The learning process at the croupier school. Croupier courses

Topic of today's material IQ Review- work of a croupier. We will tell you about the casino and the atmosphere of excitement that reigns there. A shift manager at one of the major gambling establishments wrote her review about working in a casino. You will find out whether it is possible to beat a casino, whether establishments often deceive players, what a typical casino client looks like, how much dealers earn and what problems they face.

My name is Mira, I currently live in Tbilisi, I was born and lived in Moscow for a long time. Relatively recently, I finished my career in a casino, the last place where I worked was the Adjara casino, one of the largest casinos in Georgia. I started working as a croupier in Moscow, worked my way up the career ladder, and for the last year I worked as a shift manager - that’s what they call the main shift manager in a casino.

Roulette in a casino

What does a shift manager do?

A shift manager is essentially the person in charge after the general manager on a certain shift. Since all casinos operate around the clock, there is a morning, afternoon and night shift manager; two and sometimes three shift managers work on the night shift, since more people visit these establishments at night. During his shift, the shift manager is responsible for absolutely everything that happens in the casino:

• work directly of the croupier and inspectors (monitoring the work of the croupier);
• security work at the entrance, in the hall;
• security camera operators.

A person “from the outside” will never become a casino manager - this work is so complex and specific. Only if you have gone through the entire chain of career ladder from a simple croupier, will you have the opportunity to manage the operation of the casino. In general, it must be said that almost all casino workers started their careers as a croupier, even camera operators and cashiers: operators must know the specifics of the game, cashiers must quickly and correctly be able to handle chips and money.

How to get a job in a casino

Education for starting work in a casino is not of great importance, but preference is still given to people with knowledge of a foreign language, since casinos are still managed mainly by foreigners. Also, much attention is paid to the ability to quickly manipulate two- and three-digit numbers in the mind; the croupier calculates everything without a calculator.

No one starts working in a casino right away; first you need to graduate from a croupier school. Personally, I was very lucky - I studied at an American school, which was taught by real professionals in Moscow. “Zero” dealers are first placed in the morning and afternoon shifts, when there are few people in the casino, because when there are many players at the gaming table, even an experienced dealer sometimes has difficulty coping with the workload. When further employment in another casino, knowledge of languages, knowledge of a large number of games is taken into account (a croupier with knowledge of American and French roulette is very valuable; roulette is generally much more difficult than card games) and recommendations from a previous place of work.

Getting a job in a casino is very difficult - there is high competition. If you graduated from croupier school and started working, you need to make every effort to work in this position for as long as possible - the management of any casino does not really like “jumpers” who do not stay long in one place. It is better to look for a place where the management is foreigners, especially good if they are British and Americans, they are considered the best professionals in this matter.

What to expect from working as a croupier

Working in a casino is, first of all, physically difficult. According to the rules, the croupier must work for 20 minutes and rest for the same amount, but this happens extremely rarely, and even then only in the morning shift. A manager can generally spend the entire shift on his feet with a couple of short breaks.

A mandatory requirement for female casino workers is classic high-heeled shoes; it is very difficult to work for 8 hours every day in such shoes.

The casino is a well-oiled mechanism, everyone works on the same wavelength: dealers deal cards/spin the roulette ball, take away lost chips or pay out winnings, an inspector at each gaming table monitors compliance with the rules, camera operators monitor players and dealers, cashiers change money chips to those who came and vice versa, and the shift manager controls everyone.

It is very important that there are no conflicts or scandals in the casino - they greatly damage the reputation of the establishment. It also happens that a cheater is spotted in a casino (there is a special international file for big cheaters), he is immediately taken out of the casino and blacklisted. Scandalists and those trying to deceive casinos will face the same fate.

The fact that those who win a large sum are then extorted money or are not paid the winnings is a fairy tale! As an employee with 15 years of experience, I can say that a casino will never harm itself - a person who wins and receives money will come to the casino many more times to try to win more and more, and as a result, most likely, will lose.

On the contrary, a successful player will receive all sorts of bonuses in the form of free visits to a restaurant/hotel; he will be treated especially attentively and warmly, counting on the “tea” that goes towards the salaries of the gaming staff.

