rhwbullhead
05-07-2005, 10:40 AM
Introduction
This is going to be a long post. I have several issues on which I would appreciate feedback. I play regularly at the Resorts East Chicago (formerly the Harrah's East Chicago). Apparently because of Indiana law, the dealers cannot keep their own tips. The tips are instead pooled and then divided among the dealers. In this post, I'm first going to explain why I am not going to tip there until probably around August. I do feel bad that my actions will hurt the few good dealers there. I've been thowing around a few ideas I have concerning compensating them. Later, I will outline my two ideas. I'd appreciate input on the ideas and if the ideas would be tax deductible.
State of the Dealers
I would estimate that about 80% of the dealers at Resorts East Chicago perform their job poorly. They don't know the rules, don't pay attention as well as they should, can't read the hands, and don't enforce rules that they do know. The previous description probably fits the majority of the dealers. A very small percentage fall into the atrocious deal category. One dealer constantly makes mistakes, and then instead of apologizing for the error, he instead is beligerent. One time, I had to force him to call the floor so he would stop arguing with the player and so we could continue the hand. To be fair, there are a few dealers that are great. They could make it in Vegas or LA, and I bet they'd make double money if they worked at Potawatomi in Wisconsin (where the dealers keep their own tips).
Before, I explain what finally pushed me over the edge, let me describe one hand that i wasn't even involved with that illustrates my point above. The pot was a kill pot in the $20-40 game. A player on tilt wanted to live straddle. At Resorts, players are not permitted to live straddle a kill; instead they can put $60 for a blind raise instead. I had to point this out to the player because the dealer either didn't know or didn't care. The player next to act throws in $80. The dealer than indicates that the next player should act. If I remember correctly, I believe this player threw in some money ($60 I believe), but he was confused. As soon as the player put in the $60, the table stopped the action and pointed out that the player after the straddle couldn't put in $80. He needed $60, or $90 for a raise. This player then just throws his hand in and pulls back his money. The dealer grabs the cards, but doesn't put them in the muck as there is no muck except his cards. Another player says that the the kid's money has to stay. There is a short argument about this. I tell the dealer to call the floor, but he doesn't do so. Since the kid has to leave the money in, he decides to play and the dealer gives him his cards back. I believe that the player's cards were probably dead, but the floor should have been called to sort things out. As you can see, there were at least 3 errors that were made this hand, and the dealer did not call the floor but instead let the players at the table rule.
Angle Shooting Incident
There are many other incidents I could describe, but let me just get to the hand that made me decide to not tip until August. I raise in early position, and this guy calls me in the big blind. I don't remember the exact cards, but they were about middle rank. I bet, the player called. The turn was a blank: the guy checked and so did I. The river was another blank, but was close to the other cards (so a straight was possible). I called with Ace high because I knew this guy would bluff with nothing. He calls out "Straight" and turns over 64o which I later figure out is 6 high. I look at his cards for like 5-10 secs. The dealer just sits there with a dumb look. I then mucked my Ace high. Then someone says "Wait, that's not a straight, that's nothing." The guy then laughs and says "Well, he mucked." Okay, I admit that I should have looked at the board and figured out his hand like I should have. I've never had this angle shot pulled on me in the 7 years that I've played so I assumed he had a straight, and when the dealer didn't say anything, I figured he did so I mucked. I am angry for the reasons I will now discuss. About five minutes before this happened, a local pro next to me chastisted the dealer for slowing down the game because he was watching the Bulls game on TV. About a hand or two before this particular hand, the local pro asked the dealer to stop talking and just focus on the dealing. The dealer had responded by saying "I deal fine while talking. This isn't that hard." Apparently, he felt that he was a great dealer, which he isn't. So then, the hand I described above happens. First of all, the good dealers usually push up the board cards to show a players hand. This dealer neglected to do that. He also failed to correct that players miscall of the hand. He instead just sat there with a dumb look. After we figured out the player had 6 high and I had accidenatlly mucked, the dealer did not chastise the player for miscalling the hand. Again, he just sat there with the same look. Again, I realize that my losing the pot was due to an angel shot by this guy, my own failure to read the cards properly, and the dealers failure to do anyting. Am I totally wrong, though, in getting angry that the dealer failed to do anything that could be expected of him in this situation (especially when he answered the local pro in the way that he did)?
