Follow along with Christopher Keem all summer long as he gives an inside look at the life of a dealer at the WSOP.
I grew up about 45 minutes south of Buffalo, New York. A little town called Arcade. There were more cows than people.
I was in Boy Scouts as a kid, working at summer camp and stuff like that.
When I was 19, I moved to South Florida and fell into an auto detailing business. I did that for 15 years.
There was a bar poker league down there. I used to play in it, and that's how I fell into dealing poker. I asked if I could work with them to make some extra money. The guy running the game said, 'Sure, grab a deck and go sit on the other table.' I had never dealt before.
It all worked out, and I dealt poker for a few years in South Florida before I moved to Colorado. When I arrived, I auditioned to deal poker at the Lady Luck, which has since become The Isle Casino in Black Hawk.
Taking the leap at WSOP
I started dealing poker there in 2017. That was my first casino job. And then in 2019, I wanted to come out here for the WSOP. My job wouldn't give me a leave of absence, so I quit.
I'd always dreamed about dealing the World Series of Poker.
From the outside in, I thought that you have to be like a really good dealer to get in. And at that point, I had no idea if I was a good dealer or a bad dealer. I finally made the decision to come out here to Las Vegas and try it out.
I don't remember much about that first day, but there are a lot of memories in between, like the first time I got to deal mixed games. I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew I could probably do a better job than most of the other dealers who also didn't know what they were doing.
My first mixed game table ever has Mike Matusow. From watching TV, you don't know how he is to a dealer. You think he's very boisterous, and you're gonna get yelled at because you don't know what you're doing. Matusow ended up being the nicest guy, and it was the nicest table.
For most of the last three months, I was outside of the country. I had some good off time before this. I'm really excited. Right now, I'm in the exciting portion of a World Series. I'm really excited to be here. The summer camp vibes of getting to see all the people and the dealers that I know.
We have the option to work the first week. I decided not to start till Friday because I usually find it to be better that way. Hopefully, it's pretty busy from there.
We'll get five days a week to start, and then whenever they start needing us more, we'll get six days. It can be seven days a week around Main Event time. To start, I will probably work eight to 10-hour days. And from there it gets progressively busier. By the end, it's usually like 12 to 14-hour days.
I love my job. Sometimes it gets monotonous. But then I remember, it's a pretty good job. I get to travel and make my own schedule. Here's to another great summer.
