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Tabitha Reed celebrates winning a hand of poker while she teaches patrons Tom Wagner (left), Peter Fisk (top right) and Jim DeMente (bottom right) the art of poker dealing at Santa Ana Star Casino.

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Kenny Rogers' famous song isn't about poker dealers. If it were, he might have preached "know your arithmetic" after knowing when to hold 'em and fold 'em.

Which leaves Tabitha Reed to explain life on the other side of the green-felt table.

"There's a lot more to dealing than you'd think sitting on the other side of the table," said Reed, 30, who has been working as a poker dealer at Santa Ana Star Casino near Bernalillo for a year. "It's very nerve-racking when you sit at the table with other people's real money."

Poker seems to be everywhere. People play online. It's become a staple of sports TV broadcasting. Even the big networks are jumping in on the action now that NBC debuted its six-day-a-week "Poker After Dark" program on New Year's Day.

The game's presence locally is also expanding. Santa Ana Star's poker room - which employs 17 dealers - has jumped from five tables to nine in the past two years. The casino plans to expand to 12 or 14 tables within the year, said Edie Suniga, the casino's poker manager.

Sandia Resort & Casino, which claims it has the state's largest poker room, employs 58 poker dealers at 15 tables, said Julie Stump, the poker room's day-shift supervisor. Sandia officials said an announcement is expected soon on expansion plans that could increase its poker offerings.

Both changes could mean more work for local poker dealers. More than just well-dressed card flippers, the work of a poker dealer combines a complex mix of managing the pace of the game and constantly tabulating each game's pot - all while maintaining an amenable personality.

"It's a tough job for one person to do it, but that's what they do," said Stump, of Sandia Casino. "They have to control the game and keep the game moving."

Getting started

Reed's involvement in poker started a year-and-a-half ago, when she started playing the game online while living in Austin.

She later moved to Albuquerque, which brought her exposure to regular bricks-and-mortar casinos.

"I really enjoyed what the dealers were doing, how they handled the table," she said.

From August through December she trained as a dealer at Sandia Casino, with help from a friend who worked there. While Sandia didn't have any openings, she took her game to Santa Ana Star as a player.

"I wanted to make it known that I enjoyed the room and I liked it here," she said, sitting along an empty poker table in Santa Ana's poker room.

It turned out that Suniga, Santa Ana's poker manager, had an opening for a dealer. Reed was hired in December 2005.

Her story acts as evidence that breaking into poker doesn't necessarily require a lengthy, casino-laden r‚sum‚.

Reed is considered a "break-in" dealer, meaning she's new to the industry. It's a title that usually sticks with a dealer for about five years as they gain experience, Suniga said.

While she had training, Reed was hired without any actual casino dealing experience, something Suniga and Stump said isn't necessary so long as a dealer prospect can ace a job audition.

"It's about having a personality, being courteous," Stump said. "Customer service is our number one thing."

That and, of course, the ability to deal poker.

The deal about dealing

Reed sits at the end of a poker table in the smoky, noise-clattering environment that comes with being in a casino.

It's a slow midweek afternoon. Only one table, manned by another dealer, has any action at the moment. Reed is likely to switch with him every 30 minutes or so.

If it were busy, and more tables were active, she might not see a break for five hours.

Speed and efficiency are hallmarks of the good dealer, experts say. Sandia, for example, holds speed at a premium - looking for dealers who can manage 15-20 hands per half hour, casino officials said.

"If I fold, I want the next hand. I want to keep in action all the time," Stump said. "If it's taking too long, then I'm going to have to wait to see my next hand."

But the casinos also have to make money, and it's up to the dealer to collect the house's portion of each hand.

Typically, casinos like Santa Ana and Sandia collect 10 percent of a hand's pot, or a maximum of $3.

It's the dealer's job to collect the casino's "rake," as it's called, in increments. For example, the dealer might take the first dollar when the pot reaches $20, the second at $40 and the third when it hits $60. Exactly when the dealer can collect the rake can depend on the version of poker being played and each game's prescribed betting limits.

"The dealer must have in their head what the pot is," Suniga said. "To be a good dealer, you need to know math."

That's not just for the casino's benefit either. Poker players are savvy. "They test you constantly," Reed said.

