first hand. The hand plays out to showdown, it seems to go ok, when my boss whispers in my ear "you missed the rake once."

I just nod my head and think hmmm could have swore I took the rake just like he said to. So I deal another hand, same thing hand goes to showdown, and my boss whispers in my ear that I missed the rake once again. Now this time I made damn sure I raked, so I was confused but too nervous to say anything so I nod my head again.

I deal a third hand, and after this he has another dealer tap me out. I was relieved tbh. We step aside and he says again "you're missing the rake sometimes."
Now that I'm off the table I say "I raked every hand, which one did I miss?"
Now he explains "you didn't rake any on the flop though."
"Oooooh you said burn turn rake, I thought I was supposed to wait until the turn! Now I got it boss, every time I turn a card over."
I got a pat on the back after that revelation.