Dealer Assistance

In a recent issue of Card Player, my good friend Max Shapiro wrote a humorous column called, "Poker Pests, Dealer Division." In that column, he defined a number of dealer species that he classified as poker pests. Inspired by that column, I would like to provide my own perspective on the behavior of certain dealers. This is written by a person who plays high-stakes poker and is on occasion dealt to by a person who does not seem to understand the differences it should make when dealing to experienced players. My tone is a combination of humor and sarcasm, but is not directed at dealers in general. I have many good friends who are or were dealers, and have worked as a dealer myself. I do hope for the betterment of the industry to call attention to the irritating way a few dealers approach the task of dealing to high-limit players.

I have been playing poker for only 50 years (about half the length of Max's poker career), so I really appreciate it when the dealer gives me a lot of help. I probably have the most trouble when I am on the immediate left of the big blind. Perhaps my experience in Kathmandu in 1992, where the poker action proceeded counterclockwise, still lurks in the deepest recesses of my brain. At any rate, I like it when the dealer gestures with his palm open to let me, and everyone else in the $50-$100 game, know where the action starts. Left of the button, in America, Australia, and Europe. Even better is when he points, so that everyone will realize the precise player who is supposed to act first – me. I feel like I am on center stage with the bright spotlight shining down upon me, making me feel important. The very helpful dealer will both point and say, "It's on you, sir," when I am first, just in case my eyesight is bad but I'm not hard of hearing. I am getting close to senior citizen age now, and want dealers to be on the lookout for possible infirmities that have arisen.

Being under the gun in a hold'em game is not the only place where I am appreciative of the dealer's assistance. I've noticed they are particularly helpful when I am facing a big bet when heads up in a high-stakes pot-limit Omaha game. This is when I am most prone to lose track of things like where the action is and how much my opponent bet. I just can't seem to keep my concentration in that situation.

High-stakes players like to show how professional they are by doing things like arranging their bets in neat little rows of chips, all the same height. Despite this, the dealer should not be intimidated into failing to pass on the appropriate information about the bet size. Even if the opponent actually announces the amount bet, the dealer must be mindful of his responsibility to echo what the player said, in case the other players have both bad eyesight and a hearing problem. Sometimes the dealer can inject a little levity into the situation by conveying the information with a tension-relieving statement like, "Six hundred, he thundered," which almost rhymes. It's too bad that something doesn't rhyme with "thousand" like it does with hundred, so guys like Brunson and Berman who play for the really big bucks can also be entertained by the dealer's use of humor.

A trait I really admire in a dealer is self-confidence. We need a dealer who will stand up to the high-stakes players and let them know who's boss. You see, those guys who play a game like pot-limit Omaha nearly every day for years and years don't really know much about poker. The dealer should be in command at all times. He must be ready to use the statement, "Let the dealer run the game" whenever one of those guys tries to tell him something. If the dealer is making a monetary mistake of a hundred or two, should a player get all excited about it? After all, that's pin money to a high-stakes player, so he should not open his mouth, particularly if he's not even in the pot. The dealer should be especially unmindful when one of these players tries to tell him that a certain rule of limit poker does not apply to pot-limit play. It is truly admirable to see a dealer with the confidence to put these players in their place and handle the situation himself, without having to show weakness by calling a floorperson. Let the dealer run the game and you will never have a problem in pot-limit play.

One thing I like to do when playing poker is keep up with what's going on in the sports world. These days, most cardrooms have several television sets available for the players to watch. Well, you can't look at all of them at the same time. That's where a helpful dealer comes in handy. He can watch the scores flash while he's dealing, in case he needs to answer a question from me or the other players regarding, for example, how the Lions are doing against the Rams. Don't think I am being sarcastic just because the Lions are getting their butts kicked and I now live in Lion country (Michigan). It's how a team does against the spread that matters to a poker player, and that's where the dealer can provide even more help. Most dealers know that information and will make it available upon request. And sometimes they'll provide it without your even having to ask; just start a conversation with another player about football.

By the way, don't think the only way the dealer helps the players by having his eyes alert is watching the tube. Even more important is noticing when the beverage person walks into the cardroom. (We used to call her the "cocktail waitress" before this sobriety stuff set in and really hurt the poker action.) It is nice to have the dealer keeping a sharp eye out for the beverage person. Shucks, I can remember a Nevada cardroom back in the '80s where we used to play $30-$60 stud. The arrival of the cocktail … , uh, beverage person, was really a double-banger of an event. The uni's they wore in that place revealed some serious assets, and getting them to come into the poker room was practically front-page news. The dealers were really helpful in that cardroom. In fact, that's practically an axiom of cardroom behavior. The better the uni's, the more helpful the dealers are with their vigilance for the players.

I hope you good dealers will not take offense at my article. "Wear it" only if the shoe fits.

Editor's note: Bob Ciaffone's latest book, Middle Limit Hold'em Poker, co-authored with Jim Brier, is available now. It and his other poker books, Pot-Limit and No-limit Poker, Improve Your Poker, and Omaha Hold'em Poker, can be ordered through Card Player. Ciaffone is available for poker lessons. E-mail [email protected] or call (989) 792-0884. His website is www.diamondcs.net/~thecoach, where you can download Robert's Rules of Poker for free.