1.
Scramble the deck and call for antes or blinds
2.
Shuffle, box, shuffle shuffle (or shuffle, shuffle, box,
shuffle, depending on the cardroom).
3.
Position the cut card a few inches in front of the deck and release the
deck. If you’re dealing a stud game, gather the antes before you cut the
deck.
4.
Cut the cards and pick up the deck. Square the deck both before you
pick it up and afterwards in the proper manner.
5.
Deal the cards.
6.
Start the action and announce bets or raises as necessary. Make sure the
blinds get their option if dealing flop games like Hold’em.
Gather folded hands into the muck pile immediately. Collect the
mucked cards in the appropriate area (see Managing the pot and table
space).
7.
When the action is complete, gather the chips into the center of the
table. Take note of how much money is in the pot for use in calculating
the rake.
8.
Tap the table and deal the next round of cards, whether that be the flop,
turn, river, or the next street (in stud games). Always tap the
table before you deal the next round. This lets the players know
you are about to deal the cards and gives any player who has not acted the
opportunity to announce their intention to do so.
9.
Take the rake as necessary.
10.
Burn another card and deal the next round. Repeat steps 6-10 until you are
finished with the hand. Make sure you check to see there are enough cards
(in stud or draw) before you deal the last card.
11.
After you deal the last round, drop the deck (see Managing the pot and
table space) and put the cut card on top of the deck, then gently fan
out the deck. If necessary, count the deck stub before you drop and
fan the deck.
12.
Have the players show their hands for the showdown as necessary.
Read and announce the hands. Kill the losing hands and determine the
winning hand, leaving the winning hand in the possession of the player.
13.
Push the pot.
14.
Move the button (flop and draw games).
15.
Drop the rake (if applicable).
16.
Collect the winning hand and begin the scramble again for the next
hand (step 1). Make sure to collect any tip and say, "Thank
you!" Tap the rack and put your tip in your pocket or tip box.
Ordinarily, casinos in Las Vegas take a
rake by percentage of the pot, or on a fixed schedule, for games up to
about $20-$40. Casinos may charge 5% or 10% of the pot, with a maximum of
$3 or $4. The rake may be taken in increments of a dollar, fifty cents, or
quarters. Rakes vary widely in Las Vegas, so be prepared for whatever
schedule or method is used in the casinos where you intend to audition
Time is typically charged for games $30-$60
and up, and is taken every half hour, when the new dealer comes into the
game. $7-$10 per half hour are typical time charges for games $30-$60 and
up. There are a few casinos around the country that take time in smaller
games as well.
California
Card rooms in California usually take a
“drop on the flop” or a dead drop on the button. In drop on the flop
games, the amount of the drop, typically $3 taken from the big blind, is
positioned on the drop slot before the cards are dealt. A jackpot drop may
be taken from the big or small blinds as well and positioned in the same
manner. If the hand goes to the flop, the drop is immediately taken. If
there is no flop, the money is returned to the winning player. In “dead
drop” games, the player on the button posts a dead amount taken before
the cards are dealt, which is immediately dropped. In stud type games that
have a drop, the drop is normally taken from the antes.
Other locales
Most card rooms around the country use
either Las Vegas or California as a model for their rakes or drops.
Time Pots
In some casinos, particularly in high limit
games, a “time pot” may be used rather than charging each player time
individually. In a time pot, the price per player is taken out of the pot
and then dropped by the house. Prior to the deal, the dealer announces,
“This is a time pot.” The appropriate amount is taken out of the next
pot where a flop is dealt.
Tracking the Rake
As
a new dealer, you will almost inevitably be dealing a raked game. Learning
to monitor the pot appropriately and take the correct amount at the right
time will be one of your biggest challenges on your way to becoming a
professional dealer.
Here
are some techniques for keeping track of the rake
1.
In my experience, the easiest way to keep track of the rake is to count
the BETS as they come into the pot, and then convert them to dollar
amounts. Add in any dead money that may be in the pot, as well (e.g.,
folded blinds).
Example:
Five
people see the flop for a raise in a $2-$4 limit game, and both blinds
fold to the raise. That’s ten small bets, or 10 x $2 = $20. Add in the
$3 in dead blind money, and you’ve got $23 in the pot. As soon as you
gather the pot and deal the flop, you take the appropriate rake.
2.
Take the rake after every betting round. Here’s the beauty of taking the
rake right after every betting round – you can basically forget the
dollar amount in the pot except for the carry-over amount, because
you’ve already taken the rake, and the rake is sitting right there on
the drop slot to remind you of how big the pot is! You only need to
remember the amount carried over from the last round that was too small to
rake. Even if you completely forget the pot size and carry-over amount,
you’ve still got the rake in the drop slot to remind you of how big the
pot is. If you forget to take the rake, and you forget the pot size,
you’re now in a position of having to guess (not very accurate) or count
down the pot (even worse). So take your rake every round!
Example:
Suppose
the rake is 10% for the scenario in (1), with a $4 max, taken in
increments of fifty cents. After you deal the flop, take $2 and position
it on the drop slot. You’re going to add on the extra $3 in
“carry-over” to the total of the next round’s betting.
In
this example, it’s impossible for you to be wrong about the total by
more than $4, because you’ve already positioned the rake for this round
on the drop slot.
3.Track
the carry-over from the previous round.
Example:
The
pot was $23 and you’ve got $2 positioned on the drop slot after the
second round of betting in scenario (2). Suppose now that one person bets
and two people call. Now you’ve got three small bets ($6) plus the
carry-over ($3) from the previous round, for a total of $9 in unraked
bets. Since the rake is taken in half dollars, you will add $.50 to the
rake for $5 of unraked bets and are left with $4 to carry-over to the next
round.
4.
Free your mind when you reach the maximum rake.
Example:
Continuing
with the example above, let’s say that on the next round of betting, one
person bets, another raises, and the first person is the only caller.
That’s four big bets, or $16, plus the $4 carried over from the previous
round. 
Since the max rake was $4, you have more than reached the correct
pot size to take the maximum rake (the pot has $45 in it, right?).
Position $1.50 more onto the drop slot, and you’re done. You no longer
have to keep track of the pot size for this particular hand.
5.
Drop as few coins as possible. Not only are coins heavy (a pain for
security), but you’re going to run out of coin faster if you keep
dropping them unnecessarily. You should place coin that hasn’t been
dropped yet in front of the drop slot, and only put chips onto the drop
slot, until the end of the hand. The reason for this is that you’re
going to keep adding to the total, and thus the amount of coin to be
dropped is going to keep changing. It saves time and effort to just keep
the coin in front of the slot until you’re done with the hand. Also, you
make sure to drop a minimum in coin by doing it this way. Some dealers
place the coin on top of the slot mechanism, behind the actual drop slot.
While acceptable, I personally feel that it is better to place the coin in
front rather than on top, because you can simply slide the coin, rather
than having to pick it up.
As
a new dealer, you will almost inevitably be dealing a raked game. learning
to monitor the pot appropriately and take the correct amount at the right
time will be one of your biggest challenges on your way to becoming a
professional dealer. Most casinos require that you get the rake perfect
during your audition. Card rooms have different rake schedules, so you be
prepared for the rake at the casino where you audition. Also be aware that
many casinos have different rake schedules for different size games. For
instance, $5-$10 might be raked at 5%, while $2-$4 and $3-$6 might be
raked at 10%. This is very common, so be ready for it. Spend some time
watching their games and calculating the rake before your audition,
because you don’t know which game they are going to put you into for
your audition.
Counting the
stub
