Ambassador of the Quan

So just to recap the last blog, I went to a World Series of Poker Circuit audition at Harrah’s about a month ago and the hired me on the spot along with everyone else auditioning. They were basically giving jobs away. My next audition, this was not the case. The Showboat is probably one of the better known poker rooms in A.C. I don’t have any input on it as I have not played there yet. This audition actually came before the WSOP one, but I was approached for the circuit job first so I thought I would start with it instead of this one.

Pressure

In the last blog I talked about being nervous. This audition was the reason. I was working on my apartment (I do handy work around the house for my landlord for a little pocket change) when I got a call from my buddy that works in the office at the dealer’s school. He said “A lady is here from the Showboat and she’s looking for dealers, we told her how good you were and she wants to take a look at you.” Sounds awesome right? Now don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that the people that own the school put my name out there and are trying to help me out but they set the bar a little high for me. They have only seen me in the most relaxed situation I will ever deal in: dealer’s school. In school you can make all the mistakes you want and it’s not big deal. You aren’t costing anyone money or their tourney life.

I get dressed in some decent clothes and take the ride to the school. I hop in with the morning class (I took the night class) and play a few hands, then the teacher asks me to deal a couple. I am about to shit my pants. I wasn’t used to the cards they were using on top of my enormous amount of nervousness so my shuffle was pretty sloppy. My pitch was good, but I made like a million mistakes and I froze when I tried to make a side pot. It didn’t go good, but good news…this wasn’t my audition. She told me the audition will be in a few days so work on this and that and I will be fine. Great.

Second Chance

That was like the 10th time I was humbled during the past few months. Every time I thought I really had this whole dealing thing down, I didn’t really. I just had a false sense of things because the other people in my class or other classes either didn’t know poker as well as I so they spent so much time trying to understand the basics and not working on actually dealing, or they were just retarded. So after that disaster I decided it was time to really work hard at this thing. I decided I would go into school and practice on my own at an empty table or something. I say hello to the owner as I walk in and he told me the Showboat lady will be back tonight. Sweet! I get a chance to redeem myself.

This time she just sits with me and one other guy. We just dealt had a good time and joked around. Again I was still a bit nervous, but I did much better. I didn’t do as well as I know I am capable of, but I showed her that yesterday was nervousness for sure. I still shit my pants when I had to do side pots so I knew I was going to have to really work at them hard if I wanted this job and the audition was tomorrow.

Big Leagues

I practiced on fixing all the mistakes I was making all morning. I woke up at 8 and practiced until 2 (my audition is at 3). I feel super confident I will be fine in this thing and I have the attitude of what happens, happens. I drive there, I am nervous again and am talking myself through all the things that could come up. I am ready.

I walk in to see I am the first one here. I was only like 15 minutes early too. What kid of image are these other people trying to portray? The way I grew up with sports and jobs was if you were on time…you were late. Anyway, I see the lady I was working with and she sits me at an empty table in the middle of the action and she has me watch the other dealers, because this is what she expects to see. I watch a few hands and she moves me over to a table in the back of the room with a dealer on break. We start playing a few hands joking around (I won every pot, I ran so good lol).

The rest of the dealers came and we got started late of course. I opted to not be one of the first dealers in there because for one, I was nervous and I wanted to see what I was up against. Well, based on the first three guys I wasn’t up against anything. There was a dealer from Vegas who was good, but besides him I thought I was the next best. I ended up playing and joking around with everyone and enjoying myself. This really took away all the butterflies and when I got in the box it felt like dealer’s school.

The higher up people in the casinos in Atlantic City are not allowed to gamble in the city. So when auditions come around it’s the only time they get to play, and they have a good time. They were raising every pot and just being maniacs which relaxed us a bit while we were playing, but when we were in the box they gave us fits. I had one pot where there were three side pots. I did them slow, but I did them right (practice paid off). I got out of the box and everyone complemented me on how well I did, nobody said that to anyone else which I found to be interesting. I felt like I gave it everything I could and I was happy with how I did.

