When you go to a local bar, you are not forced to interact with the other patrons, but you often do. Poker is different from a local bar because you don't want to be interacting with most people there. In fact despite this, you also might be a fairly unenjoyable person to interact with yourself. So imagine we have a person who has seen some Twitch highlights of the streamer game that will likely go down in history betwixt Hellmuth and his younger friends. They go in to play poker at the casino and they sit down. Everyone is unenjoyable. At a bar you can talk to the bartender though who is basically forced to interact with you. Dealers are different and many of them cannot multitask effectively. We need to likely subsidize the dealer industry to attract top talent. Curious if any casinos or card rooms active on 2p2 would be interested in something like this.

In other words, when it comes to this very specific standpoint, more rake is better.

I don’t understand what you’re proposing. Are you saying card rooms should pay dealers who can multitask more money so they can talk to the players while dealing?

I don’t get it.

Stop harassing bartenders.

Wait a minute….you’re at a bar right now, aren’t you? I see what’s going on now.

I change my mind, I want to unpack this.

When I go to a local bar, I'm pretty much always with people I know – e.g. friends, co-workers, etc. So while I'm not forced to interact with the other patrons, I never need to.

Beyond that, I have been to a local bar by myself on a couple of occasions. One time was to wait for a flight and no, I didn't interact with other patrons. Another time was to do some work in a place open later than the nearby Starbucks, and the only person I interacted with was a fellow photog who wanted to talk about gear for a few minutes. And the most frequent situation was during the 2004 World Series, where I sat with other Red Sox fans. So yeah, I was interacting with other patrons.

In my experience, the poker room hasn't really been any worse than a bar when it comes to interacting with others. In fact, I'm likely far more likely to converse with a stranger at the table than a stranger at the local watering hole because, well, we already have at least one thing in common.

This is altogether possible for many people, but that shouldn't be the problem of an owner of a casino, bar, library or any other establishment. Unless you're attending charm school, this is up to you and you only.

I know of no person who would watch the highlights of any poker game, then expect a similar experience at a nearby casino. This is especially true if said poker game involves one of the most famous crybabies in the game (Hellmuth), plus a group people best known for performing in front of the cameras (e.g. Ludwig, Mr. Beast, Ninja, et al). This would be like watching the MLB celebrity softball game, then going out to your local rec league and wondering why you don't see Desus & Mero, Bryan Cranston and JoJo Siwa.

Not for nothing, but if bartenders didn't interact with the customers, they would just be a couple of schmoes holding bottles behind a counter for no apparent reason. They are forced to interact with you in the same way your dental hygienist is forced to interact with you when you go in for a cleaning.

I'm not sure how this makes them different from bartenders, but okay. Also, bartenders and poker dealers are probably equally adept at multitasking. However, bartenders tend to have more down time to fill than poker dealers do. Head to your local watering hole during a busy happy hour and chances are, you and your barkeep are not likely engaging in a whole lotta badinage.

On the other hand, if dealers WERE allowed to converse freely with the players AND your opponent in the hand is Christoph Vogelsong, then I'm sure he would regale in stories about your last final table or your daughter's quinceanera or next week's fantasy football draft.

See my above post.

If casino owners could pay their dealers so much that their room attracts the "top talent" after the players collectively state they are willing to pay more to fund the increased compensation, then yes, I'm sure they might consider your proposal.

I’d much rather be a bartender than a dealer.

I don't like this idea in particular but the overarching point is valid.

Over the years poker has become too much about math and memorization and too little about social skills (and I say it as someone who was programming a solver before Cepheus). Doesn't matter online but live it's often a poor experience as you're sitting around IRL bots. We could try modifying the rules of live poker to encourage consequential table talk and live tells (like that idea I posted before about being able to guess another player's exact hand) but it's hard to get people to change. Maybe a new card game with betting needs to be invented that will have a better balance and it can take over.

I agree. We should play poker with shots and beers to stop all these GTO Nerds. Make it if you open a hand you have to do a shot. They soon will be playing less optimal and it will be more fun.

It could be a business model to have lightly dressed attractive women as poker dealers to keep you playing and raking. Just like those bars in asia that employ girls to get you drinking endlessly.
Hell, maybe the extra testosterone could get people to play more aggro, attempt more big bet bluffs. Some dudes get instantly aggressive to try and impress when a woman is around.

no poker needs pros and regs to stop being so miserable to play with and realize losing players are their customers and should be treated accordingly.

Yes lets force alcoholism and irresponsible drinking on people. If you want to drink yourself into oblivion be my guest but stop trying to kill other peoples Brain cells

Talkative dealers are distracting and bad for poker, often leads to mistakes while dealing and delays. There's one in particular at my local casino who comes on to the male players and makes sexual jokes about tipping her box.

But is she hot?

The poker deal is there to do a job. Not provide a social interactive experience.

The incentive for the bartender to do their job and be “friendly” is solely based on how attractive you are or how much you will tip. And also they are there to “look good”.

Unless my poker dealer looks like this, I not be talkin.




Dealer: Sir, Bet or check?

Patron: Marry

No and that be the problem. J/k. Makes no diff to me I’m into dudes.

I was wondering how long it would take for the first person to come in and state that they don't want for the dealer to chat with players.

According to other OP post there is no need to consult players to see if they are willing to pay more. OP said casino could just go to the player boxes and take whatever is needed to cover the pay increase.

Hence the username? Heyo!

It must be the stakes I play, but I've rarely been at a poker table that didn't at least have 2-3 people with whom I've struck up an enjoyable conversation, regardless of who initiated it.

At least, that has been my experience in cash games. Tourneys not so much because so often you get reassigned as the event advances. But even then, the last time I played in a tourney at Stones, I was bummed to get moved from a very lively table to a quiet one. The first table was much more fun. In fact, those who followed the Postle saga might remember Alisha Duckworth from the archived videos. She was definitely the social center of the first table.

I think this all depends on how we’re defining conversation. When I’m playing, I’m not there to make friends and have long-winded philosophical conversations with strangers I’ll likely never see again. That distracts me from the game and I don’t like it.

That being said, I do appreciate brief questions, jokes, and wittiness between hands to lighten the mood a bit. But once the cards are dealt again, back to business.

Strangers you’ll never see again? Where do you play??? All I wanna do is play with strangers I’ll never see again but it’s always the same damn ugly mugs

That’s what the cocktale waitresses are for

I think poker works fine as it is. Just don't play <5/10 or <$1500 for tournaments