Ceasars poker room--stupid is as stupid does!

[Terry]

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At one of these rooms I auditioned and was told by the poker room manger that I needed to smile more, that anyone can deal that what they care about is having dealers smile.

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Sigh. Yes, this has been going on for quite a while now. I remember when the MGM first opened (the casino, not the poker room) -- they were doing “song and dance” interviews. Literally, everyone applying for a job had to stand up and sing and dance in front of the group. They weren’t looking for “employees”, they were looking for “cast members”.

They hired a ton of loud out-going back-slapping smiling people who couldn’t deal a lick. They passed over many of the best dealers in town who were quiet, competent, polite, and fast. Even though they had a lot of weeding out to do after opening and they got rid of the Human Resources manager who came up with the idea, the song and dance type interview continues to spread in a toned down version.

Harrah’s uses it and so do some other companies, Ramada, for one. Every applicant must go through a session in which they are judged on their actions in a group based on some pop psychology body language quackery guidelines. Didn’t smile enough – no job. Didn’t shake hands firmly enough, didn’t speak assertively enough, nervous while standing up and reading a poem to a room full of strangers, sat with arms crossed, didn’t greet the strangers you sat down next to, didn’t make eye contact with enough people in the room, walked into the room hesitantly rather than confidently – no job.

Experience and ability are not part of the interview, only personality. Those who are by nature quiet or shy will not be hired regardless of other qualifications. Naturally outgoing chatterbox types quite likely will be hired without any showing of competence, knowledge or ability. The justification is that they are in the “hospitality” business, not the “casino” business. Sigh.

Once they reach a certain level, Harrah’s executive are extremely well paid. The way to reach that level is to go by the book, serve your time, and don’t rock the boat. If a person is promoted to a position he can’t handle, the response to complaints from co-workers who must take up the slack and straighten out his messes is “At Harrah’s we learn to live with our mistakes.”

This isn’t a diatribe about Harrah’s, they are just a convenient example. I was playing in the Mirage the night the Bellagio opened. I noticed a lot of new dealers and was astounded by the constant yells for “Floor!” Turns out that many of the Mirage dealers had gone to Bellagio and the new hires had no experience and were dealing their first live game. They were trained by Mirage to insure they had the proper “hospitality” attitude.

I’ve been gone from Vegas for over five years now, after spending over 20 years in the pits. This little peek from inside the business can’t change anything, but I hope it helps some you to understand a bit about why what is happening is happening.

The bosses used to say “Dummy up and deal.” Now they say “Smile! And talk to the players.”

[bigfishead]

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Is a redbird per player at the end too much to ask?

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Yes. It's way too much. Now you want to make $100 per hour and your job, even when it is well done just isn't worth that much.

The problem with your whole argument is that you want to have a minimum guarantee at each table you deal. When working for tips it doesn't work that way. You need to decide if you're happy with your overall wage at the end of the week, month, year, etc. If you're not, then look for another job.

Best wishes,
Mason

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Mason,
Slow down there friend. These are not 10 handed tables...Dont forget that most often it's 3-5 players. Sometimes 2, sometimes 6.

And when it's a chines poker only game it's usually 2-3.

Yes your right, on avg at the end of the week, month etc am I/we satisfied. For the most part yes. But again..I didnt mean for this to be about toking. And 1 down for our dealer next door eclipsing $18 when the others were in the 5-8 range does not make for an average. My point to that was how he was getting PENALIZED for being good. And at the REQUEST of those players!!! Do you think there is something wrong with that? I certainly do.

[RR]

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The bosses used to say “Dummy up and deal.” Now they say “Smile! And talk to the players.”

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I thought "Dummy Up and Deal" was a decent book.

[bigfishead]

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The real fix to all of this is simple:

1) Pay your top dealers better. Why have the burden placed on the high limit players to get what they already pay for in the form of rake? That means ALL high limt, and not just the big game.

