5 Dealer Errors That Annoy Poker Players

Whether it's at a private game in someone's home, or on the floor of a multi-billion dollar Vegas casino, there are a number of poker dealer mistakes that even seasoned pro dealers make that really irritate players. Everyone has their pet hatreds, and as someone who plays poker in a semi-professional capacity, these are mine.

Behold the list of horror. Learn from it, hopefully.

#5 Forgetting to call out the number of players

This one isn't really a big deal, which is why it clocks in at 5, but it's good etiquette for a poker dealer to call out the number of players still in a hand when dealing the flop, turn and river. At bigger tables, it saves players craning their heads around to see how many people they're up against.

#4 Overly fancy dealing tricks

Yes, it looks wonderful when a dealer can casually send cards flying effortlessly over the felt and make their decks ripple and stuff, but one tiny screw up means a player's hand lands in front of them face up, and the whole round needs to be re-dealt. Unless dealers are dark kung fu masters incapable of failure, fancy tricks should be avoided.

#3 Forgetting to burn a card

It's simple: before dealing the flop, the turn or the river, the dealer must burn a card. It's not like they don't know this stuff. I respect that running a game properly and well is a discipline and an art form, but it's also not rocket science.

There is a reason why the top card gets burned. Depending on the technique used, even a very experienced dealer may accidentally partially lift the edge of the card below the one going out. An eagle eyed poker player can often spot this, which can give them an edge.

#2 Losing track of table direction

This is criminal. The table moves in a particular direction, along with the dealer button, but once a bunch of people have folded out, some dealers make the mistake of changing deal direction when it's just down to a handful of players.

Changing direction mid-hand can have a profound impact on what should have happened card-wise: imagine your opponent receiving an ace that should have come to you. This is one of the few situations where I will instantly call a floor manager.

#1 Hygiene

No, seriously. Think about it for a second. If your entire job is to face people in close proximity for hours on end, flipping out cards and calling the flops, the last thing you need is for your players to turn green because you're breathing last night's roast garlic directly at them.

I've had to leave a table before – and my fellow players came with me – because we couldn't handle the stench that came rolling in waves every time the dealer opened his mouth. This is rookie stuff that's so obvious that it isn't even in most professional training manuals.

If you do a client facing job, you don't eat garlic, onions or jerky. Ever. Not even over weekends.