A lot of dealers are players. The general rule of thumb is that a playing dealer is a better dealer because they know what it’s like to sit on the other side of the table and understand the game and read hands much faster and accurately than a non-playing dealer.

Some poker rooms are non-playing rooms…none of the room employees can play there. Other rooms are playing rooms and there are good reasons for both. The upside is a playing dealer will help fill games when the room is quiet. The downside is a playing dealer may get out of line and end up running players out of the game.

Upon occasion a player has a little tiz when a playing dealer check raises them and/or beats them in a hand. Their thought traces this thread: I tip them when they deal to me. I’m never tipping them again. I’m a customer, why are they trying to beat me. They have a huge advantage over me since they know how everyone plays.

Other players love to see playing dealers in their game. Some of them state that their dream game is nine white shirts and an open seat. Dealers are touted to be the worst players in the world. They see so much ram and jam action, and bad hands and bad play winning the pots, that they believe they are going to sit right down and run over the game. Even back up and run over it again.

A few players that end up busted go to work as dealers. They usually become/are playing dealers just doing temporary time until they get back on their feet and can QUIT!

While it’s true that a lot of playing dealers play poorly, it’s also true that a lot of them are very good players with great people skills and card sense and are attributes to any game.

It’s quite startling to see Attila the Hun seated in a $4-$8 Holdem game in a player’s chair, chips in hand, and a jacket over a white shirt with a name tag peeking out that reads ‘Allegra’. Yes, Attila is a poker dealer named Allegra.

Attila does everything that’s a taboo in poker etiquette and attitude.

· She flashes her hand to players on each side of her, even if they have cards, because she wants them to know she raised with A-K and the Flop was 9-4-2.

· She tells a player – in a multi-way action pot – what she has and ruins every one else’s action.

· She folds an hour before the action gets to her when she’s taken a beat.

· She stomps away with the comment, “I’m taking a walk,” after she tells the dealer, “You’re killing me.”

· She keeps a list of dealers that she will stiff and even tells them that they are on her list. There were five on it a few months ago, who knows how many now?

· When a dealer walks up to her table, that she didn’t win with on her last play, she says, “Stay away. I don’t want to play while you deal.”

· She speaks four or five different languages and talks to players in the game that are involved in the hand, in a foreign language.

· She rolls her eyes and flashes her cards, then folds.

The truly amazing part of it is that she sits in the seat that takes the heat when she’s not on the EO/Play list. She hates to put up with players that have any kind of negative attitude and she’s especially resentful of a ‘stiff’ as she calls them. Her behavior is even worse than that of a bad tempered player because she knows better. When she loses, she always mentions it to the dealer/s that dealt to her, as if trying to make them mourn her losses.

People sometimes ask to transfer to the game she’s in by stating they want to move to Allegra’s game, not the Table Number of the game. Forgot to mention that she plays any two, from any position, for any amount…Woo Hoo!

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This post is done by Chanzes – during the time period that I took a break from posting in the Diary.