Anyone know how to become a poker dealer

strange but tru

Hi guys
I know this question has been asked before but all the posts are old and I need the information thats up to date.I already have the card handling expierence as my hobby is cardistry so the card handling required is a done deal. Its everything else that im looking for (lol).
I am based in Laois but can travel if its worth it. Any help would be great thanks.
Thomas

bigslick

Practice, Practice, Practice

bigslick

bigslick wrote: »

Practice, Practice, Practice

That's Carnegie Hall

Lplate

strange but tru wrote: »

Hi guys
I know this question has been asked before but all the posts are old and I need the information thats up to date.I already have the card handling expierence as my hobby is cardistry so the card handling required is a done deal. Its everything else that im looking for (lol).
I am based in Laois but can travel if its worth it. Any help would be great thanks.
Thomas

Get in touch with a local organiser/card club and offer your services. They should give you some basic training and then some practice dealing in their smaller games. Most poker organisers are glad to see new blood coming in. You could also practice by offering to deal for free at a local pub game.

Sparks43

learn how to make mistakes and never apologise

MrPillowTalk

1)Turn up at one of the card clubs (I reccomend the SE) and tell the card room manager you want a job as a poker dealer. He will probably at this point tell you there are no vacancies (this is why you need to do it in person not by phone).
2)Point at one of the empty poker tables and tell him there is no one dealing there, he will try and bluff you now to test your poker prowess by telling you there are no players to deal to, this part is vital, fix him with your best Ivey stare and with a level voice tell him that if we deal it they will play.
3)Don't wait for his retort and proceed quickly to the empty dealers chair at the table.
4)Shuffle up and deal. At this point the cardroom manager may begin to ridicule you for a period of time not exceeding 5 mins, ignore him don't even engage him in conversation. He will now begin to threaten you with expulsion from the club again ignore him. Now one of two things will happen either A) he will return to the poker desk and start a new list for the game your dealing congratulations your a dealer or security will arrive and remove you from the building by force.

If B occurs then don't lose heart come back the next evening and repeat from step 1, they like to see if you have the spirit to be a proper poker dealer and have the will to do the job (its a bit like fight club in that respect).

mormank

where do you live?? it might be different in dublin but out in the sticks its usually as easy as appraoching whoever it is that runs poker in your area, be it a card club or local events, and asking them for some training or a job or whatever..

Alternatively i know that steve mclean used to run training courses...contact him perhaps

Famous45

The grosvenor casinos throughout the UK usually hire people following training.

If it's a career you want from it try and find a position here to get some money together and head to Las Vegas and get training at Tony Shelton's card dealing school - if you come through it successfully you will have no problem whatsoever securing a card dealing position in a casino in the city.

There is a guy in Vegas from Australia, his name at the minute eludes me, but he is renowned for being one of the best in the business and if you contact him he can give you some excellent information and guidance if you fancy taking a shot at working in Vegas. Will repost when his name comes to me.

strange but tru

Thanks guys
Just to give you guys more info I live in Laois but can travel to Dublin any time. I have 4 kids so Vegas is out baby. I would love to work at this full time or part time or even just do the odd event here and there .
The whole thing is like this I live with my partner I barely go more than 6 hours without a deck of cards in my hand except when I'm sleeping so the idea of actually getting paid to deal is perfect and I cant understand why she never thought of it before as for once she makes perfect sense.

CHD

Incedibly tilting job with terrible hours, horrible job imo.

carfax

mormank wrote: »

where do you live?? it might be different in dublin but out in the sticks its usually as easy as appraoching whoever it is that runs poker in your area, be it a card club or local events, and asking them for some training or a job or whatever..

Alternatively i know that steve mclean used to run training courses...contact him perhaps

We've stopped running dealer courses for now as the team of dealers we have is top class and we have too many really.

I know that in a year or two I will probably be back on here saying that we are looking for dealers again and that we are offering free training but for now we are not.

