Tipping dilemma...please help

[Garland]

Here's the deal. Once a week, I play at an East Bay card club called The Palace in Hayward, CA.

The game is $1-$2-$2/ no max buy-in no limit, $5 to bring it in. I love this game. I mean I love it a lot. I've made a killing during the last five weeks. I've gotten lucky to be sure. The locals there are crazy loose, and most are very easy to read. Anyhow, this is getting away from the main point...

However, something happened yesterday, which sort of unnerved me. I had just won a pot ~$2300 when I flopped a set against someone's overpair (no preflop raise). Then I tipped the dealer $2. This is my norm. I either tip $1 most of the time or $2 if the pot is “big” or I feel the dealer did something to make my experience at the table more comfortable or if he/she went out of their way to help me. I’m not the most generous tipper, but personally I don’t feel the dealers deserve any more than that. They deal 30ish hands an hour, and if everyone tipped $1 or $2, then they would get around $45 to $60 in tips per hour. I think that’s fair enough. However, I *know* they get much more than that because I’ve been around to see the tips for five weeks.

The dealer flung the $2 back to me. Not extremely violently, but more or less I could tell he was steaming. He was expecting more…much more.

A more generous patron made a comment. "Only $2??". I then tried to tip $3 to the dealer (this was probably a mistake). The dealer then flung those chips back to me too. His face was pretty red. I was pretty unnerved.

Now here's the deal. When someone wins a huge pot, the dealers are used to seeing several blue chips fly their way (blue = $5). Even when someone wins perhaps a $100 or $200 pot, it's not uncommon to see someone tip $3-$5. Granted, I'm not the most generous tipper, but I feel the dealers are pretty spoiled here. However, I was pretty insulted by the dealer’s gesture.

Several hands later, I won a small pot and tried to tip $1, but the dealer refused to take it.

Now I have a problem. I feel uncomfortable around this dealer, and it might actually affect my play. (I’m not actually sure it affects my decision making, but the dealer’s presence doesn’t help). The dealer isn’t being unprofessional in dealing the cards afterwards or outwardly expressing his clear displeasure. He’ll probably discuss it with a few colleagues while on a break peppered with a few choice expletives for how I “insulted” him. This does not concern me.

The problem is, I know I’ll be playing there at least once, perhaps twice a week, and I’ll see this particular dealer 3 or 4 times in the course of a session. It’ll be an awkward situation each time.

What should I do?
(a) Report his actions to the floor manager?
(b) Talk to the dealer directly?
(c) Ignore the situation and continue to attempt to tip the dealer?
(d) Ignore the situation and simply decline to tip this particular dealer anymore?
(e) Stop being a cheap bastard and start tipping $4 or $5 per pot?
(f) Other??

Comments and advice appreciated.

Garland