Hey everyone. I'm about to get a position as a card dealer for a 5 day NLHE tournament soon but there may be the possibility of a job afterwards.

I've dealt NLHE plenty of times but I may be asked to deal other games, definitely Omaha. Can anyone give any advice for dealing games like Omaha (regular PLO, 6-card, H/L)? I know the rules of all the games fwiw.

For High Low games make sure you know the shortcuts to paying the quartered pots.

What would these shortcuts be?

The two common situations are one player having high and low and another player having the same low. So the first player gets 3/4 and the the second player gets one quarter.

If you were heads up during the hand ... you have left the bets in front of them (not brought into the pot). If they weren't heads up you still have the river action in front of them.

rather then bring those bets into the pot and then divide them, there is a simple shortcut. Take 1/2 of the bets in front of the player who only has the low and give it to the player with high and low and then have them take back the chips in front of them (proceed as usual in dividing the chips already brought into the pot).


In the situation where you have three players at showdown with one having high and the other two having the same low (or vice versa) .... the players will have the last bets still in front of them .... rather then bringing those bets, take the amount fo the river bet (the amount that is in front of each player) from the pot and give it to the player getting 1/2 the pot, have the players take back what is in front of them, then divide the center pot as usual.

To be honest, I'm not convinced that these are significantly faster, but it will keep the experienced high low players from having their heads explode......

plus when you do these shortcuts smoothly they tend to think you know what you are doing .... which means some of them will ride you a little less.

High-Low players can be unbelievably impatient with dealers when it comes to identifying winning hands and splitting the pot. I say this as a player, not a dealer.

Expect and be prepared for it. Go as fast or as slow as you need to go. Do not let them get to you or fluster you. Do not let them rush you into making mistakes.

Note that these only work in established markets with experienced players and dealers. In more isolated markets, the players won't be able to follow what just happened.

I'm not convinced that these are significantly faster

Yeah, my advice to a newb would be to skip the shortcuts, pull in all the bets, and make sure the pot gets split correctly. You'll learn the shortcuts later, once you've got the fundamentals down.

My advice would be practice reading hands on your own time--and take the face cards out of the deck before you do it!

Thanks for the comments regarding H/L. I would say that initially I'll probably pull in the bets to get used to chopping up the pot. H/L will be much rarer played than regular PLO, would anyone be able to comment on that?

In hi lo always stack the chips if there are 2 low cards by the turn. Be aware of what the nut low will be by the river if there are two low cards on the turn and always know what the nut high is after the river is out. Knowing what you are looking for makes it much easier and having the chips stacked already in even stacks saves time.
In PLO always know the amount In The pot and what a pot raise is at all times. Can't be learned over night it's a call of the raise plus everything in the pot.

I know to keep the pot size known and the pot limit raise for each bet. Looking out for the nut low (if any) and nut high is a good idea. I'm wondering if there's anything like the way the cards are positioned at showdown in regular PLO - i.e. they'll be placed like hold'em but will the two player holecards used be positioned differently in any way to show those are the two used?

Generally you should not need to touch the holecards (I'm somewhat troubled about your talking about the positioning of holecards since it seems to indicate you are inclined to be doing something with them) ..... however if you have a player who doesn't understand why you are saying that his opponent has a particular hand ..... then go ahead point out the cards that play ....

When I say touching the holecards, I mean when I move them to the centre above the board to be placed in view for the rest of the table whether it be at showdown or when two or more players are all-in.

I'll be honest, I didn't think there would be almost any differences in dealing Omaha than Hold'em apart from the obvious 4 cards and pot limit but I was just interested to know if players (and dealers) here had any little preferences. Thanks for the H/L info.

This is something that should not occur.

Sorry? Are you saying that it doesn't occur in Omaha or at all? It frequently occurs in Hold'em so I don't quite understand what you mean. This is in tournaments, not cash, so that's probably why we're getting mixed up. For cash, I understand that players keep their holecards and the dealer does not touch them.

It shouldn't occur at all (with the exception of you are dealing for television and you are being told to do it for production....)

I was unaware of that. I guess it's just what we've always done in this casino. Good to know though!

Dealers moving cards around during the showdown happens in a lot of jurisdictions that have silly procedures. In a perfect world, you shouldn't need to touch them. If the procedure where you work is to move them, then follow the procedure.

Here's how I do it where, thankfully, I don't have to touch them: "Jack-ten makes a straight," and I push up the three board cards being played. You usually don't need to push board cards when reading the low. The only time you would is if there is more than three low cards on board, and an opponent isn't conceding a worse hand because he's having trouble seeing what beats him. In that case, you'd push up the three board cards the low winner is playing, and move the two winning hole cards just enough to highlight them.

1. I would worry more about making the big mistakes that piss everyone off - pushing the wrong pot, misreading the board - over making the small mistakes that will piss the regs off - not being fast enough.

O8 regs are super easy to piss off.

2. Don't pull cards in in O8. In HE this is acceptable because people have two cards and there's a high only. In O8 this quickly becomes a cluster****.

Verbalize your thoughts, e.g., "Four to showdown ... Player 1, queen jack for the straight no low ... Player 2, trip 4s for the high, five two for the low ... Player 3 eights full of fours for the high, ace three for the low ... *muck first two hands* ... Player 4 ace high for the high, ace three for the low. One high, two lows. Three quarters, one quarter."

Be especially careful about counterfeited lows. Sure, you may know the rules, but can you recall them while staring at A346 vs. A245 vs. 2346 on an A235 board while all the regs are yelling at you and each other? Take a breath, tell yourself (and the players if necessary) you got this, and go through step by step.

They will make snide remarks like, "That took long enough." Remind yourself that you've got more time left than they do and ignore them.

Eventually you will want to get your speed up. But worry about that later.

Accuracy before speed.

Count the actions to yourself, announce every street.

* When dealing, count 1-x for your first cards pitched, then repeat that count for subsequent cards. Not only will this reduce misdeals, it will increase your speed. It establishes a rhythm in your head, like dancing.

* "Five players to the flop." Now people have a chance to correct you if you're wrong, and you've imprinted it in your brain. Count them in your head, reset when there's a bet. Check (one), check (two), check (three), bet (one), call (two), fold (three), fold (four), call (five). This helps prevent errors.

Accuracy before speed.

Don't let players bully you into figuring out multiple side pots after the hand. Do it before you continue dealing. For that matter, don't let other dealers or supervisors tell you to figure it out at the end. I've had auditions where the people interviewing me told me to worry about it at the end. I said, "Nope, doing it now."

Accuracy before speed.

The two above comments are excellent, thank you. I've always gone about my dealing at the speed I need (not that it's slow by any means).

This... Didn't realize how universal Omaha Hi/Lo players can be but it doesn't surprise me.. lol you describe the situations to a tee of exactly what it's like... As a dealer it's nice to know there's some other experienced dealers on here helping eachother out for sure..

I'm dealing our round by round game today which due to limits on the chips we can sell (charity hall) the game runs as a 1/3 NLHE and 1/2 PLO w/ different rules on the straddles that I have to be refreshed on when I get there. Used to run as a 2/5 (not bad for Flint).