BY TOM SOMACH

The most important thing America’s colleges and universities do for their students is adequately prepare them to earn a living once they graduate.

Courses such as engineering, accounting and chemistry have always been the norm–there’s always a need for a good engineer, accountant or chemist.

But now, with the increasing interest in poker, America’s bastions of higher learning are responding.

Anyone for Poker Dealing 101?

Edison College, in East Naples, Fla., recently announced it will begin offering a new continuing education course titled, “Learn How to Deal Poker.”=9D

Warren Heltsley, the college’s continuing education coordinator, said there has been an interest generated locally because of all the television programs and local casino nights at various locations.

Students will receive certification after completion of a 100-hour training course that is good in any casino in the U.S., Heltsley said.

The first class, to run for six weeks, is scheduled to start on Oct. 15 and will cost $1,095, he said.

“They will have both the knowledge and the skills to deal cards in a professional way,” Heltsley said.

Gary Bitner, spokesman for Florida’s Seminole Tribe, which runs several Indian casinos in Florida where poker is played, said there is always a demand for poker dealers.

“It’s always good to have a pool of more trained dealers,”=9D he said.

Bitner added that it’s the first time he’d heard that a college would offer a poker-dealer training course, noting that most of the courses are offered by independent companies on the East Coast.

In addition to the Indian casinos, poker is also available in Florida at some horse-racing and dog-racing tracks.

A dog-racing track in the Naples area hired a dozen extra poker dealers when State gambling laws changed in July, allowing dog tracks to increase betting limits in their poker rooms.

The instructor for the new poker-dealing class will be the owner of the local Royal Academy of Dealing, Petra Gustkey, who worked at a Seminole casino for more than 10 years.

“It’s an exciting fun-filled job,”=9D Gustkey said.

The average dealer makes $35 to $40 an hour and could possibly earn more during season, she said.

“Where else can you make that kind of money,” =9D she noted.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)