I went to a dealer school over 20 years ago so I can offer a little help.
1. It all depends on the game/s you want to learn. Blackjack is the easiest game to teach and the lease expensive. Craps is harder and cost you more. I was told, if you become a good craps dealer, you'll never go hungry. The speed in which you learn the game will dictate how much you've played the game in the past. If you can afford the craps classes, take them.
2. I went to a school to learn blackjack. It cost me $650. It was worth every penny. There was only 7 of us in the class. I had paid my money for the school before I knew they had a school at the boat I was hired at. Here was the difference. What they learned in a week at the boat, I learned in a day at the school. A lot more one on one training. Also, they want the word of mouth going. If you know anyone looking into the profession, you'll tell them about their school.
3. That's a craps shoot. Tips depend on the person you're dealing to. You might get some guy that you're killing and he's still betting for you. Another guy, you might as well be handing him the keys to Fort Knox and you won't get a nickle. Poker dealers, I understand usually get a buck or two from the winners of each hand. Nothing is carved in stone here.
4. How fast you get out of the school depends on how fast you learn the game. Practice at home is key here. I practiced about an hour or two everyday at home. When we did our "Final Exam" and we dealt to the class we were graded on 15 areas of the game. On my certificate, I had excellent marked in every area with an extra check mark in ten of them. He told his wife that was a pit boss on another area boat in the area that he's never seen anyone that learned the game so fast in 12 years of teaching. It did help that I played blackjack for 12 hour a day when I was going to Vegas five times a year before I took the class.
5. They want you to have a certificate to prove to them that you really want the job. If you spend your money to learn the game, they know you have "skin in the game", and won't waste their time teaching you the way they want the game dealt. No two casinos/pit bosses want the game dealt the exact same way. The basics are the same every where, but each place has their little quirks that you have to learn.
6. The schools will teach you EVERYTHING!!!! How to count money. How to cut checks. How to shuffle cards. How to deal the cards. Which hands to use to do each thing. Everything is based on game security. They want you do things in a way that you don't block the pit bosses view of the game, or worse, the cameras view. If you really want to know why, go watch the movie "Casino". Near the beginning, when he first arrives in Vegas, he notices a "sloppy" craps dealer. The guy kind of semi-tosses the player his winnings. He show the guy the proper way to pay the bets. The bottom check is slightly offset from the rest of the stack. This is done so the bosses and the camera can see that you're not slipping a $100 cheque on the bottom of the stack and covering it up with other cheques. DiNiro then goes on to tell how everyone in the casino is always trying to cheat the casino. Like I said, watch the movie. I can't remember exactly what he says, but it's spot on.
7. Depends on how much work you put into it. See #4
8. see #5
9. Blackjack is easy, craps and poker are the hardest.
10. In a word. yes. Grind joints/ break in houses the low end. High end places, the high end. I went on a really good run at Slot-O-Fun one night and tipped the girl over $100. When I cashed out, the pit boss told me that I tipped her more in an hour and a half than she earned all last week. It all depends on who you're dealing to and how the cards/dice are running.
11. See #10
To sum things up, I really enjoyed my time dealing. I dealt craps for 17 years. It was fun about 85% of the time. When the boat first opened, you saw players toss around $100 bills like confetti. As the years went by, you saw them cry if they lost a $5 bet. There were about 5 or 6 players that I know of that committed suicide. Some went to jail because the stole to feed their habit. You do see a lot of bad shit along the way. Another thing you have to be able to deal with is some of your bosses "holier that thou" attitude. NEVER ARGUE WITH THEM. You won't win that battle. If you do something that you know is wrong that they tell you to do and you pulled into the office because of it, all you have to say is "he/she told me to do it". The the manager will go to them and handle it. You have to "respect the suit". Do exactly what they say when they say it. You may know the guy is a moron, but he's still the boss.
I hope I didn't scare you out of doing this. Like I said, a great majority of the time, I had fun at work. Since I was a player before I started dealing, it was an eye opener to stand on the ohter side of the table. Good luck
Ray
