How much to tip dealers in a B& M tourney?

willperkins · #1 11-20-2004, 02:14 PM

Last week, my son and I went to Vegas to play in some tourneys. I managed to finish 2nd at the Horseshoe NL tourney. It was a $70 buy in with one $40 rebuy allowed. In this particular tourney there were 169 entrants. Second place paid $2,286. I had no idea how much to tip. I tipped $60 (tourney took 6 hours to complete X $10 per hour was my logic). Did I overtip or undertip? Please advise

Seether · #2 11-20-2004, 02:28 PM

Im pretty sure thats an under tip. I have heard you are supposed to tip 10% ( which I feel is too high) I would have probably tipped 150ish, maybe just straight 186 so I have an even take home amount.

kuro · #3 11-20-2004, 02:29 PM

Unless you're very wealthy or a world class tourniment player, I don't understand why people would ever tip dealers. Casinos make billions off of people that are bad at math and are playing slot machines, roulette, etc. It is their duty to pay their employees well, not ours.

Take the money you'd consider tipping them and donate it to charity or spend it on your family.

There was a special on Vegas on the Travel channel and some of the dealers were suggesting that in blackjack if you are on a winning streak, you should donate 10% to 15% of each winning hand to them. This just made me laugh.

over_c · #4 11-20-2004, 02:46 PM

Actually I think you tipped a correct amount. I believe the standard tournament win tip is about 3%. You might have tipped $80 but any more than that and you are over-tipping.

bads33d · #5 11-20-2004, 03:05 PM

Sometimes I tip the dealer at party poker [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

ZootMurph · #6 11-20-2004, 04:31 PM

I don't know what it's like in Vegas for tipping, but I've talked with many dealers on this issue, and they say 5% is a normal tip, 10% is very generous.

I normally tip 5%-10% dependent on the quality of the dealers. Basically, the faster they deal and more quickly and accurately they call the game (bets, players in the pot, hand reads, etc.), the higher my tips. I did finish third in a tourney once and not tip at all, because I had two dealers who were so busy chit chatting with railbirds or others that they didn't even get two orbits in their half hour shift at my table. I also explained to the tournament director that I wasn't tipping and why. I didn't see either of them the next week at the tournament, LOL. Anyway, a little talking it up or chitchatting is fine... they are only human. But when it affects the game, it is unprofessional and they ain't gettin' nothin' from me.

Edit: Also my finish affects my tip... if I'm barely getting my money back, I'm not going to give much because I don't want to lose money [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

tdp · #7 11-20-2004, 05:50 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Unless you're very wealthy or a world class tourniment player, I don't understand why people would ever tip dealers.[ QUOTE ]

People have this misconception in the service industry that nice places pay thier people well and this is not the case at all.Dealers make minimum wage and waitresses frequently make $2.01 an hour.Not tipping someone who is taking good care of you is just plain wrong.
Back to the original question,3-5% tip on a tournement is considered the norm.10% is way too much unless you're feeling extremely generous.

zaxx19 · #8 11-21-2004, 12:03 AM

Unless one of the dealers is exceptionally good at what they do you dont tip in tourney play...If i won a tourney i might thrown them a 100 but otherwise thats what the entry juice if for. Oh andf i took 4th in a horshoe tourney with the same entry fee and didnt even think of tipping so...