I’ve heard Let it Ride derisively nicknamed “Let it Die” by dealers due to slow play. I know games that take longer tend to have less frequent tipping. But what about other aspects of Casino games?
I’ve seen some cranky roulette dealers who barked at people for touching chips after his signal or seeing them be barely under the minimum bet. And it seems like roulette is only manned by one dealer no matter how busy it gets, while I’ve seen the standard trio of dealers stand around uselessly while a lone craps player tosses the dice over and over.
Speaking of which, craps seems like a rather lonely game to play alone. I always associate it with a big crowd of people.
Anecdotally I’ve heard Pai Gow Poker is not liked by some dealers because the people who play it tend to bet the minimum, and since the game is usually played as either win, lose, or draw with no bonuses, there don’t tend to be a lot of big winners and therefore not a lot of big tippers. When a player wins, the house takes a 5% surcharge on the win, so the dealer has to constantly be calculating what 5% of the bet is, and messing around with quarters at times when that 5% doesn’t come out to an even dollar amount. There’s also the issue that the dealer has to split his/her hand based on specific house rules that are a lot more complicated than “don’t hit on soft 17”, so there’s one more issue to keep track of. On the other hand, I once had a dealer tell me he liked dealing Pai Gow Poker as a change of pace because the people who played it were generally friendly folks.
I don’t think enforcing the “no more bets” command or the “minimum bets” rule is an indication that the dealer is cranky or doesn’t like the game. I’ve seen very friendly dealers at all games and very unfriendly dealers on all sorts of games too (especially at Caesar’s)
related to OP’s question, I wonder how blackjack dealers feel about shuffle machines vs. hand shuffles.
Shuffle machines are probably easier on the dealers wrists. And they can probably get a lot more hands played vs single deck blackjack.
I played 3 card poker, and the dealer had to make a second 5 card hand for some optional 5 card poker game. But I was the only one at the table, and wasnt interested in playing it. Unfortunately the poor dealer still had to slap down those 5 cards each game regardless, which I found strange.
That surprises me. A lot of the time they seem to be having a decent time. There is a lot to keep track of and a lot of quick mental math which might be stressful.
Pai Gow is usually a pretty friendly game.
I would have thought the worst game the deal would be roulette. Especially if alone on a busy table. Some tables have the auto stackers which helps keep up with the chips but many times they have to spend a lot of time between rolls stacking and stacking and stacking. Seems like a giant pain in the ass to me.
IAACD, (though also a freelance writer). I only deal poker now, since our facility doesn’t share the pool of staff between poker and other table games.
Our casino pools tips for TG dealers, but not for poker dealers. Thus, TG dealers make a pretty consistent twenty-something an hour no matter what they deal. Poker dealers face much more variation, you could deal a game for only a few minutes before it dies, get shuffled around in the line-up and have an excessive number of breaks, or you could get lucky and get a huge tip from a $5000 pot. But, most dealers are making between $25 and $50 per hour.
So, where money is the priority, dealers hate games that don’t generate tips. If tips are pooled though, it’s a matter of personal preference. Some dealers don’t mind a deadspread. It’s literally money for nothing. Other dealers prefer the fun and variety of craps or roulette. Another factor is that a lack of variety involves repetition of certain motions a VERY large number of times over a day (or week, or month, etc). Blackjack is virtually an assembly-line style job and I’d rather not deal another hand of it in my life. But, since I liked poker and wanted some variety to stave off carpal tunnel syndrome, I’d often volunteer for the relief string covering Let it Ride, Carribean Stud and Three Card Poker.
Finally, more ambitious staffers will seek the additional pay of being qualified on many games or even if there is no incentive pay, improve chances of promotion or surviving a layoff by diversification.
I’ve heard a lot of dealers state that they like craps. However, it is usually the last game to be learned by dealers and the reasons for “liking” it may be more for building their resume, credibility or other professional development motives that for enjoying the activity itself.
Mucking (sorting chips by value and placing them in stacks of known size) is busy work, physically, but requires no mental effort. Some people would love it for those reasons, others hate it for the same reasons. I would be surprised to see a busy roulette game with no mucker.
