First time dealing for a casual tournament

[budblown]

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Read as many of the "What's the decision?" posts on here (and in Home Poker) as you can. Also read up on the appropriate sections of Robert's Rules of Poker. I guarantee you'll run into something you haven't before.

For general dealing, try to be consistent and clean. Run the table. Here's a good order of procedure:

* Bring in antes (if any) only after EVERYONE has posted them.
* Deal.
* Bring in all pre-flop bets.
* Deal the flop.
* LEAVE the flop bets out and be very clear about rapping before burning and turning, while also announcing number of players. Once you deal the turn, bring in the flop bets.
* Repeat for river.
* Read EVERY TABLED HAND.
* Kill all face-down mucked hands before awarding any pot. DO NOT muck the board or the winner before pushing the pot, but you can push them aside to make chip-moving easier.
* Move the button.
* Shuffle and ask for antes and blinds.

This is the general procedure I use, and I think it's fairly standard. Having a routine helps you focus less on what you're doing and more on what's going on around the table. Leaving the flop/turn bets out while dealing the next card helps everybody see how many are left and it makes it very clear that the pot is right.

Outside of that, run your table. Indicate whose turn it is. (I don't like pointing, preferring to gesture or rest my hand in the direction of action... if you all know each other, use names.) Announce all action: "Calls 50, pass, pass, raise to 200, pass, call, raise to 500..." Also do this at the start of every street or if things are lagging: "Action's here." If people are acting out of turn, very forcibly say "TIME!" or "STOP!" and then again, "action is here".

A handy trick that works well for me is to count the players as I deal. Aside from just helping make sure everyone's dealt in, it helps establish a rhythm for each hand, so if I have eight players I know there are eight main beats around the table. It seems to put my brain in a bit of a mode where I don't have to remember everything, since I have an instinct of "okay, eight started, three passes, do a glance for five complete bets, move onto the next card". In other words, it helps prevent burning/turning too soon, and helps get onto the next card that much sooner.

And regarding counting in general, remember that humans are pretty good at instantly recognizing five or fewer, but have to stop to count six or more. So when you're bringing in antes or just keeping a mental log of how many people are left in the hand to make sure the pot is right or whatever, don't count them, just glance left and right. You'll never have more than five on either side, so it's a quick "3 + 4" type of thing you don't even have to think about. It sounds sort of silly, but it really works and shaves a few seconds off every time you have to count something.

Oh! Side-pots! This is where the most problems will likely occur. Here's how I do it: "This player is all-in for 750. There are one, two, three, four, five other players in for 1000, which is 250 more than the all-in. Five times 250 is 1250 in the side-pot, everything else in the main." Yes, I count it out while I talk. It may be overkill, but trust me you don't want anybody saying it wasn't done right. And be very clear on all streets what is the live pot. This gives everybody at the table the most opportunity possible to raise objection or correct a mistake. And if the all-in is less than half of the full bet, do it the other way (ie, "...six players match the all-in of 250 for 1500, the rest on the side"). If you have more than one all-in on a hand or it's too complicated to multiply (7 x 645, quick!), pull in the smallest bet from every stack first (NEVER take bets from one stack to another) and repeat as necessary. For multiple all-ins, it's handy to either stack the chips near the person or make an arrow out of them pointing or stack them up and slide a chip facing the direction of the person. When awarding, be very clear about "okay, you two are in for this pot, you show down first," and then moving on to the other side-pots.

If you get a heads-up all-in and call, DON'T bother to have players match the bet before showdown. It only wastes time, as very often one person will just win all the chips anyway. And if the shorter stack wins, don't bother counting if it's too big, just match stacks. Make sure the main pot is put very clearly aside, and bring the LOSER'S chips to the WINNER'S stacks, then putting matched stacks aside or in the pot.

And never EVER let players make change from other bets on the table until ALL ACTION is complete. And still don't let them do it. Players tend to get itchy about not having the right chips, but change is almost always able to be made from the main pot once action is done. If it's not, then you as the dealer take the oversized chip to someone NOT IN THE HAND and get change while being very obvious about what you're doing. For some other reason, players always seem to either ask for change while it's their action or ask for change from someone whose action it is.

So, er, yeah, that should get you started. Didn't mean to ramble on so much. Good luck! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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Can we have that distributed to every casino so they can train their dealers properly.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I can't see this crowd being super nitty or unfriendly, they'll probably be casual and not very picky. If their alternative is no dealer they will surely be grateful for anyone willing to deal. If you're not that confident, just remember every dealer is new at some point and hs gone thru the same thing.

I was s****** bricks the first time I dealt in a casino, even tho I'd been running home games forever. But the learning curve is steep at first. You'll get the hang of it and gain confidence fast.

Don't talk much at first, you should get good at it before you try to converse while dealing. Even if you are confident and experienced you should always put any conversation on hold to take care of business. Learn what the players want too. 2-4 players want friendly and social dealers. $5000 tournament players want the dealer to keep their big mouth shut.

Don't sweat making mistakes, everyone does. But if you're paying attention you probably won't make huge mistakes. Take your time. Accuracy is more important than speed.

Other than that, just relax + have fun.

Al

[RR]

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I was s****** bricks the first time I dealt in a casino, even tho I'd been running home games forever. But the learning curve is steep at first. You'll get the hang of it and gain confidence fast.


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My first day dealing in a casino I dealt a 10k heads up lowball match.

[pfapfap]

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My first day dealing in a casino I dealt a 10k heads up lowball match.

[/ QUOTE ]Jebus, I'd have gone insane. I thankfully had a cute female dealer whispering me the hands my first OH8. I snapped a card in half trying to shuffle a pan deck. Trainer said he'd never seen that one before.

Good advice, Al. I got caught up on the technical side. My first down, I was all OMG real chips and they trust me to touch them!

[RR]

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My first day dealing in a casino I dealt a 10k heads up lowball match.

[/ QUOTE ]Jebus, I'd have gone insane. I thankfully had a cute female dealer whispering me the hands my first OH8. I snapped a card in half trying to shuffle a pan deck. Trainer said he'd never seen that one before.

Good advice, Al. I got caught up on the technical side. My first down, I was all OMG real chips and they trust me to touch them!

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They didn't trust me with chips, they used sweet and low packs to keep track of where they were. Well that and they didn't want to let the casino hold their 20k.

[TheChad]

RR, wow, I'd throw up every hand for the first 10 minutes AND have a floor sitting at the table observing EVERYTHING.

OP, there is a lot of good advice here. I'm something like you will be in a year or two: deal occasionally for formal tournaments (black tie, etc) and some informal. The best advice I can give is to host a game a day or two before hand. Live/sng; doesn't matter. You do not play. if it is a live game, allow tips. If it is a tourney, I would suggest having it deepstacked and the buyin like $20-x. Leave the x up to your players as an optional tip/food monies. I'd order a couple of pizzas and soda (beer if they like) to make it similar to what you will be working in. Make sure you have a structure for tourney posted/rulebook around (Robert's is the gen accepted std).
Then, just do it. Run it like you've seen and do your best to give them a fair and well paced game. This will give you plenty of chances to screw up and deal with people. Oh yeah, tell them to act like it's the real deal. Then when you have the officers there to chill and gamble a bit, you will be more relaxed and focused. The first time, I fubar'ed the final table so bad. The players had no idea what was going on as they were all VERY green noobs. But my TD was a good entertainer and I was nervous as hell. That's how I got started. Now, I make a least $25/hr dealing in tourneys and $50/hr in live games.

Hope you have fun above all.