Ask The Dealer

ok...i would like to open this thread up for you to ask me various questions about live action play..not so much hand analysis...but more so the others aspects of the game..tells and such...betting patterns..etc..

I would also like to open it for discussion on any topic you would like to pick the dealers brain about...


It would be a privilige to share my 6 years of dealing ...and near twenty years of play experiences with you chatters..

When is it proper to tip a live dealer?

When you win a big pot?
Any time you win a pot?
You should tip whether you win a pot or not and base it on accuracy/quickness of deal?

How compotent do you consider most dealers are at their jobs?

Do you find that online players making the switch to live give their hands away more?

Do women broadcast their hands more?

What levels do you find are the softest?

What time of day is the best to play?

Thanks, this is great.

When is going all in best?

When you are low or try and build back up?

Slightly off the topic of poker, but blackjack, how the hell does the dealer always have the better cards lol

not exactly sure here i am a poker dealer but i believe the house always has a 2% advantage on you in blackjack

i did however have a 23 hr run once in vegas where i turned 20 int 500 playing very tight i guess you would say...

all in players seem to be more selective in their hand decision..so imo if your going to shove ...it better not be on a bluff..unles you have the table image to be doing so.....i guess it depends on the crowd you play too...

if im dealing the cards i hope you tip me every hand win or lose...lol



but seriously....it up to you...cant tip in a tny till the end....and then i guess its all up to you...nobody can force you to tip...but my kids sure appr it...

they are trained at their game well...but you factor in the human relation factor..all hell seems to break loose doesnt it lol

1. actually i find the opposite to be true..it seems to me like online players are able to trap easier...i dont know if it is from the stealth you gain from donk killing or what..

2. imo this all depends on their skill level...but you women are very deceptive to read sometimes period....but i am a guy what do i know about women besides they are HOT woot woot lol..

3. its hard for me to elaborate on this one as i only deal a 3/6 or no limit game..sorry

4. i feel later at night is prob better if your trying to maximize your profits...it seems like there is always one drunken atm just waitng to give you his chips.....

Do you have any physical pain after dealing X number of hours? Some dealers really snap the cards to everyone (seemingly to deal them fast). Does that lead to carpal tunnel or anything like that?

What is the proper number of times to shuffle? I know you guys in casinos have to wash them first. I had heard that at least 7 times was needed to have a completely random shuffle.

here is our shuffle

shuffle twice box three shuffle let em fly.......


and yes i get neck back and wrist pain...but i gain a lot of useful knowledge.....

Each 'jurisdiction' (state, country, etc) may have their own requirement for shuffling, as well as House rules.

Although some people think it delays the game too much using a 'wash' first, many use the wash (scramble) first, 2 riffles, box 2, 1 riffle, 1 cut and deal. I have also seen a box included between the wash and 1st riffle.

i agree totally... i have seen the cards shuffled many ways in several casinos..i also somehow managed to space out that we cut right before the deal

When a player is talking alot of trash do you ever wish (give off bad energy) that the player will not get positive cards when in a big pot ?

Sometimes when im in a verbal assault I can tell the dealer doesn't like me for whatever reason. (cause i dont get into a verbal assault unless they start it) But alot of times the dealer has his regulars and I can see that dealer wishing me bad cards lol.. Do you do that..

its not that i wish you bad cards when you are talking chit...it might just be that i know the guy sitting to your left is an idiot and you provoke him by feeding into his infantile behavior..

What's the longest you have seen someone sit at a table for?

How often are do you switch out the decks? (does it depend on the State?)

i have seen many 11 am to 2 am ppl... now in different counties in my state there are 24 hr card games so im sure there are many who have seen someone go for a day or two...unless artificially aided....


as for the deck switch..all casinos could differ...sometimes we dont switch them...until a player requests it..

btw...this usually pisses off other players when ppl get in pissin matches and wont let go.


however i have seen this make the pot sizes explode...lol....this seems to really pick a dead game up sometimes..(typed while laughing devilishly)

We use riffle-riffle-strip-riffle-cut. Our local casino does the same on tournament tables, and they've got shuffle machines on the cash game tables so they just pick the deck up out of the machine, cut and go on those.

Tipping varies country to country, BTW. Australian casinos (and many European ones too, I believe) don't allow it, and I know my local casino goes to some pretty serious lengths to make sure dealers don't accept any tips.

UMMMM i think they would pull your gambling liscense for cheating for that...lol

Have you dealt to any famous poker players and/or celebrities? If so, how were they? How did they tip?

What was your best day in tips?

Some can, but it takes a lot of practice. I certainly can't

FWIW, almost every casino uses a cutting card which (among other things) makes it near impossible to deal from the bottom of the deck. You could still deal seconds from the top, in theory, though that still only puts one specific card (the top card in the deck) in one player's hand.

There's two reasons why it's unlikely the average dealer is doing any of this though.

One, as Nomas says, is that the dealer would likely be fired. Casinos have sophisticated surveillance systems, and they do look for stuff like that.

And two, speaking for myself if not all other dealers, I don't actually care what cards you get. I'm getting paid the same either way, so the incentive for me to stack the deck (assuming I even could) is pretty much zero.

I think what you're really looking for is a card magician, not a poker dealer

Which game do you prefer, the online game or the live one? From your point of view, I want to know which game do you enjoy playing.

i totallt agree..i could give a hoot what cards you have...im not there to play really ...only to observe and keep the game fluid...