I will dispel another myth that supposedly any casino is something like a brothel, where working girls are under the threat of harassment from players, or, on the contrary, of their own free will enter into relationships with rich players. The security service closely monitors the employees and at the slightest hint of any relationship with the players they fire them - too much money passes through the casino and there is a high risk of collusion. I can say more - if your close friend/relative comes into the casino, you must immediately inform management about this, and you may even be removed from your shift so that you do not cross paths with this person in the casino.

Salary of casino workers

Salary in a casino consists of two parts: salary and “tips” (tips). Losing to the casino does not affect the salary in any way - on the contrary, the winners leave generous tips, which are divided among all workers of the given shift. A 24-hour large casino will always “recapture” the lost money without difficulty in a short period of time; the very system of the casino operation is to take away the money, not to pay it out. It is not for nothing that, for example, on roulette, where the payout for winning a number is 1 in 35, there are 36 numbers on the wheel (that is, if they bet on all the numbers, the casino will still win).

The monthly income of a novice dealer is relatively small, it rarely exceeds $1,000; good croupiers with experience earn much more; a manager’s monthly income sometimes amounts to tens of thousands.

I started as a croupier apprentice with a salary of about 200 dollars, about the same or a little more in tips. A couple of years later, when I became an inspector, the permanent salary was 500 dollars and about 600 in tips. My last income as a shift manager was more substantial - 2,200 plus about 3,000 in tips and bonuses, but taking into account that I worked as a manager in Georgia, in Moscow I would have received 4 times more (in Moscow, casinos have been banned since 2009; in Russia, casino activities are allowed only in federal gambling zones. The heroine meant the ratio of earnings at the end of the 2000s - editor's note).

Oh yes, I forgot to say - there are also payments in casinos, called “elephants” (I don’t know why this name) - this is a bonus from winning a shift, for the dealer it’s about a dollar from every thousand won, for inspectors and managers - ten . “Elephants” are a kind of replacement for tipping, because if people lose, they don’t tip. “Elephants” are not practiced in all casinos, but often.

When I started working as a croupier, even in large casinos it was “: two amounts were given out on two sheets - for taxes and bypassing them, but this is a long time ago. Of course, working in a casino is part of your seniority, but, unfortunately, no details have yet been provided in terms of the harmfulness of this work. If other professions with a night or mixed schedule have good bonuses, casino workers are deprived of this.

If you are interested in the work of a croupier

A typical casino client - who is he?

Working in a casino is very interesting, although not easy. If you have extensive experience and also speak foreign languages, you can easily get a job in any country in the world. The casino has long been transformed from a meeting place for criminal elements into an elite club - many celebrities like to go there, nothing human is alien to them, including gambling.

A casino is usually located next door to or in the same building as a nightclub, so at night there are a lot of happy and excited people looking to have a good time (and lose some extra money). Of course, almost all visitors want to win, and the more people came, the more winners, but the game process is so exciting that often after some time people no longer know whether they are winning or losing. They are excited, and they don’t care about anything as long as they still have some money in their pocket.

Atmosphere in gambling establishments

In general, the casino has a special, exciting atmosphere: semi-darkness, light only above the tables, muffled music, the rustle of money and the clatter of chips, joyful cries after winning and tragic sobs if you lost... In some famous TV quiz they didn’t guess the question - where never clocks and windows? This is a casino! Visitors should not see a clock in front of their eyes and should not know what time of day it is outside the window - this way they lose the sense of time and may leave more money in the casino.

Serious passions often play out in casinos, especially if someone has lost - it happens that people get so excited that they lose their last game, sell cars, mortgage apartments... A gambling establishment often gives loans to regular players, but only if it is one hundred percent sure of the player’s creditworthiness.

Pros and cons of working in a casino

The big disadvantage of working in a casino is that night shifts occur more often than day and morning shifts. In general, they try to place experienced dealers and managers only on the night shift. It is incredibly difficult to sleep only during the day and work at night, and on weekends the body generally loses orientation. In case of a large influx of visitors, there is a practice of “voluntary-compulsory” obligation to stay for the next shift. Of course, this is paid, and for an additional shift they pay many times more than for the planned one, but working 16 hours instead of eight, especially if you stay after the night shift in the morning, is hellish work.

