How to create a "Dealer training course"?

[Luca P.]

Hello everybody,
I would like to create a dealer training course.
I thought to organize it like this:

-6 days of training, 3 hours per day;
-training is FREE;
-number of entrants: 10;
-first day: discussion on the poker industry here in italy, legal issues and so on; discussion of TDA rules and house rules;
-second day: practice with cards and chips (fast counting, shuffling, dealing)
-third day: practice on how to deal according to "dealer procedures" section in the house rules (shuffling method, dealing method and so on);
-fourth day: practice on how to handle particular situations (when and how to call the floor, how to interact with people);
-fifth day: practice on a simulated tournament
-sixth day: practice on a simulated tournament

What do you think should be the program?
I mean, which aspects should be taken in consideration?
I really need some suggestions guys

[Nick C]

Linker,
I have been training poker dealers for a long time and I think your 6 day timeframe is not long enough. If you are pressed for time and need 10 dealers by next week, then I guess you will have to make the best of it. My live classes were 5 hours a day 4 days a week, for 5 weeks for 100 hours of classroom training. This would also require quite a bit of homework. The proper shuffle procedures, mastering the mechanics of the pitch, coupled with all of the knowledge neccessary to control the action at any table will be difficult to accomplish in 6 days.
 Your players must understand that the dealers for your tournament will be very green (inexperienced). If the expectations are not too high, 6 hours of training might be enough to make it work for you. Are you going to train the dealers?  

[Luca P.]

yes of course I'm gonna train dealers, but I've never done a course before. So you are suggesting me to extend the period from 6 days (which I realized it's not enough) to something more than two weeks?
Are two weeks good at least to understand and get used to some dealing procedures?

[K-Lo]

Hi Linker:

I wish I could speak Italian, or I'd fly over and help you out!   

If you are looking for a starting point of what to cover though, I believe that there is a section at the back of the book "The Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook" that outlines the elements of a proposed 100 hour dealer training course.  Some of it needs updating (it's quite an old book), and you can probably add material applicable to your specific venue, but it's not a bad place to start actually to get a basic idea of what should be covered.

I agree with Nick that 6 sessions of a few hours each will not be enough to go through everything, particularly for casino dealer training.  Although, for grassroots applications (e.g. clubs, bar leagues, party dealers, etc.), a condensed version of about 5-6 hours with opportunities for practice is probably good enough, but that's a whole different situation altogether.

[Spence]

Just finished a course today. I did 2 weeks, 5 days per week, 4 hour lessons and had 8 in my class. They are all floor ready. 40 hours is the minimum in my mind to have your dealers be capable of doing anything on thier own. Pitching, side pots, and posting rules took the most time. I would focus on those.
We did the first week as mostly lecture and application then used the second week primarily for getting comfortable putting everything together.
The last course I ran was 3 hours per day and I always felt that the moment we were really getting into the days work it was over. It would be my preference that the class would be similair to school. 8 hours a day. 5 days per week. As nick says if you want the quality to show they really need time.

[Nick C]

Linker,
 The book that is mentioned by K-Lo is excellent. I have one problem with the way they want you to pitch cards but, everything else is great. There's another nice book that covers dealer training, too. "The Complete Poker Room" by Chuck Ferry. I've used the book for referrence for just about everything you'd ever need to know about running a successful poker room. I also like that Mr Ferry specifically lets you know that any part of the book may be copied and reproduced for educational purposes, so you don't have to worry about any copywright infringments. Both books do however indicate that about 100 hours is required to complete a poker dealing course.

[K-Lo]

Nick: what do you think about the writing in the PPD handbook, overall?  Some of the sections, like that written description of how to pitch cards is very difficult to follow - I doubt anyone would could learn from it without a prior demo, and even with that, it describes it a bit strangely (e.g. Extending your middle finger until it touches the felt, I think it says... - I can't even picture that... Is the dealer lying down?) lol

[Nick C]

K-Lo,
 I can't tell you how good it is to hear your response about the method described for pitching cards in "the Professional Poker Dealer's Handbook" I can't believe that a book that is otherwise filled with a wealth of knowledge for every dealer, could tell dealers to extend their middle finger while pitching down cards, until it touches the table! It's preposterous! It is a direct cause of carpal tunnel syndrome. Last year I made an attempt to contact the authors. The method is wrong, please do not attempt to pitch cards the way it is described in this book. That's exactly what I was referring to on my earlier comment. If you want to learn the proper technique for pitching cards contact me and I'll show you.

[Luca P.]

what do you mean when you say "pitch cards"?
I tried to google it but it returns me as a card game

[chet]

Linker:  "Pitching Cards" is the physical act of taking the top card off the deck and "pitching", throwing or dealing the card to the individual player.  In Holdem, the only cards that are involved in act of "pitching" are the first two hole cards dealt to each player (assuming there are no exposed cards that need to be replaced).

I believe you may not be familiar with this term as I have seen (on the TV) that many casinos outside the US where the dealer doesn't "pitch" or throw the cards but instead slides the card off the deck and to the individual player.

Chet

[Nick C]

Linker,
 Chet is correct. If you do not "pitch" cards in your cardroom the man to talk to is Stuart Murray. I'm sure he will be able to give you some good advice on the mechanics involved. I've learned that many jurisdictions outside of the USA have far different dealer procedures than the ones I'm familiar with. If you want to learn the way it's supposed to be done in the USA I'll be happy to help.