Myself i have to lean towards the live game...i feel the randomness of online poker is way crazy....like i said in another thread.. i really dont trust the rng...im not a rigtard..i have a friend who is a math professor..iq is like 150 i bet..and he says that algorythyms tend to have a repetitive nature...im not sure what that really means when it relates to the rng...but im sure ..since i have read that most rng are algorythyms... that you can pick up on some discrepencies somewhere....i wish i had saved all my hands until this point for analysis ..i am new to that aspect as well...


I just feel the aspect of the live games offers you as a player a little better op to actually make plays dependent upon reads ....or table image..or just plain messing with people's mentality...

Its like most things.. anything is possible!!

Sure a guy who has studied card manipulation for long enough probably could.. its not impossible.

But if he did then he would also have to be a part of a betting scam.. he will need someone there to profit from it.

If he gets caught he is in a lot of trouble.. the casino will probably be looking out for this too.. its not good PR for them to have a dealer accused of rigging a deck so its something they would be looking for too.

The other thing with card rigging is that its reletively easy to look out for.. I have a friend in the magic circle and he can explain most card tricks just by looking at the way the guy holds the cards.. its something most people dont know about but honestly if a magician sat down at the table its one of the things he would be looking out for.

So yeah its probably possible but the dealer would likely get caught quickly too

ONE very compelling reason to not do this where i live is ....my lisc comes from the dept of justice...it would also be considered a FEDERAL crime to get caught doing so ...idk about you...but my butt is an exit only lol.

[quote=nomasburros;1092450]1. actually i find the opposite to be true..it seems to me like online players are able to trap easier...i dont know if it is from the stealth you gain from donk killing or what..

2. imo this all depends on their skill level...but you women are very deceptive to read sometimes period....but i am a guy what do i know about women besides they are soft, sensitive, sweet smelling creatures, with alluring eyes...and seem to want to smack me all the time.... lol

3. its hard for me to elaborate on this one as i only deal a 3/6 or no limit game..sorry

4. i feel later at night is prob better if your trying to maximize your profits...it seems like there is always one drunken atm just waitng to give you his chips.....

btw...this usually pisses off other players when ppl get in pissin matches and wont let go.


ahhh yess ,, the gift of gab

Very useful skill to have. Though I suspect this is a lot more important in home games than it is in casinos, where standard procedures have been developed that negate most of the common card rigging procedures.

Like I mentioned above, the use of cutting cards makes it difficult if not impossible for the dealer to either peek at the bottom card or deal from the bottom of the deck.

The dealer should be cutting the deck onto the cutting card only using one hand (it's how I was taught, though I never really thought about why until now) as well, which makes false cuts a lot less likely. A false cut is often required to either 'sell' or complete a false shuffle.

I'd be a lot more worried about other players colluding against you than I would about a dealer rigging the deck on you. Especially since collusion between players is 1: easier to set up and 2: probably more profitable too.

as a teenager i had a friend who worked in a magic shop....let me tell you right now that it would be easy for them to use a false deck...to the plain eye you would never pick it off...but if you know something about magic decks and the way they are "used" one would be able to notice how the dealer places cards into the deck...like one magic deck ..and i use the term very lightly..is tapered..so if you put a card in 180 degrees to the deck it sticks out ever so slightly allowing the "magician" to automatically pull it out every time....


This kind of gets negated by the scramble and multiple shuffles..a couple of boxes...another shuffle...and a cut.....


we too are only allowed to cut with one hand...we first place the cover card down on the table...cut the deck and set it directly on top..and place the rest of the deck on it...seems to me its the standard throughout...

So, is it a matter of seniority, favoritism, luck of the draw regarding what tables you get to deal?

Sounds like smallish $40 - 50 entry(?) tourneys would be the worst, with most people not tipping if they didn't cash. Even the top cashers might see a $20 tip as plenty, but would have tipped more overall if they'd tipped as many winning hands as it took to finish.

And most certainly the $10/$20 cash tables have got to be a ton more profitable that the $1/$2. Even on a flat percentage basis, the higher stakes are typically generous 'big spender' types, no? So I'd think more like 15 - 20:1 (vs 10:1).

My ex-, who used to play a lot in Atlantic City, would often leave his chips at the table (so he wouldn't lose his spot), and go out for a smoke and call me for almost an hour. Now I know AC is right up there w/Vegas, and security is probably unsurpassed. And he never had an issue. But have you ever witnessed or heard of a 'sitout's' chips being compromised, stolen, whatever?

Where have you/did you work? BTW, I've been to Bozeman a couple times. They had the poker slots in the bars & restaurants. Long time ago, maybe 14 yrs ago. But you had to cash out with the bartender.

Lastly, it was fun being with you at the final table today. Congrats on your 2nd place finish! I had a pair of 7s to your 10s (was barely beneath you in chips) that send me to the rail. Great game!

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sorry for railing you ..but i couldnt resist .....
To answer your question i have dealt in several casinos...but not in bozeman...and video gaming is very popular in montucky...i think it has to do with the meth problem..its easier to push a button then have to analyze eveyr nuance at a live table.tweek freaks have seriuos ADD..i say this because i have witnessed it a lot lol...