Conflict

I told the lady who came to dealer’s school that I would be auditioning for the WSOP. She immediately was like, “that’s not good.” Harrah’s owns the Showboat. They cannot steal me from another property so if I was to get hired they would have to wait until the temporary job at the WSOP is done. Shit! Did I just completely fuck myself out of a full-time job for a part-time one? After my audition I ask again for advice on how I should handle the situation. The room manager, Chris said “Don’t worry about it. If we really want you we can talk to them and take you, it doesn’t make sense for you to work two weeks there and not be able to work here."

Mixed Signals

A week later I get the call about how my audition went. They told me I am on their alternate list. That essentially means that if the people that they actually wanted don’t want the job, don’t take the drug test, or fail it I would be next up. Cool I guess. I thought I did really well, but I guess not well enough. So I ask, “What did I do wrong?” She said, “Nothing.” Hmmm. She explains that I am on the list because of the WSOP thing and I should call her when it is done. Ok cool, I guess I have an opportunity for a full time position after the WSOP and I get to gain a little experience before I start.

A week later I have the WSOP audition. I meet a few guys before I walk in and the question comes up if this is our first audition or not. One of the guys says he went on a Showboat audition. Apparently, they audition over 50 people for like 3 jobs. Throughout my time here in Atlantic City I met a few other people who went on a recent Showboat audition and they all were put on this “alternate list” or the I can’t tell anyone they weren’t good enough so I am going to let them off easy list. Now there are a few other tournaments that start after the WSOP. By misleading me a little (so I think) I don’t know if I should be applying for these jobs to ensure I actually have some income or don’t because I don’t want it to conflict with me getting a cash dealing job.

I Write My Story

I decided my fate was up to me not the Showboat. I am not going to wait around for them to need me. There are plenty of rooms in the city and I will work hard to get their jobs. Don’t get me wrong I will never rule out the Showboat, but I am not burning any bridges that were built and I am not going to let them dictate my life. I could always deal a tourney during the day and cash at night if that is the case, but I am not going to be out of work. I guess we will know all the answers for sure when the WSOP at Harrah’s is over. I decided to apply for the Borgata Winter Poker Open job, I got the call an hour later to come in for an audition in a couple of days…here we go again.

On to graduation

When I last updated, I left you guys off at week 3 of dealer's school. Week 4 was basically review of everything we learned so at this point, dealer school was just about over. I graduated the night The Sands was imploded, and it was a pretty eventful evening in Atlantic City.

Link to video of the Sands implosion

Now it was on me. I had to find myself open positions and get an audition after I fill out my application.

”You, there! Can you deal?

I originally moved down to A.C. right away because I wanted to finish dealer's school in time to apply for the WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's. Fortunately for me, a woman from the WSOP decided to stop by the dealer's school and see if they had any dealers to recommend. The owner considered me really good and told anyone that coming in looking for dealers that I am the one. Great right? Later that week I applied for the Series and received a call from Bridget, a really cool lady about what I have to do next.

First, I had to go to the Harrah's offices to get processed. This meant filling out paperwork for a background check and basic working papers like a W4. If the World Series was a permanent position (it's temporary December 8-18) I would have also had to take a drug test on the spot. (I’d have passed :) ) After I left, I was told to expect a call from Bridget in about 10 days to tell me when my audition was. On schedule, 10 days later I got the call and was told my audition was in 3 days. I was pumped and started practicing everyday working on my all-in situations and side pots as well as just keeping everything nice and neat.

Sweaty palms

Basically, the worst thing you can be is nervous going into an audition. First, you are going to over think everything and make a ton of mistakes. Simply prepare yourself, practice a lot, like I did and you should feel very confident in your abilities. Guess what? If the audition goes terrible, you still get to know what you need to work on and you can ask as many questions as you like.

