blonde poker forum

Just been thinking lately about how every poker venue seems to have it's own way of doing things, and just randomly wondering what the general players seem to prefer in terms of the little things dealers do.

All too often when taking a dealer off (though I only tend to notice if it's a big pot) it seems like they tend to be messing around with the muck pile, or the stub of the deck after the river. Obviously there are little things that all of us do without noticing, but I'd guess very few that would be likely to distract someone involved in a hand at the time.

Also, what do you all tend to prefer when it comes to~

Pitching from the hand, or sliding, when dealing
Game commentary - announcing every action, bet amounts as they're made, etc
Setting bets as they're made (say player 1 bets 300 in 3x100 chips, player 2 raises to 1000 with a single 1k chip, dealer brings in the 300 and makes 700 in change from the pot to show the raise only)

Just some ponderings that I've wasted time thinking about recently, lol.

Oh, and hai  :D

Had a similar conversation recently about what players like what dealing styles. Personally it tilts the hell out of me when they deal flops by taking 3 cards off the deck and using one to scoop the other two over. Looks way more slick to just spread them normally. Even turning them one at a time would be better.

Pitching is way more accurate than sliding imo but I guess that depends on how good the dealer is. Game commentary can get a bit excessive, you don't have to announce every action, especially in bigger buyin tourneys/cash games where everyone knows what they're doing (allegedly ;)). There was one dealer in dublin though that said 'raise' every time someone bet. That was pretty tilting.

Taking in the calls and leaving just the raise amounts would be much better also. Saves time mostly, although I guess it makes it slightly easier to calculate pot odds which is a disadvantage if your arithmetic was good enough to do it anyway

play at the bike from time to time. I dont mind 'commentary' as long as its limited to repeating what the player said, guess it also clarifies if a player meant to say something else or wasnt loud enough etc.

And as far as 'setting bets' I think its cool if dealers did that but sometimes you have to tell them to pull the bet in to see the difference.

Gah, meant to post this in Rail, any chance of a mod moving it?

And with the sliding vs pitching, a great pitcher always tends to be as good as, if not better than a good slider. But there's little to no danger of mishaps with not-so-good sliders, whereas bad pitchers are a lot more likely to make a mistake (usually just exposing a card).
Personally I always prefer sliding, it's a lot easier to keep a game going, and avoids a lot of bad habits that come with holding the deck through a hand after pitching (rolling the deck especially tilts me when playing).
Obv if a dealer slides, it usually goes hand in hand with dealing the flop one card at a time, another personal preference.

I like it miles better when the dealer just deals three cards down and turns em over.

Commentry, when they annouce what the cards are is really tilting and must be annoying for the dealers. Ilike it when they announce someone has raised and the amount they have raised to, but they do not need to tell eveyr player what the action is, we should be paying attention really.

I dont mind fiddling with the muck or w/e spose it must be a bit boring so id fidget too i reckons.

Dealers commenting on hands is THE MOST tilting thing imo, like saying "well played" or stuff like that - I like to have banter with the dealers, and friendly fast dealers are so good, but shouldn't be anything related to the hand

Also, looking at the cards is pretty worrying, dont like it when they do that - but then Id struggle to resist temptation myself.

Friendly guys who are good or at least try their best is good enough for me

had a dealer at Gala call clock on me after a max 1.30 min tank facing large river bet. Tilted the fuck out of me because he thought he was being "cool?" by doing it. Also had a dealer say "ooo blinds are up. this is the level everyone steals at with trash" when I have my 12BB stack in the middle with A3o and a donk strongly considering calling me.

Dealers should be seen but not heard imo. 

 :)up     :hello:    ;welcome;

I could probably write an essay on the subject but i'll keep it short :)

Flop - 3 cards face down then reveal all 3 at the same time. Dealing one at a time tilts me so bad, esp if they do it slow and announce the cards too. King... Four....... Seven. Argh!!!

Announcing - Never announce the cards. We can see them ourselves. Obv if someone has an eyesight issue then it's fair game to ask the dealer to announce, no problem there. Announce to the table at large when there has been a change in action, but don't prompt every single player. A couple of the dealers in Alea take this to the extreme. eg, 800/1600 and someone raises to 4000 on my big blind and i get the speech of "4000 total, that's 2400 to call". Yes I know! I'm following the action and I have basic arithmetic skills!

Pulling bets/seperating raises - Dealers should never do this imo. Can lead to all sorts of problems. Bets should only be pulled in when either a) the player in question has folded, or b) action is finished for the round. Always announce total bets and not raise amounts. It's up to the player to figure that out.

Pitching/sliding - I prefer pitching but not really fussed.

All ins - Tilts me when dealers start counting an all in bet without being asked. Should only do it if asked. Oh, and don't offer to count it either, wait until someone prompts you.

