• How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips For A
• How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips 2019
• How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips 2019
• How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips For Beginners
• How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips For A

How much does a Poker Dealer make? The national average salary for a Poker Dealer is $20,413 in United States. Filter by location to see Poker Dealer salaries in your area. Salary estimates are based on 130 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Poker Dealer employees. Including tips, how much per year do Las Vegas poker dealers make? Would prefer to have answers from current dealers, past dealers, or people within the industry. Would also appreciate any extra details you can provide with your answer (hours per day, shift times, which casino, games dealt, betting limits, etc). If the dealer is leaving and you like them, i.e. Friendly, good dealer, etc, tip them $1. Dealers aren't really expecting you to tip them big - even in high stakes games (dealers mostly get a $5 tip whatever the hand, even in high stakes games i.e. $500-$1000, $1k-$2k), but they are expecting to be tipped.

Playing poker at a casino is a super fun and thrilling experience. If you love the casino experience that much, being a poker dealer at a casino will definitely seem like a dream job for many people. Not only will you get to always be part of a game that you like but you will also have the chance to always enjoy the authentic atmosphere that cannot be found anywhere else that is not a casino.

However, as much as being a poker dealer may seem to be glamorous, the first thing that you should probably consider is the pay. So, how much do poker dealers make?

In this blog, I delve into every important detail involving the amounts that poker dealers make. From the average wage, what determines your earnings and training; it’s all covered below.

Let’s begin.

What is the average wage of a poker dealer?

According to Glassdoor, poker dealer salaries in Las Vegas, Nevada range from $18,000 to $49,000 annually with the average salary amount clocking in at $20,991 per year. In California, the average base pay for poker dealers is $10 per hour or up to $38,122 per year.

Top 4 Poker Dealer Salaries in Las Vegas:

1. Wynn Resorts $60k – $100k (including tips)
2. Caesars Entertainment $54k – $58k
3. MGM Resorts International $36k – $44k
4. SLS Hotels $34k – $37k

Tips are usually very vital to the salaries of most croupiers. Professional poker dealers will, of course, get more tips since they are more knowledgeable and skilled at dealing and handling players. Tips usually range from just a few dollars to $50 or even more depending on the aforementioned factors. These tips can add up to huge sums of money and they make the job even more interesting for many poker enthusiasts.

“The Average Salary for a Poker Dealer in the US is $19,107 per year as of September 2020”

Even so, it is worth noting that different casinos will have different policies regarding how tips are dished out. Some will pool all the tips together and share them among all the poker dealers. Others allow each dealer to keep all their tips.

“The average hourly rate for a card dealer is between $8 – $11 in the United States”

What Determines How Much a Dealer Earns?

Several factors come into play when it comes to determining how much poker dealers make. Perhaps the most obvious will be location – what poker dealers make in Las Vegas, for instance, will certainly not be the same as what poker dealers make in California. While both cities are great destinations for casino lovers, the gambling scene in Las Vegas is more vibrant and thus attracts more people. This means that croupiers stand a chance of making more money from tips in Las Vegas since more players will be visiting the casinos.

In many places, casino work including poker dealing can be seasonal and this too will have an impact on what game dealers get.

Another important factor that determines how much a poker dealer earns is professionalism. Well, you do not necessarily need to go to dealing school to become a poker dealer but this could certainly make you a better dealer.

Dealing is a customer service job where you not only need to keep control of the poker game but also enforce the rules while at the same time ensuring that the players are treated to a great experience. That said, it is pretty easy to see that experienced and professional poker dealers make way more money. This applies to both tips and the base salary.

Typically, tips make up a huge chunk of what most poker dealers get to take home. One AMA from a poker dealer on Reddit stated:

“As for income, I only get paid in tips. No wages. I make an average of $15/hour.”

The amounts will range depending on several factors, from experience to the casino you are dealing at. It might be a little too difficult to accurately predict how much in tips they make since these are not often factored in when calculating the wages of casino dealers.

In the same AMA the poker dealer commented:

“The biggest tip I ever received at once was $100”

While another commented:

“[the] Biggest tip I recieved in my time as a dealer was $1000 chip”

It really does show how much tips can vary from dealer to dealer.

How Can I become a Poker Dealer?

If you are impressed by what poker dealers make you might be probably considering taking it up as a career. If that is the case, you will need to be aware of some of the requirements that you will need to meet to qualify. While some of these factors will vary from one casino to the next, some standard ones apply across the board.

To begin with, poker dealing is pretty complex, and to get ahead of the curve, a training course would be great even if you are an avid poker player. This does not mean that mastery of the game is thrown under the bus – in fact, it is vital to your application. Even so, before you are allowed to start, you might need to pass a dealer audition where everything from your knowledge of the game to your customer service skills are put to the test.

