From the Dealer's Box Part 1 of 7: Background

by xxrod17xx on 10/18/07

Over the last few months several people have asked me to get into more detail about dealer’s school, so EdmondDantes and I discussed creating a series of blog posts on the topic. With this entry, I will be starting Part 1 of what will be a 7-part series detailing my road to becoming a poker dealer. Naturally, I’ll start off with the events that lead up to my enrollment in dealer’s school.

It is the summer of 2004 and I am 19 years old. A group of my friends and I decided that it would be a great time to take a trip up to Casino Niagara to gamble since the legal gambling age is 19 in Canada. We settle in and I obviously made a bee-line for the poker tables. At the time, they ran a 1/2 no limit game with a 100 max buy in and a $5 per half hour time collection. Anyway, I see the dealers being tipped left and right and making really good money, and not only that, making it look so easy.

Fast forward to 2006, I am 21 and frequenting AC and took my first trip to Vegas for my birthday. I am much more familiar with the game now as well as procedures within the casinos. At the time in Canada, I knew the dealers made good money to a 19-year-old’s standards, but I never realized one could make a living throwing cards to people and calling out a little action here and there. Now two years later, I am at the point where I realize I am on the wrong career path.

I had always been fascinated by people, their tendencies and influences, but I am not interested in the papers, statistics and studies that go along with being a sociologist. When I first came to college, the plan was to become an elementary teacher. I was taking the right steps but was partying and playing poker too much. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania’s elementary education standards are very high and I did not meet the requirements to continue in the program. Now I have to take an alternate route to a college degree and the social sciences seemed to be the path for me. Something about this department intrigued me along with their less strict educational standards.

First, my parents are forking up about 100k for four years of school. Second, I would be the first in my family to every graduate from college (this I assume could be a similar situation for a lot of kids my age) so there is some pressure to graduate on time and with a degree in something that isn’t sports management. I chose sociology and I was glad I did. My studies taught me a lot about myself and life. At this point, I know I have to go back to school if I want to teach. How am I going to pay for it? A few things came to mind, but the most logical was dealing poker although I didn’t consider this route seriously until much later.

Fast forward now to 2006 early 2007, I find the 2+2 forums. In the Brick and Mortar forum, there were tons of threads about becoming a dealer. I read a lot of them but I had to post my own questions to truly know if I can do this. I asked the basic stuff. What should I work on? How hard is to get a job? What are the room managers looking for? How much money does a dealer make on average? Once these questions were answered and there seemed to be consensus on most of the questions except for potential earnings because that depends on you and your speed/accuracy. (Note: it takes longer to correct a misdeal than it does to make sure you deal the cards correctly). I was ready to start looking for a place to live and a dealer’s school.

I asked people that frequently posted answers on threads about A.C. These people were instrumental in my journey to where I am now as they told me where to go, where not to go, how much certain areas are and so on. I really leaned on these people to give me a wealth of information because…guess what...the next step in this process was convincing my parents to let me do this and help me financially if I need it. I am not going to go into that because for once in my life they are letting me be my own man and they trust my judgment.

March 2007: I am getting ready to graduate and I am frequently PMing people from the A.C. area or former dealers about little questions. One of the biggest helps was when someone pointed me to the 2+2 publishing dealers manual (found here). I guess they are getting a free plug, but it was instrumental in my growth as a dealer. I went into class with a pitch that rivaled my teacher’s. I knew how to cut cheques (chips) and so on and so forth.

This by no means implies that you don’t need to go to dealer’s school. I am 100% in favor of every potential poker dealer going to school first. I was also told to get my Casino Control Commission License ASAP (you need one to clean the toilets in a casino up to upper management). I knew I was going to be graduating in May and that’s when all the hiring was going to happen. How was I going to go to school and then get an audition when the Casinos are hiring? I wasn’t and put myself behind the 8-ball by staying in college.

I clearly don’t regret this at all. I just have to be patient and work a little harder now than some dealers who ready themselves for the typical spring A.C. hiring season. I graduated in May and put in for my CCC License in June. This was my first mistake and so far my biggest one. I was under the assumption that it takes UP TO 3 months to get it. I was wrong it takes AT LEAST 3 months to get it. I got mine in 2 months and 3 ½ weeks.

