Tonight a dealer actively DISCOURAGED people from playing our game!

When the Big O/PLO mix game was starting two people said they really wanted to try it and the dealer told them "you really don't"

How do you all handle this?

I mean you can go about this two ways

you can get angry, tell the dealer he/she is out of line, call the floor, go to the lead dealer…

or you can just keep your cool and laugh at the dealer and say “more cards is more fun for the players, but less fun for the dealer. you should try it out! we’ll teach you how to play” or something like that. then if they walk off, you can always reprimand the dealer/talk to the floor. you can also just explain to the dealer why that is so bad.

I am going to play devils advocate here. I am not 100% in agreement with the argument I am going to present.

That said, what did the dealer do wrong?

I am assuming that the dealer had some sort of basic friendly relationship with the players.

I am also assuming that the players were playing in another poker game, so by hinting they shouldn't move, the dealer wasn't costing the casino any money. If anything, it might have kept a customer in play longer term (i.e. they might have gone broke faster playing that game).

As a player, I will ask dealers I know and respect about other games and how juicy they are. I have also had dealers I know openly tell me other games were terrible. I greatly appreciated it.

How was this any different?

The dealer was trying to protect people he was friendly with from getting chewed up in the game, which I understand. But at the same time, the dealer is in the box and openly telling people to not sit in our game in front of us.

His job should be to say "open seat" and to deal the cards, not to push people away from playing.


He's shooting himself in the foot because having recs in the game will result in a better game, larger pots, bigger tips. Discouraging them from playing will mean a tighter game, smaller pots, less tips. It hurts the dealer directly, it hurts the players who came for that game and it hurts the house because the table is likely to break sooner.

Then I guess kudos to him for being willing to forego tips in order to do what he thought was the right thing for his friends.

Keep in mind that the dealer's first allegiance is to the poker room, not to the players in general and you in specific. The ideal situation for the poker room is that players play as long and as many hands as possible to generate rake. PLO is notorious for getting stacks in easily and hand strengths are quite different than for NLHE. That makes it easy for a noob to lose multiple stacks quickly. If the noob feels that they were taken advantage of, they may not come back.

So instead of getting angry, just accept the dealer was doing his job.

The dealers job is defined by the casino but I doubt management is telling the guy to find ways to generate more rake or if the dealer even cares and would follow that anyway. Dealer > player relationships are super annoying and sometimes makes me feel like the game is compromised so I understand where OP is coming from. I'd lightly make fun of the dealer and if I kept seeing repeat behaviour I would quietly bring attention to it to the floor.

Doubt op would have a problem if dealer was directing fish to his game.

It's not the dealers job to provide players with input on the quality of a game, the toughness of a game, etc. Their job is to say SEAT OPEN and to deal cards efficiently.

I get what you are saying, but it almost feels like the logical conclusion is that only NLHE gets players and everyone else just has to live with the dealers trashing the game to anyone that shows up with interest in playing a different format.

NLHE? Ick, who wants to play a game where a bunch of knuckle draggers jump up and clap their hands excitedly when they win a $30 pot?

How many dealers do you employ? Specifically, how many dealers do you employ in the card room in question?

If the answer is "zero", I wonder why you think it's up to you to decide what their job is?

(FWIW, that's exactly what I asked somebody who complained about one of our employees and tried to tell me what their job is)

Where did you get this idea.

Ok, well tell me what you think the dealers job is then?

From the School of Condescendence. They also hand out degrees to the "shut up and play ball" crowd.

Also dealers aren't bound to do things only in their job description the whole time they are there I don't think. Like any job.

so what exactly is the dealer’s responsibility to not discourage players from playing a different format? what if the player had already sat down and was going to play? is it ok for the dealer to veto the player’s decisions? “hey bro I know you want to play this game, but trust me, these guys will chew you up and spit you out. you should go play 2/5 NL like you normally do.”

what if a player wants to play higher than they normally play but in the same format? should they discourage them from playing 5/10 NL if they normally play 2/5?

I find this notion that it’s none of OP’s business that the dealer is discouraging people from playing in the game not worthy of reprimand a little strange. is that how people are running their card rooms? if so, why are you even offering these games?

That's a question for the employer of the dealer. Customers are obviously free to voice their opinion or preference. If the card room uses a "shut up and deal" policy in regards to dealers, that's their prerogative. Same as giving dealers the leeway to make their own decisions when it comes to things like that.

Customers also have every right to address the issue with a superior or to take their business elsewhere.

I would have some not kind words for the dealer immediately and temporary reducing tips.

Dealer is openly disrespecting the players and harming the game at the same time (whether short-term or long-term). I probably wouldn't escalate to the floor since dealer should recognize he was out-of-line.

If dealer is problematic in other areas would mention it to the floor eventually.

How is the dealer disrespecting the players? (Let alone openly).

Furthermore, how is he harming the game? Before answering that he is harming it by discouraging players from playing in it, remember that he is encouraging them to stay in their current game. By asking them to move are you not harming their current game?

The more I think about this, the less I have a problem with what the dealer did IF he was talking to a player he was friendly with. The dealer didn't disrespect anyone. He simply stated what he would do to a person who he thought cared about his opinion.

That is called a slippery slope argument.

That type of argument isn't very logically sound. Think about it. The dealer did not do any of those things. Let's discuss what the dealer actually said/did.

Besides, isn't a dealer who calls over a floorman to cut off a very inebriated customer doing basically the same thing you are suggesting? Should dealers stop trying to cut off inebriated players so that way you can fleece them before they sober up?

There's a couple of dealers at my room that openly mock nitty tables because they're too boring for them to deal at I guess. Like STFU and quit trying to tell players how to play. I've even had dealers on a few occasions voluntarily wash the deck to do whatever dumbasses think that does. I've even called them out "who told you to wash the deck?" --- "hurrr, yall arent playin any hands so figured I'd....." what, cost me a hand wasting my goddamn time?

But according to your post, that's not an accurate depiction of what happened

Seriously, just get over it and try to move on. Nothing was said out of the ordinary.

Chides poster for giving slippery slope argument.
Proceeds to do exactly the same thing.
Ironic, isn't it?

I don’t think you know what a slippery slope argument is. I’m asking where we should draw the line. Nowhere in my post am I saying “if we allow this to happen, then this will definitely happen.” I’m asking why it’s acceptable to do one and not the other.

An inebriated customer (I assume you mean so drunk as to be unable to make decisions) is a far cry from a 100% sober customer wanting to jump into a new game. If I see someone who usually plays craps playing a slot machine, should I tell them that it’s a scam? Why do you all even work at casinos if you care so much about players getting taken advantage of?

I am honestly surprised at how much backlash OP is getting.