croupier
The croupier [kʀuˈpi̯eː] is an employee of a gambling casino and is responsible for the correct running of the game at the table. He is the game master for card games such as blackjack , poker and baccarat or he regulates the technical matters at the roulette table .
Labor input
Black jack
The croupier acts as a banker towards the guests. He is responsible for the distribution of playing cards to the guests, for checking the stakes and paying out the game winnings.
roulette
Four croupiers work at a fully occupied French roulette table at which the players can sit :
- the throw croupier accepts bets from the guests and ensures correct placement on the table. He is responsible for the correct release of the ball and the timely rejection of further missions ( “Nothing works anymore” or “Rien ne va plus” ).
- the saladier sits opposite the throwing croupier. He collects and sorts the tokens won by the bank and puts them back in the designated storage areas. In addition, if necessary, he changes casino guests' chips into larger or smaller units and also accepts advertisements .
- The head croupier accepts advertisements and ensures that no further bets are placed at the end of the table after the rejection. After the coup he helps to collect the lost chips by pushing the stakes of the dozen and columns as well as the numbers below with his hands to the middle of the table so that they can be reached by the saladier. In addition, the head croupier is responsible for operating the Tronc on his right .
- the croupier table sits on a raised chair above the kettle and from there controls the croupiers' work and the correct behavior of the players. Ideally, he keeps track of all stakes and payments to the guests; if necessary, he decides on disputes; He also has to check the correctness of the electronic record of permanence operated in modern casinos, to correct it if necessary and to record the change of hands of the turning croupiers in the permanent process. Table croupier is not a professional position in the strict sense. Most table croupiers exercise this function as primus inter pares , i.e. H. they occupy this position in rotation with other colleagues who have sufficient professional experience.
- The substitution croupier was another game preparer who did not actively participate in the game, but one of the above , with the previously common principle of rotation of personnel at French roulette tables . Functions when the croupiers working at the table left the tableau to pause their working hours. In a sense, he was a "pause giver" ("Tournant") . Such a procedure is no longer common in the modern personnel logistics of most of the existing casinos (an exception is, for example, the "Wiesbaden Casino"), in which the entire table team is replaced ( "time out" ).
At multi-armed roulette tables, where players can place their bets on the ball drop in one and the same roulette wheel on several playing surfaces ( tableaus ), a table croupier is often subordinate to two tableaus.
At an American roulette table (also: QuickTable ), at which the guests play standing, only two croupiers work:
- The kettle croupier is responsible for the correct throwing of the ball, for correcting bets placed unclearly by players, for the timely cancellation of bets after the ball was thrown and for the payment of winnings to the guests.
- The chief croupier ensures that no further bets are made after the cancellation, controls the payout processes and monitors the permanent electronic record.
With the American standing table version of roulette, players place their own bets with chips, which are assigned to a particular player by color coding. The colored chips of the individual players are usually sorted automatically in modern casinos. As a result of the token identification, the acceptance of stakes (advertisement) by the players and the sorting process of the tokens are not required. Disputes about which winning rate should be assigned to which player also rarely arise. Accordingly, the requirements for the croupiers at American roulette tables are not as extensive as with the French version of the game, although the gameplay is significantly faster than at the French table.
job profile
requirements
With their aura, croupiers represent the authority of the game provider without being allowed to lose the necessary status as the guests' sympathizers, for which a corresponding sensitivity in dealing with people is essential.
The basic requirement for a croupier is an impeccable external appearance in its entirety, which reflects the seriousness of the operator in the socially desirable etiquette of the environment.
activity
Acting as dealer generally requires a polite, serene and confident manner, the interpersonal skills to people with a certain ability to spit running preparatory entertainers , which also requires a psychological sensitivity, winning the feelings and possible emotional outbursts and losing, especially drunken, players react appropriately to can, and maintain authority at the table; all this paired with concentrated work and a high level of dexterity .
A croupier must have an exceptional number memory .
Mastering the standardized sequence of numbers in the compartments in the entire roulette wheel forwards and backwards by heart is a matter of course basic knowledge in order to be able to place combined bets quickly and without errors in response to advertisements from guests.
From a dealer an excellent skill is in mental arithmetic required to be able to handle without error to the payout without major delays.
In addition, the short-term memory of a croupier is subject to a high load when carrying out his activity, to be able to execute the rapidly changing advertisements correctly and to be able to assign them to the respective player in their entirety after the ball falls.
The fine motor skills of a croupier include, in particular, elegance and quick reactions in dealing with playing cards, the safe handling of tokens when paying out to the winners and especially when betting on the tableaus of the roulette tables , whereby the routine handling of the rateaus at the French roulette table requires the highest skill.
