Dealer plays with pot--best tactic?

[cpk]

So Tulalip has a dealer that likes to stack the pot in "no-limit" hold 'em games. This is, of course, inappropriate, and it's not good for the dealer, either--because it creates the appearance that he might be stealing from the pot. But the trouble is that he's otherwise a pretty good dealer--he gets out a lot of hands, and he doesn't tend to make other mistakes. So, I don't want him to get fired or anything. The other problem is that the management at Tulalip is somewhat less than user-friendly--and not very good in general, in my opinion.

So, what's my play here? I'd really rather not have dealers playing with the pot. But I'd feel like a real [censored] either confronting him about it directly or ratting him out to management. Should I just suck it up and do it anyway? What would you do?

[AngusThermopyle]

Catch him on his break.
Nicely explain your viewpoint.
Then let it drop.

[Rottersod]

Talk to him privately and explain that dealers are supposed to be neutral and stacking the pot may be helping players who can't or don't count the pot to figure out their odds. Let him know that it's also disconcerting for some players to have the dealer moving his hands all over the pot and the cards in the middle of the action.

[lmcjaho]

If an opposing player needs the help of the dealer stacking the chips to remember how much is in the pot then he is not much of a risk to me so I don't see what the big deal is from that point.

As for stealing from the pot - unless this is a HUGE game where the guy can conceivably make a fortune doing it I doubt he is going to risk his livelihood by filching a couple of chips from you if he is as good a dealer as you say otherwise...

[Bremen]

[ QUOTE ]
I doubt he is going to risk his livelihood by filching a couple of chips from you if he is as good a dealer as you say

[/ QUOTE ]
Do we really need to explain how stupid people can be?

[Ray Zee]

i have seen and known quite a few dealers that stole chips for years between getting caught. they made hundreds of thousands so its not small change.

the only reason a dealer plays with the pot is because he is bored or he is setting up to steal something.

[Rottersod]

[ QUOTE ]
If an opposing player needs the help of the dealer stacking the chips to remember how much is in the pot then he is not much of a risk to me so I don't see what the big deal is from that point.

[/ QUOTE ]

You should think about that and consider that any extra edge given to your opponent is an edge taken from you. I would rather play against someone who can't count the pot and doesn't understand the concept of odds than against someone who may be subconsciously pushed into thinking that the chips are being stacked for a reason so he now starts to count them and base his decisions a bit more carefully. I'll take any edge I can get and so should you.

[lmcjaho]

[ QUOTE ]

You should think about that and consider that any extra edge given to your opponent is an edge taken from you. I would rather play against someone who can't count the pot and doesn't understand the concept of odds than against someone who may be subconsciously pushed into thinking that the chips are being stacked for a reason so he now starts to count them and base his decisions a bit more carefully. I'll take any edge I can get and so should you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, unfortunately the only place I have around here to play is at a local Mohawk cardroom and since they take 5% up to 25$ as the rake they always stack the pot to calculate rake as the hand is ongoing in order to speed things up. The dealers will also announce the pot size when asked (and occasionally just when bored) so it's a moot point for me. I stand by my comment that the easy-to-see pot-size issue is not a big deal to me - if anything I think it tends to generate more loose calls with bad odds just because the pot is big than anything else...

[cardmonkey]

If you would rather I not stack the pots just tell me. There’s a 20/40 player who would rather I not so I don’t in that game. I am after all working for tips, so making the customers happy is second only to running a fair game. (I have never taken a chip that wasn’t clearly given to me by a player, nor have I ever taken a chip from the table without rapping the box.)

The reasons I stack pots during the action, from least to most significant are:

1) I’d rather be dealing Omaha Hi/Lo and want to stay sharp for that.
2) I’m bored.
3) In the off chance it’s a split pot I lose almost no time.
4) Many players like it, and I think reward me for it, and,

Most importantly,

5) In our “No Limit” games (really $5 to $500 spread limit in the state of Washington) players seem committed to using mostly $5 red chips for the action, even if their stack is $1,400. In the larger $5/10 blinds game pots routinely – once every other down – get over a grand, sometimes getting into the $3 to $4k range. That’s a lot of red chips in a pile, on a crowded table whose perimeter is completely covered with stacks of red.

Management knows I’m doing it. It’s out in the open in the middle of the table. If someone convinces me it’s somehow unfair I’d stop, and if you’re a customer of mine, and would rather I not, just tell me. One less thing for me to do.

[youtalkfunny]

[ QUOTE ]
Management knows I’m doing it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then management is an ass.

"Management knows I'm doing it," is the saddest line in your post. If not for the $25 max rake mentioned above, it would be the saddest line in the whole thread.

A dishonest dealer could get rich, palming a $5 chip out of each pot.

I had a player ask me to spread the pot in a NL game last week. I politely refused his request. The entire table got upset with me. I calmly offered to call the floor.

Fortunately, our sharpest old-school floorman was on duty, and he backed me up, explaining to the players, "I don't want that dealer's hands in the pot any more than absolutely necessary. And you shouldn't, either!"