Dealers Need to Know This

28 March 2024

By Royal Flushes

CINDY: We tend to focus strictly on casino players when we write but there are other people we should be concerned about. Those would be the dealers.

ABBY: Good dealers can make the game even more fun.

CINDY: And bad dealers can ruin your playing experiences.

ABBY: Good playing strategies are essential but there is an atmosphere at the tables when you play and that atmosphere can help or hurt your emotional experience. Dealers have something to do with that atmosphere. Slot players don’t have to worry about having their atmosphere hurt by dealers because they don’t have dealers.

CINDY: Okay, ingredients in one’s playing atmosphere would be:

1. How you are doing in the game.
2. What the other players are like at your table.
3. How the dealer handles the game.
4. How the dealer handles the players at the game.

ABBY: The best situation is an A+ on all four of the above. You get that most times at the games.

CINDY: Mabe two-thirds of the time. But the other third could be categorized as somewhat dull or ouch or big ouch.

ABBY: If you get the horrible combination of an awful dealer and lousy players, I’d rather go to a knitting club. The games are random but good strategies are helpful when you play but you are not the complete arbiter of what is about to happen. You are only playing the odds. You win or lose and that is that. I’m guessing that would be the primary decider in how you ultimately feel.

CINDY: Maybe not. You can be interacting or just tolerating the other players and you aren’t quite as concerned with how much you are winning or losing. Losing might make you feel even worse if the other aspects of the game are going downhill too.

ABBY: Anyone who deals with the public is essentially an actor. You must be friendly and appear that you actually want the players to win. By the way, the dealer doesn’t have to actually feel these things. An actor goes on the stage and does his or her scene no matter what his or her internal state is.

CINDY: You don’t have to be effusively friendly, just cordial, when a player buys into a game.

ABBY: At a table game when you give the players his or her chips you wish them “good luck” or something to that effect. Or say something like “welcome to the table.”

CINDY: Now, if the player whines about his or her luck you just say “Let’s hope it all changes,” or something to that effect. That shows sympathy. The dealer could actually be hoping that this whining player gets creamed really bad but that is not to show in the dealer’s countenance.

ABBY: Keep in mind we aren’t telling dealers what to feel, only how to appear and act. An actor playing a sad scene in a play may be really happy internally but the scene calls for crying. So, the actor does what the actor must do.

CINDY: I also caution dealers not to comment on how a player actually plays the game. “Sir, that is the stupidest move I have ever seen!” It would not be good to say something like that.

ABBY: Unless you know the player from past experiences, you have to use tact when responding to questions about how to play. Remember the player asking for advice might get upset if the dealer gives good advice and the player still loses. That is not good. Both of us have had that happen too. Now, we never give advice.

CINDY: Correct, Abby and I do not give advice at the tables because a loss can then be blamed upon you. Not good. So, a dealer may have to finesse his or her way around giving advice.

ABBY: Dealers are great when they are great and they actually make the game a good experience. Only a few players blame the dealer for things that go wrong. Most players know that the dealer doesn’t determine how a player will do at the game.

CINDY: Good dealers are worth their weight in gold!