Which poker game is hardest to deal?

[Floker]

I'm thinking of starting to play live, and when tipping dealers I'd like to take into account how tough the game which we're playing is to deal and tip accordingly. I'm sure dealing a game like PLO is tougher than, say, LHE, but I don't know about the other games, like 7-card stud H/L. Thanks for the info.

[wstaffor]

Don't try to get fancy, just tip $1 for every pot you win. Done.

[Floker]

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Don't try to get fancy, just tip $1 for every pot you win. Done.

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I like this answer

[skin city]

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Don't try to get fancy, just tip $1 for every pot you win. Done.

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I like this answer

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perfect! maybe if its a monster pot, drop the dealer a couple whites, maybe a few. it never hurts to tip nice. thats what these dealers work for

[pfapfap]

I appreciate that you consider the dealers enough to even think about this.

Limit Hold'em is by far the easiest and fastest, and the standard by which all others are judged. This is a typical $1/pot game.

Stud takes longer, at least at the lower levels, because there are a lot more cards and every player has to consider more information. At 2/4 and 4/8 stud, I tend to get in 12-15 hands for every 18-20 at hold'em.

Omaha 8 is the slowest of them all, partially because I hardly ever deal it and I'm not the fastest at reading hands. Each hand takes twice as long to deal, there's a lot of pot chopping, and twelve times as many hands to read. I don't do it often enough to have a sense of my rate, but it's fewer hands than stud. In this game, friendly and helpful players aid everything tremendously, moreso than any other. Unfortunately, it's least likely to contain helpful players.

We only spread limit games, so I can't speak to PLO or NLHE. I deal No Limit at some home games, but I can't compare that to hand rate in a casino, as the environments are entirely different. It's certainly the most fun to deal, and pot management can be done rather quickly.

As to adjusting your tipping... meh. I appreciate the thought, but I also understand that these other games take longer and so your hourly winrate isn't as high. They also tend to be lower-yield games per hand to boot. Since we have so many more mid-limit hold'em games than stud and omaha, I just accept I won't make as much on those tables. Really, since these games have more nits, if a table's a sour unfun place to deal, with players causing problems, just some verbal acknowledgment with maybe an extra chip goes a long way. A nice, fast, cooperative table is worth more to me than an extra buck or two.

Note that this is just my opinion. Other dealers may feel differently.

[Floker]

Thanks for your reply. I thought tracking the pot in pot limit games could become difficult, esp. if you have to do it fast and the players don't keep track of the pot size well themselves. You're saying it's not really more difficult than dealing NL?

edit: and I guess you're also saying that if I want to have a good time playing, I'd better not sit down in any O8 game /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[psandman]

That actually depends on what you mean by tough to deal. It can be very tough to deal alow limit hold'em game if your players are all drunks who aren't paying attnetion, or all newbies who need to be spponfed each and every time the action gets to them. Pot limit games, though the dealer has the added responsibility of tracking maximum bet sizes often can be easier to deal if the players involved are experienced Pot limit players because they will often know the pot size and keep the game flowing.

Its tougher to get out many hands in a stud game (at least for those of us who rarely deal stud). And games that always go to the river and showdown take longer (Hence you will get out fewer hands in a $2-$4 limit game then you will in a $15-$30 limit game.

Baby No limit games offer there own challenges, they can be dreadfully slow as your players like to stare into each others souls before betting all-in for there last $18.


Ith ink you will be best off if you judge the toughness of dealing the game based upon your observations of the individual game as opposed to game type.

[pfapfap]

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It can be very tough to deal alow limit hold'em game

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For definitions of 'tough' that include 'tedious'. My place isn't a tourist-heavy joint, so the dumb drunks are at least used to procedure. It can be a madhouse, but once you get used to it, it's really just babysitting alcoholics.

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You're saying it's not really more difficult than dealing NL?

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I'm not saying that at all, as I've only done pot limit a couple of times in my home games. I imagine it takes at least a little longer than NL, and a lot more work. But I'm comfortable enough with NL that I can get the action moving rather quickly.

