Dealer Tokes, Foxwoods

[johnrobert]

A word about Foxwoods dealers, etiquette and tokes. Foxwoods is a great place to play, some of the best dealers in the world are there. They pool their tips because they have no choice, there are so many layers to that subject that before people spout opinions on "making the dealers complain to management" perhaps they should look into the subject. The dealers can't change it without spending thousands of their own money on lawyers to change by laws, vote, and convince the tribe and the governor to change the original state agreement... As far as rude dealers... the only rude dealers I've ever met were ones who have been verbally abused by immature patrons who want someone to take out their problems on. Dealers all over the world must develop a hard shell to be able to handle the constant stress that comes from all sides every single day. It's funny, no one comes to my repair shop and watches me fix their engine while a)telling me how to do it; b) talking about me under their breath or not so much under their breath c) demanding that I give them a nicer, better car or else... d) just being a mean sob and then expecting me to give them the best possible service for little or no money... Thank Heaven I'm not a dealer, huh? In the meantime, I can go to the bathroom when I need to, I can walk away from a rude person or uncomfortable situation when I want to, I am not being watched 24.7 by a thousand eyes and every tiny thing I do is not painfully scrutinized as if I were a freaking brain surgeon.
Something else that cracks me up about other players is the way they treat floor supervisors with so much more respect than dealers, man people are dumb. How do they think supervisors, pit bosses, and shift managers, how about casino managers, got their jobs... They are all dealers. And that dealer you abused on Tuesday could easily be the floor supervisor on Thursday.. hmm wonder why your comp. points are so low????Geez people grow the f up and treat the casino employees that serve you in your favorite pasttime, that provide you with a place to play live games, with decency and respect. And quit ruining my game with your bitching. Thank you and good night~~

[Toro]

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They pool their tips because they have no choice, there are so many layers to that subject that before people spout opinions on "making the dealers complain to management" perhaps they should look into the subject. The dealers can't change it without spending thousands of their own money on lawyers to change by laws, vote, and convince the tribe and the governor to change the original state agreement..

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I think you're wrong about this. When I emailed Kathy Raymond(Poker Room Manager) about changing the tip policy so they all keep their own tips she told me that management would actually prefer this but they put it a vote and the dealers voted to continue to pool them.

[midas]

John-

In all my play at FW in lower limit games 2-4, 4-8, 5-10 - I have never witnessed any verbal abuse from a player directed at a dealer. I have been at tables where the abuse was player to player but never player to dealer.

Most of the player to dealer interaction at FW has been from the players to make sure the dealer is running the game properly - such as:

-Knowing how much goes into a side pot
-Identifying the winning hand
-Procedures for exposed cards
-Procedures for missed blinds

In my opinion, tip pooling does not provide the proper incentives for dealers to improve their skills. I have only identified about ten dealers at FW who have the speed(hands per hour) and control of the games similar to their Las Vegas or CA counterparts who pool their tips.

[Cohiba Al]

Mind you, it was put to a vote to ALL dealers, blackjack craps and everthing else. The poker room dealers almost unanimously (everyone I've asked, basically) would prefer to keep personal tokes instead of pooled tokes.

[DrSavage]

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Foxwoods is a great place to play, some of the best dealers in the world are there.


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Foxwoods has some good dealers but the majority sucks really bad. This weekend I've split a pot with some guy and the dealer tried to push the pot his way. I explain to her that the pot is split and why. She nods, mucks my hand and pushes pot to him anyway.

[Toro]

Didn't know that. Have more respect for them now.

[TomCollins]

How did she muck your hand? You let go of it before the chips hit? There is the mistake. NEVER LET GO until the dealers give you the chips.

[Gator]

I don't think that pooling tips is against state law. When Mohegan had a poker room, those dealers pooled their tips.

[Lurshy]

I think mistated what you meant. Mohegan Sun dealers Kept thier own tokes, weren't pooled in the poker room or shared with the casino floor.

[MrPoker]

On a business trip, I played several sessions at Foxwoods in late November, coincidentally when the WPT tourny was going on.

I thought the majority of the dealing staff I encountered during my low limit sessions in the evening - graveyard give true professional poker dealers a bad name. Perhaps the 'good' dealers were held out for the tournies.

Productivity is terrible. Low numbers of hands/hour simply because the dealers are not motivated by tokes. They make the same money if they deal 12 hands /hour or if they deal 38 h/ hour.

I did find the staff to be friendly and helpful enough.

IMHO, Foxwood's management is asleep or deceased on this issue.

The quality of their dealers, and the rooms overall revenue would skyrocket if dealer's kept their own tokes.