There are some casinos that train you in-house but if you want to apply for one of the larger casinos you will need some previous training. There are school dedicated to training casino dealers (including poker) such as:

Each of these schools teach new dealers everything they need to know about dealing poker. There are plenty of schools out there so check your local area for ones close to you.

In addition to that, there are a few other important factors that you may need to consider. For instance, you have to be of the legal gambling age and have a flexible schedule. It goes without saying that you should do a bit of research and background checks on the casino you wish to work at to ascertain whether you are okay with their policies.

All in all, the overarching requirement when it comes to being a dealer is having a well-rounded personality in addition to all the related experience. This means that things like being able to speak multiple languages, a warm personality, and exceptional math skills will give you a huge edge. Casinos are always looking for new talent and all you have to do is put yourself out there. Better yet, you can start small and built up some progress as you perfect your skills and gain more experience.

Is This the Dream Job For You?

If you still think that being a poker dealer is your dream job even after going through the estimated salaries then you should go for it. It all comes down to why you are doing it – some people take their dealing careers very seriously while others prefer to have fun with it by doing it as a hobby. Either way, there is a lot to be gained from it so long as you have the right attitude and are ready to deal with all of the things that come with the job.

Just make sure that you take every relevant factor into account just as you would for other jobs.

How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips For A

FAQ

According to a recent listing from tripadvisor.com, Wynn Las Vegas pays its dealers the highest – an average of $100,000 annually in salary and tips.

Yes, most casinos require that you get a few weeks of training and certification from a certified poker dealing school before they can hire you.

Yes. Depending on several factors poker dealers in the United States can make up to $100,000 in salary and tips every year.

Poker dealers tap the poker table lightly to let the players know that the previous round of the game has ended and they are about to deal again.

Visors help poker dealers to reduce eyestrain which is usually caused by the glaring overhead lighting that is normally characteristic of many poker rooms in casinos.

Yes, some casinos allow the poker dealers to keep all of the tips that they get from the players at the tables they are dealing.

The main difference between dealers and croupiers is the fact that dealers are usually found in card games such as poker while croupiers deal handle roulette games.

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They come from all over the country and even overseas. Hundreds of men and women flood into the Rio every day, not to play in a tournament and to dream of winning a big score, but to work. They are the backbone of the WSOP. They are, of course, the dealers.

How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips 2019

However, in a stressful time such as the World Series — where millions of dollars are on the line over the course of a few hands — tempers can rise. There have been a number of altercations, both verbal and physical, at the World Series this year between players and dealers, where disgruntled players wonder about the experience of the dealers and dealers express their frustration at the maturity level of the players.

In this feature, Card Player goes behind the scenes to explore the hiring process of the dealers for the WSOP, how much they may make in a given summer, and the major issues they face at the World Series.

Hiring Process

Survival is not guaranteed at the World Series. Whether it is the stress, the work load, or the pay, many dealers quit long before the main event ever begins. Because this is a yearly trend, Harrah’s adjusts its hiring process to ensure that it has enough dealers by the time the main event arrives.

“We typically lose 15 percent to 20 percent of what we hire within the first couple of weeks of the World Series of Poker said Jack Effel, WSOP tournament director.

The hiring process begins months before the first hand is ever dealt at the WSOP. First, Harrah’s contacts all of the dealers that left in “good standing” the previous year to see if they would like to return again. Of the 720 dealers who completed the 2008 WSOP, approximately 600 returned for 2009.

“Then we went out searching for another 400,” said Effel.

Harrah’s set up an online application, looking for at least six months experience for each dealer. If they fulfilled that requirement, Harrah’s granted the applicant either a live or phone audition.

“If we had a person who works at Bellagio, we’re not going to waste their time to come down here to show off their technical skills,” said Effel. “We know they deal all the games that are played at the World Series of Poker.”

In a phone audition, dealers are quizzed specifically in their proficiency in pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud eight-or-better, and deuce-to-seven triple draw — some of the arguably more complicated games that are offered at the WSOP. Harrah’s judges their knowledge on a 0-100 scale.

“If they got below a 70 on the phone audition, it was, ‘Try again next year,’” said Effel. “If they got between 70-80, we (invited them for) a live audition. If they got above an 80, they were definitely in.”

Of the new hires, Effel says that 60 percent make it from the phone audition alone, while the other 40 percent are offered jobs after live auditions.

Payment

Poker players often wonder how much dealers make during the World Series, especially when considering tipping after a significant tournament cash.

Effel says that it’s not as much as some people think it is.

