Poker How To Dealer
How to Become a Poker Dealer Becoming a poker dealer isn’t as simple as applying online or handing your CV into a casino. The most acceptable option is to complete a 1-2-month dealer training course. Poker Dealer Course - Learn How to Deal Poker The Casino College is Nation's premiere Poker Dealing School - and absolutely the best place to learn how to deal Poker. We offer super flexible class schedules & training options to easily fit into anyone's busy schedule. Winning a poker tournament is such a rush, it’s easy to overlook the fact that a tip for the tournament dealers is in order. Unlike regular cash games, dealers are not tipped for each pot won, as no one is going to give a dealer a tournament chip. (And the dealer would not be pleased to receive one as a joke).
The amount that you choose to tip the dealer can have a pretty big impact on your bottom line, especially in small stakes games. If you're playing in a $1/$2 no-limit hold'em game and tipping five dollars or more per hand, you're probably going to be wiping out any profit from that game.
In a live $1/$2 game, a reasonable win rate for a skilled player might be $20 an hour. At a tipping rate of five dollars or more a hand, you might be tipping out $10 to $15 or more per hour of play, which is eliminating almost all of your profit. It is however in the best interest of the players that dealers make reasonable wages since we want the good dealers to have an incentive to stick around and keep dealing.
Competent dealers might be able to deal out 30 to 35 hands per hour in an average live NL game. If they're getting tipped one dollar per hand, they would be making $30 or $35 in tips per hour in addition to any salary. If you're playing those smaller stakes live games, tipping one dollar for every hand won is completely standard tipping protocol.
For those who would prefer to tip higher amounts, two dollars is generous. However, any tip of five dollars or more is almost certainly wiping out the vast majority of any profit that can be expected in a low stakes game.
To really see the effects of this to your own bottom line, start tracking all the money that you spend at a casino or a card room. Write down all the tips for a few sessions and see for yourself how big of an impact managing tipping amounts can make.
In general, I'm very pro‑dealer and there are a few things you can do to support your dealers in addition to tipping appropriate amounts.
Make it a point to keep the game moving quickly when you are at the poker table. Look for ways to help the dealer keep the game moving quickly, such as helping move the button in between hands. Just be sure to always tell the dealer you did this, so that the button doesn't get double-moved.
Little gestures like this help dealers more than you think. They will permit them to deal more hands and thus earn more tips per hour. You also benefit because more hands per hour means an increased hourly win rate.
This should go without saying, but you should also always be respectful to the dealer. Don't blame the dealer or berate him or her if you lose a pot — it is not the dealer's fault!
Think for a second about how this idea is so counterintuitive. Imagine you go to the mailbox one day and receive a letter with bad news, such as a unexpected bill. Would you blame this on the mailman? Of course you wouldn't. The people delivering your mail have no control of what type of mail you get each day — they only deliver based on the stops on their route. Similarly, it doesn't make sense for you to blame the dealer for losing a poker hand.
You also should never chastise dealers if they make a mistake as it will almost always make the situation worse. Everybody makes mistakes, including dealers. When a player berates a dealer, it will often make the dealer uncomfortable and prone to making even more mistakes.
If you see a mistake at the table, it is well within your right to point it out, but don't reprimand the dealer. Doing so will only slow down the game and create a poor atmosphere for recreational players.
In a very high stakes games, the average tip might increase to up to five dollars a hand, but most players will not tip much higher than that. This is because really good poker players are aware of the impact tipping makes to their bottom line.
Once last critical point to note is that you should not vary tip size based on the size of the pot won. However, it is often okay to vary the size of the tips based on the skill of the dealer. Good dealers might get tipped a little bit more in a hand, even though the size of the pot won was smaller. This type of reward is key to incentivizing good dealers to stick around.
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Nick Binger
If you’ve never dealt in a home poker game before, there are certain rules of etiquette that you should know about beforehand.
The first thing is that, unless you’re using plastic cards (like the expensive Kem cards I recommend buying), you should break out a new deck of cards to deal with. If you’re hosting, that’s up to you. If you’re not, you’re probably not going to deal first.
Poker Dealer Rules
But either way, the first thing you do with that deck of cards is shuffle it. You need to shuffle it seven times to get it fully randomized.
There’s always a shuffled deck ready. Use one red deck and one blue deck so the cards never get mixed up.
Once you’ve shuffled that first deck of cards, you deal each player a card.
Just one at a time until the dealer is chosen.
This is to determine who gets to be the dealer first.
You get to decide what determines the dealer – you might decide that the first player to get an ace is the dealer. It could be the jack or any other card you like. Just make sure you announce it as you’re dealing the cards one by one, face-up.
Dealing continues from here as the game starts. The rest of this post will go into detail on how to be the dealer in your home poker game.
