AUTHOR: Jerry "Jet" Whittaker
TITLE: America's love of poker opens doors for more dealers
DATE: 9:22 AM
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BODY:
<p class="mobile-post">Kenny Rogers' famous song isn't about poker dealers. If it were, he might
have preached "know your arithmetic" after knowing when to hold 'em and fold
'em.
Which leaves Tabitha Reed to explain life on the other side of the
green-felt table. "There's a lot more to dealing than you'd think sitting on
the other side of the table," said Reed, 30, who has been working as a poker
dealer at Santa Ana Star Casino near Bernalillo for a year. "It's very
nerve-racking when you sit at the table with other people's real money."
Poker seems to be everywhere. People play online. It's become a staple of
sports TV broadcasting. Even the big networks are jumping in on the action
now that NBC debuted its six-day-a-week "Poker After Dark" program on New
Year's Day. The game's presence locally is also expanding. Santa Ana Star's
poker room - which employs 17 dealers - has jumped from five tables to nine
in the past two years. The casino plans to expand to 12 or 14 tables within
the year, said Edie Suniga, the casino's poker manager. Sandia Resort &amp;
Casino, which claims it has the state's largest poker room, employs 58 poker
dealers at 15 tables, said Julie Stump, the poker room's day-shift
supervisor. Sandia officials said an announcement is expected soon on
expansion plans that could increase its poker offerings. Both changes could
mean more work for local poker dealers. More than just well-dressed card
flippers, the work of a poker dealer combines a complex mix of managing the
pace of the game and constantly tabulating each game's pot - all while
maintaining an amenable personality.
"It's a tough job for one person to do it, but that's what they do," said
Stump, of Sandia Casino. "They have to control the game and keep the game
moving."</p>
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