Poker Dealers

To start playing Poker, all players must understand the rules and procedures of Poker. Knowing the basics of Poker ensures smooth game play. More than that, a clear understanding of the roles of each person at the Poker table is also necessary.

The Poker dealer is a very important person in the game - important in the sense that a Poker dealer sees to it that the whole game follows the rules and, at the same time, observe that everybody at the Poker table follows the rules.

Poker dealers start the Poker game by dealing the cards from the deck. An important question to ask is: "Who deals first in a Poker game?"

In most casinos, there is always an employed professional dealer at the table. They are responsible in keeping the Poker game's fairness and integrity intact.

In the absence of a professional Poker dealer, the dealer is determined by cutting the deck of cards on the Poker table. The Poker player with the lowest card automatically becomes the dealer. If two people draw the same low card, the cut will occur again.

The dealer button, sometimes called the 'buck", is used in most casinos, to indicate who has the status of a dealer during each hand. Since a professional Poker dealer will be distributing the cards, the button moves one place to the left after each hand to make it clear who receives the first card, and who will make the first bet. This is where the phrase "passing the buck" came from. This is the act of passing the dealer button clockwise around the Poker table as the game goes on.

The deck of cards should always be shuffled by the dealer before each round starts. Poker dealers must be cautious not to show the cards. When the dealer is done, the deck of cards are cut by the participant to the dealer's right hand.

Poker players cut the deck of cards by simply picking up a portion of the deck, and placing it so that the bottom portion can be placed on top of it.

Once the deck of cards is cut, the dealer makes sure that the players put the required bet in the pot. This is called the "Ante". Antes are required minimum starting wagers. This is usually a pre-determined amount, so it is advised among Poker players to ask about betting procedures before starting the game.

The cards are distributed by the Poker dealer starting to their left. Card distribution follows a clockwise rotation. Poker dealers stop distributing the cards once all Poker players at the table get the required number of cards. The number of cards varies depending on the type of Poker variation being played. Now let the game begin!