Dealer’s Choice
It used to be common to have dealer’s choice as the presiding rule at a home poker game. This just means that the dealer gets to decide which game is going to be played.
It’s more common now to host a Texas holdem game or an Omaha game, but I still like to host a home game with dealer’s choice.
If you’re the dealer, don’t spend a lot of time agonizing over choosing the game you think will give you an edge over the other players. Just announce something basic and get on with it. The worst thing you can do at a home poker game is to slow down the game for any reason.
You’re in Charge
In most dealer’s choice games, the dealer’s in charge. In fact, for the most part, the dealer’s in charge of most games and makes most of the judgment calls about various things. Recently, I was dealing a game, and someone else decided to step in to tell another player something.
I corrected him plenty quick, by the way.
“I got this,” I told him.
You do need to pay attention to how many players are at the table before announcing the game.
If you have any special rules, you need to announce and explain those, too. You might have been playing baseball (a variant of 7-card stud) since you were ten years old, but you can’t assume the other players know how to play that game.
It’s your job to explain it if they don’t.
That’s one of the reasons I suggest sticking with the basic games. Poker’s plenty of fun without coming up with a dozen variant rules for everyone to keep up with.
When you deal a poker game, you should always offer to let the player to your right (or your left, under some house rules) the opportunity to cut the cards. He should cut the deck toward you, although he can choose not to cut the deck if he wants to.
In the event of a misdeal, the dealer gets to make the judgment call, but you can expect input from the players. A lot of home poker games have specific rules in place for misdeals, too.
Dealing With Style
I suggest keeping it simple and just doing the basics – deal the cards one at a time to each player. Don’t turn them face-up unless they’re supposed to be face-up. Take your time to avoid a misdeal.
Some poker dealers love to spout off patter as they deal, and they have nicknames for all the face-up cards. Other dealers just blandly announce the cards as they’re dealt – ace of spades, queen of hearts, etc. Still, other dealers just keep their mouths shut.
It’s also customary to announce possible hands when you see face-up cards. “Possible flush” might be something you’d announce when dealing.
They’re also supposed to make sure that the players betting put their money in the pot, and they administer side pots when they come up. You also need to make sure that the discards get handled correctly. Remember, they go in the muck.
You can even learn sleight-of-hand tricks to deal with even more style. I know a card player who only uses one hand to deal. He uses the same hand he’s holding the deck with to distribute the cards.
That takes some practice.
The Final Deal
Eventually, someone – usually the host – will announce that you’re only going to play a certain number of more hands before calling it a night.
If you’re dealing the last hand, you should think about dealing a game that’s cool enough to make for a memorable final hand.
Often, this involves coming up with a game where you can get a lot of money into action. You might announce that the ante for the final hand is double, and bet sizes are double, too.
Or you might announce a game that just builds large pots by its very nature.
The Cards Talk
“Cards speak” is the standard rule in any home poker game. This just means that the cards are what determines who has the best hand, NOT what the player announces.
If a player has a straight flush, but he just announces a straight, his straight flush still plays.
It’s your job as the dealer to recognize the hands and point out who the actual winner is if someone is confused about the strength of his hand.
Some Hosting Advice
Being the host isn’t the same thing as being the dealer, but here are some tips for the host nonetheless:
You’re looking for five to seven players usually, and you should tell them in advance when the game starts, where you’re playing, and what the stakes are.
Traditionally, at my home game, I serve frozen pizza and little smokies sausages in barbecue sauce. I usually have some cheese cubes and crackers available, too. I’ve played in other games where beer was served and hot sandwiches in a crockpot, like meatballs or barbecue.
I usually tell people to buy in for at least $50 and bring an extra $5 to apply toward snacks. With seven players on hand, that’s $35 to budget for snacks. Heck, with that kind of money, you can even buy soda pop.
Poker Dealer Jobs Las Vegas
There’s no shame in asking people to bring a dish to share, either.
When Should Your Game Be?
The best night to host a home poker game is Thursday night. Here’s why:
On Monday, you’re recovering from both the first day of the workweek AND from the weekend. So are the other players.
If you play on Tuesday, you don’t have anything to look forward to later in the week.
Wednesday are reserved for church for some poker players – believe it or not.
Thursday is the best day. It’s late enough in the week for people to be ready to do something fun. Also, most people get paid on Friday. So, even if they lose money, they’ll get more money the next day.
Friday is okay, but a lot of people go out on dates on Friday night. This limits the number of players who will show up.
You should host your game at a regular time and a place every week if you want it to become successful.
Conclusion
Dealing and hosting a home poker game is more involved than some people think. I’ve covered what I think are the most important basics above.
But I also know that a lot of people do it differently.
What changes would you make to this guide to dealing a home poker game based on how you do it in your home game?
Poker How To Deal
Let me know in the comments.