Slowness - I know everyone has to start somewhere but slow dealers annoy me to. Can make the game feel like such a drag. This is made even worse if you have slow players at the table too who hollywood over everything. I'd like the dealers to be brisk and making an effort to keep the action moving.

That's enough :)

Dealers who comment on any aspect of play....

+1

as someone mentioned earlier, dealers who say RAISE when they mean BET!

Dealers who feel the need to stack the pot up nice and neatly before they award it to the winner. It slows the game down. Just push the pot over and let the winner stack it up. It is one of life's little pleasures to stack up a nice big pot that we have just won, so don't deny this pleasure to the player.

Also, dealers who want to be 'part of the banter' at the table. Just deal quietly and let the players do the chatting.

Obviously any comments that are even remotely poker-related are really bad.

"Nice hand, sir" or "Well played, sir" makes me want to cringe every time I hear it.

And lastly I get peeved when they deal a flop at padooki.

Just deal, be quiet and leave the chips alone.

When the only players contesting the pot are in seats 2,3 and 4 yet the dealer makes the pot next to seat 8 and takes a bout 5 shoves to award it.

When a dealer cuts down a stack to count it, then for some reason, stacks it back up, forgets the amount, and cuts it down again to count it.  And badly.

Offering to count a stack.

Looking like they'd rather be anywhere else on earth.

Not announcing action when it is clearly in the interests of maintaining pace/controlling the table.  I don't need to hear every suit declared, but the dealer shouldn't always be silent either.

how about when the action is on you and the dealer has their hand in front of you, they start tapping their fingers impatiently while your deciding your action.

With the board, everywhere I've dealt before the big London festivals this month have always wanted the boards read, but I do prefer not announcing the flop/turn/river. It just seems unneccessary


For me, all those things are really bad, mostly because the muck is supposed to be a mess, so that in case of any post-river drama where someone decides the hand they mucked was a winner, or something equally ridiculous, they can't just easily see which are their cards.
I've never felt the need to comment on anyone's play, and have been aware of it ever since seeing a dealer saying "nice value bet on the river" to someone in a 12k pot in a 5-10 game, the looks on the faces of everyone at the table as the dealer got up pretty much said everything.

recently ive seen lots of dealers riffling with chips that should be in the pot!

hella tilting

Cutting stacks of £5 chips into piles of 4 insted of 5 when counting down. TILT.

It is really boring though.  This is what I did when I use to deal.

the most tilting thing is when you have a really tough decision and the dealer is laughing and joking with other players, i'm all for dealers getting involved with table banter but they should also know when its time to stfu

You can always ask nicely for them to STFU when you have a decision.  The players and the dealer will understand, and they probably didn't realise you were thinking as they weren't paying any attention to the hand - hence the chatting.

LOL WAT!?


The dealer should be paying attention!

Yeah, he should be.  But saying 'excuse me, can you be quiet for a minute as I've got a bit of a decision to make' is a pretty standard form of communication that would help resolve the situation without conflict and upset.

DTD dealers watching the f**king football on the big screens!!!!!

You're at f**king work!!!!! Ignore the football and do your job!!!

One of them was even making the "ooh aah" noises that football fanciers make when something happens.

It was driving me mad.

:D

Matt, you love football, don't you?

Think faster imo

I'm a bit commentary obsessed. I get called the internet a lot.

Oh, stacking the pot is another one too. The pot should be a mess in the middle of the table and definitely not stacked. This can be even worse in cash games when you have a dealer who has no ma skills and has to stack it so they can count it and work out the rake. Maths should be a test when applying for the job!

thats the point, people would think faster if there was a bit more hush hush when people had tough decisions

LOL - poker's not snooker.

Omg so annoying. I mean, the job is pretty easy, and I found keeping myself occupied by keeping track of the pot, and working out what a "pot" bet+raise might be the only form of stimulation to the brain.

Also whoever said stacking the pot up neatly before pushing it to the winner £$*£&$)Q

so is there a thread where the dealers get to moan about the poker players too then? :p

Personally i don't think the dealer should be seen and not heard - professional yes, but quiet? do you realise how long a shift would feel if the dealers were to stay quiet the whole time? pffft would never happen with me. I like to have banter with the players, chuck in a few comments here and there - non poker related may i add and just keep the table friendly. IMO i have never had a player that was unhappy with the way i deal, not only do i keep the game going but i also have fun while doing so.
If i'm playing cash then i want the dealer to be interactive the same. As for announcing raises etc, most of it is house procedure and you'd be amazed at the amount of players who look at the dealers and say ''is it me?'' *sigh*
My biggest peeve is when someone asks you for a count of the all in stack...you start cutting it down and they fold! grrrrr