blonde poker forum

A quick observation, I'll take the risk of sounding miserable:

It's accepted that the dealing in this country is not up to the standard of most other countries in Europe. This is actually understanadable after such a quick growth in the game in England, and a disproportionate number of big tournaments being held here compared to other countries. However, this would be easier to accept if the right attitude and desire to improve was there amongst the dealers and tour organisers.

The first two dealers on my table made quite a few misdeals. This is not awful, any dealer makes a mistake once in a while. However, if one of Thomas Kremser's brilliant team of dealers ever makes a misdeal, they look embarassed and apologise. The two dealers on my table seemed to find it funny, joining in the general banter about who would have had which cards, and so forth. The dealers seem to accept it a little TOO much when they make a mistake, or don't have a clue where the button should be.

And banter they did for the rest of the time- joining in with the players, one of them telling his own jokes and stories all the time whilst (mis)dealing.

Is it too Scrooge-like to say that it's not part of a dealer's job to entertain the table? Are we too accpeting that the dealing has never really been too great, and so doesn't need to be in the future?

We have billy at luton. bad jokes, rub downs, mis deals etc. but he deals twice as quick as the others so we get more hands than the other tables. Every dealer mis=deals like we mis-read or do something wrong in our job. Frustrating at times but it happens.

The casino I play in here, which is owned by an American/Philippine Company and Not PAGCOR (the government run casino company), place great onus on the training of their dealers not only dealing the table but also interacting with the customers and I have to say they do a great job, yes they make mistakes but then they are human.

IMO the dealers in the UK are in a no win situation, if they do a good job, nobody very rarely, if ever publicly applauds them. but if they are bad they are the worst in the world, and I think some of the crap they take from players/customers in the UK, and probably elsewhere is totally uncalled for and bang out of order.

If a player here abuses a dealer for whatever reason (providing the dealer hasn't been abusive to the player), the company supports the dealer 100% and the player is banned for life from the casino. I have only seen it happen once in my 16 months here.

Just my thoughts.

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When I was trained by the Grosvenor Casino Training Officer he literally said, "You're there to deal cards. The players are not your friends. They don't give a f*ck what you did at the weekend and they don't want to hear about your life. You're there to deal them cards and run the game."

That's -why- I try to do, with varying levels of success. Remember, we're always going to make mistakes. It's very easy to send a card skidding across the table too fast or forget to move the button.

I don't think it's wrong of a dealer to try and make light of a mistake. Obviously, they should apologise and make a clear effort at getting it right the second time. As Celtic mentioned, some of the dealers at our place take it a little too far, he's a work colleague and also a friend but I wouldn't dream of giving 'rub downs' and he really does take it too far sometime, but there you go.

I suppose it's all about if you want a robotic dealer or an entertainer. We have both, I think and also a medium between the two. We want you to have a good time, because if the table is having a good time then the chances are so are we. There are times that I can sit down and not even say a word and still enjoy it, but sometimes it's appropriate and enjoyable for the table when a dealer ventures opinions and discussions of their own.

So I have found, in my time as a card room dealer. It's far more personal and enjoyable than dealing table games, though the abuse is certainly worse. Double edged sword, I guess.

I disagree with you here Stuart, i think the majority of uk dealers are pretty good. Also to compare to the likes of a EPT or any European major is unfair as these events mainly employ the most experienced dealers drawn FOR THE OCCASION from around Europe.

Regional cardrooms have there own rules and i agree have some training issues but generally the standard is certainly higher now than 2 or 3 years ago.

A bigger issue along the same lines that gripes me more, is consistency of rules and implementing them, this really is something that needs fixing.

Is Billy the guy with spikey hair?

Yeah - part-time magician as well (hence him being good with cards).

I never used to mind having a chat with someone I knew at the table whilst shuffling or something. It didn't slow me down one bit. In fact, I used to take cricket odds off Dave Winston at The Vics afternoon Hold'em game!

