signed up for a dealer certification course, wish me luck

Won't be starting it till march, but I signed up for poker and blackjack dealer courses.

Pretty excited actually, will definitely be back with a review of the program after the fact.

Very nice.....all the best m8

Nice - and soon you too will know the pain of the endless "I'm sorry sir, the minimum bet is two hundred" routine

Awesome. If there were any local casinos I'd be there doing the exact same thing asap.

Several well-known pros started out as dealers, so things may be lookin up

Excellent good luck in your endeavour. I think I would like to be a dealer, pretty sure the money is good, well have fun with it.

Good luck! If your instructor is even half as good as mine was you should be ok!

learning those games only take a week at best atleast it did in my case...classes for bj are easy once you get the shuffle down.....and poker well if you can play it you should know how to deal it........gl.....

now craps class was a long one............6 weeks and that game still stumps me from time 2 time.......lol..........but getting better only have know it for a year or so

You are beyond wrong.

Here's a podcast that deals with becoming a dealer.

Ante Up | tampabay.com - St. Petersburg Times and tbt*: Archives

It's interesting, there's a lot more to it than I ever thought.

Agreed. Although I've never delt, it seems to me that the most difficult part of it would be chip management and rake.

Edit: Rephrase. The MOST difficult is dealing with a myriad of personalities at the table and making sure they have a good time. The SECOND most difficult... chip management and rake calculation.

I've always been curious about blackjack dealers. Like do they work on commission, or are they paid an hourly rate? Do they count cards, and if they do, why are they playing for the house?

Don't forget that there is actual "physical" skill to dealing as well-- there is a specific way to shuffle (your finger tips are flat, NOT on top of the deck, and actually extend beyond the edge of the deck), and the "pitch" of the cards is also a skill (there is NO wrist movement, your hand does not come away from the deck).
Where I work, blackjack dealers are paid a nominal hourly wage by the casino, and make most of their money from tips from (winning) players-- they are pooled for the week, then divided based on hours worked. Poker dealers typically keep all their own tips (vs. table games like bj where they are split).

Counting cards wouldn't do a dealer any good at all unless they were allowed to shuffle whenever they wanted to (thus negating a positive deck). The math of the game of blackjack is sufficient to make the house a profit in almost all cases. Most players don't even bother to learn basic strategy, let alone put in the time and effort required to become proficient at counting or advantage play. The card counter is really the best advertisement that the casino has, as he (truly) advertises that blackjack is a "beatable" game, which the public then takes to mean that it can be beaten by their lazy ignorant selves without any effort.

good luck!!!!!

As soon as I graduate out of my schooling, I think I am going to become a dealer and see how that goes (to hopefully eventually become a professional/semi professional poker player.)

Maybe not though...

I overheard this dealer said he just made only 60$ an 6 hours... Well all i know is that i tip at least a dollar anytime i win.

Please report how it goes!! This is something I've been looking into alot lately, and would like to hear how it works.

Also just food for thought, I could be wrong, but I think its casino policy that if your a dealer, you don't play at the casinos.

I think it depends on the casino. I've been to casinos in Tahoe where the dealers sit for a few rounds on their breaks.

Best of luck to you Tygran. I always thought being a dealer would be a fun job to have.

I think some casinos have the policy that you can't play at the casino you work at... but theres some that allow it.

In Laughlin, NV, the best poker tournament to be in is the midnight maddness at Don Laughlin's. A lot of the local dealers show up for that one.