Behind the Felt: An LA Poker Dealer Spills All

If you’ve ever spent enough time in a poker room, you know the dealer is more than just the person slinging cards. They’re the silent witness to it all—the epic wins, the brutal bad beats, and the downright weird human behavior that only seems to happen around a pile of money. Recently, a former dealer who spent a year inside LA’s Gardens Casino decided to share what it was really like. And let me tell you, it’s just as wild as you’d imagine.

First off, let's talk about the money. Ever wondered what a dealer pulls in? It’s a total rollercoaster. The dealer said they aimed for about $20 a “down” (a 30-minute dealing session). On a slow day, that might mean walking with $200-$250. On a great day? Way more. And here’s a not-so-secret secret: being a good-looking woman helps. A lot. It's just a fact of the environment.

But the money is tied directly to the players, and dealers absolutely have their favorites. Our source was refreshingly honest:

And the flip side?

It's human nature, right? If someone treats you well and throws you a buck or two, you’re on their team. If they’re a jerk, you’re mentally picturing their aces getting cracked.

Speaking of jerks, the dealer pointed to the 8-16 mixed game players as the worst tippers and generally the biggest pains. Apparently, the constant chopped pots in hi-low games make people stingy. A word of advice from the dealer's chair: don’t feel obligated to tip when you just raise and take the blinds. They get it—it’s hard enough to beat the rake.

Of course, dealing poker isn't just about raking pots and making change. It’s about managing chaos. One of the most common forms of poker-room shenanigans is the “angle shoot.” The dealer shared a classic example. A player on the button starts to slide a big stack of chips forward in a bounty game. Before the chips even cross the betting line, the next player snaps “all in.” The button player protests:

Too bad. The dealer made the call: forward motion causes action. The floor supervisor backed it up, telling the guy he could either forfeit the chips he was betting or take his business elsewhere. He paid up. It’s a harsh lesson, and one that gets debated endlessly, especially in California where there isn't always a hard-and-fast betting line painted on the felt. But as one commenter noted, if they paint one, it's there for a reason.

Then there are the moments that are just pure cinema. The dealer recalled a time when two players were on the verge of a full-blown physical fight. Security and floor staff were literally standing between them as they screamed at each other. And then, the impossible happened: their table hit the Bad Beat Jackpot. Instantly, the anger vanished. The two enemies started cheering and celebrating together. Nothing brings people together like a mountain of unexpected cash, I guess.

This led to a funny side-story from a player who used to play underage. His biggest fear was hitting a jackpot, as he’d been told an underage winner would void the whole thing. His grand plan? “I needed to go out to my car to grab my ID,” and then just bolt before the entire table murdered him. You have to appreciate the foresight.

One of the most repeated pieces of wisdom in poker is that you have no idea who’s a pro and who’s just rich. Our dealer confirmed this in the best way possible. They talked about an older guy who would shuffle into the casino wearing sweats, looking for all the world like he was homeless. That same guy would then sit down in a PLO game and buy in for $3,000 at a time.

This extends to skill, too. When asked how to spot the pros, the dealer said you just never know. There were stone-cold killers in the 2-3 games and total fish in the bigger stakes. Poker is the great equalizer that way. Even poker legends are just regulars sometimes. Someone asked if the dealer had ever seen Johnny Chan, and the answer was a casual, “Yes, he plays plo5 there almost everyday. He’s a cool dude.” Imagine sitting down and realizing you’re playing against a two-time world champ.

For all the funny stories and big pots, there’s a darker side to dealing. The verbal abuse is real, and it’s relentless. The dealer admitted the abuse in the small games was horrible and a big reason why they ultimately left the job. Players, often tilted from losing a hand, take it out on the one person who can’t fight back. They get chastised for small, honest mistakes. Or sometimes, they get yelled at for no reason at all, just because a player is miserable and needs a target.

But there’s a silver lining. The dealer gave a heartfelt shoutout to the players who stand up for them. When a player tells an “adult baby” to knock it off, it means the world.

It’s a simple act of decency that can completely change the vibe at a table and make a tough job a little more bearable.

So, what’s the takeaway from this peek behind the curtain? It's that a poker room is so much more than a game of cards. It's a theater of human emotion, a social experiment, and a place of bizarre contradictions. Next time you sit down to play, maybe take a second to appreciate the person dealing. They’ve probably got a hundred stories just like these, and they’re the calm center of the storm, one hand at a time.