In addition to good mathematical abilities and knowledge of languages, those who want to work in a casino also need to have good health. Constant work on your feet, lack of daylight at work and at home (if you work only on the night shift and have to sleep during the day), dirt from chips, money and tables, cigarette smoke, which air conditioners often cannot cope with - all this will not have the best effect on your health.

There is also a constant strain on the nerves - huge sums pass through the hands of the croupier and the eyes of managers, any mistake is fraught with a blow to the reputation of the establishment and a deduction from the salary of the employee who made the mistake. Conflicts, no matter how hard the casino management tries to avoid them, sometimes occur; losing players often do not control themselves, make scandals, they feel like they were beaten on purpose, that is, the casino is cheating. This is absolute nonsense - there are strict rules that are never broken in favor of the casino. If there is even a slight chance that the visitor is right, the truth will be established by interviewing operators and viewing camera footage, and if the client is right, he will be given an apology and may even be paid a small bonus.

On the other hand, working in a casino is interesting and well paid. The teams of these establishments are mostly young people, except that the managers are already aged. Like any professional “caste,” casino workers are very friendly with each other and love to spend their free time together. If you are good at adding numbers in your head, know foreign languages, if you are not afraid of the difficulties of working on your feet during the night shift and have strong nerves – good luck!:)

And now you are already registered for the dealer school, the time has been set, and the date of your training arrives.

Morning, you get up and go to the site of the croupier school - perhaps your future job.

It all starts when, at the checkpoint, a security guard calls out to you, you answer him that you are enrolled in school, and you have classes here. They let you through, you enter the establishment, and there are already other job seekers standing there, the same guys and girls, future croupiers.

The manager looks at his watch and realizes that it’s time to start school, no one is waiting for those who fall behind, they might even kick them out - this is in the order of things. A holiday is a holiday, but the establishment has its own punctuality and subordination; the casino earns its profit for a reason. The mechanism of working with clients, recruiting to schools and training new dealers is usually well-honed even in the worst institutions of the former CIS countries.

The person who is entrusted with the school usually has a long experience as a dealer and is, perhaps not first-class, but a very good worker. There is a short introduction and off we go.

Usually it all starts from the roulette table, you are taught how to chip, this is usually the very beginning, my school was personally taught on roulette for about two weeks, and then little by little we began to move to other tables.

You ask. Why so long? In some casinos, they teach future croupiers at roulette for a month and a half; Everyone moans, but basically no one refuses to continue their studies. Thanks to roulette, most of the dealer’s skills are honed, about 70 percent, as one pit boss said: “We can teach anyone how to deal cards even in two or three days,” although I fundamentally disagree with this, it also has its own subtleties and nuances and not one.

Together with my croupier friends, we came to the conclusion that the majority of errors in work are related directly to roulette tables; there are much fewer of them on poker and blackjack.

Why is there such a strong emphasis on getting stacks quickly? Now I will explain this to you, you will not find this information on any site on the entire RuNet, maybe on some Western sites, but the chances are minimal. I really found very little useful material.

And such a strict emphasis is placed so that after school, having already become a chipper at roulette, you do not slow down, because when there is a big game, people play with a large number of tokens, and you have to chip a large number of chips, including a cache of different denominations.

You may not understand this now, but in the future, with my help, you will understand everything, and when you come to the dealer school, you will know a lot of the responsibilities, but if you are a player, then not a single dealer will be able to deceive you, and reduce your honestly won money at roulette.

This is where I end the beginning of the story, further development can be read in other articles about the croupier and casinos, I hope my work will not be in vain, and you will find on this site a lot of useful and educational things for yourself, for example: how to write a resume, croupier.

Numerous entertainment centers require qualified personnel - primarily croupiers. Now many casinos have free training schools for staff. Recruitment of students to croupier schools is usually continuous. This is due to the rapid growth in the number of casinos that are constantly in need of young specialists. But not everyone is accepted. The croupier does not necessarily have to have a model appearance, but charisma and charm are absolutely necessary. Speech defects, tattoos, and scars on the face are unacceptable for the croupier. In addition, he must be good at math, especially in his head. They prefer to hire people with higher education for the position of croupier. The croupier should not be a gambler: he should come to the casino to work, not win, look for the secrets of luck, etc.

