Casino’s Table Games Dealer School offers unique training

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Since 1995, Spirit Mountain Casino has offered a unique, free training opportunity for Tribal members and others who want to explore a career in table games.

The 10-week Table Games Dealer School is held for four hours a day, Monday through Friday, depending on qualified applicant availability. Although completion of the program doesn’t guarantee a position on the casino floor, it does offer participants a knowledge advantage over those who haven’t taken the course, according to Table Games Trainer Lance Nuttman.

Additionally, unlike other dealer school trainings, it doesn’t cost participants potentially thousands of dollars.

“My title is trainer, but when people ask me what I do, a lot of times I just tell them I’m an adult educator because that is what I spend a lot of my time doing, is teaching,” he said. “I know what the human brain can and can’t absorb when it comes to learning these games.”

Nuttman is a 1996 graduate of the program, a year after the casino opened, and has been working there ever since. Back then, the only training was for blackjack. Now, the dealer school includes training for three-card poker, Let it Ride, Jackpot Texas Hold’em, blackjack variants and side bets. Additional training in Pai Gow, Baccarat and Pitch is required after class completion to maintain employment.

Nuttman has been teaching the dealer school since 2008. He said the best part of his job is seeing the “lightbulb moment.”

“When we’re working and I’ve given the information and they’ve had time to absorb it and all of the sudden it’s like, ‘Oh, I get it.’ Something just clicks. Dealing is not easy. A lot of people see dealers and they think, ‘Oh, that’s easy. I could do that.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, you know, flying on a plane is easy but the guy that’s flying the plane has had a lot of training.’ There’s a lot that goes into dealing, too.”

Nuttman also enjoys going onto the casino floor and seeing former Tribal member students, some of whom are now in management positions.

“Finishing the dealer school can be very life changing,” Nuttman said. “It can be a great paying position with great benefits and that just changes people’s lives and gives their kids stability and things like that.”

Tribal member Eric Sabin decided to try the training in 2014 and is now an assistant shift supervisor.

“I had just graduated college and was a single dad,” Sabin said. “The night before registration was closing for dealer school, I applied, came in and took a simple math test and was accepted.”

Sabin urges those who have fears of math not to worry.

“It’s a very simple test and requires basic skills in addition, subtraction and multiplication,” he said.

During the test, participants can use scratch paper to work out any of the math problems.

“It was a piece of cake, I was accepted into the school and that’s where the story begins,” Sabin said with a grin. “I’m kind of an extrovert and I love working with people.”  

He stayed at the casino, eventually being promoted to a management position. He said the best part of his job is the people.

“It is so welcoming here and just a perfect fit,” he said. “There is a lot of support, and not just for Tribal members, in this department.”

He still remembers the first day on the casino floor as a dealer.

“You have those first-day jitters when you get out on the floor because these are strangers, this is real money you’re dealing with and there are a multitude of different personalities,” he said. “But you just take it slow and you try to remember all of those things that you learned during class and it starts making sense. I don’t think I can count on two hands how many bad days I’ve had in my almost 12 years here.”

Now, he mentors other students in the dealer school and new dealers on the casino floor.

“I wanted to be integrated into the department and to help mentor students and dealers the same way I was mentored,” Sabin said. “It doesn’t have to be stressful coming to work. You can have a good time.”

Sabin encourages other Tribal members and others who may be considering a career change or who just want to try something new to look into attending dealer school.

“It’s not like it’s an exclusive club,” he said. “If you have the right attitude, the right drive and the right state of mind, you can do anything in this department. If you’re comfortable dealing, you’re going to make a very good livelihood dealing…If you want to step more into leadership role, we offer that here as well.”

The next dealer school will be held from Monday, Sept. 15 to Friday, Nov. 21. The deadline to apply is 5 pm. Thursday, Sept. 4.

For more information, call 503-879-3737, email employmentteam@spiritmtn.com or visit www.spiritmountain.com/careers/.