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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.

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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

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.

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“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.

“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.

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

They take a rate(a portion of each pot)...Like at a 3/6 table they will rate $3 from every pot...progressively as the pot grows..for a max of $3 once the pot gets over $20..but different poker rooms have different rules as to how much the rack is and how it is progressively pulled out as the pot grows..

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A $3 rake will be more common in Las Vegas; outside of competitive markets for poker (i.e. Vegas, California), the rake is usually at LEAST $4 (i.e. Missouri), but most places now in the Midwest are up to $5, with the highest being $6 in Detroit. That's the max rake, with 10% taken out if the pot is less than 40, 50 or 60 dollars respectively.
The other practice that gets me at some casinos is the rake before a flop. This is by law in West Virginia.. what I mean is, say a player raises to $10, and another player raises to $40, the initial raiser goes all in to $200, causing the other to fold. The pot has 3+1+10+40=$54 before seeing a flop.. in WV and Hollywood Casino in IN they rake $5 + $1 for the bad beat on that!!! And you didn't even see a flop.

On the flip side you need to keep those tables full...and you need 15 or so dealers to service 10 tables..that's why a lot of casinos pay prop players to play so games doesn't break down..

I have never heard of prop players in use in any Midwest casinos. I know the casinos in Tunica used to do that, but I think even that's been limited.

Most poker rooms lose money off poker tournaments that's why they are so fast..like $25 buy in $3 entry fee with 20 min rounds. and are over in about 2 hours or less..becasue the blinds get so high so fast...they are just there to draw players in..in hopes they stick around for the 'live' game after they get busted out OR take their winnings to the 'live' game..or to another table game or slots...

This is also no longer true in the Midwest. Casinos actually make a TON of money on tournaments now. Reason being, they bump the fees up to a ridiculous amount. Most tournaments here have a $10 fee for anything less than $100 buy-in, and up to $25 for more than that. Caesars properties has made an art of bilking the player for money in tournament fees. They have tournaments where players get paid less than 60% of what the true buy-in (fees + buy-ins) are.
Part of it is a public relations thing, but casinos around here can't open a poker room fast enough if they don't have one. Unfortunately, some 'markets' have one or two big dogs, and the smaller ones can't be profitable. The competition goes away for a while, then the big dogs get greedy. Players demand that the smaller casinos reopen their rooms, and the competition comes back, albeit not as good as before they left.

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I'm not at all familiar with poker rooms or poker room operations but I have seen some ads for poker room prizes that start at a certain amount and climb. I assumed that starting amount was casino seed money and that the escalation was from a rake. As I understand it some of those bad beat jackpots grow to such figures that alot of players keep playing in the hopes that they will be there to qualify for a share of some jackpot distribution.

You're probably talking about Bad Beat jackpots. Because BOTH hands must have pocket pairs for quads, or use both cards for a SF, and the minimum hand is typically quads, the jackpot sometimes doesn't hit for months and can grow quite large.
Typically, the casino takes an extra $1 out of any pot over $20. Only hands where the pot is at least $20 qualify. At the end of the day, those dollars are added to the current jackpot prize.
That prize is typically divided as: Of the total prize posted, 50% goes to the 'loser' of the bad beat. 25% to the winner. 25% divided amongst the other players at the table. Some casinos divide the remainder amoung all players in the room. The four Caesars properties in AC are linked so that the remainder is divided amoung all players in all 4 rooms.
Note that the prize posted is only 80% of the total collected. 20% held in reserve to reseed the Bad Beat.
When a casino initially introduces the bad beat jackpot, they will fund it with about $20,000. While that's their own money, they are not really being generous. A small portion of the daily contribution is taken to repay the casino for the initial seed, until repaid. If the 20% in reserve be below that threshold, the casino will top it off, and again take a small portion.
Some casinos have a different type of jackpot. Mohegan Sun in CT does a High Hand every 4 hours. For 3 hours, they take $1 out of pots of over $20, and record and announce the highest qualifying hand. During the 4th hour, they empty the buckets, count the chips and award the prize. The qualifier announcements generally starts as 'quad __ with __ kicker.' Before it's done, the qualifier is usual 'SF __ high', and is often escalates to a Royal. Ties split the pot.
Last Christmas morning, with very few players in the room, and about 45 minutes to go, I qualified with quad sixes. Because there were so few players, I had high hopes. But with about 5 minutes remaining, I got beat. Sigh.