Classes at the croupier school usually last 2-3 months, five days a week, 8 hours daily. During the classes, they develop fine motor skills, learn how to handle chips: chipping (collecting them from the table), cutting (dividing), etc., that is, they study primitive technology. And then they move directly to the games. The bulk of the time is spent practicing the movements, bringing them to automaticity. Students must memorize a special table that helps them count faster in their heads. There are special techniques that make mental calculations easier, and the dealer must know them. The croupier must always have an impeccable appearance (neat hairstyle, manicure, suit, freshness and pleasant smell).

Every good dealer must be a psychologist. His task is to make sure that the player is satisfied with the time spent, even if he loses. Here, the croupier’s contact with the visitor, his charm and ability to win over the person are very important. They usually don’t teach croupier etiquette at school; there are enough rules of conduct for a tactful person. But the dealer must know how to behave in extreme situations. You cannot respond to the player’s aggression, you cannot be offended or react to insults from the visitor. If a player violates the rules of conduct in the casino, the security service may become involved. After passing the exam, newcomers become croupier students, assistants, and trainees. But in any case, their task is to lead the game at the tables.

An experienced croupier can play with a large number of players at the same time, with large bets, and is ready to solve any difficult situations that arise at the table. The croupier can rise through the ranks. The next steps are the inspector, then the pit boss, who is in charge of a whole row of tables. Then it is possible to move into the ranks of managers and, finally, casino directors. It is allowed to work as a croupier in Russia from the age of 18. Most schools recruit students between the ages of 18 and 25. There is no upper age limit for working croupiers, but croupiers over 30 and especially 40 years old are rare. The dealer has a flexible schedule. The work is physically difficult (stand on your feet for half a day) and psychologically (you need to constantly maintain concentration and monitor the situation). Lack of lighting and constant exposure to smoke negatively affects health. When choosing the profession of a croupier, it is necessary to focus not only on external beauty and attractiveness, but also take into account the negative aspects of this profession.

Hello to you. My name is Denis and I am 31. What I want to tell you about has nothing to do with what I am doing now and will do in the future. But that hot summer I decided to go to a casino and work as a croupier. If you don’t know what a croupier does, then this is the place for you. I will tell.

In Moscow at that time there was a small selection of casinos, and with the exception of Crystal and Golden Palace, all the largest and most famous ones were located on New Arbat (Crown, Metelitsa, Arbat, Mirage). The Metelitsa casino was the very first to open in Moscow, and it was also the most popular. But I know this now, but then I knew nothing except Metelitsa. When we went to the dacha, we drove along Arbat and I saw thousands of lights shining, a man in a tailcoat opened the door for the guests, music was playing and the casino emblem in the form of three cherries on a branch shimmered.

It was these childhood memories that floated through my mind in the summer after finishing my 4th year at the institute, when an acquaintance of mine, with whom we lived in the same house, found somewhere an advertisement about recruiting applicants for a croupier school at Metelitsa. It must be said that besides Metelitsa, only Crystal and Golden Palace had their own school, one for two, because they had one owner. I didn’t have any special plans for that summer and I decided to go with Igor for company. I didn’t seriously expect to get there because my parents didn’t believe it was free, I didn’t communicate well with strangers, and I didn’t want to work in a casino. But we went for an interview...

We arrived at Arbat, a small group of accomplices had already gathered there. We entered through the service entrance, we were taken to a nightclub, where Natasha Korolyov, Natalya Vetlitsky and Ivanushka’s group perform at night, and during the day they talk with various brats who watch and listen with one eye and ear to what they are told, and with the other shoot everything around. .. interesting. While I was turning my head, they gave me a math test on adding two-digit numbers and multiplying two-digit numbers by one-digit number. Don’t feed me bread, let me matatize at your leisure. Kidding. But I was okay with math. 20 examples, pencil, head and stopwatch. Two mistakes and the phrase “We’ll hire you, come on Monday at 9:00” forced me to sharpen my focus on the current situation. On the way home, Igor also helped me sharpen, who was also hired and who showered me with arguments for and put all my “against” on my shoulder blades. And we went...

