For so many people, we have our hobbies on one side and our professional career on the other side. Too often, it can be difficult to find enough free time to dedicate to those activities that truly give us pleasure. There are other individuals, however, that manage to make a living doing what they love. Managing to turn their hobbies into a lucrative activity that is both financially and emotionally rewarding.
People who love gambling may see a casino dealer as the greatest job in the world, getting to play the games they already love, but this time from the other side of the table. You may not get to keep any winnings, but you do get paid right? What’s more, being around the table for so many hours a week means you’ll be adding a plethora of tips and game strategies to your repertoire.
But being a casino dealer has a lot more to it than what meets the eye. It can be a lot more challenging than it may appear, and perhaps a little less glamorous. What exactly do casino dealers need in order to do their job well?
For starters, dealers have to do a lot of math, mostly addition, all in their heads. With the hands in games like blackjack and baccarat, some dealers estimate that they perform up to thousands of addition problems an hour, and we’re only talking about the card games!
Another skill dealers need is manual dexterity. An expert casino dealer may be serving up an average of 100 hands an hour for a blackjack game. It’s not uncommon to see some dealers who suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive strain injuries.
Like in a sport, dealers have to double as umpires, constantly administering the rules of each game. But they’re not just doing this from the sidelines. They have to be engaging, entertaining players and keeping them at the table. While they don’t need to be the world’s best comedian, a big part of their job comes from interacting with players and making sure their experience is a positive one. Many people are regulars at casinos, and just like you may have your favorite waiter at your local restaurant, if you’re good at your job there will undoubtedly be gamblers who walk in looking to play at your table and nobody else.
And to be a casino dealer, you’re going to need to obtain your gaming license, which can be somewhat difficult to obtain. There are dealer schools run often by community colleges, or by the casino itself. Student casino dealers will learn not only the rules and procedures of the casino games, but also local laws and regulations as well.
There are many personality traits needed to learn the art of being a casino dealer. Casinos are filled with people from all walks of life, and customers are not always going to be the easiest to deal with. You need to be friendly, but also know how to politely handle customers that cross the line.
Physically, you are going to need to be able to spend most of each shift standing. Although casino dealers often get a 20 minute break every hour and 20 minutes, your body is going to need to be able to withstand being on its feet for extended periods of time throughout the course of years. Dealers can also work at live tables in online casino games, which means working way past the midnight hour.
Like any other career, being a casino dealer has its pros and cons, as well as its set of necessary skills in order to truly excel at the job. And just like learning how to gamble, people interested in getting this job are going to need to receive the proper training and learn the ropes before dealing their first deck of cards.