Normandie Casino General Manager Karlo Deza
Normandie Casino General Manager Karlo Deza
Normandie Casino General Manager Karlo Deza was a college student when he landed his first job in the poker business at the Gardena casino.
It was 1994, Deza was 21, trying to help his mom out and had been told that working as a poker dealer would be a good gig, a nice way of getting over the hump, financially speaking, as he moved toward a degree while also helping his family get what it needed in this land of opportunity that they called home. Deza had arrived on the West Coast with his mother from the Philippines some years before.
Those in charge at the family-owned Normandie recognized an eager young talent when they saw one and Deza started working as a chip runner. It was an entry level position that satisfied Deza as he prepared himself for the moneymaking opportunity that he imagined dealing school would make possible.
But the tide of constantly shifting circumstances swept him in another direction, as though Lady Luck was saying she had something else in store for this young man.
“My goal had been to become a poker dealer but they promoted me after a few months and suddenly I was working on the floor. I was never able to deal, although I wish I could have.”
Deza worked in the Normandie’s poker section for about the first six years before he was transferred into the Asian section, which had games such as pai-gow poker, pai-gow tiles and other local variations of games such as baccarat with strong appeal for Asians. More time goes by, but not much, and a year and a half after moving into the Asian section he was promoted to part time shift manager and in 2003 was given his chance to run the casino. He had come a long way in a short time for a young man who less than a decade earlier would have been very happy to deal cards at the Normandie.
To what does he credit his speedy progress through the ranks? The credit, he explains, rests entirely with the owners, the children and grandchildren of Normandie founder Russ Miller who have maintained it as a family operation. The casino was opened in Gardena more than 50 years ago by the late Russ and Mary Miller and remains a mover and shaker in the Southern California poker business despite its relatively small size.
“If they see that someone has the potential to move up they will make that opportunity available.”
Deza says the Normandie doesn’t attempt to compete with some of the much larger clubs in terms of the size of the promotions it offers. You’ve gotta know who you are and who your customers are, Deza explains, but what it does encourage is the kind of one-on-one customer relations that make people realize they are getting a super value.
“We’re not so big,” he says, “that it is hard to get to know the players, but we are not small that we can’t offer attractive promotions,” using ideas that make sense for the Normandie.
“Right now, everyone is doing tournaments of one kind or another. There is always some kind of a monthly tournament going on.
Deza thinks of the Normandie’s night time tournaments as an effort to create some uniqueness. Buy-ins for these events are available ’till midnight. The Normandie has recently added a video game known as Lightning Power and Deza expects that the presence of this game will open the door to some promotional possibilities. As of a few weeks ago only the Normandie and Commerce clubs were offering this game.
Deza says Lightning is made to order for the relative poker newcomer who is not yet “comfortable or too familiar with the live games.”
He adds, “We’re planning a big campaign with this, having tournaments and so forth.”
What’s the difference between poker in Southern California and the typical poker experience in, let’s say, Las Vegas? Deza’s view is that the nature of the poker business in each of these areas suggests the typical customer in the LA area, that is, the player who does not walk in already having a reputation and a lot of connections, will get the kind of welcome and treatment he can’t expect in Las Vegas.
This is the point where he turns to what he describes as the Normandie’s mission statement. It is as follows: “The Normandie Casino strives to be the ultimate recreational gaming experience in Southern California.”
Kind of says it all, Deza nods.
The Normandie has 50 tables with about 27 of them usually dedicated to poker games. He points out that pai-gow games get a lot of attention at the Normandie as the casino constantly looks for the promotional possibilities that will further an air of uniqueness in a crowded field of competitors.
Deza does not find that he has time to play a lot of poker himself. There are no trips to the World Series or various World Poker Tour events as a competitor.
He grins, “I stay busy with my job at the Normandie. I’m much more into operations and all that involves,” although he says he did do well in recent charity tournaments, small events played at the Normandie.
Filed under: Poker News