The training period was announced as 10 weeks, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, including breaks and lunch. The training was conducted in a specially equipped room in the casino itself. The room had 4 roulette tables and 8-10 card tables (poker, Texas, blackjack and switch). We had 3 coaches - two Russians Max, Olya and Stuart - an Englishman. In general, in Metelitsa all the top managers were from Europe and the fact that one of our teachers was English did not surprise us, and besides, he spoke Russian very well.

The selection for the group was gentle and, as we realized later, this had its own meaning. The group consisted of about 40 people, so it was a bit crowded. The course program was not announced to us, and we did not ask. Everyone's eyes were sparkling with anticipation of something magical and interesting. To begin with, we were forced into a dress code. We had to wear dress pants, a shirt with any sleeve, and a tie. Girls wear a skirt (no pants), a dress shirt and heels. All this was monitored very strictly. I once forgot to take a shirt with me and they sent me home to get it. Plus, the guys had to have a clean-shaven face, no mustaches, everyone had to have no piercings (girls were allowed a pair of earrings in their ears), tattoos in visible places and a ridiculous haircut on the head.

The first 3 days there is no theory. We were immediately given a stack of chips (20 chips of the same color) and we performed the same exercise. It was necessary to spread this stack across the table so that the chips were close to each other and collect them for a while. This process of collecting chips was called chipping (from the word chip - chip). The first day we raced one stack, the second and third days - two stacks. A little later we finally reached the goal - two stacks of one color and two stacks of another color. It was necessary to first collect one color, then another. At this moment, many of the burning eyes dimmed a little. Someone left the group. As the coaches later told us, in these 3 days 50% of all those who leave in one way or another leave. Plus, chipping is the main exercise for developing finger motor skills for this work and it is a conscious learning step to weed out the weak ones. The fourth day was diversified with new exercises with tricks - cutting in and cutting down. These are two ways to divide the stack into parts. You need to take the stack with one hand and, with cunning finger movements, divide it into parts of 5 chips, collect, then 4 chips, collect, 3 (with a tail), 2 and 1 each. Then do the same with the other hand. It was at this stage that the remaining 50% of those who left in the end disappeared, because doing this exercise with the working hand is not easy, let alone with the non-working hand. One girl had a miniature hand and her entire stack could barely fit in her hand. But she finished her studies and, either her fingers stretched out, or her hand took the desired shape, but she was already able to firmly hold 21 chips. In general, everyone was groaning and sniffling.

The video shows chipping of two stacks of the same color. Each casino has its own rules and training strategy, but by our standards, it’s lame in the video, because... The chips lie on top of each other and this greatly simplifies the process. I couldn't find another correct video.

Starting from the second week, we began to be raced against time. It looked like this. One of the coaches walks between the tables with a stopwatch and commands: “Mixed”... “To the start. Attention. March”... “10 seconds”... “15”... “20”... " 25"... "Stop"... "Mixed." Whoever did it raises his hand. At first, the results were at the level of 26-28 seconds for the best and we did not understand how we should reach the credit 18 seconds by the end of training. We were encouraged by the fact that the trainers themselves collected 10 times out of 10 in 16-18 seconds. I, as a sporty and passionate person, was fired up by this process and distillations with a stopwatch were my favorite. As a result, I was the first of the group to chip in 16 seconds two times in a row, which was quite surprising, because... Before that, I only chipped in 20 seconds 3 times out of 5.

From the very first day they started asking us about mathematics. We were given special multiplication tables. They are special because they show the multiplication of numbers 5, 8, 11, 17, 35 by numbers from 1 to 20. On roulette, these numbers correspond to winning odds depending on the bets. When playing roulette, there can be a lot of bets from different players. With such an active game, a number that is lucky for the players may appear and its winning coefficient may be as follows: 5x9 + 8x5 + 11x18 + 17x3 + 35x5. The client scattered 40 chips around the winning number and they are all winning, you need to calculate the total number of chips won. There is no calculator in the game, no paper and pencil, all this is calculated in your head and very quickly, because... You count faster, more games, more bets, more profit, more salary. And this is what the entire learning process is designed for. Everything should be done quickly, efficiently and with a smile. To do this, you had to learn this special table. And according to this table, we were given daily tests for 20-25 examples per
time.