I'm in agreement though. If you're dealing a game of poker, conversation is not an option in my book.

You get good and bad dealers at every venue that i have played at, by far the best that i have personally come across are the one's at the Broadway casino in Birmingham. I haven't played there for about 18 months though. Every time i do play there i have noticed a higher standard than is generally the norm in this country, maybe it has a lot to do with the quality of training that is provided for them.

To be fair, the majority of provincial card rooms only supply dealers for the final table. God knows how someone is supposed to get up to scratch by doing a few hours a week like that.

Maybe all poker players should be made to be dealers for 6 months before being allowed to enter a tournament. ;)

Please let this never happen, i am the worlds worst dealer.

I think being poker dealer is thankless task given some of the characters we have in our game, who seem to think the dealer should be to blame for their dillusional view of varience in poker.

Its a bit like being a football referee, do a good job, nobody notices... Cock it up and they pounce on you...

wrong attitude from the trainer IMO, the dealer should ( most at luton do) be involved in the table banter, when i said Billy gives rub downs, he give them to me, haven't noticed him give them to anyone else but i give them back, and that makes it more enjoyable for me and the rest of the table. I've had some miserable nights sitting there with a quiet dealer and quiet players, it doesnt make for good poker. Give me Phil Cooklin, Tikay & Billy on the table everynight and i'd be a happy man.

Hmmm...
Mrs K9 and myself attended a game last week and Mrs K9 was playing on one table, when she witnessed a clearly new dealer being subjected to the most outrageous abuse by one of the other players who was drunk.. so much so he was playing wildly and hitting bad hands .. When the player missed the comments were disgraceful.. i.e thinly veiled threats.. Mrs K9 busted out and went and spoke to the card room manager about this individual also the venue manager came over and listened in.. The card room manager then went and watched said player and also spoke to him after the game finished..
To try and pressurise the dealer by such comments is decidedly wrong, and bravo to the location for pointing as such out to the player.
Its all well and good to complain about the dealers but we have a responsibility as well to be polite..

So true... I dealt on the table in stoke on Saturday night for the first 25 minutes, a couple of dealers short.. not probs, 1st mistake from the dealer when he arrived and their all asking for me back.. ffs, how is he meant to feel comfortable after that..

Dealers do a great job IMO, and i have not really come across a bad one, but then i dont play that much live...

That's how it should be Celtic; We want to have fun and so do the players ( I hope ). Billy is the best man for that.

As for the trainer, well, let's face it - most of us don't abide by the "shut up and deal" rule, love it or hate it. I don't personally think it's a bad thing.

I guess it depends if players want to sit and be miserable all night or have a laugh at the same time. I appreciate there is a time and a place for it, and some situations require that the table is not laughing on joking; but on the whole? Why not. Enjoy yourself. If you don't like it, politely tell a supervisor and I am sure they'll speak to the dealer about it. When next he deals, he'll tone it down.

That saves you both an awkward situation and is the politest way of dealing with it.

Shut the fu...... up and deal is ok  but try keeping a straight face when Ulliots in full flow putting people to the metaphorical sword. Punters have been bitchin about the standard of dealers going down for as long as I can remember over 30 years at the last count funny that the wages have been going in the same direction as well.You get what you pay for.......

why are all you young single lads all dealing in provincial cardrooms, get your arses on the big cruise ships and see a bit of the world ;)

I'm only staying until my share save scheme matures and then I'm selling up and going travelling.

IMO Dealers should be both confident/good AND get involved in table banter - they must know where to draw the line though.

There was a dealer at Binnions, Mike ( there is a pic of him on my blog). He is without doubt THE best dealer I have ever seen, so so quick ( No offence to Billy, but he would make him look like a trainee), vary rarely made a mistake.

