I generally follow. Pots 150 and below, $1. 500+, just depends how I'm feeling and how the night has been, usually $4-$5. Traveling poker dealers used to make great money a decade ago, but there are too many dealers that want that job and the pay has gone down tremendously. Also, the people that run the 'circuit' events like the WSOP and similar events can be shady at best. There have been many events where proceeds from the dealer tip pools were simply stolen.

1. How Much Do Poker Dealers Make Reddit Online
2. How Much Do Poker Dealers Make Reddit Money
3. How Much Do Poker Dealers Make Reddit Sites

They come from all over the country and even overseas. Hundreds of men and women flood into the Rio every day, not to play in a tournament and to dream of winning a big score, but to work. They are the backbone of the WSOP. They are, of course, the dealers.

However, in a stressful time such as the World Series — where millions of dollars are on the line over the course of a few hands — tempers can rise. There have been a number of altercations, both verbal and physical, at the World Series this year between players and dealers, where disgruntled players wonder about the experience of the dealers and dealers express their frustration at the maturity level of the players.

In this feature, Card Player goes behind the scenes to explore the hiring process of the dealers for the WSOP, how much they may make in a given summer, and the major issues they face at the World Series.

Hiring Process

Survival is not guaranteed at the World Series. Whether it is the stress, the work load, or the pay, many dealers quit long before the main event ever begins. Because this is a yearly trend, Harrah’s adjusts its hiring process to ensure that it has enough dealers by the time the main event arrives.

“We typically lose 15 percent to 20 percent of what we hire within the first couple of weeks of the World Series of Poker said Jack Effel, WSOP tournament director.

The hiring process begins months before the first hand is ever dealt at the WSOP. First, Harrah’s contacts all of the dealers that left in “good standing” the previous year to see if they would like to return again. Of the 720 dealers who completed the 2008 WSOP, approximately 600 returned for 2009.

“Then we went out searching for another 400,” said Effel.

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Harrah’s set up an online application, looking for at least six months experience for each dealer. If they fulfilled that requirement, Harrah’s granted the applicant either a live or phone audition.

“If we had a person who works at Bellagio, we’re not going to waste their time to come down here to show off their technical skills,” said Effel. “We know they deal all the games that are played at the World Series of Poker.”

In a phone audition, dealers are quizzed specifically in their proficiency in pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud eight-or-better, and deuce-to-seven triple draw — some of the arguably more complicated games that are offered at the WSOP. Harrah’s judges their knowledge on a 0-100 scale.

“If they got below a 70 on the phone audition, it was, ‘Try again next year,’” said Effel. “If they got between 70-80, we (invited them for) a live audition. If they got above an 80, they were definitely in.”

Of the new hires, Effel says that 60 percent make it from the phone audition alone, while the other 40 percent are offered jobs after live auditions.

Payment

Poker players often wonder how much dealers make during the World Series, especially when considering tipping after a significant tournament cash.

Effel says that it’s not as much as some people think it is.

“They don’t make as much as people perceive them to make because they’re traveling from all over the country and even the world, and it’s expensive to live here,” said Effel. “It varies depending on the dealer. I’ve heard some of them make as much as $10,000 for the two months, but that’s before tax, and everything is taxed. But these guys have to pay for a place to stay, they have to feed themselves, and there are travel expenses, too.”

WSOP Communications Director Seth Palansky gave the specifics when it came to dealer pay.

“Dealers get paid $6.85 an hour plus toke and tips,” said Palansky, defining ‘toke’ as the amount of money taken out of a tournament prize pool for the dealers. In any given World Series tournament, a percentage of the total entry pool is reserved for tournament staff.

For the $10,000 main event, the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. tournament, and other premiere events, tournament staff receives 1.8 percent of the total entry pool. So, since the main event garnered $64.94 million in entry money, that means that $1,168,920 — or 1.8 percent — was set aside for and to be spread out amongst the tournament staff. If one assumes that there are about 1,000 tournament staff members, and that the pay is spread equally, that means each member of the tournament staff would make approximately $1,169 in toke for the 13-day tournament.

For smaller events, the percentage taken for the tournament staff is higher. For an event such as the $1,000 Stimulus Special, 3 percent of the total entry pool is reserved for tournament staff.