In the third week, the game itself was finally added to the math and chips. Roulette has begun. They explained to us the rules, betting options, each field, introduced us to cash chips, showed us the sequence of actions of the dealer (namely the dealer, not the croupier, since the dealer is the one who plays the game, and the croupier is a collective image: dealer or chipper or inspector ), etc.

We taught where what number is on the field, which one is red or black (because if the table is filled with chips and a number comes up, then you can’t find it with your eyes, you need to know where it is and what color it is), the sequence of numbers on the roulette wheel according to clockwise and counterclockwise, special combinations of French bets, which hand you should give your winnings to and how to take 10 stacks with one hand to the other edge of the table. One of the main rules in a casino is the “Clean Hands” rule. Before touching the player's chips and after that, a “clean hands” operation must be performed. This is similar to the movement of your hands when you have dirty palms and are trying to shake them off. We learned all this through games with each other. We stood on the roulette wheel, 4-5 people each. One of the dealers leads and makes 3 spins (a spin is the rotation of a ball on a roulette wheel), and the rest play the role of a player and make all sorts of bets. Basically, everyone tried to fail the dealer, like a teacher fails in an exam, or they came up with and immediately tested their strategy to win their million at roulette. No one has ever found such a method, because... it doesn’t exist in principle, and the competitive environment was the best incentive for our growth. And we understood this perfectly.

Roulette was good for me. I counted better than anyone else on the tests, chipped well, my visual memory did not let me down, my attentiveness often helped me out, because... The “players” tried to slip chips onto the field after the number came up, which is prohibited by the rules. For some time, spin became a turning point for me. A spin for a good roulette dealer is the basis. The harder you launch the ball, the longer it will spin and the more chances you will have to fix the mess on the field, and there is always a mess. Plus, a long spin allows players to bet more chips. Well, I couldn’t spin, especially with my left non-working hand. He spun, but not for long. I had to devote extra-curricular time to this element.

In this place there should be a paragraph about cheating and various magnets on the roulette, but there is nothing to please me here, there is nothing like that in Metelitsa. Yes, and this is not necessary. All casino games are designed so that the casino wins 51% of the time and the player wins 49% of the time. A player can win big on his first visit to the casino, but if he doesn’t take them and leave... =)) then he can lose them and even more. And in general, someone wins, someone loses, for roulette it doesn’t matter who makes the bets, its mathematical model for 1000 spins will divide the money in the ratio 51 to 49. On blackjack, instead of manually mixing cards, which took a lot of time, they bet a shuffle machine that itself mixed 6-8 decks (blackjack is played with more than one deck). So here, too, the players managed to come up with the name “sharp machine” for it, hinting at its intelligence. I declare with authority that this is not true, it is as stupid as a shoe. By the way, a shoe was the name given to the device where the blackjack cards were located before the introduction of the shuffle machine.

Shuffle machine

At week 6 we were already starting to worry. Half of the training passed, and we didn’t touch the cards. It turns out it's much easier with cards. The rules are simple, there are no colored chips, only a cache, minimal work with the cards - lay out, stir, deal. We were given poker hands and rules. We started with oasis stud poker, then Texas, blackjack and at the very end, in week 10 there was a switch. Cards is a less dynamic and more predictable game. You can take a break after roulette, but this is where many mistakes arise. In cards with a lower threshold of attentiveness, when determining a winning combination for a casino or a player, errors appear more often than counting chips won on roulette. Although it seems that this is much easier than adding three three-digit numbers in your head.

As a result, in the last 2-3 weeks, when there were no plans to explain anything to us, our school day looked something like this: roulette, break, math test, poker, break, blackjack, lunch, test (for poker combinations, converting the cache to chips, standard betting combinations), roulette, break, Texas, break, working with chips (everyone decides for themselves what to improve), announcement of the results of daily tests and homework. Home.

