Worst bj dealer ever?

Who is the worst bj dealer you've ever encountered? I would be amazed if they were as bad as the girl dealing to me last night.

She was a new dealer and said she had only been dealing bj for 4 days. Unlike most dealers in vegas, she would say the card total for each player and herself as each card was hit and this arithmatic was the most dificult part for her.

She really struggled to add two numbers together sometimes taking up to ten seconds to get to the right total. I could understand if it took a little while to work out a 6 card total with lots of small cards but this dealer was having trouble adding 8 to 7 and 4 to 3! Very often someones 18 was announced as 17 and any hand with an ace was even more likely to be called wrong.

Every time she got one wrong she panicked which made things worse and everyone at the table was trying their best to encourage her without distracting her unnecessarily.

Other things that happened included when I doubled an 11 and got an ace which she payed me for against her 20 until I pointed out that I only had a 12. We also had to stop the game for 5 minutes after she scrapped someones 21 and they had to check the tapes because she had replaced the disputed cards into the shuffle machine. By the end there were 2 pit bosses hovering and I think that only added to the pressure.

I hope they give her some more time to improve as she looked about 19 and I'm sure all dealers probably have stories of their first week live on the tables.

This all happened at my local casino in portsmouth england were no one is a high roller. How long would a dealer like this last in vegas?

Firstly why did you point out you only had 12? I would take the money!

She would never be put on the floor in vegas, they train their staff properly. Was this Grosvenor?

Quote: jonfourtwenty

How long would a dealer like this last in vegas?

It depends if they were really an undercover casino boss.

I always give back those kind of mistakes if I'm playing at a small casino that knows me well. Also I felt sorry for her and wouldn't like to see her in any more trouble than she was already in.

Yes it was the grosvenor. We have 2, this was the one at gunwharf quays.

I hate it when people are having fun and swearing at the table like, "Fuck yeah!" if they get a blackjack or something, and we have an uptight dealer who tells them to stop swearing and they get the floor manager involved. It's like if you're that religious or uptight that the customers swear here and there then go get another job. Shit!

;)

Usually it is not the dealer who is offended, but acts to protect the other players who might not appreciate a player's limited vocabulary.
I should not have to listen to obscenities just to play BJ. In the WSOP you get a 10 minute time-out while blinds eat away at your stack. 10 minutes for each outburst as Mike the Mouth found out. LOL

Quote: HotBlonde

I hate it when people are having fun and swearing at the table like, "Fuck yeah!" if they get a blackjack or something, and we have an uptight dealer who tells them to stop swearing and they get the floor manager involved. It's like if you're that religious or uptight that the customers swear here and there then go get another job. Shit!

;)

You have to love any gal who can write something like that!

Quote: jonfourtwenty

I always give back those kind of mistakes if I'm playing at a small casino that knows me well. Also I felt sorry for her and wouldn't like to see her in any more trouble than she was already in.

Yes it was the grosvenor. We have 2, this was the one at gunwharf quays.

I think its their loss for putting an in-experienced dealer on the live floor, so they are not entitled to the money lost via her mistakes, no way would I blame her!

Was obviously Grosvenor, they have done this before at my casino (Brighton) and once at Walsall.

Had you noticed she was putting the cards into the shuffler rather than the dead card hold tray.

She is 19. Tell her you are going to take her home and teach her a thing or two .... and make one of the things you teach her be basic addition.

I had a dealer the other day who was pretty bad. Older fellow and it was only his 2nd day on the job. He was very nice and I always pointed out any mistakes he made, even if they were in my favor.

He added the cards all right but consistently had trouble on payouts. There was one hand where the dealer and I were both dealt blackjack. He first took my money and I had to point out that I also had a blackjack. He then tried to pay me for blackjack and I had to explain that it was a push.

The only mistake I really benefited from was when he forgot to deal himself a hole card.The pit boss came over and told the table that they were allowed to withdraw their bets if they chose to do so. I had a 17 against dealer 9 so I withdrew my bet.