"If (the dealer) takes that dollar too quickly, there will be a player that says, `There's not $10 in there,' " Suniga said.

Card dealing 101

Some people head to the classroom to learn the skills needed to be a casino table-games dealer.

David Rosenlund opened the Casino Dealer School of New Mexico, at 5500 San Mateo Blvd. N.E., just more than a year ago. So far, the school is averaging about 14 new students a month to learn the art of dealing games like poker, craps, blackjack and roulette.

"It would normally take us about six weeks to put out a poker dealer," Rosenlund said.

He said the people trained at his school get hired. But how quickly that happens can depend on what game they've been trained in and the current market conditions.

One of Rosenlund's students recently waited three months before landing a job at Route 66 Casino, he said. While "six months ago we were replacing poker as fast as we could push them out," he said.

By comparison, someone trained in dealing craps - a more difficult game to learn - would have no trouble finding immediate work, he said.

Sandia Casino, having the biggest poker presence, has a lot to say about the market for poker dealers - especially when that casino plans an expansion, Rosenlund said.

It's also a nomadic profession, where dealers move from location to location, he said. "Now a lot of them are going to Oklahoma," he said. "We'll replace those people at Santa Ana, Route 66 or Isleta (Casino)."

Vibrant market

While Rosenlund said the poker dealer market is slow locally, nationally experts say the market is vibrant.

"You're seeing more expansions on the casino floors and more table games being offered, particularly in poker," said Beth Deighan, president of Casino Careers Online, an Internet job board focusing on the gaming industry. "You can pretty much find a position as a dealer just about anywhere you go."

For table-games dealers, poker is often preferred because it's a work shift that involves sitting down, compared to blackjack dealers who stand while dealing.

It can also be a lucrative job. Rosenlund estimates poker dealers could average $50,000 to $60,000 a year.

That pay typically comes more from tips than hourly wages. Sandia, for example, starts dealers at about $6.21 an hour, Stump said, but the dealers keep all of their own tips. By comparison, some casinos across the nation force dealers to split tips among their shifts, Deighan said.

"A person who is looking for a position is going to try to determine the average tip rate for a facility," Deighan said. "Even if they get a dollar more on the hourly side, if the tip rate is $5 on average more, it becomes a much more lucrative job."

Challenging

After a year on the job, Reed isn't a veteran. But she can now speak from experience. She can also teach newcomers, something she does regularly at Santa Ana.

The job can prove challenging. The task of making sure poker players follow protocol or act only when it's their turn can be tough, especially when it's late at night, and players are talking and drinking, she said.

She cautions new dealers to learn techniques for avoiding ailments like carpal tunnel syndrome.

She warns them not to bring their mistakes home with them.

And she cautions them to be patient when hunting for jobs in the local market.

"I don't suggest you quit the job you have," she said.

And, as they said, know your math.

Learning: Some casinos, like Santa Ana Star Casino near Bernalillo, offer periodic lessons for potential table-games dealers. Also, the Casino Dealer School of New Mexico, 5500 San Mateo Blvd. N.E., has been open for about a year. Students can either pay for lessons by game - $600 to learn poker dealing, for example - or $2,200 to learn every table-game offered.

Getting a job: Poker managers at both Sandia Casino and Resort and Santa Ana Star say previous experience isn't necessary. They look for job candidates who show well in an audition, who can both manage a table with speed, accuracy and personality. Once hired, a gaming license is required from each pueblo's tribal gaming commission, officials said.

"If you get out of high school and didn't go to college, and you need a job to support your family, this is a great job," said David Rosenlund, who runs the Casino Dealer School of New Mexico.

Average income: Casinos typically pay an hourly rate to dealers, but the real income results from tips. Sandia pays dealers $6.21 an hour, but they get to keep their tips. Rosenlund estimates a poker dealer could earn between $50,000 and $60,000 a year.

Challenges: Rosenlund said the job market for poker dealers isn't strong now, but it's cyclical. Craps dealers can easily get a job, while poker dealers may have to wait a while, he said. The job also requires a firm grasp on basic math skills, since the dealer must keep a running tally of every hand's pot.

FYI: Tabitha Reed, a dealer at Santa Ana Star Casino, said there's a method for pitching cards to dealers that can avoid hand and wrist injuries: "Your proper pitch is just your finger and your thumb."