sun-sentinel.com/sfl-flbdealers0620sbjun20,0,4586356.story
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Blackjack anyone? Dealers get training & ace their tests
800 new workers to debut Sunday on a variety of table games at the Hard Rock.
By Nick Sortal
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
10:49 PM EDT, June 19, 2008
They've been dealing cards day after day in the Seminole Tribe's employee orientation building, asking the questions they already know the answer to.
Eight and nine, 17. You're good?
Four and six, 10. Double down?
For three weeks, 800 new dealers, pit managers and floor supervisors have trained at a 25-table mock casino in Hollywood. They're practicing for Sunday's 6 p.m. debut of blackjack and five other table games at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
These are experienced dealers — they know the games in their sleep — but the training is to cement every little detail. Be perfect. Live up to the Hard Rock image. And make sure the players, who will spend at least $15 a hand, are happy.
"I can set all of the policies I want, but if you're a player and the interaction isn't what you expect, then you're not coming back," said Joe Giaimo, the Seminoles' regional VP of table games.
That includes always talking them through the hand, keeping players interested in the game.
Six and an eight, 14. You want a hit? Whoops, too many. Sorry.
Nine and six, 15. Hit? A six, 21. Very nice!
Anthony Mercurio, who came here from Atlantic City, politely explains why it takes three weeks to review something he's done for 28 years.
"There's little things that vary between casinos," he said, including where to place cards on the table so surveillance cameras can pick them up. "And we're getting to know each other."
Mercurio rented an apartment two blocks from Fort Lauderdale beach, and has bonded with other new staff, inviting them to dinner. But his digs are temporary: His wife and three children will move down soon.
"We wanted to come for the sunshine," he said. "Why not?"
That's what most of the dealers said, according to Giaimo.
"I was surprised at the ease in which people were willing to come here," Giaimo said. "Everyone wants to come to Florida."
The building's parking lot — 2 miles southwest of the Hard Rock — tips off how the casino assembled its staff, with auto tags from Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada and New Jersey — all casino destinations and markets the Hard Rock hopes to pull gamblers from. They also recruited from cruise ships and the Bahamas. But there's also Nova Southeastern nursing student Anya Reyngold, 31, who dealt at New York New York Hotel in Las Vegas and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
"It's like riding a bike, you don't forget," she said. The training is the most detailed she's seen, she said, especially when it came to perfecting games other than blackjack (the Hard Rock will have baccarat, mini-baccarat, Pai Gow poker, Let it Ride and three-card poker).
"At other casinos, if you hadn't dealt one of those games, you learned it on your break," she said. Not this time.
The Seminole Tribe has exclusive rights to table games in Florida, in exchange for giving the state a minimum of $100 million a year.
When the games start on Sunday, the dealers will work eight-hour shifts — one hour dealing, then a 20-minute break — and make about $6 an hour, industry experts say. Their real money comes from tips, as much as $50 an hour. Sometimes players put an extra $5 chip on the table for the dealer — if the player wins the hand, the $5 tip becomes $10.
"At a time when not many people are hiring in South Florida, we're having the economic impact of 800 people moving here, spending money in the area, renting apartments and eating at South Florida restaurants," Tribe spokesman Gary Bitner said.
The Seminoles will employ 3,650 dealers and staff when blackjack eventually comes to all seven Seminole casinos, including Coconut Creek and Hollywood, Bitner said.
Nora Andraos worked for 13 years at the Tropicana and the Borgata in Atlantic City, before moving to Wellington with her family three years ago.
She had been working in a bank, but will be a floor supervisor once again.
"I really missed seeing people have fun," she said. "When we moved down here, I didn't dream I'd be able to work in a casino again."
Nick Sortal can be reached at nsortal@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4725.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Blackjack anyone? Dealers get training & ace their tests
800 new workers to debut Sunday on a variety of table games at the Hard Rock.
By Nick Sortal
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
10:49 PM EDT, June 19, 2008
They've been dealing cards day after day in the Seminole Tribe's employee orientation building, asking the questions they already know the answer to.
Eight and nine, 17. You're good?
Four and six, 10. Double down?
For three weeks, 800 new dealers, pit managers and floor supervisors have trained at a 25-table mock casino in Hollywood. They're practicing for Sunday's 6 p.m. debut of blackjack and five other table games at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
These are experienced dealers — they know the games in their sleep — but the training is to cement every little detail. Be perfect. Live up to the Hard Rock image. And make sure the players, who will spend at least $15 a hand, are happy.
"I can set all of the policies I want, but if you're a player and the interaction isn't what you expect, then you're not coming back," said Joe Giaimo, the Seminoles' regional VP of table games.
That includes always talking them through the hand, keeping players interested in the game.
Six and an eight, 14. You want a hit? Whoops, too many. Sorry.
Nine and six, 15. Hit? A six, 21. Very nice!
Anthony Mercurio, who came here from Atlantic City, politely explains why it takes three weeks to review something he's done for 28 years.
"There's little things that vary between casinos," he said, including where to place cards on the table so surveillance cameras can pick them up. "And we're getting to know each other."
Mercurio rented an apartment two blocks from Fort Lauderdale beach, and has bonded with other new staff, inviting them to dinner. But his digs are temporary: His wife and three children will move down soon.
"We wanted to come for the sunshine," he said. "Why not?"
That's what most of the dealers said, according to Giaimo.
"I was surprised at the ease in which people were willing to come here," Giaimo said. "Everyone wants to come to Florida."
The building's parking lot — 2 miles southwest of the Hard Rock — tips off how the casino assembled its staff, with auto tags from Mississippi, Louisiana, Nevada and New Jersey — all casino destinations and markets the Hard Rock hopes to pull gamblers from. They also recruited from cruise ships and the Bahamas. But there's also Nova Southeastern nursing student Anya Reyngold, 31, who dealt at New York New York Hotel in Las Vegas and at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
"It's like riding a bike, you don't forget," she said. The training is the most detailed she's seen, she said, especially when it came to perfecting games other than blackjack (the Hard Rock will have baccarat, mini-baccarat, Pai Gow poker, Let it Ride and three-card poker).
"At other casinos, if you hadn't dealt one of those games, you learned it on your break," she said. Not this time.
The Seminole Tribe has exclusive rights to table games in Florida, in exchange for giving the state a minimum of $100 million a year.
When the games start on Sunday, the dealers will work eight-hour shifts — one hour dealing, then a 20-minute break — and make about $6 an hour, industry experts say. Their real money comes from tips, as much as $50 an hour. Sometimes players put an extra $5 chip on the table for the dealer — if the player wins the hand, the $5 tip becomes $10.
"At a time when not many people are hiring in South Florida, we're having the economic impact of 800 people moving here, spending money in the area, renting apartments and eating at South Florida restaurants," Tribe spokesman Gary Bitner said.
The Seminoles will employ 3,650 dealers and staff when blackjack eventually comes to all seven Seminole casinos, including Coconut Creek and Hollywood, Bitner said.
Nora Andraos worked for 13 years at the Tropicana and the Borgata in Atlantic City, before moving to Wellington with her family three years ago.
She had been working in a bank, but will be a floor supervisor once again.
"I really missed seeing people have fun," she said. "When we moved down here, I didn't dream I'd be able to work in a casino again."
Nick Sortal can be reached at nsortal@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4725.