The best that can happen is that you get the job. There are a lot of rooms in A.C. so I will get a job eventually. Second, if you are nervous you sweat. If your palms are sweaty the card will stick to your hand and you will expose cards on your pitch. The best thing to calm your nerves is to talk to the other dealers. They are nervous, too, and it will help everyone relax a bit. Lastly, have fun, it's poker!

I always leave early so I have time to walk around the casino a bit and make sure I know where I am going. This is also an obvious precaution to prevent tardiness. I ended up getting to Harrah's about 30 minutes early and just walked around the floor for a while. When the time came to go to the training room I saw two other guys in white shirts (a tip off that they are auditioning too) and I asked them if they were here for the audition. They said, "Yea, but we have to wait a little while because the people auditioning us want to eat." So we waited a little while and then finally made it to the room.

At the start of the audition, the person in charge showed us what he/she expected of us in our audition. He reviewed their shuffle procedure and showed us where they like their board positioned, as well as the "stub". Every casino is different so you have to pay attention. Next, they told us to relax and just breathe and if we needed any help they’d get you through it.

The audition

Before I talk about the actual audition experience, here’s a brief description of how it’s set up. You’re in a room (or maybe an empty table in the poker room) sitting at a poker table. There will be "play" chips all around the table and you and the other players auditioning will be seated at the table. You basically take turns dealing while everyone else plays. There will also be a person auditioning you at the table maybe two or more (I had five in another audition). They watch you closely and stop you if you make a mistake. If you know how to correct it, you explain what you are going to do to correct the mistake and do it.

A guy came in late and the dealer who was going to judge our skills told him to sit in the box first since he was late. He then realized that this wasn't fair because the person who was late was unable to watch the instructions of what was expected. The dealer looked at me and said, "How old are you?" (jokingly) and I answered, "22." When I am clean shaven, I look like I am 12, so he made a few jokes and told me to get in there and start my audition.

First thing he asked me before I started was do I have any experience? I told him no and I started my shuffle procedure. When I started dealing he said are you sure you have no experienced and I again answered no and he was like well you are doing really well. This made it really easy and I just went with the flow did my thing and was done. When you audition anywhere, you only get 2 maybe 3 hands in the box to show them what you got. Prepare yourself as best you can for those few hands. If you go at a good pace, stay accurate and don't make any stupid mistakes, you'll be fine.

Dog eat dog

If you have gone through the steps I have taken to get to this point, you will encounter many peers that are less skilled than you. Don't help them during their audition. If they put the wrong amount in the side pot, don't tell them how to fix it. The reason for this is not because the person is not your friend and you want to eat his soul so he can't get the job, but because the person in charge will tell them what they did wrong that is their job. Let them do it. So if the other guys make mistakes, just let it happen and let the person in charge do the talking. You just play a little poker and have fun.

Most of the dealers in my audition were terrible, but they said that we were all hired. They then went on to explain how we get paid, when we will get paid (this is a bit of a beat) and about how much we will get paid. We went over shifts and other things like that. I can’t remember a thing from this discussion because I was so pumped that I finally had an opportunity to gain some experience and set myself up for a full time position in a poker room.

Holla at me!

Anyway, if anyone is planning on playing any of the circuit events at Harrah's Dec 8-18 make sure you leave a comment and make sure you say hello if I end up dealing to you.

Making some changes

If you haven’t read the first blog entry of this series you know that I came down to Atlantic City to build maturity as well as bankroll. I knew I would encounter some hard times, but I knew that staying tough and dedicated to getting better would get me through them. At this point, I have only been living on my own for a little more than 2 weeks, but it feels like months. I have no income, I am eating less, I am not working out, I have no friends here, my grandmother passed away suddenly, and like I explained in my last blog, dealing isn’t as easy as I thought. This is close to the lowest I have ever felt in my whole life.
I knew I could be a good dealer if I worked hard. Also, I didn’t see a logical solution to fix all my other problems unless I got myself a dealing job. I would have an income, I could afford to eat more, I could afford gym fees, and I would meet more people my age. I needed to go through some changes in my life after my grandmother also, but those changes I would like to keep personal.