This is separate from the entry fee that Harrah’s takes. For example, in the main event, Harrah’s takes an additional 4.2 percent of the total entry pool for entry fees (making up 6 percent combined rake). For the Stimulus Special, 7 percent of the total entry pool is reserved for entry fees (making up a 10 percent overall rake).

Of course, dealers don’t work a normal 9-5 workday. They get paid based on the number of “downs” they complete, otherwise known as a 30-minute shift in the dealer box.

Lisa Spencer*, a third-year WSOP dealer, says that dealers make approximately $20 a down in a tournament, while acknowledging that they can make more in a cash game. Still, she said it pales in comparison to what she’s used to.

“The money’s not worth it. It gets worse and worse every year,” said Spencer, who has dealt an underground game in Texas for nearly 20 years. She says she only deals at the World Series so that if the Lone Star State ever does legalize and regulate poker, her experience at the WSOP will give her a step up. “Unless you live here, it’s not financially worth it for most of us, anymore.”

While Spencer says that this will likely be her last year at the World Series, other dealers such as Adam Wilson* say that while there are some problems, it is worth the occasional headache.

“It pays to be a dealer. I like what I do. For me, this isn’t work,” said Wilson, who is employed by a local Las Vegas casino as a dealer during the year. This is his fourth summer he has spent with the World Series. “This is going to pay for my vacation.”

However, he admits that there are times when he struggles putting up with the players.
Dealing with the Players

Wilson has served in the U.S. military for 11 years, completing two combat tours. He’s experienced the horrors of war, as he and his comrades fought for a common purpose. And he’s swallowed his share of pain, as he carried away the body bags of men and women who didn’t make it out of a firefight.

So, forgive him when he gets a little frustrated when players can’t remain respectful and courteous when he’s dealing a poker game at the World Series.

“It’s not all of them, it’s just some of them,” said Wilson. “Listen, I’ve seen the worst in life. Just relax. It’s only a game.”

Abuse from players is one of the major issues dealers cite when asked about their lives at the World Series. Most of the time it comes verbally, when a player makes a disparaging remark after a bad beat. But there have been at a few reported cases of actual physical altercations at the 2009 WSOP.

“Why on earth would you ever touch the dealer?” asked Spencer. “One dealer had his hand broken by the player. A female dealer had a bottle of water thrown at her because of a bad beat. We call this ‘adult daycare’ for a reason.”
The World Series and the Rio has given penalties and even banned players from the casino for a certain amount of time for some of the incidents. Some of the dealers, however, wish they would do more.

“The floor (supervisor) isn’t necessarily protecting dealers the way that he should,” said Spencer. “We’re treated like red-headed stepchildren.”

Wilson said that it’s almost as if players forget that they’re human beings sometimes.

“We have kids, we’re married, we have moms and dads. We’re going to make mistakes,” said Wilson. “Just treat us with courtesy.”

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Of course, it’s not as if every poker player acts immaturely. Wilson describes the problem players as “knuckleheads” and makes sure to clarify that there are a lot of respectful players out there. Clearly a fan of the game, he points out Mike Matusow and Phil Ivey as two pros he “had the privilege of dealing to.”

“It was cool; they talk to you and they are respectful,” said Wilson. “It’s not so much the big-name pros who are the problem, it’s the wannabe pros who think they’re pros or who are friends of the pros.”

As the main event rages on to form the newest November Nine, Wilson just hopes that players remember that dealers are just trying to make it to the next day, just like them.

*Names of the dealers have been changed at their request, for fear of consequences for talking to the media.

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Average Poker Players Yearly Income

Depending on what stakes they play, professional poker players can make as little as $10,000 a year up to $1,000,000 or even more.

We’ve gotten some real numbers from real pros in Florida and found that a semi-top tier live poker pro playing $5/10 NLHE can make $100,000-$250,000 a year. If you go down a rung to $2/5 NLHE, that number dips a bit, but not too much. Players at that level can average $70 an hour while players at $5/10NLHE can average $100 an hour.

Cash games give players a steadier and more predictable hourly rate, but professional tournament players go through big swings throughout the year. Some professional tournament players can go months without a big score and then have one year-saving tournament win.