“They don’t make as much as people perceive them to make because they’re traveling from all over the country and even the world, and it’s expensive to live here,” said Effel. “It varies depending on the dealer. I’ve heard some of them make as much as $10,000 for the two months, but that’s before tax, and everything is taxed. But these guys have to pay for a place to stay, they have to feed themselves, and there are travel expenses, too.”

WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky gave the specifics when it came to dealer pay.

“Dealers get paid $6.85 an hour plus toke and tips,” said Palansky, defining ‘toke’ as the amount of money taken out of a tournament prize pool for the dealers. In any given World Series tournament, a percentage of the total entry pool is reserved for tournament staff.

For the $10,000 main event, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament, and other premiere events, tournament staff receives 1.8 percent of the total entry pool. So, since the main event garnered $64.94 million in entry money, that means that $1,168,920 — or 1.8 percent — was set aside for and to be spread out amongst the tournament staff. If one assumes that there are about 1,000 tournament staff members, and that the pay is spread equally, that means each member of the tournament staff would make approximately $1,169 in toke for the 13-day tournament.

For smaller events, the percentage taken for the tournament staff is higher. For an event such as the $1,000 Stimulus Special, 3 percent of the total entry pool is reserved for tournament staff.

This is separate from the entry fee that Harrah’s takes. For example, in the main event, Harrah’s takes an additional 4.2 percent of the total entry pool for entry fees (making up 6 percent combined rake). For the Stimulus Special, 7 percent of the total entry pool is reserved for entry fees (making up a 10 percent overall rake).

Of course, dealers don’t work a normal 9-5 workday. They get paid based on the number of “downs” they complete, otherwise known as a 30-minute shift in the dealer box.

Lisa Spencer*, a third-year WSOP dealer, says that dealers make approximately $20 a down in a tournament, while acknowledging that they can make more in a cash game. Still, she said it pales in comparison to what she’s used to.

“The money’s not worth it. It gets worse and worse every year,” said Spencer, who has dealt an underground game in Texas for nearly 20 years. She says she only deals at the World Series so that if the Lone Star State ever does legalize and regulate poker, her experience at the WSOP will give her a step up. “Unless you live here, it’s not financially worth it for most of us, anymore.”

While Spencer says that this will likely be her last year at the World Series, other dealers such as Adam Wilson* say that while there are some problems, it is worth the occasional headache.

“It pays to be a dealer. I like what I do. For me, this isn’t work,” said Wilson, who is employed by a local Las Vegas casino as a dealer during the year. This is his fourth summer he has spent with the World Series. “This is going to pay for my vacation.”

However, he admits that there are times when he struggles putting up with the players.
Dealing with the Players

How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips 2019

Wilson has served in the U.S. military for 11 years, completing two combat tours. He’s experienced the horrors of war, as he and his comrades fought for a common purpose. And he’s swallowed his share of pain, as he carried away the body bags of men and women who didn’t make it out of a firefight.

So, forgive him when he gets a little frustrated when players can’t remain respectful and courteous when he’s dealing a poker game at the World Series.

“It’s not all of them, it’s just some of them,” said Wilson. “Listen, I’ve seen the worst in life. Just relax. It’s only a game.”

Abuse from players is one of the major issues dealers cite when asked about their lives at the World Series. Most of the time it comes verbally, when a player makes a disparaging remark after a bad beat. But there have been at a few reported cases of actual physical altercations at the 2009 WSOP.

“Why on earth would you ever touch the dealer?” asked Spencer. “One dealer had his hand broken by the player. A female dealer had a bottle of water thrown at her because of a bad beat. We call this ‘adult daycare’ for a reason.”
The World Series and the Rio has given penalties and even banned players from the casino for a certain amount of time for some of the incidents. Some of the dealers, however, wish they would do more.

“The floor (supervisor) isn’t necessarily protecting dealers the way that he should,” said Spencer. “We’re treated like red-headed stepchildren.”

Wilson said that it’s almost as if players forget that they’re human beings sometimes.

How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips For Beginners

“We have kids, we’re married, we have moms and dads. We’re going to make mistakes,” said Wilson. “Just treat us with courtesy.”

Of course, it’s not as if every poker player acts immaturely. Wilson describes the problem players as “knuckleheads” and makes sure to clarify that there are a lot of respectful players out there. Clearly a fan of the game, he points out Mike Matusow and Phil Ivey as two pros he “had the privilege of dealing to.”

“It was cool; they talk to you and they are respectful,” said Wilson. “It’s not so much the big-name pros who are the problem, it’s the wannabe pros who think they’re pros or who are friends of the pros.”

As the main event rages on to form the newest November Nine, Wilson just hopes that players remember that dealers are just trying to make it to the next day, just like them.

*Names of the dealers have been changed at their request, for fear of consequences for talking to the media.

How Much Do Poker Dealers Make In Tips For A