[Rick Nebiolo]

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there's "Robert's rules of poker" (Bob Caffione). Each card room keeps thier own modified version of these AFAIK. In any case, the dealer isn't supposed to fix a mistake, that's the floor's job. Dealers make mistakes, floor managers fix them.

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Some mistakes can be fixed by the dealer.

For example, somebody is only dealt one card (not the button, that is fixed right away) and attention is brought to the mistake before anyone has acted. It's a misdeal and if the table is full of regulars they all know it. No need to call over a usually busy floor.

But if a newbie starts to protest (he probably holds nice cards) then the floor should still be called. If there is some question regarding how much action there was before the mistake was discovered than the floor should be called. If there seems to be a significant protest from one of the players, then the floor should be called.

OTOH, this situation was about as seriously in need of a floor decision as any I've seen. I'm easy on dealers but this is unforgivable.

~ Rick

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A (now former) dealer in my room apparently screwed up and handled a boxed card incorrectly which caused a big hassle. The result was that the next time I came in there was a memo that said Dealers were to not make ANY decsion from the box and that this included the handling of exposed cards on the deal. That didn't last very long as the floor got tired of being called every time a card got exposed on the deal, and the players also would get upset about having the game come to a standstill waiting for the floor for this.

At the time I was still pretty new, but if that memo came out today when I know how much I can get away with (and which floor people have a sense of humor) the first hand that went to showdown I would call the floor:

Floor: What's the problem?

Me: Well this player has a pair of Aces with a Jack kicker, and this player has a pair of Queens with a 9 kicker.

Floor: And whats the problem?

Me: Well Who wins? The memo said I'm not supposed to make any decisions from the box.

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LOL, good story.

When I worked for a defense department aerospace contractor in the eighties I had a mentor who was the Technical Director in the Program Office. One of his favorite expressions was "Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater" which sort of was a catch-all to counter the tendency for some "problem solvers" to over-react to just about everything.

In most businesses I've looked at the best possible policy sort of like hitting the bulls-eye on a dartboard on the wall. Well even the smartest and most well-intended manager/policy-maker usually won't hit the bulls-eye first try. But in my experience in cardrooms the corrections to policy rarely get closer to the target. If six inches north first try expect a foot south the second try. Soon the policy misses the dartboard all together. Before you know it the policy darts are hitting the opposite wall.

Fundamentally card rooms and casino poker rooms are not a competitive business so managers can get away with missing a lot of targets. In places such as AC and LV casinos are competitive, but even with the recent boom poker rooms are barely a blip on the radar to upper management. So the poker rooms can screw up quite a bit and still hang on.

Cardrooms where poker is a significant part of gambling revenue do exist, but I can't think of one local where the business is open to new competition (e.g., in LA it's impossible to get a new cardroom license). Despite my experience working with many fine people and managers within the cardroom business, incompetent cardroom management can do much better than they would in a truly competitive business.

~ Rick