BTW, though I know it was bad (especially because the angle shooter is a total fish), I was on this guy the whole night. Everytime someone beat him, I made sure to say "Good hand" to the player that beat him. When he called out a hand, I told him that he had to turn his cards up because people shoudln't believe him after what he did. When a few familiar players at in the game, I made sure to point out the fish as an angle shooter. Finally, (and this was probably the worst), I caught up to him in the main game. He had been moved about an hour earlier, while I had been stuck in the must move game. I saw that he had busted up like $1500 of the $1800+ that he had had. He lost a hand, and I look straight at him and started laughing obnoxiously. Then I said, "Well, you have about $300 there. That's about what you stole off of me. At least you don't have to rebuy." I know I should have behaved better, especially because this guy is a fish, but I seriously have never been more pissed at a poker game before in my life. I'm a calm person, but I really wanted to knock the guy out. I felt that my doing what I did, I at least didn't do something stupid that would get me arrested or banned; and I got some satisfaction.
While I got some satisfaction from bugging the guy, I am still mad about the $300. Combine that with what I thought about the way the dealer handled the situation, and my general frustration with the majority of the dealers, I decided, rightly or wrongly, that I'm going to get that $300 back by not toking the dealers. I estimated that I'd have to not tip until mid July or the beginning of August to make up for the $300.
Alternatives to tipping
Of course, I do feel bad for the good dealers (and I believe I could count them on my two hands). I've been thinking about these two ideas for the last week. I was planning to post but never actually sat down to do so. Last night incident finally prompted me to think more about these ideas.
1) I don't want to put money in the pool tip because that rewards the poor dealers and the good dealers equally. Stiffing just the poor ones doesn't accomplish anything because you hurt the good ones and when you tip the good ones, you reward the poor ones. Could I just save up the money I would toke and just cut a check sometime (maybe around Christmas) to the good dealers? If I did this, could you deduct this off your taxes (assuming on filed as a Schedule C as a professional)? Obviously, the regular tokes get deducted because they come out of your money on the table: your wins and losses are your win or losses minus the tokes. Could you just save the check copies for the IRS (in case you get audited) or would this not be deductbile.
2) I'm considering the following as an addition to the previous idea (or possible in lieu of the above if the above in not deductible). Could you take the dealers out for meals and deduct that under "Meals and Entertainment." I think it would be a good thing to buy the good dealers breakfast once in awhile, or even throw a pizza part or something. Of course, the previous idea would be better as they actually see dollars, but again, this could be used to supplement the above.
If you read this far, thank you for reading, and I appreciate any thoughts or comments on anything that was mentioned above.
This is going to be a long post. I have several issues on which I would appreciate feedback. I play regularly at the Resorts East Chicago (formerly the Harrah's East Chicago). Apparently because of Indiana law, the dealers cannot keep their own tips. The tips are instead pooled and then divided among the dealers. In this post, I'm first going to explain why I am not going to tip there until probably around August. I do feel bad that my actions will hurt the few good dealers there. I've been thowing around a few ideas I have concerning compensating them. Later, I will outline my two ideas. I'd appreciate input on the ideas and if the ideas would be tax deductible.
State of the Dealers
I would estimate that about 80% of the dealers at Resorts East Chicago perform their job poorly. They don't know the rules, don't pay attention as well as they should, can't read the hands, and don't enforce rules that they do know. The previous description probably fits the majority of the dealers. A very small percentage fall into the atrocious deal category. One dealer constantly makes mistakes, and then instead of apologizing for the error, he instead is beligerent. One time, I had to force him to call the floor so he would stop arguing with the player and so we could continue the hand. To be fair, there are a few dealers that are great. They could make it in Vegas or LA, and I bet they'd make double money if they worked at Potawatomi in Wisconsin (where the dealers keep their own tips).
Before, I explain what finally pushed me over the edge, let me describe one hand that i wasn't even involved with that illustrates my point above. The pot was a kill pot in the $20-40 game. A player on tilt wanted to live straddle. At Resorts, players are not permitted to live straddle a kill; instead they can put $60 for a blind raise instead. I had to point this out to the player because the dealer either didn't know or didn't care. The player next to act throws in $80. The dealer than indicates that the next player should act. If I remember correctly, I believe this player threw in some money ($60 I believe), but he was confused. As soon as the player put in the $60, the table stopped the action and pointed out that the player after the straddle couldn't put in $80. He needed $60, or $90 for a raise. This player then just throws his hand in and pulls back his money. The dealer grabs the cards, but doesn't put them in the muck as there is no muck except his cards. Another player says that the the kid's money has to stay. There is a short argument about this. I tell the dealer to call the floor, but he doesn't do so. Since the kid has to leave the money in, he decides to play and the dealer gives him his cards back. I believe that the player's cards were probably dead, but the floor should have been called to sort things out. As you can see, there were at least 3 errors that were made this hand, and the dealer did not call the floor but instead let the players at the table rule.
