Best Craps Dealer
If you’re interested in casino games and enjoy the excitement of spending time in a live casino, you might be interested in becoming a Craps dealer. Being a Craps dealer requires more than just overseeing a Craps table and collecting bets. As a Craps dealer, you’ll have memorize the wide variety of Craps bets as well as their pay ratios, quickly calculate payouts, and carefully watch for cheaters. Due to the complexity of Craps, most prospective Craps dealers attend a 12 week course, as opposed to a 4 week course for poker dealers.
Requirements, Costs, and Offerings of Craps Dealer Schools
- Craps Odds, Craps Betting Strategy, Online Craps, Dice Influencing, and more - learn it all to beat the casino.
- Craps For Serious Craps Players. We built Craps Trainer Pro for one reason: to make you the very best craps player you can be. Well, and maybe to have a little fun too As a mathematician and computer nerd I used to think there was no way to win at craps. The house, after all, has the edge in their favor.
Training to become a Craps Dealer is considerably more expensive compared to learning how to deal other casino games, with the cost of tuition usually falling around $2,000 for a full course. The best Craps Dealer schools usually offer excellent job placement services and financial aide, as well as tuition assistance. Many schools offer flexible class hours, with identical classes being held in both the morning and evening.
Why Learn Craps at CEG Dealer School? 1) At CEG you will learn Craps from the best in the business! Our instructors are all current and past dealers with experience at the Wynn, Caesars Palace, Cosmopolitan, Aria and Bellagio. 2) At CEG you will learn Craps on - 2 - full size Craps Tables and 1 practice table.
In Nevada and New Jersey, enrollees in Craps Dealer schools must be at least 21 years of age by the time of their expected graduation date, as casino employees must be 21 years old in order to legally work.
More About Dealers
Craps Dealer School Environments
Instead of utilizing a classroom environment, most of the best Craps Dealer schools create the atmosphere of real casino. This allows students to understand what it will be like once they’re dealing Craps to actual customers in a potentially distracting and volatile environment. These Craps Dealer schools use authentic chips, tables, and other real casino equipment. Lighting is realistic and close to that of a casino, and noise is often added to a more authentic simulation. In the later stages of the Craps Dealer training, the instructors will often act as particularly abrasive customers in order to test the dealer’s ability to deal with a difficult situation.
Locations of Brick-and-Mortar Craps Dealer Schools
The states with the largest amount of Craps Dealer schools are California, Florida, Nevada, and Washington. However, there are Craps Dealer schools in many other states as well, including Colorado (2), Louisiana (1), Michigan (1), Mississippi, (3), New Jersey (4, all of which are near Atlantic City), New Mexico (1), and New York (1).
In California, you’ll find the California Dealer School, Casino College of Los Angeles, Casino Dealer College, Casino Dealers Academy, Casino Gaming Institute, Mt. View National Bartenders School and Casino College, National Bartenders and Casino Dealers, Quality College, San Diego Dealer School, and West Coast Dealing Academy.
In Flordia, you’ll find the Casino Career Institute, Casino Dealer’s Academy, Pinnacle Gaming, Professional Dealer and Player Schools, and Real Deal Poker Academy. Nevada has the A+ Institute of Gaming, Casino Creations, CT Dealer School, Community College of Southern Nevada, Crescent City School of Gaming and Bartending, Let’s Make a Dealer, Nick Kallos’ Casino Gaming School of Nevada, Reno Tahoe Job Training Academy, and PCI Dealer School.
In Washington, you’ll find Ace in the Hole Casino School, Pacific Casino Training Inc., Seattle Gaming Academy, and Vancouver Dealer School. Other Craps Dealer schools include Casinos Wild Inc. in Michigan, EZ Learn Casino Training in Mississippi, Casino Careers Institute in New Jersey, Casino Dealer School in New Mexico, and Niagara Gaming Academy in New York.
Example of Curriculum at Craps Dealer Schools
In addition to offering courses in Poker, Roulette, and Blackjack dealing, Casinos Wild, Inc. offers a Craps Dealer course in Michigan. This comprehensive course starts with an overview of terminology, game rules, stock and color value of cheques, and cutting, picking, and color changes of cheques. The course then moves into hands-on training related to basic and advanced betting methods, bet collection and payment procedures, calculating payoffs, dice handling and calls. Once these basics are understood, the course covers every Craps bet, including place bets, come bets, proposition bets, buy bets, and odds bets. Game security, table limits, casino variations, casino auditions, and job interviews are also covered.
