My stock answer whenever a player tells me "I have never seen that before" or I have never heard of that before." is:

Well now you can't say that anymore.

This. All you needed to say Gil!!

"Can you move just a bit to your left to make room?"

"Am I supposed to be ON the cupholder or BETWEEN cupholders?"

"There are 10 cupholders and 9 players so it won't be exact. Just a few inches to your left is just about right."

confused look

"So am I supposed to be ON the cupholder or BETWEEN cupholders?"

I feel like I'm having this same conversation WAY too often lately. There are lots of new players in town right now who seem baffled by the concept of making room for their neighbor.

II had to ask a player to move last night, to make room for a new arrival. It was late, the game was nowhere near full, and almost no one was sitting in their "correct" spots, but they all had enough room, so no one cared. Another player butted in: "Why are you asking HIM to move? SHE needs to move!"

"If I move her, the new guy gets an inch. If I move HIM, the new guy gets a foot!"

"But she's supposed to be splitting the box..."

Fantastic.

LOL props to your floor

Played a game of poker with some people at work, one of them didn't believe the big blind was live i.e. can raise if limped to. Of course when I told him it's live I got the 'I've been playing poker for 20 years...' speech. Luckily phones and google are a thing now.

can anyone point me to a rule or standard that says holdem boards must be dealt from left to right from the dealers perspective?

I deal left handed and its more ergonomic for me to place the board from my right to my left. [R][T][Flop] from my view.

If seen it dealt this way before. Just wondering if there are any official procedures that indicate this as wrong.

I've seen it done this way during the WSOP, for the flop only.

I think it's fine for the flop, but the remaining turn and river should be put out from left to right, as that's the standard order and how players are reading the board could effect the hand if it's not standard.

I could swear I was watching a heads up tourney on tv (one of those where they had all the big name players... Negreanu, Ivey, Hellmuth, et al) and the flop was dealt normally from left to right, but then the turn and river were to the left of the flop. Maybe it was just for television and maybe I imagined the whole thing, but it tripped me out.

I've never seen it specified, but as a player it would definitely bother me. At dealer school they did tell left handed dealers they can put out the flop either direction, but turn and river still had to be to the right of it.

Thanks for all the responses tho.

I do notice there tends to be uniformity among the left and right handed dealers these days when I go to a particular casino.

As a player, I don't think I'd mind. That said, I'm usually sat, more often than not, in seats 3-8, which at a 10 handed table are opposite the dealer. It seems like these people see boards online from left to right, and they read left to right; they ought to be able to read boards left to right. I can't imagine a player complaining about this.

It seems like we go play live to watch the boards go backwards.

@reducto tho. thanks for the reasoned and experienced response. i'm taking it to heart

This kills me! there is an objectively correct way to distribute 9 (or 10) players, along with a dealer, around an oval. People think the cup holders mean anything and it pisses me off.

I remember this when the NBC HU tourney was a thing. The board was dealt backwards from the dealer's perspective so it looked normal to the overhead cam. Not sure why the couldn't just flip the video.

Not sure if serious...

Yeah, I could definitely see players getting annoyed at that.

The high limit players in my room pay by time rake rather than per hand rake. Often, they'll have one player pay for the whole table based on what card is on the far left on the flop. So if the window card is a 7, the next card is a 2, and the last card is a 5, then the board will be 5 2 7 from left to right, and the guy in the 5 seat will pay everyone's rake.

So these guys would probably get upset by a backwards board.

In case you're wondering, if the first card is a Q or if nobody is seated in the number of the losing seat, we go to the next card. So is the flop is Q 3 K and the 3 seat is empty we'll figure it out on the turn or river.

Reminds me of a HSP episode where they were playing props. One of the props involves the middle card on the flop. The dealer apparently splayed the flop in a 1,3,2 fashion, rather than the typical 1,2,3, and Ivey was like "did you see her take that card out of the middle?"

well yeah. if player in seat 5 complains, he's complaining about how things would appear to him if he were in seat 1. can't he read left to right?

The problem is that players will assume the card closest to the 7 seat is the river because that's where every dealer they've ever seen has put it. The order the cards matters when trying to figure out what someone else is playing.

Even if they are paying enough attention to quickly figure out the order is off, it will be a distraction and many will not like it.

Npt to mention that if a floorperson comes to the table for a problem they will also expect the standard order of cards.

And if turn and river is all face cards,
After action is complete we continue exposing cards until a card A-9 shows up in order to collect time

Thanks to all who provided feedback to my request for ways to continue to improve my dealing. It definitely has helped me focus on things to work on for the upcoming months. I appreciate it.

Guy toying with his fidget spinner proclaims, "Hold'em is boring."

Half the table nods agreement.

I'll never understand people.

Hello All! (I should have posted this sooner)

First, thanks to everyone who posted their early experiences as new dealers. I love reading stories that give a general idea what to expect.

Second, I'm still in class and have 3 weeks to go. The instructor pulled me aside privately after the end of the second week of class. They got permission from the PRM to allow me to submit my license paperwork early. The instructor stated I still need to finish the class and pass the audition, but that they feel I should have not have any major trouble doing so. And hopefully my license will be ready shortly after class ends.

I am very happy about this. I have been practicing at home, and with a small group of friends in between class sessions. So I guess my diligence is paying off.

Finally... wow PLO. Where I will be dealing, they typically spread 1/2 PLO with a $5 bring-in. After that, all bets in increments of $5. We are required to keep total pot in our heads. I am getting it... but wow! I can only imagine the first time I deal it with live players.

-MZo

PLO is my favorite game to deal. Here's a few tricks that might help.

1. Keep track of the amount of the chips that you've already pulled in. Don't keep track of the bets on the table as far as anticipating the amount in case someone says "pot".

Case in point. UTG raises to $10 preflop. 4 players call, including the small and big blind. The pot is $50. Now on the flop, the small blind bets $25 and the big blind raises to $100. The only number I'm keeping track of is the $50 in front of me. I'll figure out the rest later.

Three players call the $100. The small blind folds and you drag in his $25. Now I have $75 in my mind. And I pull in 4 bets of $100. So $475 is on my brain.

2. The "multiply by 3 trick is helpful. Here's one that's better. I've got $75 in front of me when I put out the flop and there are 8 players in the hand. The small blind bets $45. 6 players call. The button says "pot". You're probably doing this in your head....

$45 x 3 = $135. Plus $45 makes $180. Plus $45 makes $225. Plus $45 makes $270. Plus $45 makes $315. Plus $45 makes 360. Plus $45 makes $405. Plus the $75 from the last round of action makes $480.

Here's how I do it. I point (literally) at the $45 bet that the button is facing and say "three" out loud. Then I count all if the other $45 bets around the table and count them out loud. "Four, five, six, seven, eight, NINE." $45 x 9 is $405. And $75 more is $480.

3. Count the cards out as you're pitching them (not out loud, this time. As I'm pitching, I'm thinking "1, 1, 1, 1, 1... 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4."

4. Don't try to anticipate someone saying "pot" and try to have an answer ready. It will just screw you up when they don't bet pot after all.

Good luck!