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Have you ever noticed
professional dealers have the strange habit of counting out the unplayed
cards in a deck when a hand is over? These remaining cards are called the
"stub," and this pattern of counting the cards is not a nervous
tick. There are two reasons why you count the stub:
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To
verify that the deck contains the correct number of cards |
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To
show the players that you’re paying attention to the integrity of
the game. |
Counting
the stub
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The
stub of the deck should be counted on a regular basis, and must be
counted at least once per down. House rules may require you to count
more often than this. |
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Ideally,
you should count the stub on the first hand of your down that goes to
the river. This ensures that, if the previous dealer was using a bad
deck, you catch and correct the error before it causes any problems.
Also, it shows the players you are paying attention to the integrity
of the game. |
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Do
not delay the game to count the stub. If you start your count as soon
as you deal the last card, and count during the final round of action,
this will not be a problem. |
Methods
of counting the stub
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Hold’em
– There should be 24 cards in the stub at a full table of ten
players. The best way to count the stub is to count out eight cards at
a time. You’ll wind up with three counts of eight if the table is
full. For each player less than ten, you’ll have two more cards left
over. The reason I do it this way is that it’s much easier to
remember eight cards than some odd number like 11 or 17, and if I get
distracted by some action at the table, I can stop on an eight count,
then easily continue later. This would be much more difficult if I
tried to remember that I had stopped on 19. |
| Omaha
– This is by far the easiest game to do the stub count, because
there will only be four cards left over if the table is ten handed.
There is not really much method here, as you can verify the count on
every hand when the table is full. If the table is short handed, you
can use the eight-count method used in Hold’em, except you’re
always going to end the count on either four or eight. |
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Seven
Card Stud – The trickiest stub counts are in the various forms
of Seven Card Stud. The method here requires that you count the muck
and stub combined. Do not use the burn cards! After the
last cards are dealt on 7th street, place the stub of the deck on top
of the muck and square it up without lifting any of the cards off
the table. It’s very important that you do not lift up cards, as
players may be able to see cards that aren’t in play. Once you have
the cards square, slip the cut card back underneath and begin the
count. Count out the stub in increments of seven. If the deck has 52
cards, your last count will always wind up being six. No matter how
many players there are, and no matter what streets they folded on,
this will always work out (provided the hand reaches 7th street,
otherwise, you shouldn’t be trying to count the stub anyway).
Mathematical proof of why this works can be found in The
Professional Poker Dealer’s Handbook. |
If
the stub count is wrong
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If
you count the stub, and the count is off, it’s usually because you
made a mistake in counting. Cards may have stuck together, you might
have gotten distracted, or for some other reason, you miscounted. I
usually verify the count again before asking for a new setup. |
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If
the deck is truly incorrect, you should change the deck and discreetly
inform the next dealer and the floorperson when you are pushed. Do not
alert players to the fact that a card may be missing. You may have
miscounted the deck several times in a row or the card may have gotten
trapped under the rail with a drink holder. Try not to cause panic and
undue suspicion among the players. Let the floorperson do their job
and sort it out.
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Chapter
4
Rack
management
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