The course included 120 hours of training, with eight hours per week for fifteen weeks.
Advantages of Being a Casino Craps Dealer
Being a professional Craps Dealer has plenty of advantages. First your training may be partially or completely subsidized by the casino you end up working for. Before enrolling in a Craps Dealer school, contact the casino where you plan on working. They may offer a program that will give you free admission to their preferred Craps Dealer school, so long as you complete the training. This could also increase your chances of being hired after you graduate.
Craps dealers usually have flexible working hours and are allowed holidays and medical leaves. This will vary by casino. Many college students choose to pay for their studies by working as a casino dealer due to the flexible hours.
Craps dealers are generally paid quite well, and have the opportunity to make additional money through overtime and tips. This is especially true when playing at a casino with high rollers, and even more true at a game with fast action and big wins such as craps. It’s common knowledge among casino goers that tipping the dealer is a crucial component of casino etiquette, and skilled, friendly dealers reap the rewards of generous tipping.
Many casinos include a restaurant, and it’s common for casinos to provide their employees with a free meal each day. Although this will also obviously vary by casino, it’s one of many perks enjoyed by Craps dealers.
Being a Craps dealer is also a perfect job for senior citizens who may be looking for a new experience. Casinos love to hire mature citizens who will be reliable and friendly to customers. Although the job can occasionally be stressful, the minimal physical requirements make being a Craps dealer ideal for a variety of individuals.
Attending a Craps Dealer school requires a very small financial and time commitment as compared to obtaining a college degree. For individuals with a busy life and a number of existing commitments, becoming a Craps dealer may be a perfect choice.
Every blog post and page about craps I’ve ever read talks about how exciting the game is. The word “adrenaline” is often used. The reason that this is so is because of the ability to stay in action constantly. After all, you can place a bet on every roll of the dice.
Also, when you play other casino games—like blackjack or casino war—you must bet big to win big. But at craps, you can easily sit down with just $50 and win $5000 in an hour. Try doing that at the blackjack table. Heck, you’re lucky to double your money at the blackjack table.
But craps isn’t as popular as it used to be, and that’s a shame. I know plenty of potential craps players who get intimidated by the dizzying array of bets at the table. The number of people—dealers and others—working the craps table is also scary to new players.
The game is so much easier than you probably think, though. Smart craps players skip most of the bets on the table anyway. And when you stick with the right bets, the house edge on the money you’ve got on the table is low—often under 1%.
This is the 1st in a series of posts about how to play craps. This series goes into more detail than most blog posts about the game.
Part 1 of 6
- 2 How the Craps Table Layout Works and How the Dice Work
- 3 How to Play a Craps Game in a Casino
- 4 The Best and Worst Craps Bets You Can Make
- 5 Craps Bets Ranked According to House Edge
- 6 How (and Why) to Act Like a Craps Player
And I think the best place to start when explaining craps to new players is with the casino staff at the table—the dealers and other people.
The Staff at the Craps Table
At most table games, you only have a single staff member to deal with—the dealer. You might call that person a “croupier” at the roulette table, but it’s still a single employee running the game. This is true of blackjack, roulette, and almost all other table games.
But at the craps table, you have multiple casino employees running the game.
One of the interesting things about the staff at the craps table is that some of the employees are rooting for you. That’s because they work for salary PLUS tips. If you’re winning, you’ll tip generously.
Other employees at the table are NOT rooting for you. In fact, they’re rooting against you. These employees aren’t allowed to accept “tokes” (another word for “tips”). Their purpose is to protect the casino’s money.
And you’ll find multiple people at the craps table working. This post explains who they are and what they do.
The Craps Dealers
It’s customary for a craps table to have 4 dealers, but you’ll only see 3 of these dealers at a time. 3 dealers work the table at any given time, while the other dealer is on break. These dealers move around the table and stand in different spots as time passes.
One of the dealers is always “on the stick.” The other 2 dealers stand on the opposite end of the craps table. Those dealers are “on base.”
What Does the Stickman Do?
The dealer on the stick is “the stickman.” He holds a flexible wooden stick that he uses to collect the dice used in the game. He’s also responsible for the proposition bets that are made.
What does that mean?
It means that when a player wins a proposition bet, the stickman instructs one of the “standing dealers” to pay the winnings on that bet. (The standing dealers are the ones who are on base.)
