Why Game Knowledge and Table Protection Directly Impact a Dealer’s Income

The last 8 steps were centered on customer service and how to treat the guest. Now we’re going to concentrate more on dealing procedures and other various topics. We’ll start with step number 9, Knowledge of the Product.

Our product is dealing casino table games and the most important; number 1 rule when it comes to dealing, is Game Security. Table Protection should always be at the forefront of our minds, and everything we do should center on protecting the game because that is the most important aspect of your job. Customer service comes second to that.

Game protection not only includes protecting the bank, but it also means that you have good solid knowledge of the rules of the game. You might be asking yourself, well how does this make me more tokes? Well, a good example of how game protection can provide dealers with more tokes is hands per hour. If dealers followed game security and worked on their table protection, then one of the things that would happen is that your hands per hour would go up. If you deal more hands per hour then that means you’ll get more tokes per hour, hence a raise.

Like I said before, good Game Protection means having a good, solid knowledge of the game; dealers should know the rules of the game better than the players do. If the dealer is weak on the game, if they haven’t dealt it in a long time, or if they jump on a game they don’t know cause, hey, it’s a good way to learn. Right? Wrong. This is awful for game security and the only thing that will happen is you’ll make a lot of mistakes or you’ll give the players the opportunity they need to take advantage of you. And when players want to take advantage of you, they can think up some pretty creative ways of doing it. Some of the less creative ways is, they would lie about the rules of the game, they would try to convince the dealer that they actually won a bet when they didn’t, and when the dealer makes a mistake in the players favor, they’d take the money without a second thought.

“Responding with a Sense of Urgency is the Ante to Play” which means, don’t fake it until you make it. Not when it comes to dealing table games. If you want to deal a game, then make sure you learn the game right now instead of waiting until they put you on the table. You can learn a game, as soon as your next work day. On your break, instead of going to the break room, go to the game you want to learn and sit there and learn it. Keep doing this until you know the game and would feel comfortable dealing it alone.

Not only should dealers have extensive knowledge of the games they deal, but they should also be knowledgeable about the property that they work at. It’s always good to be able to provide help to the guests. If you don’t know anything about your property, then how can you answer a customer when they come to you with a question? Every dealer is responsible for knowing about the property. You should be able to respond to normal questions such as the location of shops, bathrooms, certain pits, elevators, exits and the cage. Not only is it good to know the location of everything, but it’s good for the dealer to know what activities are going on at the casino. Is there a concert or an event going on? Players often ask about show times and other event information. If the player asks you something you don’t know the answer too, then call over your floorman and ask him.