We were fed lunch in the common canteen, and there was an assortment of soda for free. During the break you could go smoke, drink something or hang out in the relaxation room. It was common and there were already existing dealers hanging out there, who looked at us like animals in a zoo. With our questions we tried to get an answer to the question that interested us all: “Well?! How is it up there?” They tried to create a casino atmosphere for us in our enclosure, we tried to imagine something ourselves, but still we had complete ignorance of how we would work, where we would work. One thing was firmly drilled into our heads, that it would be very difficult and uncomfortable for us. Actually, this is “hard and uncomfortable” that we tried to recreate in the training room. We, as I already wrote, were given a dress code, the girls were put on heels, the guys were forced to shave every day. I was once sent to the store to get a machine and foam so that I could trim poorly shaved areas in the toilet. All day long, loud music was played in the room, the repertoire of which was rather flimsy. I’ll remember Palast Orchester’s covers and Mumiy-Troll’s album for the rest of my life. We really asked them to bring something new, offered us our CDs, but they smiled and said that everything was according to plan and we should feel nauseous even from the sound of music. While playing cards or roulette, one of the coaches tried to talk to the dealer about what was for lunch, whether I had watched football, what my favorite movie was and what I thought about it now. It was necessary not only to remain calm, to play the game correctly, not to make mistakes, but also to keep up the conversation nicely. I think that this criterion was the main litmus test of a student’s readiness for full-time work.

By the end of the 8th week, I finally became the leader of the group both in test results and in working with chips (in 16 seconds no one chipped). It’s difficult for me to objectively judge the conduct of the game, since there were no tests on this matter, but I didn’t have any serious mistakes and there were no complaints from the coaches either. One day a certain man came to us, they freed one of the tape measures, gave him a chair and brought him coffee. My heart began to pound, my cauldron of adrenaline began to boil, because... I realized that this was the same terrible exam that we had heard about, but they didn’t tell us anything specific. As soon as I understood all this, I heard my name. Crap! I went first. I think each of you knows what it is to be the first to go where you don’t know how or what will happen. I was shaking, I felt 20 pairs of eyes on my back, which were approximately in my same position. I vaguely remember what was there. I made 3-4 spins and accepted various bets. On the last spin I fell over. They gave me a bet that we didn’t work out, but which theoretically could have happened. I paused for a while, made sure not to crash the game and made a bet after the spin (this can be done if the player throws the cash at the last moment of the spin). This was the end of my exam. I was sent to lunch, where Max (the coach) told me that everything was fine and these bets were also part of the plan (Damn their plan!). The fact is that the majority of the group already knows and can do everything, but the training is still designed for a week or two, and they decided to spur us on so that we would not relax, so that we would have something to do.

After two weeks, our training ended. Igor and I passed it successfully and practically with honors. Igor was the best at working with clients. He communicated easily and naturally during the game, and I have already written about my advantages. At the end of the training, we were unexpectedly paid a bonus of $150 each. We agreed that we would take 100 bucks each, and throw 50 into the dorm and arrange a graduation party, which we held at the B2 club. Separately, I would like to say about the team of coaches who were strict, tough, but always fair, cheerful, kind and cool guys, who were able to train discipline in us, strengthen our willpower, could support us when something didn’t work out and who didn’t disdained to drink beer with us in the Old Arbat courtyards on Fridays.

Even before the interview, I had no intention of going to training and generally doubted that I needed or was interested in it. Moreover, around the third week, both Igor and I received very tempting job offers. They basically offered me what I wanted and have been trying to achieve for the last 1.5 years. But we had already managed to get involved, we started to like it and really didn’t want to give up everything at the very beginning of the journey. I chose for a very long time and painfully, wrote out all the pros and cons. And ironically, it was all passion that decided it, I wanted to finish my studies and see what would happen next. As you already understand, I refused the offer. And even though I didn’t have a long-term relationship with working at the casino, I didn’t regret my decision one bit. I can say that I consider that very summer to be the best and most interesting vacation. I have developed qualities in myself that are difficult to acquire in life just by looking around.