It also means that when a player loses a proposition bet, the stickman removes the losing bet from the table. He throws it to the “boxman,” usually the only seated employee at the craps table.
Here’s a quick word of advice, by the way:
Just skip the proposition bets altogether. The house edge on all these bets is ridiculously high. (I’ll explain more about the house edge later in this series of posts.)
That’s not the stickman’s only job, though. He’s also in charge of the dice. The casino keeps 6 or 8 dice in a tray in front of the stickman. Every time someone new becomes the “shooter”—the player rolling the dice—the stickman pushes the dice to that person. The shooter chooses 2 dice, and then the stickman pulls the dice back from the table and returns them to the tray.
The stickman also calls out the results of the dice rolls. In other words, he announces the total showing on the 2 dice. A good stickman usually does this in a colorful way to stimulate action at the table. If it’s the 1st roll from a new shooter, the total is often designated verbally as “the point.” (I’ll have more to say about that later, too.)
After the dice are rolled, bets are paid off and new bets are made. Once all the action is resolved, the stickman returns the dice to the shooter.
If a shooter “sevens out” or loses on her initial role, the stickman puts the dice back in the tray so that the next shooter can again choose 2 dice to roll.
The stickman is the one who gets to say all the cool stuff you associate with craps:
Best Way To Tip Craps Dealers
Before the 1st roll, he encourages the players to bet. He calls out the rolls. A lot of times, he has specific patter he uses based on what number comes up.
His goal is to get you to bet on the proposition bets in the center of the table. Those are the bets with the highest house edge.
What Do The Standing Dealers Do?
The other 2 dealers who are standing at the opposite end of the table are the standing dealers. Their purpose is to take care of the players at the craps table. When you want to exchange cash for chips, one of the standing dealers will give the case to the boxman. He counts the money and converts the cash into chips. That standing dealer then gives the chips to the player.
Be prepared if the staff asks you, “How do you want your chips?”
They want to know what denomination you’re looking for.
At most casinos, the chips come in the following denominations:
- $1
- $5
- $25
- $100
- $500
If you win a payoff of less than a dollar, the casino just uses regular coins to pay that off. The chips usually follow a standard color scheme by denomination. Dollar chips are white, $5 chips are red, $25 chips are green, $100 chips are black, and $500 chips are usually brown or gray and are sometimes oversized. These colors can vary by casino. Also, these are just the most common denominations. Chips are available at many casinos in other denominations, too.
Not only can you buy chips with cash when you get to the table, you can change denominations while you’re at the table, too. This is called “changing color.” (Chips have varying colors based on their denomination.)
Here’s something important to remember, too:
You’ll never hand cash or chips to the dealer. The dealer will never hand cash or chips to you. Money and chips are exchanged on the table in front of you to prevent collusion and cheating between dealers and players. The eye in the sky can record on video your transactions this way, but if you did an exchange from one hand to another person’s hand, all kinds of shenanigans could take place.
You Can Place Many Bets, but the Dealers Place Some Bets FOR You
One of the most important responsibilities of the dealer is placing bets for you in certain situations. When you place one of the bets that a dealer must make for you (which I’ll cover in a future blog post), you just place the chips on the green and instruct the dealer what you want to do with it. The dealer picks up the chip and places the appropriate wager for you.
The dealers also make all the payouts after the shooter rolls the dice. He puts those chips near you so that you can pick them up. But those payouts will be on the table—remember, the dealer will never hand you chips. Pay attention, too.
The dealers do this in a specific order, too. The dealers collect the money for all the losing bet first. Then the dealer pays off anyone who won because of the roll of the dice. Finally, if you won a proposition bet, the stickman instructs one of the dealers to pay you off.
You’ll see between 12 and 20 craps players at a full table. Since the standing dealers are at either end of the table, each handles half those players, or 6 to 10 players at a time. This might sound overwhelming to someone like you or me, but for a trained craps dealer, it’s a piece of cake.
If a table is really busy or the dealer is less experienced, the action might slow down. This is intentional. The staff want to work efficiently and expertly to make sure there are no mistakes or payouts to the wrong players.
But casinos are staffed by humans, and human error creeps in. For this reason, it’s up to you to keep up with the action, your bets, and what you should be paid out. Keep an eye on dealer placed bets to make sure they’re placing the right bets. Keep an eye on the dealer and make sure you get paid off if you’ve won. And don’t forget to make sure that your payouts are for the right amounts.
