Tourney Two Decks or One (1 Viewer)

[riotouslevity]

Depends, is it a tourney game? Cash game? Are you tipping?

That said, $15-$20/hr is pretty standard for a dealer for a tournament (at least here in Denver).

For a cash game, you need to be prepared to negotiate things like tips, etc. If you can guarantee fair tipping, you could potentially negotiate $5-$10/hr plus tips, or no hourly pay and tips only.

Learn from my mistakes... I had a dealer for a $1/$2 game I hosted last year. We paid him $10/hr with tips on top. At the end of the night he had almost $100 in his tip cup, on TOP of his hourly rate. For 5-6 hours, that worked out to about $25-$30/hour, which was excessive. Needless to say, this rubbed some of my guys the wrong way.

So, if I were to do a $1/$2 game again with a paid dealer, I'd argue for tips only, given that my crew tips well. If you're hiring a qualified dealer for a .25/.50 game, you may need to offer a small hourly wage plus tips.

Makes a lot of sense. Thanks. We may try that.

 

[Trihonda]

I agree with you. Two decks is definitely better than one. No doubt. But comparing a second deck's impact on the game to chips is a big reach.

Dunno... two decks is generally 50% more hands/hour... vs one deck (self dealt game).

Do the maff

Avg hand takes maybe two-ish minutes in NLHE. Avg shuffle in a self dealt game, where ppl shuffle the spots off the cards, is around one minute to collect cards, square and shuffle them. Sad. It's like a 1/3 of the time is spend shuffling. With two decks, you start dealing almost the second the last hand is complete.

 

[MattinIdaho]

2

Now for some fun ask folks if they shuffle ahead or behind...

2 decks, shuffle ahead.

 

[trever]

Thanks for the responses. Reason I posted the poll was our local Knights of Columbus Tourneys still use one deck and it drives me crazy. Three of the four guys in charge of it don't play cards regularly and are resistant to change it to the two deck system. I'm going to show them the overwhelmingly one sided results of this poll and hopefully show them the light.

Good luck with that!
(meant both sincerely and sarcastically)

 

[rjbf65]

Good luck with that!
(meant both sincerely and sarcastically)

We actually just had the tourney last weekend. I didn't go because I caught the flu that day. It was terrible.

Anyways, they did change it to not allow rebuys and started players with a bigger starting stack. This was actually very popular with the players. There were 68 players compared to 42 the last couple times. So that was a positive. Negative was they still used one deck. I'm going to keep working on them though.

 

[Trihonda]

What surprises me is that were two people who voted for one deck...

 

[Jambine]

We usually have 2 if there are 8-10 players. Problem is that not everyone really knows how to deal (or even shuffle).
Solution: the four people seated in the middle of the table will deal all night. One orbit each with the player next to them doing the shuffling.

........no, if you can't deal you don't get to sit in the middle

 

[rjbf65]

We usually have 2 if there are 8-10 players. Problem is that not everyone really knows how to deal (or even shuffle).
Solution: the four people seated in the middle of the table will deal all night. One orbit each with the player next to them doing the shuffling.

........no, if you can't deal you don't get to sit in the middle

Sometimes we will have a player or two that doesnt shuffle or deal well. Literally have hands that don't work very well for whatever reason. I try and generally most others will help out with shuffling and dealing for those people when needed.

Then there are those players who are just lazy about it or do it wrong. Ex.. dealing the whole board face down immediately after the down cards. Or mixing up how they deal the board, as in the river card going opposite of the turn card. Or throwing the flop out in the messiest way possible. Makes me want to yell "take some damn pride in your dealing people!"

 

[BGinGA]

There is a right way to do it, and then all of the other ways to do it. Make 'em do it right.

 

[Poker Zombie]

When we started playing, I would say the majority of my players couldn't deal - or shuffle at all. There were a lot of pauses as cards exploded, a joke about making it easier to shuffle if I offered them "a bucket and a stick", and pitching cards required full attention as they would slide to anyone but the intended target.

Like BG said, "Make 'em do it right".

I gave no seating preference based off dealing skill. It's your turn to deal and were all waiting. We're patient. We're friends. You will learn. Unless you have a medical condition (one player has pretty bad MS, so he gets a pass, because he won't get better), there is no excuse for not shuffling/dealing when it's to you.

If you cannot learn how to shuffle or deal, you have no buisness risking money in a game as complex as poker.

 

[MC_CPA]

Howdy friends I couldn't find a better thread to post in, this seems to be the best place to ask.

If a table uses two decks, is there supposed to be two cut cards (one for each deck), or a single cut card that is shared?

 

[jamesjkim]

Howdy friends I couldn't find a better thread to post in, this seems to be the best place to ask.

If a table uses two decks, is there supposed to be two cut cards (one for each deck), or a single cut card that is shared?

Easier if you have two cut cards.

 

[mdt11]

Easier if you have two cut cards.

I've found the opposite - one shared cut card ensures that it doesn't accidentally get shuffled into one of the decks if someone is always making sure it's being used.

To each their own, though. It's ultimately up to the host's and players' preference.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Howdy friends I couldn't find a better thread to post in, this seems to be the best place to ask.

If a table uses two decks, is there supposed to be two cut cards (one for each deck), or a single cut card that is shared?

We use two cut cards, and shuffle behind.

If you finish shuffling and the player/dealer is still in the hand, the cut card is place on the top of the shuffled deck, at a 90° angle to the deck. This seems a little "procedural", but it accomplishes the following...

• prevents dealers who set the stub down when playing from accidentally grabbing the wrong deck
• lets the player/dealer know the deck has been shuffled and is ready to be cut to the next dealer
• the cut card is easier to lift off the deck to initiate the cut using the (proper) one-handed cut.

 

[springbox]

I've found one cut card works better for us. When we used two one would get shuffled into a deck semi-frequently.

 

[Poker Zombie]

I've found the opposite - one shared cut card ensures that it doesn't accidentally get shuffled into one of the decks if someone is always making sure it's being used.

To each their own, though. It's ultimately up to the host's and players' preference.

Good cut cards like the aluminum ones from @Potsie1 , or a thick plastic cut card avoids the accidental shuffling.

Well, doesn't prevent it, but it is caught before the first riffle.

 

[TheBigTater]

 

[rrobyrrroby]

2 deck, 1 poker and 1 bridge size to avoid mixing them together.

 

[codehdn]

I think two decks is the right way for a self dealt game. Make sure the decks are different colors, red/blue gold/purple, etc. The button deals the cards and the small blind shuffles the cards to be dealt the next hand when they are the button. Just keep passing it around the table. I've seen some games where someone will bust out and offer to deal to pick up some tips but haven't seen that too often. I also just like dealing and shuffling as it gives me something to do while waiting on a hand or while thinking about the hand I'm in. Cut cards, ideally only one and that should be being used on the active deck. When the dealing is finished pass the cut card to the left and the deck 2 over to the left to be shuffled. former SB now current button then cuts and the next hand is going.

 

[Deucekies]

I'll be the dissenting vote.

In my game, we tried using two decks. We had to stop because people kept picking up the wrong deck to deal the community. After this happened a third time in one game, we decided to go with just one deck.

 

[ef28]

In the home tournaments I play we always have two decks going. The player behind the dealer is always dealing for the next hand. Once the action is done the previous dealer cuts for the new dealer.

 

[TankingRowlet]

2 decks for sure, hands get played so much quicker.
I'd even go as far as 2 Shuffletechs...