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DEALING
POKER
By
Dave Adams
March
2005
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Managing
the rack
Learning
how to efficiently and accurately manage your rack is a skill that will
help speed up the games you deal (meaning more tokes) and ensure you don’t
miss out on any hard earned dollars when your rack comes up short.
How
much money is in the rack?
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The
amount of money in the rack will vary greatly depending on the
policies and procedures of the cardroom you work in. In a typical Las
Vegas casino, there is anywhere from $300-$500 in the rack. California
casinos may or may not have chips in the rack, depending on the house
policy. Some East Coast casinos may have a great deal more than $500
in the rack, perhaps thousands of dollars. |
Photo
of a perfect rack
Proper
organization of the chip denominations
1.
You should have the largest chip denominations in the center of the rack,
and the smaller ones towards the outside.
2.
Any cash in your rack should be folded in half and kept inside one of the
deck holders, typically in the same holder as the unused deck (this keeps
the cash more secure and tightly held).
3.
For a $500 rack, you’re going to have about $300 in red ($5) chips,
about $160 in white ($1) chips, and about $40 in coin (if your casino uses
coin).
4.
A $300 or $400 rack will usually contain about the same amount of $1 chips
and coin, but fewer $5 chips.
5.
If your casino uses quarters for the rake, you may have upwards of $100 in
rolled quarters in your rack in place of some of the other denominations.
Loose coin is kept in the smaller middle section of the rack, above the
spaces for the two decks of cards. Rolled coin is kept on the tops of
columns of chips (typical for half dollars), or sometimes in the middle of
the rack (typical for quarters).
6.
Some casinos use $3 or $4 drop chips (for the rake), and those might
replace some of your $5 chips.
Keeping
your rack neat and tidy
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It’s
important that you keep your rack neatly organized and the chips
properly spaced. Chips are kept in stacks of twenty, with spacers in
between for easy counting. It may be acceptable to keep some stacks of
ten chips on the tops of columns of chips when your rack is getting
full. A messy rack is hard to count and looks very unprofessional.
With practice, you’ll get good at managing your rack and it will
always look great when you’re done with your down.
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Working
out of your rack
1.
You should work from the outside to the inside, keeping the complete
stacks of chips towards the center of the rack. This assists in both easy
counting and keeps the full stacks away from the edges of the rack. The
general idea is that the next dealer coming into the box should have no
trouble counting your rack, because you’ve got it neat and organized.
2.
Empty columns should always be on the outside, not the inside of the rack.
3.
Stacks that are not complete should be easy to count by placing spacers
between every five chips. For instance, if you have an incomplete stack of
$80 in red chips, you’d have them spaced in $25 stacks, with one $5 chip
on top of three $25 sections.
Getting
a fill
Over
the course of a game, several things may effect how many chips are in your
rack. You may be short coin because every other pot leaves one or more
quarters or half dollars in the drop, or perhaps players at your table
have made an unusual number of short buys, eating up your $1 or $5 chips.
In any case, every cardroom will have specific procedures for getting a
"fill" (filling the rack). Here are some fairly common ones:
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You
should call for a fill when your rack is getting low on the chips you
need. Make sure you call for chips before you’re about to run out
and tell the floor what table you are on! It sometimes takes a bit of
time for the floor or chip runner to get your fill ready, so make sure
you call in plenty of time to get what you need before you run out. |
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Lammers
may be needed when you take cash or chips out of your rack in order to
pay for your fill in advance. Lammers are numbered disks about the
size of spacers with cash denominations. Their purpose is to keep
track of the money being exchanged. Typically, you’ll give the cash
to the floor or chip runner, who will then place the appropriate
denomination of lammers next to your rack, where the cameras can see
them. This indicates to surveillance that money has been taken from
the rack, and is going to be replaced. When your fill arrives, and
after you properly count and organize the fill, you’ll give the
lammers (and any empty racks) back to the floor or chip runner. |
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If
lammers are not used, a chip runner or floor will arrive with the
amount of chips you requested and wait patiently for your current hand
to be completed. Every cardroom differs in their protocol for handling
the deck while getting a fill. It’s one of the things you learn as
you go. Generally, when the current hand is over, you’ll scramble
the deck without squaring it and leave it where it lies until the rack
is filled. |
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Count
out any cash in casino fashion for the cameras. The chip runner or
floor will give you racks of chips and rolls of coin to fill your
rack. When you get your incoming chips, these should also be counted
for the cameras. Stacks of twenty should be placed side by side, and
one of those stacks should be broken down and verified. It’s
important that you verify transactions for the cameras every time you
get a fill. Once you’ve counted the chips, arrange them in your rack
quickly and neatly, then move on to the next hand as soon as possible.
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Chapter
5
Taking
the rake
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