Along with the opening of the Casino of the Wind expansion Mohegan Sun in Connecticut will will be once again welcoming live poker tables at the casino and is hard at work training dealers at their dealer school. The casino estimates it needs 240 dealers and 300 will be trained at the dealer school. The interest was so high there was a waiting list and graduates eagerly await word about whether or not they have received a coveted spot dealing at the new poker tables.

Mohegan Sun closed its 39 Poker tables in 2003, replacing them with slots to meet rising demands. However since then Poker has taken off in popular society, spawning books, playing sets and Tv shows. Poker however is not a big revenue maker, as players bet against each other and not the house like in games such as Blackjack. However the popularity makes it once again an intelligent choice to offer.

The dealers will also be able to keep their own tips instead of splitting them with the rest of the table dealers as they do now. When the average dealer makes just about minimum wage this could boost their total combined earnings (hourly minimum wage plus tips) from around $15 an hour to almost $30 or more if they are a good dealer. This is particularly appealing to charismatic dealers who get stuck sharing their abundant tips with others who are less than spectacular.

The people over at Foxwoods aren’t much worried about the renewed offering of poker at Mohegan Sun. They say they have not only gotten the players who use to play there, but have many loyal players who won’t be moving anywhere. Such patterns of behavior which have been established and reinforced in the past three years could well stick even with Mohegan Sun once again offering poker. Hopefully there will be enough players to go around and keep them from regretting the return to offering poker.