How annoying are "assistant dealers"?

[iron81]

This is a habit of mine. I like to keep the game moving and I have a little sympathy for how hard dealers work. Here's a few things I do:

- Call hands at showdown, especially in Omaha
- Remind people to put their blinds or antes out
- Push in other people's bets if the dealer is having a hard time reaching (I try to show my hands to prove I'm not stealing from the pot)
- Tell people its their action if it looks like they didn't notice, although I imagine sometimes they're just thinking. I'll look at them and say "action" or do a "palm up point" like a dealer would.
- Feed $1 chips into the pot so the dealer doesn't have to make change to take the rake.

I try to be gentle about it, usually a barely audible "blinds" or "action", but I can see how this might get on people's nerves. I don't recall anyone ever giving me crap about it, but how bad is this?

[kkcountry]

As long as you're not saying "there's 4 to a straight out there" or anything like that, I could care less that you're trying to speed up the action. If I haven't played with you before I'll probably give you more credit than the usual B&M mouthbreather because you've let me know you know what's going on.

[BrunoThePug]

I usually try to help by pushing in bets that people leave 4" from their stack with the 4'11" little asian lady dealer is in the box.

[Howard Beale]

I push in other peoples bets regularly. CAZ has some pretty big tables and some very small dealers. For the rest of your list I usually tell the dealer to remind the player i.e.: 'He doesn't know it's on him' or 'Where's the big blind?' I'm surprised you've got to be so active. Where do you play?

[iron81]

That's the thing: I don't have to be this active, I choose to be. The dealers will do all of this, but sometimes I beat them to the punch. They'll remind players to put their blind out, its just that sometimes this slows the action down while the dealer is waiting for the blind so I'll do it while the dealer is putting the cards in the shuffler. I'm happy with the dealers at my place, but the game could always go faster.

[SNOWBALL]

[ QUOTE ]
That's the thing: I don't have to be this active, I choose to be. The dealers will do all of this, but sometimes I beat them to the punch. They'll remind players to put their blind out

[/ QUOTE ]

I also make change at the table, or will lend someone a stack to play with if the chip runner is en route. I do this because chiprunners can be slow, and it saves the dealer the trouble of keeping track of the bets owed.

[DayTripping]

I think it's possible that many of these "assistant dealers" have obsessive compulsive disorder or hyperactivity disorder.

[jfk]

As much as I'm a fan of getting out as many hands as possible, every time I think I about opening my mouth, I can quickly think of about five more reasons to keep it closed.

If you're in a card room for purposes of making money, its best not to involved yourself in the dealer's job. It can create any number of ways for bad feeling to develop, especially among those who are most likely to contribute to your hourly rate.

The card room can be a volatile place. Fight the urge to get involved until its absolutely necessary.

[atrainpsu]

[ QUOTE ]

- Call hands at showdown, especially in Omaha
- Remind people to put their blinds or antes out
- Push in other people's bets if the dealer is having a hard time reaching (I try to show my hands to prove I'm not stealing from the pot)
- Tell people its their action if it looks like they didn't notice, although I imagine sometimes they're just thinking.
- Feed $1 chips into the pot so the dealer doesn't have to make change to take the rake.

[/ QUOTE ]
The first four are definitely helpful. The last one I try to stay away from personally doing, because it can often cause confusion.

As for how annoying it is, I think sometimes it can get on people's nerves, but I'm sure most people here would agree that the occasional action from the the dealers assistant speeds things up and is good for the game in the long run.

[TMTTR]

[ QUOTE ]
- Feed $1 chips into the pot so the dealer doesn't have to make change to take the rake.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you are talking about using white chips to make your bets when you have extra, that is fine. If you are talking about replacing a red chip already in the pot (or even in someone else's bet that is waiting to be collected), that is a big no no in my book.

Everything else is fine and I do them frequently as well. Keeps the game moving and keeps my mind in the game.