As for me, I continue to improve as a dealer. Last night was my first complete night of dealing without exposing a card. This has been my goal and now that my pitching of cards is reaching full professional caliber, I am starting to see a second benefit...bigger tokes!
Each night I have taken home more than the previous night in tokes. For me, this is truly an odd thing, because I still feel mistake-prone. But it appears that my personality really connects with the players and because I call my games in a concise, clear voice, I've received a few complements from the gamblers.
The most difficult game in the room to deal is still that Omaha Hi, Pot Limit, 10-25, Mississippi Straddle-to-the-50 game. Other dealers hate it but evidently the DC (dealer coordinator) knows I like it because he has put me on it seven times now. With the size of the pots in that game averaging about $2000 per hand, the subsequent tokes have been very good.
Dealers are taught not to shill for tokes. Meaning, that I am not supposed to mention them, not supposed to compliment players on big pots won, not supposed to pause after pushing the pot as if coaxing the player into tossing me a chip or two. I have been extremely careful to avoid this and run my games as fast as I possibly can.
I am still not getting as many downs as most dealers, which means that my check at the end of the event is going to be less than most. Nonetheless, I am enjoying the event and learning a lot, so I am pleased with whatever I get.
Ok, now on to the big mistake I made...
The absolute worst thing a dealer can have happen is to deal a "fouled deck". A fouled deck is when there are too many or too few cards in the deck. We are required to do a "stub count" every down. A stub count is where a dealer silently and subtly counts the remaining cards in his hand after all the cards are out on the table and the players are making their final betting decisions.
If a table has 10 players, then the 20 down cards, plus the 5 board cards, plus the 3 burn cards, should leave exactly 24 cards in a dealer's hand. This is the easy way of verifying that the deck has the right number of cards without having to count all 52.
Last night, I was dealing the first table of 260-person tournament. So it was early, the pots were tiny, the players were cautious, and it was a pretty typical start. Then, disaster struck.
In the rack below my hands sits a second deck of cards, sorted, out of its box, and ready to be used if my current deck is too damp, gets fouled, etc. I was pushing a pot from left to right to a player on my immediate right and when I was done I looked down and saw a single card sitting on the table underneath my hands. I figured I'd dropped one somehow, pushed it into the muck (the discards from the game) and shuffled.
What had happened, unbeknownst to me at first, is that when I made that left to right motion, the bottom of my left hand caught the face of my backup deck and had pulled out the top card! What is that top card, you ask? Well, it was the ace of spades.
So I dealt the next hand, not knowing that now there were 53 cards in my deck...and two aces of spades. The next hand ended without a problem. And the next. And a third.
But on the third hand, as players were mucking their cards I glanced down and saw that I had a card in the muck pile that had a different colored back than the others! The difference between the two decks is very subtle, but I noticed it in a millisecond.
A cold sweat hit my brow. Like lightning, I palmed the card, noticed it was the ace, and tossed it into the backup deck. How no one noticed this motion is a mystery to me.
Moreover, how the player who held it for a hand didn't notice his ace of spades was from a different deck amazes me. Had he noticed, he could have raised an enormous ruckus, claiming that all of the hands dealt were erroneous and that he wanted all of his money back. All ten players could have quit the tournament and the event would have lost almost $2000.
But he didn't notice, I'd corrected the error without being seen, and might have gotten away scot-free. Only problem was, now I had my deck, but I couldn't say for certain that it was unfouled. What if I had caught two extra cards instead of one? My brain was screaming at me to do a stub count as fast as possible.
Problem was, you cannot do a stub count until a hand reaches fifth street (the final card to be shown before final betting). And my luck was failing as the next three hands were folded before the board was full.
In a desperate attempt to confirm my decks, I tried to do something incorrect: do a stub count before fifth street on the next hand. The bettors reached fourth street and were mulling their options, so I did a soft, quick count. Just as I finished, a female player across from me yelled, "What are you doing, dealer?!?" I replied, that, sorry ma'am, I was doing a stub count and got ahead of myself.
Luckily, I'd just been tapped out to leave the table and could walk away from the situation knowing that the decks were good. I heard her still grousing about the stupid dealer doing a stub count too early as I left the table. Hehe, thank goodness she didn't know the REAL story.
Side Pots:
- My hands ache, but the problems I described yesterday seem to be getting better. Perhaps my form is improving. I am also adjusting to my new sleep pattern and got the best night of sleep last night that I have had since the tournament started.
- I mentioned an incorrect ruling yesterday. If a dealer exposes a card in the first two pitches of a hand, it is considered a misdeal and the hand is started over. I'd said that the player would receive the next card after all the cards are out to replace his exposed one. But this only happens if the exposed card is after the first two. Confusing, no?
- Worst beat of the night: A player lost a $7000 pot in the Omaha game when his king-high flush was beaten by an ace-high flush.
- Funniest line of the night: "Folks, we don't talk about titties at the poker table. They are called 'boobies'." - from a player in response to a statement that women poker players are always wearing low-cut shirts to distract their competitors.
- Second-funniest line of the night: "Why can't I get any action?" - from an attractive female player who would make bets and would not get called. Amid the laughter came a few comments from the male players that they'd oblige her with all the action she wanted.
As you might have noticed, male poker players are simply pigs when it comes to the female players. They do not respect the ladies' skills as gamblers and shamelessly flirt, harass, and insult the women. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be female poker players. Unless you also give them thick skins.
- I saw my dealing mentor, Roger, in the poker room last night. Roger taught me how to deal like a pro and it was great to see him. Unfortunately, he was in a game and I couldn't chat. Hopefully, I will see him again tonight.
- I was sick about missing the Auburn / Kansas State football game.
And, to make it worse, the game was being shown in the poker room on a huge TV, but too far away for me to catch much of the action or even the score. During one of my little ten-minute breaks, I called four different guys I knew were watching the game and NONE OF THEM ANSWERED THE PHONE! So I called my dad only to find out that he was watching Tennessee / Cal with my Tennessee Vol sister and was TAPING the Auburn game. Dad! How does that help me?? Hahaha!
- There is a really cool Gulf Coast Poker Championship hat that I have my eye on. They sell it at a kiosk just outside of the poker room. A kiosk selling poker stuff is like crack. You don't need it, but you are compelled to buy it anyway.
No, mom, I have never bought crack. It's just a joke.