Back to work

The weekend leading into week 3, I worked really hard on all the things we learned in the first two weeks because I knew if I made most of those procedures (the down/up pitch, reading boards, pulling in money/mucked cards, and a few other things I am sure I am missing) second nature I could really work on the more advanced stuff this coming week. I parked my ass (and my poker table) right in front of my television and practiced from about 10am to like 6:30pm, on and off of course. I was getting a decent pitch and was really getting comfortable with the basics. This sort of work ethic really needed to be pulled out of me—I knew it was there, but it was difficult to get it out.

I never realized that...

The skills stated below are things you may have noticed the dealers do but never understood their importance. Everything I will explain in these remaining sessions is essential to get a dealing job. If you do not perform these actions you will never find yourself in the box.

Will you guys quit talking! I’m trying to count!

We started the week off talking about limit hold’em. I am assuming I don’t need to go over structures, betting limits and blinds that go along with 2/4 Hold’em (a very popular game in Atlantic City cardrooms). The first thing we went over was counting the “stub.”


The stub is what the poker world calls the remaining cards in a dealer’s hand after the last card is dealt out. In order to make sure that there are 52 cards in the deck that you are using, you count the stub. Most players have noticed their dealer counting the cards after the river was dealt out but probably don’t now why he does it. Most rooms require that you count the stub at least 2-3 times in your ½ an hour in the box (aka your “down”) at each table. You MUST count the stub on your first hand dealt, without slowing the game down, of course. If you cannot finish counting, you can do it the next deal, but you want to know if the deck is short ASAP so you can inaudibly bring it to a floor person’s attention.

In hold’em, once the river card is dealt out you simply take the cover card off the bottom of the deck and place it next to the rake. Then you begin to count the cards in your hand. How many cards do you need in your hand to know you have 52? If you deal in 10 players pre flop and the hand was played to showdown you should have 24 cards in your hand. If there were less than 10 players dealt in pre-flop simply add 2 for each player less than 10 for your count. For example, 9 players will leave you with 26 cards in the stub.

Omaha is the easiest for counting the stub. The cover card procedure is the same. You are simply looking for a multiple of four in your hand. If you do not have a multiple of four your stub is short and you will be required to change decks after a floor person is notified.

Stud is clearly the most difficult game to count the stub in so I will try to go into some detail. The cut card procedure is the same. This time you are required to count all the mucked cards too. To do this you take the stub place it on top of the muck and straighten out all the messy cards (FACE DOWN, do not reveal the mucked cards). Start counting away, ten at a time so if you need to stop you can come back to a number you will easily remember.

We will start with four players to showdown because the number that you should have is 20. How do we know this? Here is the math: with 4 players left to showdown, you have 7 x 4=28 + 4 (burn cards) for each street after the door card = 32, and 52-32=20. Twenty is our magic number because any time there are any more or less players to showdown we can simply add 7 or subtract from that number easily. How can the number be twenty if you probably initially dealt more players in the pot that mucked? This is the reason that we count the mucked cards.

I am sure this was probably a little confusing at first, but if you read over the stud section a couple of times it will make sense. The most difficult part about counting the stub is to refrain from slowing the game down. With some practice you will be able to count without looking at the cards and you can call out the action and take in bets accordingly.

Don’t forget the church…

Now that we are through that we can go on to the most important thing for the house, the rake. Basically for every game in A.C. besides 1-5 stud and high-limit games (1-5 stud rakes $.5 or every $5 and high-limit games are time collection), you take $1 for every $10 that is in the pot. This means you HAVE to know how much is in the pot or you are going to be taking too much (players hate you so no tips) or too little (boss hates you so you’re fired). This basically just takes a lot of practice.

