Those Admirable Dealers

I love dining out at nice restaurants. And I am not talking entirely about the taste of the food.

Naturally you want a restaurant where the food is exquisite. Where one's taste buds are caressed by the quality of what you are eating and you can feel the extra effort the chef took in preparing it.

But let's say your dinner is served to you by a waiter or waitress who doesn't smile. The waiter doesn't gently set your plate down in front of you. It's more or less a slam-dunk, Michael Jordan smile.

When that happens, regardless of how good the food tastes, I somehow lose my appetite and the evening is ruined.

The same thing happens when you are playing poker at a table where the dealer is rude or uncaring.

A bad dealer can destroy the enjoyment of the game. And when I am being dealt cards by such a dealer, I penalize him by withholding tips until that person is gone.

But for every bad dealer, there are four or five good dealers who can enhance your enjoyment of the game by the way they treat you and the other players.

A good example is Willard. That isn't his real name -- he prefers to remain anonymous. I like the name Willard because I knew a person by that name who was above average in the way he treats people.

Willard is a mild-mannered dealer at the BestBet Casino in Jacksonville, FL. He appears to be in his late 50s or early 60s and I have never seen him without a smile.

Indeed, when Willard takes his seat, the mood of the players at the table changes. Even if they have been losing, they smile and start chatting with him. Willard is a people person.

I commented about the way he treats the players. There were only the two of us, so I wasn't embarrassing him by my personal remarks. I asked him what he had done before he became a dealer.

'I worked in retail,' he said. 'I loved my work because I enjoy inter-relating with people. About seven years ago I went to work at this casino and I can tell you frankly that this is the best job in the world.

'Even when a person is losing, I try to ease his pain by the way I treat him. In poker there are losers as well as winners. I want everybody to feel good about life and poker, and so I go out of my way to treat them well.'

Did you ever lose your temper at a poker table, I ask.

He smiled. 'One time. Only once. It had been a long day and I was tired and looking forward to heading for home. One of the players had been giving everybody a hard time and I guess I snapped. I said some things to him that I won't repeat.

'That night after I got home, I felt awful. The next day I waited until he showed up and I apologized to him. It was a sincere apology, and he accepted it. To me, there's never an excuse for losing your temper at a poker table.'

Willard, you are one of the best.

Author: Geno Lawrenzi Jr.

(Geno Lawrenzi Jr. is an international journalist, magazine author and ghostwriter and poker player who lives in Phoenx, AZ. He has published 2,000 articles in 50 magazines and 125 newspapers. If you want to share a gambling story or book idea with him, send an email to glawrenzi@gmail.com ).