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Aint gonna happen....ever.
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2) Train dealers better and manage them throughout their shift. Communicate any issues. Training should be on going.

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Unfortunately, I know of 1 certain place in particular on the strip that has a poker training manager in fact. I have never been aware of any actual training however by this person.

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3) Get rid of bad dealers instead of burdening small and mid stakes players with them. Rake is paid at all limits, and a competent, fair and safe game is implied .

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I agree totally but dont expect this to happen. Whats most important, and the reason we have dealers, is the bold above.

[bigfishead]

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Hi Randy:

My view is a little different. I would ask why is it even necessary to pick dealers? Why aren't most dealers competent enough? I believe that part of the problem is that management doesn't emphasize no extraneous talking and to pay attention to what's going on. I rarely play for more than a couple of hours before I tell a dealer that they need to quit talking and watch the game.

Best wishes,
Mason

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Mason,

I understand what your saying, but that is not a problem in the big game I assure you. All the dealers shut up in there.

[psandman]

Even if the players are not abusive to the dealers, they can make dealing the game unnecessarily difficult on a dealer . . . This blog entry by a bellagio dealer starts with recent incident in which the Players Prop betting caused confusion which led to her making a mistake. She doesn't blame the players she takes responsibility, but still this sort of thing only happens in the big game, in fact you would probably state a dealer who allowed a player to fold but hold onto his cards in a low limit game was not doing his job competentantly. This is why I am very content to deal in a room without a "Big Game". I don't need the grief of a "Big Game" even if the players actually are not abusive. blog entry (Table Tango)

[sng-sam]

All I can add to this is that in "the professor the banker and the suicide king" (a great read BTW) it states that the big game often moves to Aladdin and sometimes elsewhere when Bobby plays as he doesn't like to sit at the Bellagio as it might seem improper to some.

Straight Flushes,

SAM

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This same thing happened to me while dealing it. One playing threw a prop bet right into the pot and then I got yelled at for touching the pot and not sorting it out at the same time.

At this time, I didn't even know what a prop bet was.
Technically, this is not allowed. Players have even been thrown out of the Bellagio (read the post on here about it) for doing prop bets, but yet these guys are allowed to do whatever they want, and I do have a problem with this. It gets confusing when 5 people have cards and yet only 3 are in the hand. Then one says to leave the bets in front of them, even though you only do that when its heads up.

Do they sit there and try everything they can come up with to confuse a dealer and find a reason to yell at them? Particularly Johnny, Chau, and Sami are all cut from the same mold.

Quick story:
I'm dealing this game one night and Sami turns to one of the other players and says..."the dealers here are very nice people, but I can't [censored] stand them or this place and never want to see there [censored] faces again". (while looking over at me). That's funny, because they had requested me and another dealer ONLY for the ENTIRE DAY! 8 hours of listening to that stuff every time I dealt a card was just ridiculous.

Dealing that game and learning some from the likes of John H., Gus, and Doyle will make you a better dealer. But, listening to Sami, Johnny, and Bobby do nothing but talk crap about you right in front of you and nothing will be done, is just ridiculous. I made it known that I was not happy that we were allowed to be treated that way. I dont see them coming back after "several" dealers had the same complaints. On a side note, I dont think I made 2 mistakes all night, dealt the way they wanted me to in games I was completely unfamiliar with, and thats the thanks I got for 7 downs in the game. A simple Thanks would have been suficient. Treating me like a slave is not.

[Photoc]

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All I can add to this is that in "the professor the banker and the suicide king" (a great read BTW) it states that the big game often moves to Aladdin


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They don't "often" move to the Aladdin. They were there twice last year and not since summer time. I did state in a previous reply the places that I am aware of them playing in. But yes, they move around, but not as "often" as people seem to think they do.

[MCS]

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But add Johnny Chan to the game, Sammy Farha, or Jennifer when she goes on tilt and forget it. It's a nightmare. And dont forget "B" he can be a real heartache!! FAR MORE than ANYONE should have to go thru.

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Who's B?