Tournament director (poker)

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In the game of poker, the tournament director is the individual charged with running the poker tournament. The job encompasses many roles, the most public of which is typically announcing the phrase "shuffle up and deal!" at the beginning of the day.

Additionally, tournament directors perform such other tasks as adjudicating disputes between dealers and players and also among the players themselves. Tournament directors are (generally) employees of the casino that the tournament is being hosted at, although this varies. For example, Matt Savage has appeared at various made-for-tv tournaments such as "King of Vegas", which do not take place at his place of employment.

Robert Thompson is another famous tournament director who has appeared on Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown ever since season one. Robert is known for saying the famous words of "Shuffle Up and Deal" occasionally throughout each episode of the show. Robert would also help out when some of the players wanted to make a bet or a raise, assuring that the proper amount of chips were put out.