[RR]

Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

[monkeytales]

Low stakes NL is the worst. I deal in Houston, which has more poker rooms than any other city in the world. I used to deal mainly PL, this was tough at first, but after one down in the box, it became pretty simple and keeps your mind in the game more. I get out between 36-44 hands per hour depending on the players. In bigger NL game, with competent players who aren't trying to be on TV, I get 40 hands per hour without breaking a sweat. My best hour ever is was 50 hands. Deep stack PLO8B would probably be the toughest. I've dealt Omaha Hi and it's just as simple as PLH. I'm trying to get a job in Vegas, but I havent found a way IN yet. Any leads?

[MitchL]

Triple Draw sucks too.

[*TT*]

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Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

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your joking I assume? Chinese Poker is the easiest to deal because the contract is between players, the house has no action other than to deal four 13 card hands and collect rake.

[Gonso]

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Triple Draw sucks too.

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This gets my vote. We don't have this here in our casinos, but we have messed with it in our home game. The mid-hand reshuffles are annoying.

[psandman]

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Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

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your joking I assume? Chinese Poker is the easiest to deal because the contract is between players, the house has no action other than to deal four 13 card hands and collect rake.

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I believe he was talking about the fact that the dealer is pretty much constantly in motion. First you deal out the entire deck, and as soon as you get the cards into the hands of the players you shuffling and dealing the other deck. So while there is no "mental" work there is more physical work.

[Lord_Strife]

Heres the thing that I didnt see mentioned in this post... as far as Pot Limit games are concerned, yeah you have to keep track of the pot, but it's a hidden requirement that you're always supposed to keep track of the pot so that if worst case scenario you have to reconstruct a pot, that you can do so.

Like another dealer said, really the games difficulty lies in the players speed themselves. If I've got any game where the players are playing in a reasonable amount of time I'm going to be cranking hands out, but I REALLY dislike the hollywooding that occurs at $1/$2nl on occasion. Taking like a full two minutes to call their last $20 when the pots $180 or whatever, etc etc. As far as the games go, I've never dealt with any triple draw games so I'll leave them out for now, but my games would go like this from easiest to most tedious:

NLHE tournaments
LHE
NLHE cash
Stud
Crazy Pineapple
Stud8
Omaha8
Razz
PLO

[*TT*]

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Triple Draw sucks too.

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This gets my vote. We don't have this here in our casinos, but we have messed with it in our home game. The mid-hand reshuffles are annoying.

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Gonzo - TD and Badugi are very easy games to deal. If you are shuffling the stub mid-hand that is rare, or the players are retards. Its generally a mindless deal.

This entire thread begins and ends with pot limit games. All it took was one guy to say pot limit and 15 guys to say "yup" and the thread would have been over /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Split pot games are much easier to deal (and the hero will generally earn nothing except a donation to the rake in the hand is heads up)

[*TT*]

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Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

your joking I assume? Chinese Poker is the easiest to deal because the contract is between players, the house has no action other than to deal four 13 card hands and collect rake.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe he was talking about the fact that the dealer is pretty much constantly in motion. First you deal out the entire deck, and as soon as you get the cards into the hands of the players you shuffling and dealing the other deck. So while there is no "mental" work there is more physical work.

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Constantly in motion? CP hands take 3 minutes at the very minimum to complete, I've played some CP hands that are 5-8 mins each or more, its a slow game. It looks like a very boring gig for a dealer to me.

[psandman]

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Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

your joking I assume? Chinese Poker is the easiest to deal because the contract is between players, the house has no action other than to deal four 13 card hands and collect rake.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe he was talking about the fact that the dealer is pretty much constantly in motion. First you deal out the entire deck, and as soon as you get the cards into the hands of the players you shuffling and dealing the other deck. So while there is no "mental" work there is more physical work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Constantly in motion? CP hands take 3 minutes at the very minimum to complete, I've played some CP hands that are 5-8 mins each or more, its a slow game. It looks like a very boring gig for a dealer to me.

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It is boring. But maybe its just the people I've dealt Chinese Poker to where faster, but pretty much as soon as I got set with one deck it was time to shuffle.


By the way I do not actually consider Chinese Poker to be a Poker game. To me the essential element of a poker game is that the wagering system of having to call a bet to continue and being able to bet to force your opponenet to call to continue. Chinese Poker is a card game based upon poker hand values, but it is not poker any more than pai gow poker is poker.

[*TT*]

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It is boring. But maybe its just the people I've dealt Chinese Poker to where faster, but pretty much as soon as I got set with one deck it was time to shuffle.

