In many cases I believe the layout is designed to keep dealers from facing each other.

why is that a bad thing?

Are you asking why the dealers facing each other is a bad thing? Or why it is a bad thing to layout the tables to avoid it?

The answer to the first I think is that it isn't necessarily a bad thing, but management may feel it is a distraction.

The answer to the second question would be that it's a bad thing if in avoiding the dealers facing each other you end up with an inefficient layou.

1) Not that it's a big issue, but Dealers facing each other may 'roll eyes' or communicate somehow that might be considered unprofessional.
2) Back to back Dealers is an interesting one since you now force seats 4-7 to share an isle at two tables. This might create an issue for food/drink carts?

3) I think Dealers should be able to see the check in desk/Floor to verify a Player is sitting at the right table, open seats or verifying a Floor call has been made .. and of course, voice projection of Floor calls in the 'right ' direction.
4) Although I don't mind sitting against a wall, it probably would be bad for TV viewing, especially the one above their head. There is an argument for making people face a wall as well, especially if no TV is on that wall.

I'm sure there's more .. GL

Slight rant

Did you guys deal with *******s when you first started? Did it affect your mentality at all?

Had a guy today start ranting because there were 3 all ins pre flop and a call. So I told the table I'd just run it and figure it out afterwards and they agreed (since theres no reason to sit there for 5 min making side pots when the big stack might win and take it all anyway). Well the short stacked all in won, he had 61$, and there were 4 people in total, so I told him he got 244$ (bb and sb were in the hand too). He then started going on about how he feels he got shorted and I did it wrong. The table all kept saying it was right and I did everything fine, but he said that isn't how it should be done. I should make all the side pots first so he knows. He just kept going on and on about it and of course didn't tip at all.

Not sure if I should have made the side pots first but as much as I've played I've seen most dealers just run it then figure it out afterwards. If it's all pre flop of course. Is this okay to do?

Then at another table I overheard a player who I believe was talking about me say something was slow and taking forever. Not sure if he was talking about me but the woman next to him just said "it's okay it gives you more time to hold onto your money". Haven't really had anybody complain about me being slow but I know I'm not the quickest. Accuracy > Speed while I'm a newbie. That guy also never tipped and seemed crabby.

I think it was just a bad batch of people today idk. Guess I see why people say you need to have thick skin to deal lol.

You will deal with this for as long as you are in this business.

On a side note: Make your side pots first.

Being correct is not enough. You have to show your work.

Dude just wanted an excuse not to tip you.

I sometimes leave bets out and hope the big stack wins.

When the small stack wins I'll grab 61 from each stack, give him that plus any
money in the middle and muck his hand, while I'm explaining to him what I'm doing.

Then go to the next best hand and repeat.

Side pot story from this week:

LHE, seven players see a flop. One player is all-in preflop for the full amount, no side pot yet. Another player goes all-in-for-less on the flop. I pull in his bet, plus a similar amount from each active player, into the main pot, "and the rest is on the side." I'm announcing everything that I'm doing.

I put out the turn card, but before anyone can act, I announce, "TIME!", because I'm thinking, "Shouldn't I have TWO side pots?"

I explain my mistake, and my remedy. Takes two seconds. No one says a word, or looks upset.

I'm pretty sure I could have dragged every bet into the middle, and no one would have noticed until the showdown.

I'm dealing our high-limit mixed game. I come in during the stud/8 round.

Two players on opposite ends of the table play a big pot. A has a boat, B has a busted low draw: T776433. He tables it, announcing sadly, "Missed my low, made two pair."

I kill his hand, and pull in all his bets to ship down to A. A is one of those players who is always trying to correct the dealer when the dealer isn't wrong. He asks, "Didn't he have a deuce?" To his credit, he doesn't want the whole pot if he's only supposed to get half. And he *was* far away from the tabled cards, and I *did* kill them pretty quickly. I assure him that no, there was no deuce there, and I recite the 7 cards that were tabled. He accepts this, and we move on.

Next hand, B plays another big pot heads-up against a different player. These two were the only players to put chips in the pot on 3rd street, so I never pulled in a single bet from these guys. I had plenty of chips in the middle from the antes to protect the burn cards.

They end up chopping this one. I ship them each their share of the antes.

B looks concerned. "Wait--how much did just you give him?"

I gave him a thorough accounting of how much was shipped to each player. It didn't make sense to him.

"What? How is that possible?" I explained how it was possible (they were only chopping the antes).

"So you didn't pull ANY bets in on 3rd street?"

All I had to do was say, "Yes, that is correct," and we could have proceeded. But I didn't say that, and I have no idea why I didn't. My best guess is, I get as uncomfortable as the players do when the game stops for no good reason, and my primary responsibility is to keep the game moving (that is NOT my primary responsibility--but at times like this, it FEELS like it is!).

So instead, I blurt out, "B, it's right--trust me!" I said it so firmly, like it was The Last Word, that B froze, and all the uninvolved players looked up from their phones.

I immediately apologized. "Wow, that didn't come out right!" B was willing to drop it, so I started pitching the next hand, but added, "Wow. I have NEVER said that before while dealing. 'It's right, trust me'?"

