Poker Dealer - Responsibilities During A Hand

Responsibilities During A Hand

Dealers control the action during a hand. This may include prodding players to act, verbally announcing actions of players to the rest of the table, and correcting players who act out of turn.

Dealers also must manage the pot. The dealer must verify the amount of bets and raises by players, collect folded hands, maintain side pots, and read players' hands at showdown to identify the winner or winners. In games with a rake, the dealer also must keep track of the amount of money in the pot and remove the appropriate cut for the house.

At times the dealer needs to communicate with the floor, or other casino staff. Some casinos equip the dealers with a headset or walkie-talkie for this purpose, while in other casinos the dealer must shout over the ambient noise. The following table shows some common calls a dealer may make, and their meanings:

Call	Meaning
"Floor" or "Decision"	Requests the floor manager to come to resolve a dispute.
"Seat open"	Announces that a player has left the game and a seat is now available.
"Player in"	Notifies the floor or brush that a vacant seat has been filled.
"Players checks"	Requests a chip runner to retrieve chips for a player.
"Fill"	Requests a chip runner to bring chips to fill the dealer tray. This tray must be kept full of low denomination chips in a high limit game, so that change may be made in the pot so that the rake may be taken out.
"Set up"	Requests replacement decks be brought to the table.
"Pick up"	For cash games, used when an absent player's chips should be removed from the table to free the seat. Also, for single-table satellites, used to request the staff to come collect the cash entry fees from the table.
"Playover"	Alerts the floor that a new player will be playing in a seat taken by an absent player, until the absent player returns. Usually a "playover box" or some other object is used to separate the seated player's money and chips from those of the person playing over.
"Winner"	Used in single-table satellites to announce that the game has completed and the prize is to be paid.
"Brush"	Calls the floor to deal with a game participation problem, for example if a game must be broken due to insufficient players.
"Service" or "Cocktails"	Alerts the floor that a player wants a beverage and/or food.