You could tell he had been dealing a long time, but his opening line was "go easy on me boys, I only started dealing last week"

He was a good craic as well.

a Rank plc share save?


now that's an optimist  ;)


YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-allh_bTmXk

I have to say while Stuart is robably right in that Kremser's EPT dealers are a class above, I think the GUKPT lot are first class. Kremser gets the best of the best but below that I personally feel the standards in the UK are defo second to none Europe wide, with maybe only vegas the exception. Jon Raab and the powers that be have filled a niche beautifully with the GUKPT, with great structured events available domestically in the UK monthly give or take. The tour is structured, set up and run with players in mind and the staff areof the same mindset. At each leg we see the same staff, we have fun with them, have a drink afterwards with them and moan at them when they deal us outdraws. The closeness and the banter is part of the tour as far as I'm concerned. I wasn't in Brighton, I stayed out in the Bahamas and am now in New York ready for the Ladbrokes cruise, but have been out here with some of the Scandi boys ready for the cruise and they are so jealous of the tour we have domestically, which not only gives us all a decent event to play a month but a chance of winning a decent amount. They have no such tour and are  jealous of the work jon and his team put in. Sometimes all is not perfect, but the GUKPT staff have always been first class in my experience and provide a great stepping stone for us all to move from domestic to the highest tournies smoothly.

Oh and by the way, from this side of the pond me and all the boys I'm with followed the updates, and as hilarious as Mick McCool's comments were, we didn't agree and preferred to follow the update and really enjoy as per...great updates snoops xxx

Kremser gets the best of the best because these dealers paid a lot of money to learn how to deal the games  and I do mean Games .Any Idiot can deal HE u try dealing under pressure OH hi lo split or 2-7 double draw lowball. I did notice a Training school at the DTD 2-3 weeks you must be joking these people will not be poker dealers they will be starting on the road to be dealers.I do seem to remember a Croupier at the CCC recently Passing a comment that the player could fuck off needless to say he no longer works there.  If you want to address the speed issue the dealer that makes it look easy and smoothis by far the fastest any dealers on here will know what I am talking About just like anybody who knows about computers  and typriters knows I do not have a clue

I've sort of fallen on my feet since I started dealing d/c games. I'm the least experienced of those of us in our crew that deal it, but I haven't really found it to be as gut wrenchingly difficult as I expected it was going to be.

And, to be honest, if I can deal OH hi-low split then anybody can. :P


And yes, Richard, a rank plc share save scheme. One well worth the investment!

Any monkey can deal tournaments.

High stakes cash games are where it's at.

I was talking about cash games. =P

Why wouldnt you want dealers to be invovled in table banter?

on many occaisions when playing in a strange card room it is the dealers who make you feel at home.  much worse are some of the miserable foul mouthed players I have a problem with.

If you just want an autumaton to chuck cards at you invest in a poker pro.

Last night was the first time i have had you deal to me in the dealers game and i think you did a great job. I was suprised to hear you have only been dealing it for 2 days as i assumed it was a lot longer as you did a great job.  keep it up  well done

Thanks. Not so smooth tonight, though. Still. Could have been far worse.

You did just grand. I know you were getting gip from one individual, but you must do things the way you are trained, & instructed, & ignore player comments as to how & when you should or should not sort out the chips. You are in charge of the Table, & not them.

More of the same, show authority, & they will respect you.

Any player with an ounce of dignity would surely act in a gentlemanly/Ladylike way and therefore make the dealers job that much easier which would then add to the enjoyment of ALL.

Or do these players that feel the need to act like complete jerks (maybe it's not an act) think it is humorous and clever to try an belittle others?

I have seen this so many times when a "newbie" dealer is bought to a table, some people go out of their way to make them feel as uncomfortable as possible - it seems I am always doing the opposite, trying to make them "feel" relaxed so as not to make too many mistakes

THE worse thing you can do to a nervous dealer is badger them on every little mistake they make - it will then lead to more mistakes.

I have however had a quiet word with a TD when a dealer is just not up to scratch to have them moved from the table, but this is just as much for their benefit as to the players at the table - especially if the table has a couple of players on that I KNOW will hassle an inexperienced dealer.