I am a pessimist so I didn’t start seriously looking for places to live until I got my license (first week of Sept) and I needed to be out of school by November so I can apply for the first WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s Casino. I needed to find an apartment in an area I liked in a price range I liked that was willing to put me up within a 2 week time frame or this quasi-“dream” of mine wasn’t going to happen. (I don’t know how you can call struggling to find a job and all the crap that comes with dealing poker a dream, but it is a step to get to my life’s work so it is definitely part of my dream). I got lucky and found a place and was handed the keys one day before the school was not going to accept me into the 4-week class (I needed to attend THIS class in order to finish in time for my first potential position that opens in November).

It has been said that the easiest way to get your foot in the door is to be a traveler or a nomad dealer, dealing the major tourneys going all around town (WSOP and WPT events) and get noticed as the staff of each room runs the events. I am taking this route (unless I get lucky and get a cash dealing job right away of course). Tournament dealers do not make as much money as ring game dealers, but they still do well for themselves. I will do well enough to support myself I believe.

Some of you who are reading this blog may have interests in becoming a dealer as well. Like I stated above, my pitch was good when I walked through the dealer’s school doors. I would argue that this is the most important skill that a good dealer needs to have. It will prevent misdeals, you will become much faster than a typical home game type deal, you will make more money, and finally you will not injure yourself. How can you hurt yourself dealing cards you ask? If you constantly move your wrist when dealing thousands of cards you WILL develop carpal tunnel syndrome. Using the proper pitch will prevent that.

What is the next most important skill? Cutting and handling cheques. Every room that I have played in I have talked to a floor man about what I need to work in their casino. Everyone asked these two questions first: Do you have your CCC license? And do you have any experience working in the casino on any other games (giving you experience with handling chips and typical casino procedures like filling the rack)? I was able to answer yes to #1, but #2 is a potential problem. If you develop proper habits you will be fine.

Now that I was able to familiarize myself with the first two skills and some casino procedures/potential jobs, I felt I was ready to apply to schools. I would strongly recommend visiting each potential school. I did not, I was recommended to mine and I love it (email me at mike@tworags.com if you want more information on my school as I will not go into prices and dates and phone numbers here).

People in my class visited some of the other schools in the area and they did not like them so I assume there had to be something that turned them off, I am sure each school has something to offer that the other doesn’t. Choose the one that has the most to offer for YOU. Fork up some cash, and get yourself a good set of plastic poker cards (with a cut card) and start going through the procedures that the dealer’s manual that I recommended above tells you to. Get over to school and work hard and ask questions. You should expect yourself to be the top of your class by light years if you put in some work before you get there. Have your family and friends (or your local home game) let you deal hands to them.

Part two will be a sort of trip report of what my first week of school entailed. It will also go into what steps you should start taking to getting your foot in that door and give yourself the best shot to get jobs dealing. Parts 3, 4, and 5 should be a similar format and parts 6 should be about my audition(s) and what to expect how to dress and how to present yourself to your potential bosses and co-workers. Lastly, part 7 will consist of my first days on my real job dealing. Of course, parts 6 and 7 haven’t happened yet, so expect a few blogs of me whining about bad beats or playing like a donkey before we get to them =). Good luck at the tables all.

6 Comments

Comments

Anonymous says

Going to dealer school would be my dream come true. I've always wanted the excitement of dealing the hands for the house and taking everyones money cause you know what they say, "the house never loses". I am thinking of going so if you get any info, send my way,

10/18/07

Anonymous says

Good info, I have often thought about dealer school myself. Good luck and looking forward to your next post.

10/18/07

Mr_Taterhead says

Cant wait for the next part. Sound like a good time is being had.

Good Luck

10/18/07

Landlord79 says

How does reply No1 expect you to contact him???

NEWay, nice background story, congratulations on your progress and future success! Keep in touch w/ us little peoples when you make it big!

10/18/07

Anonymous says

This was a great read. Looking forward to future installments. You sound like a very well-thought out guy. It's great when you have a dream and then actually go for it.

10/19/07