__________________

Best advice is to simply go and deal at any of the low buy-in (self deal) tournaments anywhere you can find them. Offer the organiser your services for free if necessary, that way you will build up experience and can then approach any of the big festival organisers saying that you are an experienced dealer.

Stephen.

carfax

CHD wrote: »

Incedibly tilting job with terrible hours, horrible job imo.

The vast majority of dealers love what they do and take great pride in the level of service they provide. It is a really good, reliable, well paid job tbh.

D.C.C

It depends on who you work for really!!!It can be well paid but after awhile it does lose it's excitement....And it can be really boring/annoying/terrible hours and if no well paid it can be very bad...If it's a hobby???As said go to pub tournaments/local card room and offer your services for free to start to learn.Some experience and try working at a big festival.eg..IPO/Irish Open etc....

cooker3

I think it's a great student job. If you get to do the big events like IO etc then you can make a reasonable amount of money.

Degag

carfax wrote: »

The vast majority of dealers love what they do and take great pride in the level of service they provide. It is a really good, reliable, well paid job tbh.

Ummm, i'm sure i'm being pig ignorant here, but doesn't a good dealer only earn about 10 quid an hour, work poor hours and work generally isn't very reliable? Seems like your glamming up the job alot....

(I'm in a totally different sector but i work with the same criteria as i listed above in case i'm accused of being elitist.)

Slash/ED

cooker3 wrote: »

I think it's a great student job. If you get to do the big events like IO etc then you can make a reasonable amount of money.

Yeah what Cooker said, you can work when you want (You'll love this around exams if you're a student), the shifts are long (which I think is a good thing, I hate working 5 hours or less on shift work, it's pointless) and it pays better than any part time job you could get, especially if you get to work some of the festivals and are willing to put in decent hours when you're doing them. Plus the job is quite easy, I think, anything too stressful happens and it'll generally be the TD who deals with it anyway.

The late hours never bothered me when I did it but I'm largely nocturnal anyway so that probably doesn't apply across the board I'll admit. I've also no idea how doing it in a casino would compare to doing it on a more freelance basis of just dealing at random events.

CHD

Degag wrote: »

Ummm, i'm sure i'm being pig ignorant here, but doesn't a good dealer only earn about 10 quid an hour, work poor hours and work generally isn't very reliable? Seems like your glamming up the job alot....

(I'm in a totally different sector but i work with the same criteria as i listed above in case i'm accused of being elitist.)

Your right, he is hardly going to agree now is he.

carfax

Degag wrote: »

Ummm, i'm sure i'm being pig ignorant here, but doesn't a good dealer only earn about 10 quid an hour, work poor hours and work generally isn't very reliable? Seems like your glamming up the job alot....

(I'm in a totally different sector but i work with the same criteria as i listed above in case i'm accused of being elitist.)

Just giving my opinion and there are lots of dealers/ floor people that travel the world dealing at different major events, get very reasonably paid and really enjoy what they do (now that's glamming up the job alot)...
I'm sure there are lots of people that don't enjoy what they do but they are the people that are going to be doing something different very shortly I presume.

cooker3

Degag wrote: »

Ummm, i'm sure i'm being pig ignorant here, but doesn't a good dealer only earn about 10 quid an hour, work poor hours and work generally isn't very reliable? Seems like your glamming up the job alot....

(I'm in a totally different sector but i work with the same criteria as i listed above in case i'm accused of being elitist.)

10 quid an hour is average but it's 10 quid + tips (this is why there is a big deal made about tips from dealers). At the IO I got more in tips then in wages. Thank you Marty and Roland!
As for hours what you call bad I call good. I've been staying up until it hits daylight for years. Hell my average bedtime was around 1am when I was 12. I am just a nocturnal person at heart. Now if you don't like nights and prefer mornings then yeah likely will no perfect.

Work isn't realiable per se, as in a weekly thing but you know when the big tournaments are on such as IO, IPC, IPO etc so can plan for them. If you get work in a casino then it's like any job.

It may not be for everyone but I couldn't have wanted a better student job, it ticked every box.