Why tip?

I've read a few post on tipping and thought I'd add a comment. I have worked for tips only on several jobs when I was younger. I consistently earned more tips than those around me. Where I play cards, everyone always tips the dealer at least $1, sometimes more on every hand. If one can deal an average of 30 hands/hour, the math is outrageous to pay a card dealer $30+ per hour. I may not be in the same tax bracket as the rest of this forum, but that is WAY TOO MUCH to pay a dealer to put cards in front of me. Am I missing something here? Is their job more difficult than the surface suggests?


The one problem is that when you do not tip consistently, the cardroom staff seems to treat you much differently. How can I overcome the simi-threatening environment and is it really a big deal if my dealer makes $28+ per hour instead?


Gary W.

Dealers would be very happy if they got $1 for every hand, but they don't. They also take lots of breaks, so they aren't dealing during every hour on their shift. So they don't make as much as you think they do. Still, I think $20 per hour is more than most dealers are worth.


As far as the attitudes of the staff if you don't tip, that's what keeps a lot of people tipping. If you don't tip in private games, you will be asked to leave. It hasn't gone that far in public rooms yet. One solution is to tip for every other hand you win.

Tipping a dealer is like tipping a waiter. If you get a good dealer, you tip more. You get a bad one, you tip less. This preserves a livable income for the tippee regardless of the consensus of their full base of customers concerning his abilities, while providing an incentive for superior service.

What the dealer earns in tips from others should not effect what you tip. I don't go into a restaurant and figure out that the waiter has 6 tables times 3 people per table at $2.00 per person, times 4 turns and then decide not to tip because he's going to be making "too much" money for what he's doing.


Tipping is an accepted custom in this country. You don't tip in a situation where everyone else is and you get looked at funny. Either deal with getting looked at funny or tip.

What about at casinos where all the dealers split the tips and 90% of them are terrible. I've had some really great ones before, but didn't see much incentive to tip them more since they wouldn't really see it.

I agree with your waitress analogy and one could make $60/hour on Friday and Saturday then the week comes and they make $3/hr. I still think you can, in fact, be over-paid to sit on one's ass and pass out cards to people. Thank you for the replies.


Gary W.

Although I always tip the dealer, it's gonna cost you a few bets at the end of a session, which adds up over a period of time. I think the Casinos ought to pay their employees more. I think they could afford it. Not much difference in making 100,000 a day than 99.


Dino

Dealing poker is incredibly more involved than

"sitting on one's ass and passing cards out to people"!

From the tone of your post I get the feeling that you do not make any money at playing poker.Were you to be in the position of deriving an income from it you would be more inclined to take care of the competent dealers ,whose attention to their craft allows your attentions to stay on yours.

I rarely play in a casino or other cardroom. The reason for my post is as simple as gathering information. I've seen lots of post including one a week or so that had several posters not tipping. I OVER-TIP when I tip. I tip the pizza guy a fiver whenever I order. 20% at restaurants, etc..


Oh, and you are right; I doubt I could overcome the rake and tipping in most games. So I play more online to learn starting hand values and most important to me, know when I am beat. However, I am without a doubt a winning player...just no hours logged in a cardroom that is 2 hours away.


Anyway, thank you for all your input. I have much to learn and wanted to know how other people handle tipping. Seems to me if you tip every pot you win, you are giving away too much.


Gary W.


PS: I know it is more than sitting on ones' ass, just wanted to start a fight /images/smile.gif J/K

...and passing out cards to people. I've dealt before, and while the job isn't fun due to stupid players and the smoke and cigars (depending on where you live), and is physically demanding for whatever reason, the job itself is an absolute breeze. I paid A LOT more attention to the game I was dealing than most and it was still something you could do on autopilot, (which most do). I knew I was overpaid when I dealt and expected nothing of players. If the dealers wanted more money, get a different job or ask management for more, don't expect the people already losing $ to support you. And I don't say this b/c I'm cheap or hate dealers, I tip 20% at restaurants and a chip or two on most pots in 10/20, and the dealers here are actually really good, but you can't expect to have people losing money support you when you're making $14 an hour doing unskilled labor. I wish casinos would just drop another 50 cents from every pot for dealers if they thought they were worth $14 an hour instead of $4. I'll stick to paradise for now and enjoy the extra 2 bucks an hour I get to keep, tyvm.