Poker Dealer Feedback: What's it like being a dealer?

[Photoc]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah but how much did you start off making and can reasonably expect weekly

[/ QUOTE ]

Start off? Well, here's an on call position for you, you might work 1 day a week on grave and make 50 bucks for the night/morning. Starting off is the worst for any dealer, worst shift, lowest hours, you will be slow (low hands per hour = lower possibility for tips) and so on. Being a dealer is not glamorous and you aren't going to get rich on it. You couldn't even pay for most nice apartments in Vegas on a brand new job in poker. Budget Suites anyone?

I've been in this business for 11 years now, in many aspects of it, including table games, poker, management, ect.. I am looking to not deal again after the next year. It's been fun, but it's not where I want to be for the rest of my life. This business yes, dealing, hell no.

[schwerd2]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
How did you apply? I've been filling out online applications with no luck. Is it better to go down there in person?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think I got pretty lucky. I applied only to a Harrah's owned casino (would rather not say which one) and got a call right away from human resources..got a quick interview than an audition for the following Monday. There were only like 10 of us. The audition was a cinch - at least half of the people there were just TERRIBLE so I was pretty confident I would get the job.

It may help to go in and talk to a pit manager about whether they are hiring. If nothing else, they will at least know you a little and hopefully made a good impression.

[/ QUOTE ]

you must deal for the showboat, caesars is hiring right now full time, you should move over there bro, more $$$

[Trail_Boss_Mitch]

Thanks for the advice. I'm a writer and want to experiece dealing so I'll have a better idea of what it's like from the box. I want to go through the process, audition, etc., and see if I can come up with some juicy fodder to write about. I do want some poker-playing money, too. After dealing for a while (assuming I can get a job), I might want to check out other casino-related jobs like host, security, pubic relations. I don't see dealing poker as a very good career move. (I'm also a real estate investor.)

As for the audition I've seen at my local Indian casino: there were ten applicants asked to run a game among themselves, along with two casino bosses who were taking notes of their skill. The bosses would force all-in bets, etc., to make them play side-pots and all kinds of weird situations. I can't imagine a casino making someone audition in front of real players! What a nightmare! Especially if I'm a player.

[UbinTook]

[ QUOTE ]
I can't imagine a casino making someone audition in front of real players! What a nightmare! Especially if I'm a player.

[/ QUOTE ]

Live game auditions are actually more common than you think.

[bav]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I can't imagine a casino making someone audition in front of real players! What a nightmare! Especially if I'm a player.

[/ QUOTE ]

Live game auditions are actually more common than you think.

[/ QUOTE ]
Usually the live game auditions go ok. The dealers have been to school and have the basic skills. And the dealer doesn't stay for an entire down--usually they tap out the regular dealer and sit down and deal 3 or 4 hands and then are taken out again. They commonly have some trouble with the rake and may violate specific house procedures, but it generally goes fine. I've been in a tourney when they brought in a couple dealers to audition and once the floor figured out they didn't suck he let 'em deal two downs and promised 'em a share of the tokes--they were short of dealers and without the auditioners they woulda been locked down.

Doesn't always go so smoothly. I was playing once at Excalibur when they put an auditioner in. It was the most amazing clusterF ever. It was almost like they'd just run out and grabbed someone from the street and said "deal". He managed to deal about one card every 4 seconds, counted chips one by one, had no clue what the rake even was... thankfully the floor only left him there for one hand, but that one hand took about 10 minutes as the floor stood behind giving step by step by step directions that the guy very slowly and very clumsily carried out, and not always correctly (I don't think he even spoke english very well, so he had trouble following basic directions).

[theghost]

[ QUOTE ]
I can tell you what it's like to fail a craps audition with live players, it's not pretty.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can imagine this would be an ugly scene - probably fun to watch though...

[Quadstriker]

All the auditions I've ever done (Missouri and Arizona) have been for management only as per local law. No live game auditions allowed.

I would think a live game would be an easier audition. In the management only auditions, they love to give you a bunch of "what if" situations in order to make sure you are comfortable with multiple side pots, reading high and low hands, etc. It probably is more effective than a live game audition though from the casino perspective, as they can tailor the audition to their exact wishes.

[Mr. Mexican]

What do the tips average out to per hour? I know it can vary, but a general estimate would be interesting to hear.

[Gonso]

[ QUOTE ]
What do the tips average out to per hour? I know it can vary, but a general estimate would be interesting to hear.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, in AC, a new dealer will typically start at $4/hour and work in a smaller house like Ballys, Showboat or the Hilton, where they can earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $16-$20 an hour in tokes.

By the way, a couple of houses here have it where dealer tokes are combined with the tokes form the table games like craps and blackjack. If you don't know how that works, they add them all up and them divide it up between all of the dealers. So, if you worked in one of these houses, you'd get whatever the toke rate was that week. Usually, poker tokes are separate and dealers keep their own tokes.

Keep in mind you'll generally only have about 5 or 6 quality hours in a given 8 hour shift, for various reasons. If you're sitting at a dead table, which isn't uncommon particularly on slower shifts, you make no tips for that 1/2 hour down - just the $2 from your hourly rate. Sometimes you'll get sent home early when it's dead. You can make more in other houses when you get more experience, though.

You'll occasionally hear some insane figures like, "dealers make $50/hr", as was the case in a recently locked thread, but very few dealers see that kind of pay in reality. I'd be very skeptical of any non-dealer throwing out numbers that seem rediculously high, and I'll leave it at that.

In fact, I'd recommend that the next time you're at your local cardroom, tell a couple dealers there you're interested in maybe going to dealer school for poker - find a guy on break hanging out if you can. They've all been through it, and they know the hiring process at that casino. I'm sure that if you ask for general numbers (off to the side, of course) they'll give you an idea of what kind of hours/pay you could reasonably expect with that given house - plus other info, like whether you'd need a second game or not (some places might have you dealing poker one day and a table game the next).

[Gonso]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I can tell you what it's like to fail a craps audition with live players, it's not pretty.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can imagine this would be an ugly scene - probably fun to watch though...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it wasn't really a matter of not knowing what you're doing as it was just keeping pace. There's a lot more to dealing dice than any other pit game by a mile.

Poker isn't as hard mechanically, but there are a lot more things that can go wrong. With dice there tends to be a lot less amibiguity. Everything else on the floor is pretty simple in comparision, though I can't speak for the Pai Gow games.

But yeah, the audition. Impatient players, impatient dealers, the box was trying to be helpful giving me numbers, as I'm trying to rememberand count payout for odds on a six, or trying to distribute 156 across when the dice are already in the air. It was a wreck, I was totally run over.