I will remember my first trip to the gaming hall for the rest of my life. My first shift was on the night from Friday to Saturday, and this is the trashiest. I was nervous all day, didn’t eat anything, arrived 2 hours before departure. The first shift was at blackjack. I got to the table in a daze, and then the old machine turned on: “Hello, I’m your new dealer... place your bets” and away we go. The table was completely occupied and there were two women sitting among the others, who apparently guessed that I was new. They supported me in every possible way, called me by name and smiled sweetly. And I gave them back nice blackjacks, one after another. They made a lot of money and threw in 70-80 bucks for tea. This very first table of mine became the highest tip I ever received in the casino. After that there were nights that were crazy for the load on the brain, wildly boring morning hours, dads playing in casinos while their children were in school, the smell of cigars hated since then, mistakes in games, perverted insults, expensive prostitutes near money bags, rich Indians, size bonus for a royal flush in the amount of a three-room apartment somewhere in a neighboring house on Arbat. I saw why they drove us to chipping, when you are one chipper on two tables and mountains of chips of eight colors. I saw how quickly you can spend a small fortune, literally in a couple of spins or in a couple of hands on blackjack. Appreciated the European approach to working with personnel. I realized how psychologically difficult work can be.

I learned all this, I saw and learned all this when I became a croupier.

The gambling business in Russia has grown significantly in recent years, both quantitatively and professionally. Numerous gambling houses attract the attention of passers-by around the clock. The establishments are ensured by a huge staff of staff who work intensively, day and night, all year round, replacing each other at dawn and dusk.

Undoubtedly, the core of a casino's workforce is made up of croupiers, or, as this position is commonly called in Russia, casino dealers. Dealers, i.e. The gaming staff of the casino is much larger in number than all other services; in addition, people occupying this position need to have knowledge and skills that are strictly specific to their professional activities.

In order to provide themselves with the necessary personnel, many casinos, periodically or constantly, conduct specialized courses, which are commonly called “dealer school”.

The croupier school in Russia accepts boys and girls, usually under the age of 25-28, although in recent years the age limit has noticeably decreased. Secondary education is necessary, physical defects and mental retardation are undesirable, otherwise there are practically no restrictions. Training lasts from 2 to 5 months, depending on the training program, the number of students and the number of games studied. As a rule, the school takes place in the morning and afternoon hours directly at the casino itself, because... This time is considered dead for casinos. However, there are exceptions when courses are conducted not only during the day, but also at night (Golden Palace casino, Moscow) or on another territory, in a room specially prepared for this (Molodaya Gvardiya casino, Moscow.) Two types of training can also be distinguished. The first is when courses come in a continuous stream, with a large dropout rate and a conveyor belt operating principle. The second is when a large group is recruited one time and a future team is formed from it according to the “best of the best” principle, and a new group is recruited after a long time, as needed, sometimes after several years. The casino manager runs the croupier school, sometimes directly teaching, and sometimes simply supervising the overall process. Pit bosses and the best inspectors actively help him in his training.

Studying at a croupier school implies the strictest discipline, which is expressed in punctuality, strict adherence to the rules of behavior, completion of tasks, diligence and diligence. In other words, a trainer (a person studying at a croupier school) can be expelled from school for being late, not doing homework, just banal conversations at the table, or not turning off his cell phone.

During classes, students study while standing, because The croupier most often also works standing. For 6 - 8 hours of the school day there are one, two or three breaks of 10-15 minutes each. In some institutions, students are fed once, free of charge, but more often they only provide clean water. In recent years, the direction to pay scholarships has appeared (Shangri-La casino, Moscow).

The casino is strongly interested in reducing training time, so classes are intensive, new information is given daily, and the material covered is rarely repeated. Training begins with familiarization with basic concepts and terms, an introduction to counting and finger placement algorithms. In the future, the so-called “chip technique” is taught and improved, the speed and accuracy of counting is honed, and casino games are studied. Almost all gambling establishments teach roulette, blackjack and poker. Some casinos teach less common games such as baccarat, craps, stos, red dog and others.

From the first day of training, each student starts a notebook in which the main provisions and material for memorization are entered. Every day, trainers receive homework that must be completed by the next day. Homework may consist of solving examples (in your head, of course), memorizing various tables or combinations of numbers. Also, the homework assignment may be to smile at everyone without exception. From time to time, various tests and tests are held for the entire school staff on the material covered, in which leaders and laggards are identified. It is impossible to simulate or manipulate test results in any way. After a certain time, when the basic material has already been studied, future croupiers play among themselves, where some of the students act as players, thus gaining practice almost in “combat” conditions. It should be noted that even after graduating from croupier school and going to work, the dealer is still called a “trainer” in the team for a long time and continues to learn the intricacies of work that were not touched upon by teachers during training.