Angle Shooting Incident
There are many other incidents I could describe, but let me just get to the hand that made me decide to not tip until August. I raise in early position, and this guy calls me in the big blind. I don't remember the exact cards, but they were about middle rank. I bet, the player called. The turn was a blank: the guy checked and so did I. The river was another blank, but was close to the other cards (so a straight was possible). I called with Ace high because I knew this guy would bluff with nothing. He calls out "Straight" and turns over 64o which I later figure out is 6 high. I look at his cards for like 5-10 secs. The dealer just sits there with a dumb look. I then mucked my Ace high. Then someone says "Wait, that's not a straight, that's nothing." The guy then laughs and says "Well, he mucked." Okay, I admit that I should have looked at the board and figured out his hand like I should have. I've never had this angle shot pulled on me in the 7 years that I've played so I assumed he had a straight, and when the dealer didn't say anything, I figured he did so I mucked. I am angry for the reasons I will now discuss. About five minutes before this happened, a local pro next to me chastisted the dealer for slowing down the game because he was watching the Bulls game on TV. About a hand or two before this particular hand, the local pro asked the dealer to stop talking and just focus on the dealing. The dealer had responded by saying "I deal fine while talking. This isn't that hard." Apparently, he felt that he was a great dealer, which he isn't. So then, the hand I described above happens. First of all, the good dealers usually push up the board cards to show a players hand. This dealer neglected to do that. He also failed to correct that players miscall of the hand. He instead just sat there with a dumb look. After we figured out the player had 6 high and I had accidenatlly mucked, the dealer did not chastise the player for miscalling the hand. Again, he just sat there with the same look. Again, I realize that my losing the pot was due to an angel shot by this guy, my own failure to read the cards properly, and the dealers failure to do anyting. Am I totally wrong, though, in getting angry that the dealer failed to do anything that could be expected of him in this situation (especially when he answered the local pro in the way that he did)?
BTW, though I know it was bad (especially because the angle shooter is a total fish), I was on this guy the whole night. Everytime someone beat him, I made sure to say "Good hand" to the player that beat him. When he called out a hand, I told him that he had to turn his cards up because people shoudln't believe him after what he did. When a few familiar players at in the game, I made sure to point out the fish as an angle shooter. Finally, (and this was probably the worst), I caught up to him in the main game. He had been moved about an hour earlier, while I had been stuck in the must move game. I saw that he had busted up like $1500 of the $1800+ that he had had. He lost a hand, and I look straight at him and started laughing obnoxiously. Then I said, "Well, you have about $300 there. That's about what you stole off of me. At least you don't have to rebuy." I know I should have behaved better, especially because this guy is a fish, but I seriously have never been more pissed at a poker game before in my life. I'm a calm person, but I really wanted to knock the guy out. I felt that my doing what I did, I at least didn't do something stupid that would get me arrested or banned; and I got some satisfaction.
While I got some satisfaction from bugging the guy, I am still mad about the $300. Combine that with what I thought about the way the dealer handled the situation, and my general frustration with the majority of the dealers, I decided, rightly or wrongly, that I'm going to get that $300 back by not toking the dealers. I estimated that I'd have to not tip until mid July or the beginning of August to make up for the $300.
Alternatives to tipping
Of course, I do feel bad for the good dealers (and I believe I could count them on my two hands). I've been thinking about these two ideas for the last week. I was planning to post but never actually sat down to do so. Last night incident finally prompted me to think more about these ideas.
1) I don't want to put money in the pool tip because that rewards the poor dealers and the good dealers equally. Stiffing just the poor ones doesn't accomplish anything because you hurt the good ones and when you tip the good ones, you reward the poor ones. Could I just save up the money I would toke and just cut a check sometime (maybe around Christmas) to the good dealers? If I did this, could you deduct this off your taxes (assuming on filed as a Schedule C as a professional)? Obviously, the regular tokes get deducted because they come out of your money on the table: your wins and losses are your win or losses minus the tokes. Could you just save the check copies for the IRS (in case you get audited) or would this not be deductbile.
2) I'm considering the following as an addition to the previous idea (or possible in lieu of the above if the above in not deductible). Could you take the dealers out for meals and deduct that under "Meals and Entertainment." I think it would be a good thing to buy the good dealers breakfast once in awhile, or even throw a pizza part or something. Of course, the previous idea would be better as they actually see dollars, but again, this could be used to supplement the above.
If you read this far, thank you for reading, and I appreciate any thoughts or comments on anything that was mentioned above.