TRIP REPORT: First Day Dealing in Vegas...at WSOP

[nation]

This is my latest post from my blog, which is here (http://prabs03.blogspot.com).

Last week, we had dealer orientation. Basically, they just played a video on being friendly to customers, gave us our schedules, and gave us our uniforms. This year the uniform is just black pants and shoes, white dress shirt, with a WSOP vest. After that, they told us to show up.

I got graveyard shift, which generally starts at 2AM until 10AM. Yes, it sucks that I'm going to be up at night and sleeping during the day, but it'll be less hectic late at night. I was also worried at first that less action at night would mean less downs for me. A down is each half hour you actually deal at a game. At some casinos, there are too many dealers, and they only get a few downs a night, which means not many tips. Also, some might think tips are better during the day and evening because of more action.

However, this year all tips are split. They are also not paying us by how many downs we get, but by total hours. So it doesn't matter if I'm day, swing, or graveyard shift because I'd get paid the exact same at 2AM as a dealer at 6PM, when the poker room is really really busy. This means that graveyard is an ok shift because while it'll still be decently busy, I'll get more breaks and not have to worry about making less tips.

I was really surprised; there was no real dealer training aside from training for reserves and on call dealers. There were tons of full time dealers who have little to no experience and are really bad at dealing, much less understanding the obscure games. Many of the floor men weren't sure about some of the game specific rules that change from casino to casino, like how they want us to separate discards from muck piles in triple draw.

If I was running this tournament, I would have had my dealers meet me a month before, delegated to my other floor men, and really gone over everything with my dealers. I would have had sessions where I told them exactly how I wanted it done, and what they had to do. Plenty of these dealers have never dealt in a casino, like myself, and it would have helped to get some input on what would be going on.

I also had a run in with a WSOP secretary, when I had a question about my schedule. It said I had off Sunday, worked at midnight Monday, and 2 AM Tuesday. I was a little confused about whether that meant work Sunday night and Tuesday morning, or Monday night and Wed morning.

When I called in to ask, the woman at the desk kept cutting me off and saying I had to come in to talk to somebody. When I tried to ask who I should see and when I should come, she just cut me off again and reiterated that I had to come in. This sequence happened again and finally I lost it a bit and told her that she should be fired for being completely inept and I hung up on her. God I hate unskilled workers who feel the need to use their positions to boost their ego.

I called the poker room and was told that my schedule meant I should come in on Sunday night. I went in last night but found out that it actually meant Monday night. However, they needed some help and just put me in the box within minutes of me arriving. I wasn't ready for this but I had to do it.

They put me into dealing satellite tables and I got about 3.5 hours in. Nobody relieved me during this time; I just sat at the table and dealt satellites as soon as one finished. I got into a rhythm quickly and soon felt comfortable with my job. Throughout the couple hours when I was in between satellites, floor men came over and talked to me and were generally very friendly.

I made one bad mistake tonight; after the first satellite was over, I was a bit flustered and didn't know what to do. I was figuring out whether I had to set up the deck (put all the cards in order) when the winner asked me to take a picture of him with the 2nd place guy. I quickly took the picture and resumed setting the cards.

30 seconds later, a floor man walked up to me and said, "You just violated two gambling regulations by allowing a picture here, and also because it had flash. Don't do it again." He was busy so I didn't have time to really talk to him but I just apologized and he went about his business. I don't think it's a big deal because it's the first day and plenty of mistakes are made, but I'd hate to have a strike against me on a day I wasn't even supposed to deal. The fact that he said don't do it again made me feel better though because it meant it was a warning, and he was just letting me know that pictures can't be taken.

When it happened, the players at the table all got up and defended me, and the winner came over and told me he was good friends with the WSOP director and told me not to worry about it.

Aside from that occurrence in the beginning, it was smooth sailing for the rest of the night. No other problems, and they were happy to have the extra help. Tomorrow night (Monday night) I start at midnight and will have a much longer shift. From now on, I'll be working 6 days a week from 2am to 10 am, with one day off. I'm not sure which day off i'm getting yet. Hopefully things go well again.

[corndog]

Great post, I'm looking forward to your blog for the rest of the WSOP.

[RealMcCoy]

Thanks for taking the time. Look forward to your blog updates.

[bwana devil]

nation,

thanks for the report. sounds like youre having fun w/ all of the mayhem.

i try and look at the glass usually half full but i have two negative reactions.

from the players' point of view you mention that the dealers have little training to make sure they are well versed on house rules and dealing rules. this doesnt bode well for the rio. this has been complaints in prior WSOP years and from the sound of your interview it is going to be a repeat. i imagine youre better skilled than the average new dealer there so maybe you can provide feedback on this.

second, you mention how you can split tips w/ all shifts and this is a good deal for you working graveyard. your first shift you didnt get a break after endless hours of work. i hope this quickly changes for you or you will be short changed greatly in this deal. im sure you will begin to resent work and performance will begin to drop. speak up if becomes a problems. (i have zero casino experience so someone else can step in and add their wisdom if he wishes.)

hope i can say hi to you when im there.

bwana

[nation]

bd,

Lack of dealer training is exactly why WSOP dealers have a bad rep around town with other dealers. It's not all the dealers' fault (even though I thought they hired way way too many unqualified dealers) because they're just not told all the rules. But yes, many dealers even have problems dealing plo and some may not even know how to deal 2-7 or the like.

As for my first shift...I accidentally went a day early so I only worked 3.5 hours without a break then went home. That won't happen again today...normally 3 hours is the max, although I did talk to a dealer who worked from 6-12 without being given even a piss break. Things will hopefully get better when we get into a routine.

And definitely say hi...name's Prabhu.

[52s]

[ QUOTE ]
I was really surprised; there was no real dealer training aside from training for reserves and on call dealers. There were tons of full time dealers who have little to no experience and are really bad at dealing, much less understanding the obscure games. Many of the floor men weren't sure about some of the game specific rules that change from casino to casino, like how they want us to separate discards from muck piles in triple draw.


[/ QUOTE ]

Sadly, I'm not surprised.

The tip-pooling and placing of all monies on a check for the government to see, I know, turned some tourney dealers away from doing the WSOP. Plus, with so many dealers needed, there were bound to be a bunch of break-ins.

I'm probably showing up later tonight to check out the sats.

[VORP]

On the lack of dealer experience, a friend of mine who has a ton of WSOP managing experience is predicting that many of the larger games will move away from the Rio this year; the lack of competent dealers being a large reason. Actually good for the dealers, though bad for Harrahs. And obviously not the dealers fault given the lack of training; although that’s pretty much how the industry works. There used to be more of a selection process for dealing at the WSOP. A new dealer couldn’t just walk in and deal the bigger games and tournaments but it sounds like Harrahs has done away with this to at least some degree.

As far as making mistakes, my experience (which I believe is pretty standard) is that if you make a mistake while dealing it likely gets marked in your file and a floor man might mention it to you and, unless it’s serious, that’s the end of it. On one of my first days of dealing I made a big mistake in the box. I later went over to talk to my boss about it and he basically told me it had been noted down but there was nothing to discuss. I thought it was really bizarre that he didn’t care at all what had caused my mistake or want to know anything about it. I mentioned this to a couple experienced dealers and they both were like, “Yea, when you screw up, don’t even mention it later. They probably already forgot about it and all you are going to do is remind them.” The lack of any sort of progressive training in this industry was really surprising to me when I started.

So I can relate to Nation on feeling a bit adrift as a new dealer. The best resource you have is experienced dealers. There should still be plenty at the WSOP and some guys just have a crazy amount of good info and great stories.