A poker dealer
A poker dealer distributes cards to players and manages the action at a
poker table.[1]
Professional dealers [ edit🫦 ]
Any casino with a poker room must hire a
staff of dealers. Casinos generally pay dealers minimum wage. However, a🫦 dealer's
primary source of income is not salary, but tips from players. Tip income may be
substantial for dealers who🫦 can deal hands quickly and efficiently. There are a few
exceptions for taking tips. (e.g., in Sweden, where all the🫦 casinos are owned by the
state, dealers and other casino personnel may not accept tips from players. This rule
is🫦 complied with strictly.)
To become employable by a casino, applicants without prior
experience are typically required to complete a 4 to🫦 6 week training program at a
dealing school. Dealing in a casino may require working late hours and remaining seated
🫦 for long periods of time. Dealers also commonly work holidays, since these are
especially busy days for casinos. Having to🫦 deal with difficult individuals or abusive
players may be another drawback to dealing at a casino.
Major poker tournaments also
hire🫦 dealers. For a given tournament stop, the tournament coordinator will hire dealers
on contract for the duration of the tournament,🫦 which may be a few days to a few weeks.
Room and board may or may not be provided by🫦 the tournament management; the dealer is
typically responsible for their own travel expenses.
Mechanics of dealing [ edit
]
Dealers must be🫦 proficient in shuffling the deck, distributing the cards to the
players, and, if required by the game being dealt, turning🫦 up the community cards in
the center of the table. There are two methods of distributing the cards,
"American"-style and🫦 "European"-style.
Shuffling [ edit ]
To shuffle the cards, the
dealer follows a sequence defined by the casino. First all cards are🫦 spread out on the
table and pushed around randomly. This is called "scrambling" or "washing" the cards.
Then the cards🫦 are collected and squared into a deck. At this point a typical shuffling
sequence might be: riffle, riffle, box, riffle.🫦 Professional dealers always keep both
halves of the deck very low to the table while shuffling. Some casinos have automatic
🫦 shufflers built into the table that shuffle a different deck of cards while the
previous hand is being played, which🫦 speeds up the game.
Finally, a cut card is placed
on the table and the deck is cut onto the card.🫦 The cut card is held on the bottom of
the deck for the entire hand, to keep the bottom card🫦 from being
exposed.
American-style dealing [ edit ]
In American-style dealing, the deck is held in
one hand, and the dealer uses🫦 the thumb of their deck hand to slide the top card of the
deck toward their pitching hand. The pitching🫦 hand clasps the card between the thumb
and index finger while at the same time the mid-point of the card🫦 touches the face
(nail) of the middle finger. It is the extension of the middle finger that "pitches"
the card🫦 off the top of the deck and a whooshing sound should be heard as each card
exits the top of🫦 the deck.
The ability to pitch cards accurately is critical, since the
cards must be delivered in a way that no🫦 players at the table can see the undersides of
the cards.
European-style dealing [ edit ]
European-style dealers touch only the top🫦 of
each card being dealt. The card is pushed off the top of the deck to the table surface
in🫦 front of the dealer. The dealer then propels the card toward the recipient, usually
imparting some spin to the card🫦 to encourage sliding.
Burning and turning [ edit
]
Before dealing a community card, the top card off the deck is burned,🫦 or discarded.
The rationale for burning is that the top card on the deck is visible to players during
the🫦 previous betting round, so that a cheat might be able to spot a mark on the top
card and therefore🫦 gain an advantage on his opponents.
When burning, the deck must be
held low and the burn card kept level with🫦 the table surface. Casinos watch carefully
to make sure a dealer does not "flash", or inadvertently expose, the burn cards🫦 to
players at the table.
In flop games, the three community cards comprising the flop are
turned up simultaneously, never one🫦 at a time.
Responsibilities during a hand [ edit
]
Dealers control the action during a hand. This may include prodding players🫦 to act,
verbally announcing actions of players to the rest of the table, and correcting players
who act out of🫦 turn.
Dealers also must manage the pot. The dealer must verify the
amount of bets and raises by players, collect folded🫦 hands, maintain side pots, and
read players' hands at showdown to identify the winner or winners. In games with a
🫦 rake, the dealer also must keep track of the amount of money in the pot and remove the
appropriate amount🫦 for the house.
At times the dealer needs to communicate with the
floor, or other casino staff. Some casinos equip the🫦 dealers with a headset or
walkie-talkie for this purpose, while in other casinos the dealer must shout over the
ambient🫦 noise. The following table shows some common calls a dealer may make, and their
meanings:
Call Meaning "Floor" or "Decision" Requests🫦 the floor manager to come to
resolve a dispute. "Seat open" Announces that a player has left the game and🫦 a seat is
now available. "Player in" Notifies the floor or brush that a vacant seat has been
filled. "Players🫦 checks" Requests a chip runner to retrieve chips for a player. "Fill"
Requests a chip runner to bring chips to🫦 fill the dealer tray. This tray must be kept
full of low denomination chips in a high limit game, so🫦 that change may be made in the
pot so that the rake may be taken out. "Set up" Requests replacement🫦 decks be brought
to the table. "Pick up" For cash games, used when an absent player's chips should be
removed🫦 from the table to free the seat. Also, for single-table satellites, used to
request the staff to come collect the🫦 cash entry fees from the table. "Playover" Alerts
the floor that a new player will be playing in a seat🫦 taken by an absent player, until
the absent player returns. Usually a "playover box" or some other object is used🫦 to
separate the seated player's money and chips from those of the person playing over.
"Winner" Used in single-table satellites🫦 to announce that the game has completed and
the prize is to be paid. "Brush" Calls the floor to deal🫦 with a game participation
problem, for example if a game must be broken due to insufficient players. "Service" or
"Cocktails"🫦 Alerts the floor that a player wants a beverage and/or food.
Online dealing
[ edit ]
Online poker sites use Random number🫦 generation (RNGs) when dealing cards. A
successful RNG distributes cards in an unpredictable and random way.
See also [ edit ]