The community board games help because you have to announce how many player are in the pot on every street so you multiply the bet by the number of players and add it to whatever was in the pot on the last street. This is the “easy” part because a little repetition in the seat will make this much easier. The harder part is taking it at the right times.

The best dealers take the rake so the players don’t even notice it was taken out. The house thinks it looks bad if you bring attention to the fact that they are taking money out of YOUR pots so the dealers are instructed to be sneaky about it. You should take the rake right after you instruct the first player to act that it is his turn. At this point players are no longer looking at the pot or the community or board cards (in stud the other players cards), they are paying attention to who is betting or checking. This is when you take it, but be quiet about it don’t slam the rake on the rake area just place it nicely and quietly.

All you can eat, baby!

All-ins were the next order of business. These are pretty easy after some reps as well. When two players move in and it’s obvious who has more don’t count unless the player who is thinking of calling asks for a count. If they don’t simply run the cards out, take the rake (you wont be able to be too sneaky in these situations) and showdown the cards. If the shorter stack wins count out the stack and pay him appropriately.

When there are side pots is when it becomes a bit more difficult. You look at the smallest stack and take that from each of the remaining players in the pot and put the remaining money in the side pot, which will be in front of the player who is all in. This is because he cannot bet anymore, and it makes it obvious to the other players and you that he may not continue in the action remaining.

Now that you have the side pot(s) created, you showdown the hands that can win the last side pot first. Any players that were all in unless they have money invested in the last pot cannot showdown yet. You will go from pot to pot starting from the last and ending with the main pot. Often you will have just one side pot and three players involved. Showdown the two players’ hands who were betting on the side first, then ship their pot, then showdown the all-in player’s hand with the winner of the side pot and ship that pot to the winner. That was easy, right?

Can you control fate?

There were a few other procedures that we covered, but if you do these correctly at the same time with having a decent pitch and shuffle (I will go over the shuffle in the next installment), you will have no problem getting a job.

That was a lot of content, but I want to end this part with something that just hit me today. My definition of “grow” involves many things—I wanted to grow as a person, in wealth, maturity, confidence and so on. I gave myself the opportunity to do this, although throughout my life I was given opportunities so similar to this one constantly. People are going to reach out to you about your flaws. You are going to walk into a situation where nobody knows you and you can project yourself in any way you like. These opportunities give you a chance to better yourself, or even be the person you always wished you could be, but never had the confidence (or whatever it was that was holding you back) to be who you want to be.

I don’t want to get into religious discussion, but I believe God gave us all a tremendous amount of potential that only we can get out of ourselves. Coaches, teachers and parents can only scratch the surface of that potential that you possess. You have to first recognize it, find situations to extract it and work hard. I think you can take this advice and implement it anywhere in your life. Week 3 taught me a ton of things about myself and about life, I hope my recap of it did the same for you. Good luck at the tables.

"Ah you hup me in crass?"

I am glad everyone enjoyed the first installment of this series. I guess I will start where I left off with the last post. I had just paid for school two days before the class started, and I was really excited to get started. I got to class on Monday about 15 to 20 minutes early. I think this is something people should really start getting used to, especially lazy poker players. With my experience in college athletics in two different sports, I learned and important lesson: if you are on time, you are late! For anything important, especially if you are going to a place that you don’t know how to get to, give yourself plenty of time to get there and don’t be late.

The first person who walked in was a short but really stocky (like muscular, really muscular) Asian woman. She didn’t speak the greatest English and she asked me if I was going to help her in the class. She didn’t even know what beats what. The next person was a big guy who looks like the Brawny man. He started telling us how much money he was making playing 1/2NL at Borgata (like cool, dude, a monkey can beat that game!). They seemed nice, but I kept quiet. Based on everyone’s experience, I could tell that I was way ahead of the other two people in my class already. I expected to see more people in the class, but it was just us three. The last person was obviously my teacher, a relatively tall guy, salt and pepper hair, dressed like a bum(!) but very personable and nice. I was recommended by a room manager at Caesars A.C. to take this specific class with this specific teacher because he was good.

