Becoming a casino dealer in Las Vegas

Want to deal blackjack or poker in Las Vegas? Hope you have some money, time and a quick ability to learn new tasks. And before we begin, you need a clean criminal record, since casinos are wary of who they trust. No casino will hire anyone with a criminal record.

First, to deal table games in a Vegas casino, you must attend a casino games school. Casinos nowadays are big money entertainment businesses that pride themselves on top-notch presentation. The best only hire experienced, capable personnel. Casinos these days will not hire a dealer unless that dealer has experience dealing the game in question.

A typical dealer school charges several hundred dollars for a class on any table game (typically around $300). For every game you wish to deal, whether blackjack, poker or baccarat, you have to pay for, take and pass a class for that game. Most dealers study blackjack, as that is the easiest path to breaking into the business. Every casino deals blackjack, so the demand for those dealers is greater.

However, note that if you want to deal poker, this requires a completely separate line of training. Poker dealers only deal poker, so don't take a blackjack class hoping to someday deal Texas Hold'Em at the Venetian. If you want to deal Texas Hold'Em, go to school to become a poker dealer, and only a poker dealer.

Likewise, don't go to poker school hoping to transition into dealing roulette at Caesar's Palace. Go to school for blackjack, work your way into dealing table games and train for roulette once you're in.

Playing these games may be easy, but learning to deal them is difficult. A dealer must have a sharp attention to detail, must maintain an accurate memory of all the game's rules, including its most obscure. A dealer is also a table game's direct manager, keeping the game running quickly and smoothly while helping create a pleasant, enjoyable atmosphere for the players, as well as answering player questions and handling disputes correctly, in as brisk and courteous a manner as possible. Not everyone has the patience, memory and discipline to run a game smoothly. Skills you lack need to get developed before you apply for your first job, or you won't have a prayer of making it.

Typically, once a student completes their education, the best bet is to break in by getting hired to work for a small casino. Many of these casinos are the only place a brand new dealer can work, since only a handful of these casinos openly accept new dealers. A dealer in Nevada also must get a gaming card, which the casino will help a new dealer procure once hired, though the process costs about $100 and the card must be renewed every five years.

Breaking in with a small casino can be rough. Dealers make their money from tips: they typically earn minimum wage as base pay. These small, relatively unpopular casinos get less business than the major casinos. A new dealer, as the bottom end of the totem pole, will also get the least desirable shifts and tables. They will see fewer tips, smaller tips at that, and may get sent home more, because such a casino will see more slower business days.

Poker dealers have it even rougher: while the tips are better per hour, there are fewer opportunities since, while a casino may have a lot of blackjack tables, they may have a poker room with only 3-4 poker tables, and in many cases they only have enough players to actively use one of them. A casino may only need a handful of poker dealers, with few to no openings for new dealers in most cases. And when there are tryouts for openings, competition is tough, as experienced dealers on the market also compete for those roles.

Like any career, a newcomer must pay his/her dues on the bottom rungs to earn enough respect to move up. The key as a new dealer is to maintain a positive attitude, put in good work every day and show your bosses that you deserve a better break.

As a dealer gains experience, they can apply for and move up to bigger casinos, where the pay, business and tips are better. These bigger casinos, however, look for years of experience from applicants. So you may need to toil for years before you get a break. The big houses also want versatile dealers who can deal several games. This gives the bosses scheduling flexibility and better helps them meet player demand.

You need to continue your training as you gain experience. In the case of table game and blackjack dealers, the selection is wide. Some card games like Three Card Poker and Let It Ride generally don't require another class: once on the job, a supervisor or another dealer typically can teach you these games in minutes. But for more complex games, you will need to return to school. It behooves a new dealer to return to school and learn other high-demand games like craps and roulette. The more games you can competently and comfortably deal, the more likely a bigger casino will hire you and the more shifts they will give you, meaning more money and tip opportunities for you.

For poker dealers, there may be no need to learn anything other than Texas Hold'Em, since that is the only game that most casinos deal. But the biggest houses do offer other games for their players, so you would definitely want to return to school to learn games like Omaha, Seven Card Stud and maybe even draw games like Badugi and 2-7 Triple Draw (especially if you have ambitions of working at the Bellagio). Some casinos offer these alternate games as a selling point, and will expect any dealer they hire to know them. Add these games to your repertoire, and you will add value to your services as a worker.

Dealing may sound like an appealing career in Las Vegas, but it only looks glamorous: it's as tough a road as any career. It requires an education, requires years of paying your dues, requires continuing education and skill development and a lot of hard work.