One other thing he did which I found unusual was to call out to the pit boss when someone doubled down on hard 12. He said this was to make sure they watch out for card counters. I was counting at the time and just kinda laughed as no good counter would ever make that play.

Some people are just overly nervous, not incompetent. I used in sit in and act as a player after
I had finished dealer's school to try and calm down nervous dealers. Some of the girls would
actually tremble and made mistakes, even in a pretend audition. I had a acrylic shoe I would
lend them to practice at home. If they got past the audition, I suggested they have friends play
the first few days on the job if possible. Several of these ladies are among the best BJ dealers
in Blackhawk now.

Quote: FleaStiff

Had you noticed she was putting the cards into the shuffler rather than the dead card hold tray.

She did that after about 2 minutes whilst we were waitig for the ok to restart. I think she just panicked and felt she had to do something with her hands. The pit boss was a pissed at that.

Quote: odiousgambit

You have to love any gal who can write something like that!

:-*

I'm glad this thread came up. I had been toying with the thought of starting one about this subject.

Scenario: Charity picnic with booths and games, including gambling area, with Blackjack.

Bad: At one table, a player was allowed to split aces, and play them out, including doubling. At another, each ace got one card, and that was it.
Worse: Two split aces got a ten each. They were instantly paid out at 1:1, without the dealer making their play. (Ties were taken at this event, so there was a chance the player could've actually lost their bets.)

Math is hard: Blackjack payouts were 3:2. Chips were in denominations of $0.50, $1, $2, and $5. A player with a $4 bet (two $2's) was given $5 for Blackjack (two $2, one $1); the dealer was having trouble understanding why players were saying he was wrong.
Really hard: A player with 7, 7, 3, 2 said, "I have 21!" I said, "No, you have 19." "No, 21." I pointed out, "7 and 7 is 14, with another 5, that's 19." He responded, "Yeah, 7 and 7, plus 3 and 2, that's 21!" I stopped arguing. Dealer got 20. He got paid for 21.
My brain hurts: The guy next to me hit and got a 24. He said, "Stand." The dealer went on. Dealer busted. The 24 got paid.

The kicker? Each table had two workers. One was the dealer, the other the "helper". What did the helper do? Took money, took cards, paid out. Sometimes. Other times the dealer did it. Every table seemed to do something different with their helper.

Question: Am I being nitpicky by e-mailing the head of the Blackjack section of the event, and telling him some of these stories? Granted, every worker is a volunteer, and they were allowed to drink while dealing. No training beforehand. Or, since this is a charity event with difficult rules (Dealer takes ties, etc), a few mistakes here and there is no big deal?

Quote: Dween

since this is a charity event ... a few mistakes here and there is no big deal?

This.

Quote: Dween

since this is a charity event ... a few mistakes here and there is no big deal?

Quote: kp

This.

+1

Since it's charity, they should be taking everybody's money and giving a receipt for tax purposes in return.

Last month I was in the Paris hotel and decided to play BJ at a $10 minimum table with some pretty poor rules. I say “decided” to play at a table with poor rules because it became immediately apparent that the eye candy dealer was hired because solely because she was able to squeeze into an outfit that would have been small on a 10 year old girl. I was flat betting $10 each hand but the only other person at the table was betting various amounts each hand, usually between 25 and 50, but his bets were always in a stack of reds. Each time he would win, eye candy would pick up the original bet and count out the loud…5, 10, 15…etc. When she figured out how much the initial bet was, she would then pay they guy out by taking a stack of reds from her tray and count them out loud.

After about a half hour of watching this show play out, I decided to placed my last bet…all in, $45 in reds. If I win, I am only down $10, if I lose, I just paid $100 for a 30 minute lap dance.

