Tipping in higher limit games

[m bozeman]

I spoke to a dealer during the WSOP this year, who was dealing a very loose, big-stakes PL Omaha game, with many pots being over 10,000. He said that all of his tips were only a few dollars each, maybe a 5 dollar tip here and there. Crazy.

[Jeffage]

Dealers don't deserve more money for pushing chips of a different color. If dealers do a good job, they get a $1 tip when they push me a pot, regardless of size. $2 for the occasional monster if I like the dealer. If dealers got 5 or 10 bucks a hand, they would make a hell of a lot of money.

Jeff

[utmt40]

I won a big pot one time of like 1200 (this is big to me) bucks and gave the dealer a 10 dollar tip. Was this out of line? She was a great dealer though and made the game a lot of fun.

[Jeffage]

If dealers don't infringe on my action, I'm not going to infringe on theirs. Tip what makes you happy; if you like the dealer and feel like being generous, do it. That said, dealers probably deal about 30 hands an hour with fills and other delays. If they make $1 a hand, I think that is a good living for most people. Say they get stiffed on 10 hands and $1 for the rest. Thats $20 an hour. 40 hrs a week is $3200 a month before taxes (just under 40k a year). I think that's a fair wage for what they do.

Also, I play for money which is quite meaningful for me. While I have fun playing, I don't play for fun. Tips come off my bottom line so I want to be reasonable and not cut into my earn to badly...that said, I make sure not to stiff b/c I want competant dealing staff and know they need to be adequately compensated to want to stay there. I'm always happy when a tourist showers dealers with big tips and would never say anything to discourage that.

Jeff

[RydenStoompala]

Is that her picture in your avatar? The $10 was low.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Dealers don't deserve more money for pushing chips of a different color.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess it depends on whether you see tokes as, "I'm rewarding you for your hard work," or "I'm sharing part of my recent good fortune with you." I tend to see it as a mix of the two -- but of course, that suits me as a low-limit player because it gives me an excuse to tip half-dollars at the Foxwoods $2/4.

Just curious, would you apply the same logic to a several-day $500 buyin tournament (if such exists) as you would to the World Series of Poker Main Event? And shouldn't the person who finishes on the bubble tip almost as much as the one who just barely makes the money, since they both generated about the same amount of work for the dealers? It's just interesting to me that in tournaments it's taken for granted that the person is tipping based on their win, but in ring games, "Dealers don't deserve more money for pushing chips of a different color," is apparently accepted as conventional wisdom among high-limit players.

[Jeffage]

Say you are a pro player and play 40-80 for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week (50 hours). Assume 40 hands an hour and that you win 4 of them. With a $1 tip regardless of pot size, you will spend 200 a week on tips (800 a month, 9600 a year). Double that amount and you will see that this can have a significant impact on a serious player's year-end earn. I want to see dealers compensated fairly (and I think 30 or 40 grand a year is very fair for them), but I also have to look out for number one here. If a dealer is spectacular, I may tip more and if a dealer is terrible or bad for the game, I may not tip at all. But I respect all dealers who do their job well and in a professional manner.

As for tournaments, I don't play them so I wouldn't know.

Jeff

[Bulbarainey]

[ QUOTE ]
Say you are a pro player and play 40-80 for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week (50 hours). Assume 40 hands an hour and that you win 4 of them. With a $1 tip regardless of pot size, you will spend 200 a week on tips (800 a month, 9600 a year). Double that amount and you will see that this can have a significant impact on a serious player's year-end earn. I want to see dealers compensated fairly (and I think 30 or 40 grand a year is very fair for them), but I also have to look out for number one here. If a dealer is spectacular, I may tip more and if a dealer is terrible or bad for the game, I may not tip at all. But I respect all dealers who do their job well and in a professional manner.

As for tournaments, I don't play them so I wouldn't know.

Jeff

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree completely. Consider how much even more it will effect the low limit 3-6 to 9/18 player who plays part time on the side for extra cash. If you start tipping over $1/pot, you are going to start cutting 1/3 or more into your already meager hourly rate. It seems now at commerce the avg tip IS $2/pot at 3/6 and 4/8, but mostly from losing players who will never have a positive hourly rate anyway. No offense to dealers, I think they have a very work-intensive job, but I don't think they deserve $60/hour, considering the winning 3/6$ player MAY make $10/hour, after doing much more studying/analysis than 2 weeks at dealer school.

[bigfishead]

[ QUOTE ]
Say you are a pro player and play 40-80 for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week (50 hours). Assume 40 hands an hour and that you win 4 of them.
Jeff

[/ QUOTE ]

Jimany xmas Jeffage, I wish I could do that!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] My last 23 hrs of play have gotten me 12 pots!! Last nite was no exception, 4 hrs = o pots, I suck. vpip=less than 8% I'm sure. heh. Gosh I think I'm gonna go get 2 hookers as soon as I see 3 winning sessions in a row!! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Jeffage]

[ QUOTE ]
Jimany xmas Jeffage, I wish I could do that!! My last 23 hrs of play have gotten me 12 pots!!

[/ QUOTE ]

OMG, I don't even want to tell you what my last 3 weeks have looked like online. If I could tip the goddamn thing to let my cards hold up just once, I would shove dollars into my DVD drive, anywhere lol. I can't wait till I spend alot of next month in Vegas away from this infernal machine.

See you there, you I tip well. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Jeff