B asked, "What's wrong with that?"

"If I were playing, I wouldn't want a dealer to say that to ME! I'd want him to show me WHY he was right!" A few players reacted this--I guess they also thought I was making a big deal about nothing, and their reactions seemed to say, "Fair point!"

But B put this all to rest: "YTF, if *you* say 'It's right', then it's right! And I have no problem with it."

PLAYER: Wait, where's the button? Oh, I have it.

(Not sure I've ever seen that one before.)

(One hand later, this guy interrupted me when i tried to answer another player's question. He gave a three- minute, 100% wrong answer.)

Three players see a flop, check it down on every street. They were not in a hurry. Another player was very impatient, was greatly relieved when the showdown finally finished. "Good. Next hand, let's go."

Next hand was an instant replay. After the showdown, he remarked, "another scintillating hand. Let's go!", and posted his BB before I've even pushed the pot.

And I stopped. And looked at him.

He looked confused for a moment... then silently pulled back his BB so I could push the pot to the player next to him.

Speaking of the button, what's with the guy who likes to sit in 2, 3, 7, or 8, and likes to pick up the button while you're pitching, so that its not in the way? I know he's trying to be helpful but all he does is slow the game down. Does he really think I'm incapable of dealing his cards over or around a plastic disc that's about 2 inches across and 1/4 inch high?

PLAYER: Let's hit the bbj! And sit at the bar and drink while we wait to get paid!

OTHERS: Yeah!

PLAYER: YTF would love an Irish Car Bomb!

YTF: Huh?

PLAYER: Because you're from Boston.

YTF: Yeah, the North End! The Italian section, not those hooligans in Southie--

PLAYER: (LOL's) We start talking about Boston, and your accent comes back! "The No'th End"??? LOL!

I've seen plenty of dealers expose a card trying to pitch over the button.

As long as he's not hiding it I have no problem with the help,
even though I have no problem getting cards to the player.

Oh come on, you need to give us the 1 minute shortened version. Can't leave us hanging like this!

If they hold the button still and in view I'm generally ok with it. It does bug me when they hold it in their fist so I can't see it, especially if I'm dealing 4 cards and I forget where it was. Also annoying is when they put their hand over the button or blind and try to jerk it to the side as I'm pitching to them. Having a moving target makes it MORE likely that I'll flip a card.

Our cards are thin and flip easily so I usually try to go around the button rather than over it.

I had a new one the other day. BB has a chip out for his blind. When action comes to him he throws some chips immediately next to, but not touching his chip out for his blind.

Guy at the table: that’s an illegal raise. It’s in the rules that all the chips from a bet have to be touching each other!




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did everyone just start laughing? cuz he cant have been serious right? lol

Years ago I was dealing a tournament and they brought out some "old" KEMs out of a closet somewhere to run it and the difference was shocking. We had all forgotten how good they were.

ShuffleMaster installed little shot-clock-looking things in front of every seat at a couple of our tables. Apparently, we're going to be the place where they're going to test-market a new poker game with a wrinkle. These clocks are all connected to the screen on the table, and there are a couple of foot pedals on the floor for the dealer to hit that somehow controls them (it appears that when Seat 4 acts, I'm to hit the pedal to stop his clock, and start the clock on Seat 5? Take that with a mountain of salt, I don't know what I'm talking about).

I don't know any further details. These things have been installed for weeks, but we haven't done anything with them yet. And I don't know if I'm talking out of school, discussing this publicly...but this equipment has been on public display for a while now, so I don't think I'm letting any trade secrets slip.

So an old co-worker stopped in to play, and he knew none of this. He pointed to the tiny devices attached to the rail in front of each player, and asked, "What's up with this thing, YTF?"

I got three words out when his neighbor interrupted me to give a three-minute definition of a shot clock. Bear in mind, this was a player I've never seen before (or maybe I have, you know I have trouble remembering faces, but this guy had unique eyeglasses and other traits/mannerisms I think I would recall if I had seen before), I'm pretty sure he's never been in the room before...but that didn't stop him from believing he knew much better than I did what was going on in this room, with this table.

I let him get it all out, and when he was finished, I shared with my old friend what I knew. He was a poker dealer, he would be interested in these details, imo.

(I *hate* being interrupted. The psycho bad guy on Amazon's "Goliath" this season goes into a murderous rage when someone interrupts him. I love that guy. But I know poker players tend to think they're smarter and more important than everyone else, especially the hired help, so I can deal with it better in this environment--but this was an all-timer.)

EDIT TO ADD: I should note that this happens a lot at these two tables with these devices. But this guy took it to new levels...Also, whenever a player asks me what the rules/requirements are for the bbj, I *never* answer--because I'm going to be interrupted by a know-it-all, every single time. So I say nothing, and the answer ALWAYS arrives in less than one second. Poker players *love* to show everyone how smart they are--that's the whole reason they made the trip.

This post made me smile, for some reason.

YTF keep us posted about what happens with those devices because it sounds like an absolutely horrible idea.

Yeah, but nobody asked us.