With the progressive modernization of the casinos, the croupiers are required to know how to handle new and changing technology that is used to prepare the game or its sequence. These include, in particular, the mechanical devices for sorting chips in the course of the game, the shuffling machines for the card game offer and the electronic game recording , by means of which those involved in the game are informed about the course of the game via displays on the gaming tables and deviations from the normal distribution of the odds are recorded in databases in order to be able to analyze irregularities. In addition, in almost all gaming halls there are camera-technically recorded moves of the players on the tableaus, which are useful for the staff to clarify disputed stakes and to detect game fraud .
The increasing automation of the gaming industry is also changing the job description of the croupier, whose training is now in many places expanded to include player support at the slot machines in casinos. As the share of revenue at the gaming tables ( "Big Game" ) in publicly offered games of chance is falling and the number of people using the machines is increasing, croupiers in many casino companies are required to have more and more machine-related knowledge.
education
The training is offered by casinos, but also at renowned roulette schools in Austria and Switzerland . The basic skills can be learned within three months if personal qualifications are met; the training usually lasts four to eight months, depending on the extent of the knowledge imparted. The minimum age to take part in a course is 18 years.
Until the late 1960s, the stereotype of the dream job croupier, which was seen as a job carried out by men, was common.
In earlier times, it was common for those interested in this activity, regardless of their previous career, to work in one of the few casino operations at the time and only have to do lower jobs - mostly as a page in the gaming room, as a doorman at the casino entrance, as an assistant in the reception or as a Workforce in the administrative area - had to go through in order to prove their ability to work in a team and their good dealings with the target group of guests. Only then did she begin her apprenticeship as a preparer for the games, provided that croupier positions became vacant in the respective house.
Today, the activity of the croupier is no longer a dream job, as the formerly glamorous clientele of earlier grand casinos has given way to the average citizen in casinos installed everywhere, which has reduced the exclusivity of the environment and, as a result, the earning potential for the croupiers. In return, the growing competition from state and private gaming providers in Europe opens up opportunities for prospective croupiers to advance more quickly. Female croupiers now make up a large proportion of the casino workforce.
Croupiers are paid according to their own tariff system. They receive salaries from the Troncgeldern the casino visitors paid. The Tronc consists exclusively of the portion of their profit voluntarily given by the guests (comparable to " tips "). This Tronc is only partially paid to the casino employees as a salary . Since the Tronc changes daily, the salaries of the croupiers are also different on a monthly basis - however, there is a minimum salary that varies depending on the casino and the croupier's position. From this they pay taxes and social security contributions. The reduced attractiveness of training as a croupier over the years is certainly due to the fact that the exclusive generation of players from bygone times has been replaced by business with the “common man”, whose participation in the big game no longer yields such high tips.
Few of the applicants meet all of the necessary qualifications. The majority of the participants in seminars and courses that train croupiers do not pass the final exam due to the high requirements. Two thirds of the learner croupiers drop out of their training; of the rest, only half pass the final exam. Of the few who have completed their training, only a part remain active in their jobs, which is due to the high constant stress, working hours and other framework conditions; That is why casinos and training institutions usually only accept young professionals who have completed their professional training, with most of the young croupiers traditionally coming from banking and service professions.
Since a lot of money is generally traded in casinos, the eligibility requirement is in any case a flawless certificate of good conduct , evidence of the applicant's freedom from debts and often an impeccable reputation . After passing the exam, the young croupiers are employed on a trial basis or work as freelancers seasonally or as required. Self-employed croupiers are not known.
As in hardly any other profession, croupiers are required to maintain secrecy, distance from guests outside the casino and loyalty to the house in which they work. Croupiers are never addressed by name at the gaming table by their colleagues and superiors (in order to maintain anonymity) and do not maintain extensive contact with the guests (in order to prevent any form of preferential treatment) or with the officials of the tax authorities who are present in German casinos for the control function u. a. make sure that no unauthorized tokens wander into the Tronc or that taking advantage of them when paying out winnings to guests increases the casino's gaming revenues. More intensive private relationships between the croupiers are also not welcome in some casinos.
literature
- Pierre Ambois: The ball is my life - from page to room manager (from the Belgian), Ed. Bagel 1997
- Kurt v. Haller: Roulette-Lexikon , Alois Erdl KG, Trostberg 1994, ISBN 3925249303 .
Web links
- The croupier job description
- The Federal Employment Agency: professional profile and application addresses
- Croupierschule - The Academy for Playing Technique, Saarbrücken