Tipping in higher limit games

[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

[wslee00]

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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.

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I play for fun, so maybe my philosophy is different. I take this analogy: when tipping a waitress - you usually tip 15-20%. If the meal is more expensive you tip more. If she sucks, you may stiff her a little on the tip, say, 10%, and if she's good, you'll give her a little more. But the constant in all this is that the percentage is in relation to how much your bill came out to. It's not like she's carrying heavier plates or anything for more expensive dishes - it's all the same whether it's a burger or kobe beef.

I do tip more if I win a bigger pot. For a 1200 pot in a 1/2NL game, i'd probably tip 15, b/c that's a HUGE pot for 1/2 (600BB), maybe more depending on my mood, how much of the pot was my money, and how good the dealer is. If it's a $5 pot, I don't tip anything. Tipping $1 for a 600BB pot i think is being a bit on the cheap side.

[Jeffage]

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Tipping $1 for a 600BB pot i think is being a bit on the cheap side.

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I'll tell you what...next $48,000 pot I get shoved in a 40-80 game, I'll be sure the dealer gets some reds.

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

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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.

[wslee00]

But what do you think about the waitress analogy and the tournament analogy? What makes cash games so different?

[Jeffage]

Dealers don't get tipped practically every hand they deal as they do in cash games. Thus, they make significantly less per hour working tournaments so they need bigger tips to "make up for it." That said, if I was in a tournament that took money out of the prize pool for staff, I would tend to tip much lighter than I would otherwise.

Jeff

[Percula]

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But what do you think about the waitress analogy and the tournament analogy? What makes cash games so different?

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From my point of view nothing. I too am playing for money, money to live on, so tipping is money I am giving away. It doesn't matter if I am tipping the wait staff, the tournament staff (not that I play them much at all anymore) or a dealer. Pots get $1-$2, wait staff $1, tournament staff 5% to 10%, the larger the payout the more towards the 5% it will be.

[ QUOTE ]
Dealers don't get tipped practically every hand they deal as they do in cash games. Thus, they make significantly less per hour working tournaments so they need bigger tips to "make up for it." That said, if I was in a tournament that took money out of the prize pool for staff, I would tend to tip much lighter than I would otherwise.

Jeff

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I thought a piece of the entry fees was held back for the dealers. No?

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But what do you think about the waitress analogy and the tournament analogy? What makes cash games so different?

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Imagine sitting down for a meal and having one person take your drink order, one person take your appetizer order, another for your entre, then a different person brings your drink, your app, your meal etc. you now need to tip each of them each time they bring you something, and the busboy, hostess, bartender, etc. Something tells me those tips are going to drop down to the $1 range.

[Percula]

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I thought a piece of the entry fees was held back for the dealers. No?

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No, not every tournament ever run.

So do skim the pool for staff, some don't. Ask before you sign up for it.