Prior to moving to Las Vegas in 1981, I had played poker in some of the card clubs in Gardenia, California and in some home games. Even though I always lost when I played, I still had a love of the game so it was only natural that I would find myself spending more and more time in the card rooms of Las Vegas.
I became friendly with Johnny, one of the poker dealers at “The Treasury” Casino. He suggested that since I liked playing poker so much that I go to Poker Dealing School and learn how to become a poker dealer. It sounded like a great idea to me so I checked out the poker schools and found the Denny Walker’s Academy of Dealing. In June of 1982, I enrolled at the school and started taking classes. Since I had been playing poker for quite awhile my learning curve was small. I was ready to start dealing within a month. Johnny suggested that I talk with Russ Bennett at the Maxim to see if he had any dealer openings. Russ told me at the time that there was a freeze on hiring but he would be willing to give me a call if they got busy if I was willing to come in and deal for tokes (tips) only. I was thrilled. The calls started coming and I started dealing. I loved it. I was so happy to be dealing poker that I would have done it for free. It was like I got to play every hand. When you deal, you actually play out every hand in your head. I would guess what hand the players held and the more I dealt the more I got it right. When the hiring freeze was over I was hired as a full time poker dealer.
I started on the graveyard shift which is where most new dealers start. I didn’t care. I was just happy to be dealing for a living. I was dealing both seven card stud and texas hold ‘em. I eventually moved to swing shift where it was busier and the money was better. I dealt at the Maxim until 1985 when they closed the poker room. I took a break for a few months and spent some of that time dealing tournaments in various casinos. In 1986, I went to work in the poker room at the Landmark. I only stayed there until 1987 when the poker room at the Las Vegas Hilton opened. During my time in the Hilton poker room, I also had an opportunity to take some time off and work on several Poker Cruises that cruised to various ports in the Caribbean. Life was great. In 1989, I decided to make a move to Los Angeles. Before I made my move, I had the opportunity to deal the 1989 World Series of Poker.
When I arrived in Los Angeles I immediately went to the Bicycle Club and got a job dealing poker there. I worked at the Bike until 1992.
Back then, poker was not as glamorous or popular as it is today. It was a small community where the dealers and players all knew each other. To this day I can hardly walk into a poker room and not recognize someone from my dealing days.