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On the original subject, the casino takes, usually, 10% of the pot, for a maximum of, typically, $4. Some take $5. Some take as little as $3. If you read my review of Royal Caribbean Cruise, they take a maximum of $15. On the cruise, more than once we heard the phrase, 'Don't like it? Go to the casino next door.'

I've never played in one so I may be missing an obvious facet of playing Texas Hold'em, but where does the casino make money for hosting players for hours on end? Drink service? Entry fee? House commission?

In Ohio, we don't have casinos (yet, they are on the horizon). However, there is a law that allows card rooms to exist as clubs. In these cases, the 'house' charges a membership fee and then a 'daily use fee.' These are a bit higher on the front end, but then they don't rake the pot. (Most clubs are now taking a $1 or $2 out for a bad beat jackpot/jackpot hand scenario.) There were a couple clubs that did actually rake, instead of charging a fee, but that's illegal, and I think those operations get shut down by other card room owners trying to skim the competition.
It's a lot less seedy than it sounds. They are usually in strip malls near 'games of skill' slot parlors or internet cafes, although a few exist in nicer venues. These are legit games, and if you play a lot, it's much cheaper in the long run than having a rake taken out. There are three or four 'big' clubs that usually have at least 3 games going, then a bunch of medium sized clubs that have one or two sometimes going on. The places pop up for a while then disappear without any warning (except for the big ones; they have loyal followings and are usually the best run anyways).
The other caveat is that dealers are not considered employees, but rather volunteers. The players cannot pay them in actual money, so you buy 'chocolate chips' which are brown $1 chips to be cashed by employees only. Some clubs have put those on the table for the dealer to convert, while others require you buy them at the cage. The only club employees then are security and managers, limiting overhead.

On the original subject, the casino takes, usually, 10% of the pot, for a maximum of, typically, $4. Some take $5. Some take as little as $3. If you read my review of Royal Caribbean Cruise, they take a maximum of $15. On the cruise, more than once we heard the phrase, 'Don't like it? Go to the casino next door.'

I'm not a cruise person so I didn't read that particular article, sorry..
I'm guessing you had to file a police report after getting off the cruise if you were playing poker.. that's an open and shut case of RAPE!!

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On the cruise, more than once we heard the phrase, 'Don't like it? Go to the casino next door.'

I should point out that the phrase was jokingly said by a player, not the staff.

I'm not a cruise person so I didn't read that particular article, sorry..

I understand completely. For what it's worth, I'm 52, and this was my first cruise. Before I sailed, I didn't think I was a cruise person either. Now I'm anxious to go again.
For what it's worth, I went into detail about the ship's casino in this post.

For what it's worth, I went into detail about the ship's casino in this post.

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Actually in the meantime, I did find your review of the poker room on the cruise thread. I find it hysterical that they used an empty BJ table for poker. I'm guessing the rakes REALLY got screwed up on that table, as the dealer probably wasn't thinking that far ahead.
Depending on how it was dealt, I probably would have turned over an A-Face immediately, expecting to get paid 3:2.

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I've never played in one so I may be missing an obvious facet of playing Texas Hold'em, but where does the casino make money for hosting players for hours on end? Drink service? Entry fee? House commission?

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Out of 251 casinos in Nevada last year that made a minimum of $1 million in gaming revenue for the year all of them had slots, 155 had pit games, 99 had race and/or sports betting, and 94 had poker.
For smaller casinos poker only collects enough money from the rake to pay for the cost of the poker room and the dealers. The casino is hoping that these players will stick around and play more profitable games. Sometimes friends accompany the poker player and play slots or pit games. So it is basically a loss leader.
Poker brings in 1.6% of the total gaming revenue for NV, sports brings in 1.4%, and race book brings in 0.7%. So in general you can probably refer to them collectively as means to attract people into the casinos. There are some exceptions, casinos that do make a bigger profit on poker.