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Thats is standard procedure to start shuffling right away, but usually the dealer sits there after waiting a few minutes while the hand contracts are completed and royalties are paid.

Keep in mind your a Vegas dealer, CP games out here are rarely played as Kondition which is the standard method at the Bike and Commerce. Setting the hand is a lot more complex that way due (if you play the game well) to the additional royalties in a Mandarin style point format.

[RR]

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Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

your joking I assume? Chinese Poker is the easiest to deal because the contract is between players, the house has no action other than to deal four 13 card hands and collect rake.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe he was talking about the fact that the dealer is pretty much constantly in motion. First you deal out the entire deck, and as soon as you get the cards into the hands of the players you shuffling and dealing the other deck. So while there is no "mental" work there is more physical work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Constantly in motion? CP hands take 3 minutes at the very minimum to complete, I've played some CP hands that are 5-8 mins each or more, its a slow game. It looks like a very boring gig for a dealer to me.

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When I was dealing it they were flying taking about30 seconds a hand. This was not the LA version of the game because at that time CP was dealt in the asian section od the Bike rather than the poker section.

[*TT*]

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This was not the LA version of the game because at that time CP was dealt in the asian section od the Bike rather than the poker section.

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The Asian games version, Kondition, is the nuts. Anyone who plays CP Vegas/Poker Room style is not a man /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[bav]

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Don't try to get fancy, just tip $1 for every pot you win. Done.

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I do get fancy and take into account how long it takes the dealer to get out hands. I want them to want to deal the odd games, rather than dread it, so they're helping start the games and encouraging people to play them. It's hard enough to get a mix game going now without having the dealers working against it.

So yes, I do toke more for Omaha8, TD, Badugi... things that they get 10 hands per hour from rather than 30. But I'm not playing 3/6 and 4/8 mix games to make a living.

[PokrLikeItsProse]

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This entire thread begins and ends with pot limit games. All it took was one guy to say pot limit and 15 guys to say "yup" and the thread would have been over /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Split pot games are much easier to deal (and the hero will generally earn nothing except a donation to the rake in the hand is heads up)

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So, pot-limit omaha high-low if you can get a casino to deal it, then.

[billybeartku]

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Don't try to get fancy, just tip $1 for every pot you win. Done.

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I like this answer

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I wouldn't tip for EACH pot I win, say if you raise preflop and everyone folds, you tip that too? say you're playing 1/2 nl. u raise and everyone folds, u win 3 dollars, and tip 1 off, you only have 2 left. I usually tip when I win pots after the flop. I wouldn't tip any preflop winnings.

[52s]

Ah, the subject with two different angles.

Speaking from the box, pot limit is by far the hardest simply due to constantly needing to do the math.

Short-handed PLO (2-4 players) usually isn't too bad because you usually get HU right away and the math there is easy. Whereas with 5+ it can become a chore, especially when you get say a pot, a call, and then a re-pot... not fun.

[Phat Mack]

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Chinese poker is the physically hardest to deal.

[/ QUOTE ]

your joking I assume? Chinese Poker is the easiest to deal because the contract is between players, the house has no action other than to deal four 13 card hands and collect rake.

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe he was talking about the fact that the dealer is pretty much constantly in motion. First you deal out the entire deck, and as soon as you get the cards into the hands of the players you shuffling and dealing the other deck. So while there is no "mental" work there is more physical work.

[/ QUOTE ]

Constantly in motion? CP hands take 3 minutes at the very minimum to complete, I've played some CP hands that are 5-8 mins each or more, its a slow game. It looks like a very boring gig for a dealer to me.

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I've seen dealers deal two games at one table, four decks, hand shuffle, the next hands dealt and waiting, and flirting with the cocktail waitress waiting for the players to finish...

[SNOWBALL]

Pot limit seven card stud hi low must be a real pain in the ass to deal sometimes.

[Floker]

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Pot limit seven card stud hi low must be a real pain in the ass to deal sometimes.

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They play that game in casinos?

[FiveFingerz]

I saw one mention of mixed games in here. I would think and say from experience that these are harder games to deal i.e. HORSE, HOE, HOS, etc. Because the game changes every rotation so the dealers are sometimes dealing hold em when it should be stud or vice versa. Then the are corrected and the game goes on. But I think the mixed games have to be pretty hard to deal. Just my 0.02