Rumours of Dealer Shortage Continue

08:12
03 Oct

Rumours are persisting of a severe dealer shortage at the WSOP 2021, leading to fears that the later large-field NL events could run into trouble.

Former pro and Las Vegas resident Jon Aguiar tweeted that he heard Caesars Entertainment targeted the hiring of 1,300 dealers but could only sign up 630. This is obviously a significant setback, and without any further information from Caesars we have no idea of what potential impact this might have in the coming weeks.

There was some chatter over how the wages dealers get are so poor that this is no surprise, but Aria Poker ops boss Sean McCormack says that in Nevada it’s not so bad.

“I can’t speak for everyone but I don’t know a room paying less than $9.75/hr plus tips for dealers. Nevada doesn’t really do the whole “oh you work on tips, so we drop you below minimum wage” thing.”

The tips situation is also unclear when the action is all about tournaments for a couple of months. One poster claims that there is distrust every year between dealers and supervisory staff over the theft of tips.

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Temporary Closures

Just to highlight how concerned Caesars Entertainment must be, they have pulled the plug on the poker rooms in two of their Las Vegas properties between September 26 and November 26. Both Bally’s and the Flamingo are closing their poker room doors in order for the dealer to be shifted over to the Rio Convention Center.

Caesars are even offering the sweetener of $250 for a dealer to come and work if they’re vaccinated, and then free entry into a $25,000 raffle.

We seriously hope that the first real World Series of Poker in over two years doesn’t fall flat on its face over something as fundamental as basic staffing requirements.