Another Important Role for the Dealer – The Marker Buck
The dealer is also charged with managing the “buck.” This is a 2-sided disk used to track where the game is at this point.
I’ll get into the specific gameplay details for craps in a later post, but for now, know that the game starts when the shooter makes his 1st roll of the dice. If he doesn’t win or lose immediately on that spin, a “point” is set.
The dealer puts the buck in a box next to the place numbers on the craps table. This box is labeled “Don’t Come.” The black side of the buck shows face up, indicating that the point hasn’t been set. This way, when someone new walks up to the table, she can see that the point hasn’t yet been set.
Once the point has been set (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10), the buck is turned over to its white side and placed in the numbered box corresponding to the point. This way everyone at the table knows what the point is, as do any new players who want to join the table.
The buck gets moved after a shooter makes the point or rolls a 7 (“sevens out”). It goes back to the black side and gets placed in the Don’t Come box again until a shooter establishes a new point.
What Does the Boxman Do?
The dealers are all wearing a casino uniform, but you can usually tell the boxman because he’s dressed in a shirt and tie. Sometimes he’s wearing a suit, but sometimes it’s just slacks and a sports coat—it depends on the casino.
You can also tell who the boxman is from where he’s standing. He’s located directly opposite the stickman and midway between the 2 standing dealers.
His job is to look out for the casino’s money. He’s there to prevent cheating from the players. When the action is happening at the craps table, he’s sitting down, although he might be standing up when nothing’s happening. He looks at one end of the table while the stickman looks at the other end of the table.
His main job is to make sure that payouts are handled correctly and without mistakes. He also makes sure that losing bets are collected appropriately.
The dealers are friendly with the players. Part of their role is to stimulate action by chatting them up. The boxman, on the other hand, generally stays aloof from the players. Some are friendlier than others, but their job is to run the game.
When you buy in, he counts the money and makes sure it isn’t counterfeit. He tells the dealers how many chips to give you. He puts the money into a slot in the table. That slots leads to the “drop box.” (Putting the money in the slot is called “dropping” it.)
In fact, you can bet cash at most craps tables, but your winnings will always be paid out in chips.
Also, if the players are getting too lucky, the boxman double-checks the dice to make sure they’re legit. Craps dice in a casino are specially marked. Once he’s inspected them, they go back into play.
What About the Floorman?
The area behind the craps tables is called “the pit.” Casinos with multiple craps tables usually place those tables around the pit. A supervisor stands in the pit and watches the action—he’s the floorman.
Depending on how busy the casino is, there might be multiple floormen working in the craps pit. Like the boxman, his job is to oversee the game to make sure there’s no cheating. He also watches to make sure that none of the players are stealing chips from the rails.
The floorman dresses like the boxman—in a suit and tie or in slacks and a blazer. He’s not as aloof as the boxman. If you’re applying for credit, he’s the guy who makes the decisions about extending you credit at the craps table. If you’re approved for credit, the floorman is the person who gives you the “marker” to sign. (Think of a marker as a promissory note—it’s a document where you’re promising to pay off the casino if you lose.)
The floorman is also in charge of awarding “comps” to the craps players. These are free rewards to encourage you to play more. (The more you play, the more money the casino makes in the long run.) These can include free food, lodging, and event tickets.
The more money you’re betting, the bigger the comps are. The floorman is an expert at awarding appropriate levels of comps based on the amount of “action” you’re bringing to the table. (“Action” means the amount of money you’re wagering over time.)
You might think that comps are only given to players who lose.
But casinos love to give free rooms to big winners. After all, if they’re staying at the casino’s hotel, they’re more likely to gamble more and lose that money.
Best Craps Dealers In Vegas
And It Doesn’t End There, Either – There’s Also the Pitboss
The “pitboss” is the top dog in the pit. He has the final judgment call on any disputes about what’s going on. (The boxman usually makes decisions, but he can be overruled by the floorman, who can, in turn, be overruled by the pitboss.)
Best Way To Tip Craps Dealer
And that’s the cast of characters working for the casino at the craps table:
- The dealers
- The stickman
- The boxman
- The floorman
- The pitboss
Some of them are on your side because they get paid via your tips. The others—the ones higher up in the chain of command—don’t get tips and aren’t on your side.
Conclusion
This is the 1st in my latest series of detailed posts about how to play (and win) the game of craps. If you’ve never played before, understanding who the important people are running the game is a good way to start.
Their roles will make even more sense when you read my next post about how the craps table is laid out.
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