"Hold the deck like a bird...”

The first few lessons involved the absolute basics—what beats what, which seat is which. I am not going to bore you because I assume anyone that is reading this blog knows what beats what. But I am not sure if a lot of you are familiar with the stud games. In stud, there are no blinds, sometimes no antes like the most popular stud game in Atlantic City, 1-5 stud. This is a spread limit game where on any street you can bet anywhere from $1-$5 and raise anywhere from double the bet or a max of $5 on top. In stud, to determine who goes first, the lowest door card (stud has two down cards and one up card) has to bring in a “forced bet between $1 and $5. So what if there are two deuces out there, whose deuce is lower? The rankings then go by suit (only for the bring in bet). The suits rank (high to low) Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs. Easy enough, right?

Next, we went over how to hold the deck. Your thumb should be over top and your index should be around the front of the deck while the middle, ring, and pinky should be supporting the side of the deck. This should keep the deck firm and secure so no cards but the one that you want to come of to move. We then went on to how to thumb the top card off the deck. Anyone that had dealt a home game should know how to do this. Just push the top card off with your thumb. All of this was really simple and boring to me so far.

“You pitch like a girl!”

Over the next few days, we continued with the very basics for the inexperienced people in the class, and then finally towards the end of the week, we started to pitch cards. I did ok, but I definitely needed a lot of work. While I got the correct sound I was a little slow and I used my wrist too much. My teacher tweaked my pitch by telling me to do one thing, hold a chip or two in my pitching hand in between my palm and my ring and pinky fingers. This kept everything really tight (this suggestion is also in the Professional Dealer’s Handbook). I was getting better and better each day we practiced.

We also started to read some stud hands which was fun because the teacher would act like a drunk idiot and say he had hands he didn’t, or he would cover the up cards so it was hard for us to tell whose turn it was to bring in the first bet. At first this was kind of annoying because it was all new and hard to us, but I think it not only lightened the mood in the class but it trained us to deal up cards the correct way as well as read hands really quickly.

Tougher than it looks

So that was basically it for the first week. It was pretty boring for anyone who is an experienced poker player. When we started to get into the box and deal I was instantly humbled. This was really hard. You have tons of things to pay attention to and call out all that the same time. This is where you have to work. The time in class is not enough for anyone to become a good solid dealer. You have to work at it at home. Start with the basics, work on thumbing all the cards off the deck, then go on to pitching some down cards and lastly pitch some up cards.

You have to get comfortable with these things because they need to be second nature if you’re going to get good at the procedures of dealing. The instructor suggested to try and get some family members involved to play out a few hands with you. Point is, if you have to pay attention to what you are doing physically with your mind while in the box you are taking brain energy from the mental and social aspect of dealing. I thought this was good advice to look smooth in class and start working on more advanced things.

Practice

I practiced everyday for at least 3-4 hours before class. Add this to the 2 ½ hours of class and I was getting in tons of hours a week and improving very quickly. Actually, this might hinder your development in larger classes because the teacher is going to need to spend more time with the newer people. This is what happened to me. I was getting seriously zero attention the first week because I had most of the first week stuff down through obsessive practice. I thought this was how it was going to be for the rest of the month, I am glad I was wrong.

’Til next time

Hope you enjoyed this shorter part. In part 3, I will talk a little about limit hold’em, NL and more advanced dealing procedures that made me think I wasn’t going to succeed at being a good dealer. Some of these procedures are not familiar to the average poker player and clearly not familiar to most online players.

For those of you who are thinking about going to dealer’s school, you will encounter a similar humbling experience. This is because dealers (most of them) that have jobs in Brick and Mortar rooms are good. They make their jobs look easy—like anyone can do it. I learned this is not true. It takes someone who is dedicated and takes pride in what will hopefully be their work. Pride in being a good dealer is the key in my opinion. GL at the tables.

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.