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 ]