Dealer busts. Eye candy counted my initial bet once, $40 she tells me. I correct her. She counts again, $40, I correct her again. At this point the pit boss comes over to see what’s going on, the pitboss glances at my bet and says, $45, pay him. So eye candy looks confused. She grabs a stack of reds from her tray, then puts it down and picks up two greens, then puts it down. Then asks the pit boss if she should pay me in 5’s or with a $25 and – and she begins counting with her fingers how many reds will take her from $25 to $45.

At this point I couldn’t wait to see the confusion when I told her to color up.

If the casinos are going to hire these drop dead gorgeous half naked women to deal at the tables with piss poor rules, the least they could do is make sure they eye candy dealers get the training the need to deal the game.

I could fill a book with dealer stories but I'll just share a few of the more memorable ones. Red chip players being paid in purple because the dealer was paying with dirty money. Player buying in for $100 and receiving 20 green chips. Three other players at the table then did the same. All four promptly left without playing a hand. Dealer hits A, A, gets a 10, calls 22 and pays the table. Player splits 8's and is allowed to surrender after getting a 7 on one of them. Player paid 3-2 on a split ace 21.

To the best of my knowledge, none of these involved collusion. The dealers were just incompetent and made mistakes in the house's favor as well. No, I didn't get any of those purples.

Quote: Dween

Question: Am I being nitpicky by e-mailing the head of the Blackjack section of the event, and telling him some of these stories? Granted, every worker is a volunteer, and they were allowed to drink while dealing. No training beforehand. Or, since this is a charity event with difficult rules (Dealer takes ties, etc), a few mistakes here and there is no big deal?

I have trained dealers for these kind of events. You really can't put it all on the dealers. Here is some of what I have seen:

I have dealt for three companies. One (the first) took the time to have me come in and train for 90 minutes. That same company was the only one to take the time to tell me what the "complex" rules were (eg: s17, double any 2 cards, etc.) The other two took far less time and I had to ask the rules. Sometimes the pit boss was not sure and a few didn't seem to know any difference. S17 is on the layout but to the rest it is very dependent on who is running the night and dealing. About 25% of the dealers I work with either are, were, or tried to be "real" dealers-or cared enough to learn near-casino level procedure. At the other end 25% or so hardly know how to play the games they deal. The rest are in-between.

Then there are the people who sponsor the event. They may request a "fun" night which means bend the rules. It may be a "serious" night which mostly means a fundraiser so they want people to have a fair shot. Or they may be clueless and say, "what do you think?" Once they changed the rules to "no house edge" and player hands worked aginst each other. (not "banking" but against each other--a DISASTER) We work for them but sometimes there is not enough feedback.

Now, to "volunteer" dealers. As I said, I have trained them. Most do not know how to deal at all. When asked if they knew the rules I got a reply of, "you try to get cards to add up to 21, right?" So I had less than 2 hours to teach them how to both play and deal the game. They were eager and friendly, but I work miricles, not magic. So I showed how to shuffle, deal, collect, and pay. That was it. In casino dealer school it was 8+ hours just to shuffle and handle chips.

So a few mistakes are to be expected.

Quote: Dween

Question: Am I being nitpicky ... this is a charity event ...

It really depends upon the structure.

Is it the type of event that pays tickets that are then used to purchase prizes and'or bid in an auction? Then it's no beg deal, as the only ones who lose are the players that did not benefit from the mistakes.

If it's the type of event that pays cash, then, absolutely you should say something. If a charity runs an event and doesn't turn a profit, what's the point?

Quote: mgreiche

If the casinos are going to hire these drop dead gorgeous half naked women to deal at the tables with piss poor rules, the least they could do is make sure the eye candy dealers get the training they need to deal the game.

Why? Why should the casino pay for training. Those girls are not dealers they are scenery and they probably already know how to get some man to tell them what to do with those little round things that are too hard to be pasties.

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Table game players are generally the most intelligent of casino customers. How come I never see nothing but mostly dummies at my table ?? LOL

Quote: buzzpaff

Table game players are generally the most intelligent of casino customers. How come I never see nothing but mostly dummies at my table ?? LOL

Go spend some time with the slot players and report back to us.

