WSOP: Who's going to deal the cards?
15th July, 2008
When the World Series of Poker comes up every year and takes the nation and the world by storm everyone's focused on the money, the players, the chips, but nobody ever thinks about the dealer.
The pressure is surely mounted on the players vying for their poker immortality in the biggest tournament in poker, in addition to winning millions for first place, but the ones dealing the cards must feel at least some of that pressure – with the entire game relying on the dealer’s nerves and their ability to handle the TV cameras, lights, director and nine loud-mouth poker players, all while maintaining control of the game.
“It’s always a little nerve-wracking when you know that so many people are watching and you’re the one with the cards in your hands,” said Jenna Phillips, one of the dealers on Day 7 of the WSOP Main Event. “But this is why you’re doing what you’re doing. This is what it’s all about. So in addition to being nervous, I’m also very excited to be here and to be doing this. I see it as an honour.”
The WSOP pulled out all the stops by bringing in the “Magnificent Six,” six of the best dealers in the world, to deal the rest of the tournament’s action once the Main Event was down to just 27 players.
“We’ve had a lot of tremendous dealers during this year’s World Series,” said Jack Effel, WSOP tournament director. “But these six are the ones who can really handle the cameras and handle being prompted by a TV director, all while having good game control and remaining calm the whole time. It’s not as easy as it looks.”
Many of these dealers have been dealing cards all their lives and resort to instincts in situations like this because thinking too much can sometimes be a negative. There’s a lot of money on the line, though, and nobody wants to be the one to screw things up.
“Usually, I’m not nervous at all,” said Jennifer Schmidt, a dealer at the Main Event. “But you always think in the back of your mind that you don’t want to do something stupid and make a mistake that could cost someone $9 million. That’s just an amount of money I can’t even fathom.”
The tournament that started with 2,844 players is now down to the final nine and play is suspended until November, when it will be aired on ESPN.
By Michael