How much pros make depends on how much work they’re willing to put in. That’s one of the similarities poker shares with sports betting. The more work you put into your game, the more successful you’ll be in your poker career. There will always be ups and downs, but a strong foundation will help boost the highs and mitigate the lows. Many pros often set goals for themselves. If you want to make $20,000 a month, you should frame your stakes and play style to achieve it. Don’t make it a frantic goal though, always make sure to employ proper bankroll management and always be careful when taking shots outside your bankroll.

How Much Do Professional Poker Players Make?

Top professional poker players can easily make over $5,000,000 per year playing poker. Only a handful of players are capable of pulling off results like these though. These players know the math better than anyone, they’re feared at the tables and read any situation exceptionally well. Players at this level include Daniel Negreanu, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius and Phil Ivey. But even these players have tremendous swings throughout their careers. It’s hard to calculate exactly how much these players win since you have to factor in the buy-ins, stakes, swaps and other bets they make throughout the year.

Dan Bilzerian says he won $54 million off a single player and Bryn Kenney famously became the highest-earning player in history after having a phenomenal 2019. Kenney scored multiple seven-figure wins that year and won a whopping $30.3 million in a single year. He now tops the charts with $56.4 million in live tournament earnings.

While their results can vary, there’s no doubt that these guys are some of the best players in the world and have gotten there by working incredibly hard. Very few players can make it to this level and there are struggles, hard times and tons of trial-and-error on the way to the top.

Things are getting tougher too. In poker, you make money when your opponents make mistakes. There’s more poker knowledge and coaching than ever before and games are harder than they were just a few years ago. If you really want to reach the top tier these days, you’re going to have to work harder than ever.

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Bankroll Management & Yearly Income

No matter what stage you’re in your poker career, responsible bankroll management is essential. Effectively managing your poker bankroll will determine your success as a player and allow you to efficiently rise the ranks in the poker world. Bankroll management can be tough even for some of the top players. It’s easy to get bored and then get carried away at higher stakes while risking too much of your bankroll.

If you stick to proper bankroll management you can blossom from an average to a good player, and maybe even a great player. Soon enough you could be one of those players on television scooping up huge pots at the href=”https://uspokersites.us/wsop/”>World Series of Poker. Like all great things, that takes time and you have to put in the hours and master the game.

Stay in the Driver’s Seat, Don’t Get Complacent

Good players can make tons of money, but they can also lose tons of money. If you play games beyond your bankroll, you extend beyond your safe zone. There’s really no limit to the kinds of games you can find out there. So no matter how much money you have, you can always outspend your means. Even if you win a big tournament for $100,000 or more, you can go broke fairly quickly if you play beyond your means.

The difference between a consistent pro and a one-hit-wonder is bankroll management while establishing a solid reputation.Some players end up getting sponsored by major sites to play in big poker tournaments. These deals are becoming rarer as the years go on though.

Most good poker player’s yearly incomes could easily exceed $50,000. It might even approach $100,000 or more. If you’re a disciplined player who’s studied the game, you should be a favorite to win, whether you play poker tournaments, cash games, or sit and go’s.

The biggest part of poker is to be consistent while adjusting to your opponents. If your poker table is aggressive, play passive. If your poker table is passive, then play aggressively. Good players understand that doing the opposite of what your opponents want is a good strategy.

Money is Just a Way to Keep Count

There are lots of ups and downs in poker. That’s why you should focus on your long term growth and profit over short term results. Big wins or losses early on could be misleading. You could be playing perfect poker, but a stretch of bad cards can put you in the red. This doesn’t mean you should adjust.

Keep playing solid poker, work on your skills and you’ll eventually have an upswing. Poker can be incredibly difficult some days, yet very easy others. Focus on your approach to the game. Good players know when they made the right decision, even when they lose the hand or bust out.

Game selection is also important, but it requires a balance. It’s profitable to play against soft fields and weak players, but you also want to play against legit competition. This can make you a better player; iron sharpens iron. Selection is easier online than for live poker events, but you should always play the right limits. Even at the lower stakes games, there’s a lot of money to be made if you put in the hours and play solid poker.

Constant improvement is key. Even Daniel Negreanu talks about how hard it is to keep up with the next generation of poker pros. The best poker players re-evaluate themselves constantly. They analyze their failures and successes, always looking to see how they can improve. That takes an ability to self-assess with a critical, objective eye. It’s not easy, but doing that will put you ahead of the crowd.