Quote: WizardofEngland

Firstly why did you point out you only had 12? I would take the money!

Agree on this. I've actually read elsewhere not to point it out b/c it can embarrass a dealer and/or get him/her in trouble. Just make up for it over the next hour or two by throwing a couple extra tips their way and consider it good karma

Quote: kp

Go spend some time with the slot players and report back to us.

Hey, watch it. My wife and daughter are over there! LOL

Quote: Dween

[
Question: Am I being nitpicky by e-mailing the head of the Blackjack section of the event, and telling him some of these stories? Granted, every worker is a volunteer, and they were allowed to drink while dealing. No training beforehand. Or, since this is a charity event with difficult rules (Dealer takes ties, etc), a few mistakes here and there is no big deal?

I don't think it's too nitpicky. As long as you offer it up as constructive criticism, with the intent of improving the experience. Who knows, maybe happier players will donate more to the cause?

Quote: DJTeddyBear

If it's the type of event that pays cash, then, absolutely you should say something. If a charity runs an event and doesn't turn a profit, what's the point?

Yes, this is a cash in-cash out event. Chips were being bought and cashed at the tables.

Here is a reply quote from the person I e-mailed:

Quote: BlackJack Guy

We don't really have a dealers class or anything. We normally use the same people year after year, and replace people as needed. I'm sure mistakes are made be every dealer/assistant. I know I made a few myself. But, overall, Saturday night blackjack brought in just over $3,000. I'm sure we missed a few bucks here and there.

They probably made over $5,000 over two nights... But I saw at least 5 dumb mistakes, over a 2 hour period, and at 1 table. Multiply that by 8 tables, and by 6 times the event length. 5 x 8 x 6 = 240 mistakes. If each mistake costs just $1, that's 5% of the money intake.

This may be the problem in my thinking: A) Would a casino tolerate this? B) But it's a volunteer charity event, not a casino!
I know people will make mistakes. But when dealers are allowed to drink, and rules are different from table to table, it irks me.

One more thing to point out as to why I am so adamant about this: I work at the church/school this charity event took place. My hours were reduced at the end of the school year due to budget constraints, and I nearly lost my job. So, yeah, I'm pissed when volunteers are causing money to be lost from one of the biggest revenue generators of the year.

I think I'd be kinda pissed too, now knowing what the whole picture is.

Where do these people(dealer/volunteers) come from? Are they some kind of fundraising group or something, that get a cut of what they're able to generate? And this is for a church and they're drinking and gambling(interesting), you must not be in the bible belt that's for sure. Next charity event: whorehouse...LOL

I'd be irritated on principal alone. These ungrateful people are desecrating "my" game.

When you factor in everything else you told us, I'd be borderline livid. Unfortunately, this is one of those situations in life where one is left feeling helpless. The only thing you could do is let them know how many mistakes you observed in the small time period and perhaps take an active role in planning/training for next year's event, if possible.

Sorry for the crappy experience

Alan & Seviay:

Unfortunately, family vacation usually prevents me from being able to participate as a volunteer at the picnic. This is actually one of the reasons I asked to take over the "Pit Boss" position at a smaller, one-night charity event at my church & school. Here is the thread where I discussed the results of that night. Sidenote: Although the thread says the Blackjack area only made $259, it turns out we may have made more than double that. End-of-night bookkeeping collected money from every location, but did not record each locale separately. No problem, it's all going to one pool, but it would be nice to know how much we pulled in.

I am located in Kentucky. Charitable gaming law states that every church may have two events per year, and one is always the 2-day church picnic. It is common to have both "number-wheel" booths and the "gambling" area. It is limited to six hours per day, so time is of the essence.

Edit: The volunteers are parishioners and parents at the church and school. I am a teacher, and am not as "tightly-knit" with a lot of these folks. A lot of them have probably been dealing for years, and have always done it their own way.

I would expect the value of the mistakes is lessened as people will "replay" their mistaken winnings, exposing them to the house.