I've dealt poker for over twenty years: AMA

Are you aware of any collusion stories between dealers and players?

I have never seen that or heard of it happening in any room I worked at. However most of the rooms I worked at do not have huge games which may dissuade such agreements. That said, a guy who got fired for stealing $5 redbirds led to us all having to run down red chips every time we tapped in so maybe that wouldn't have been a deterrent! But still, I haven't heard of such a thing in the rooms I have worked.

You're planning to be a traveling poker dealer at the age of 64-66? What makes you want to transition then specifically?

My house will be close to paid off so I will be able to get a lot of equity from it. I will also be able to, if needed, access my IRA, 401(k), and Social Security. So I should have a decent amount of cash on hand. Not to retire with, but to invest in a good RV that would become my home.

I am hopeful that I won't have to access a lot of what we have in retirement accounts when I sell everything I own including the house. Especially I hope I don't have to tap into Social Security until I can get the most out of it. But it will be good to have reserves if necessary.

What's the best way that us players can help you speed up the game? And do you ever get annoyed at people who are clearly oblivious to making things easier for the dealer?

For me, just stay out of my way and let me do my thing.

I don't get upset when people try and help like some other dealers, but my preference is to just keep your hands away from the table so you don't help me flip a card (I hate it when I do that, even if someone else helped it happen) and let me churn out the hands for you. I am a very chatty, friendly dealer who likes to joke with regs, but I never want that to get in the way of churning out hands. And I am pretty good at keeping the action going.

The only thing that mildly annoys me is moving the button without telling me the button was moved. I wind up moving it again. Even though this usually gets caught by someone, it still slows things down to figure out.

If I space out at PLO with a pot size, I welcome someone chiming in. And I welcome people stopping me from making a mistake, or catching it in time to fix it.

Thank you for sharing your story. You must have seen a lot of poker players. How do you categorize them. Are there any player impressed you.

Thanks. I always try to help female dealers (with short arms) by putting out my blinds far out on the table and toss my mucked cards close to them etc. Sadly I see so many players who are completely oblivious to this.

In line with what the guy above asked; can you quickly tell when you arrive at a table who is a good player and not? Or do you just don't care enough to think that deeply about the action and/or categorize players like that?

(I mean, you obviously care & have to follow the action, but I assume these things become a bit auto-pilot after a while)

I like the ones that tip really well! 😀 Seriously, good tippers are generally not there as professionals, they're there to have fun.

I deal a poker series twice a year and one day I went from a larger buy-in that had WSOP champions in it and a smaller event. I was not shocked because it made sense, but the skill level between the two events was really revelatory to see

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I haven't dealt a cash game higher than $2/5 NLHE or $5/5 PLO in some time (in my break-in casino we sometimes would run uncapped $10/25 NLHE) and I deal to a lot of regs so I can definitely see the players who know how to play and those who do not. The differences are subtle but noticeable when you are looking for it. I don't pay a lot of attention to hands looking to improve my game, but I did learn to as the term says see who the fish was at the table when I was playing. Like a lot of dealers, it is sometimes me. 😀

I can tell almost immediately who knows what they are doing and who does not, but I don't look for player quality as a rule. I want to churn out the hands. I would rather know how a player checks or how easily distracted they get or other things I can use to speed the game up than decide whether they are any good. That said, good players tend to be attentive and they slow things down for tanking and that's fine with me as it is part of the game.

have you ever caught a hanger?

Teach us a few PLO pot calculation tricks! I always find you guys genius at how you do this, especially when someone bets weird size and the other says - pot.

Do you, or other dealers find it annoying when I :

- Change an higher denomination chip on the felt for smaller ones while the hand is going

- Call out dealer a mistake (aka ''No, that's actually two pairs queen kicker, this guy over there is the real winner'')

- Ask for waitress while you're dealing cards

Yeah, sometimes I find myself engaging in those behaviors and I dont know if dealers feel bad about it but I sure do so yeah... tell me how you feel about those things or how you think other dealers feel about this would be nice so I can improve

That’s a solid career journey, cool how you’ve stayed connected to things you love, even if from different angles. Curious, over your years dealing, have you noticed players' behavior change much with the rise of solvers and online play? Or do live players still fall into the same habits at the table?

I disagree with what you said about it being too late to start saving for retirement.

My area of expertise is economics and finance, and you are well within time to learn something. Of course, the sooner the better, but today is always better than tomorrow.

this sounds far from ideal

the main thing i've seen with all the elderly i've dealt with in my life (not calling you that fyi) is that they always assume best case scenario of their health holding up and living forever

getting a cancer diagnosis or something of that sort should not be unexpected and i can't possibly imagine going through that while living out of an rv

it sounds like you have a good career and work hard taking extra time to deal on your time off (i never knew about your other job just knew you dealt) so i imagine you're earning enough to comfortably put away plenty into retirement - surely this must be more about current spending than anything else

i'm sure if you broke down and reviewed all your spending over the last year - you'd find certain things that you could easily go without or could easily switch to a generic brand or cheap er alternative which add to low 5 figures

What are some of the poker tells that you’ve picked up over the years would you say?

What do I think of dealers who do their job and expect compensation for it? I feel that anyone who does a job should be properly compensated.

I like players who are chatty but do not slow the game down. It can be done. But ultimately, I just like players who are not jerks. Some of them are on the quiet side and that's fine.

Honestly, the 3x + the trailer is gospel and all I really need to get by. Also, I use common core tricks which is funny because I am too old to have been taught math that way but I always found those concepts easier to wrap my head around, even decades ago when I was in elementary school.

I don't, just don't do it with the pot, please (this has happened).

I welcome people speaking up to correct mistakes. Even when they are not a mistake. Fixing a mistake is a lot easier right as it is happening. As I say when I am dealing, I make plenty of mistakes, ask my wife.

I look terrible in a cocktail dress. She'll be around, hand tight.

None of these things tilt me.

Thanks! I am very lucky (I also outkicked my coverage with whom I married). I have some skills that I have been able to apply to things I enjoy and I am fortunate that is the case and that opportunities have found me.

I dealt a little before Black Friday and mostly after it. Although I am in states that have brought back online poker, that has not permeated the actual games in the casinos. The one I deal in is in a state without it, and the state I live in (and play) blocks online gaming at casinos. So I haven't seen much of a change.

It's never too late to start, but it can be too late to start and expect to have enough for retirement without finding other ways to augment your income.