You consider it to be a "promotion" and not a transfer of jobs in your room? Just curious is all, I've never heard of it being called a promotion, just a job transfer or title change. Always thought of a promotion along the lines of moving from peon to management type of some sort.

I always toss a buck to the runner. If I dont right when they bring me chips for whatever the reason, I always do so later on. But then again I will tip a bathroom attendant a buck once in a while and obv the cage when I cash out a win. Some runners where i play do decent at times, esp when busy and when there lots of regs in the games. Also the dealers at this joint tip them a buck when they bring new setups, which unfortunately is as often as the players are allowed

I would be willing to tip chip runners, unfortunately due to ridiculousness sydney's casino has no chip runners.

Nope, FW has no chip runners or brushes (as such), and floors and desk personnel aren't allowed to accept tips at FW.

I don't consider any of my team members "peons". we all have a vested interest in the success of the card room. so yes, I do feel going from chip runner to dealer would be a promotion. It is one step closer to supervisor, shift manager, or manager. IMO

Thx to all for the feedback..

All depends if the dealers are tipping them. I know some places the chip runners make a couple dollars a night and others $100 a night. Its not a high paying job.

As a former chip runner, I did okay, but nowhere near as much as I make as a dealer, and dealing is way easier.

This applies to a few more industries I can think of!

A promotion is a move up in rank, all jobs have ranks, Chip runners & brushes, then dealers, then floor man, next is floor/shift supervisors then if your lucky poker room directors in that order. Chip runners have to listen to dealer so it is a promotion. Plus there is a skill level and then there is a big difference in pay so it isn't just a job transfer.

I routinely tip chip runners, dealers, floor, food service, cage and valet. I get lotta really good service. Over a couple hundred sessions per year all that tipping adds up to a big number, so i hafta play good or run good to cover it.

What position is the "brush"? I mostly play in LA, and nobody uses that term here AFAIK.

You're just making stuff up. I was a waiter (I'm not a hot chick) and typically the hot chicks don't do any better than anyone else, and perhaps worse. When douchebag men hit on the hot chick waitress, they often will quite counterintuitively undertip. The hot chick waitress also gets undertipped by other women. It's the alpha male waiter that gets the best tips.

you are living in a dream world. All things being equal, the hot chick make at least 10% more than you every night. Not just some nights, every night

Brush is the person who handles signups for tables. Chip runners assist brush by keeping the tables full and run back open seat buttons.

Tipping is greatly influenced by sex. Men tip women more. Women tip men more. [And this has plenty of backing in academic studies...] But attractiveness plays a LARGE role as well, and it influences things cross-sex. A "hot chick" gets more tips than a Frau; and a buff dude gets more tips than a schlub - oy vey! And a flirty man or woman gets even more tips (search: gratuity touch).

The vast majority of poker players are male.

Casinos are better served with cocktail waitresses for exactly this reason.

It's a slow moving world. Men pay more checks than women do. ...and they'll tip women better.

...and of course I'm speaking in generalizations. Specific cases will vary.

since this is turning into a tipping thread....

Do you guys tip the cage after a winning session? I usually slide them a dollar or two. Is that standard? Sometimes I feel as if tipping just $1 is so insignificant that it comes across as cheap rather than generous.

Yes, tip the cage. $1 tip comes across a significantly less cheap than not tipping.

whats a chip brush... O.o

I only tip the cage if I'm doing a player bank or some other non-standard transaction that takes longer than plain old chip cashing. I gotta think that the amount of people tipping the cage is <20%, and certainly a lower % than people who tip the chip runners (which I do 100% of the time).

At the hard rock properties in Florida, they split a percentage of the dealers' tips

Hmm, I don't really see much value in chip runners. I think I'll just start buying $100 chips ahead of time in order to add chips as needed. I had no clue these guys relied on tips.

As for the cage, I don't tip when I pick up chips but do tip a buck or two when I cash out. Sometimes I wonder if I should be tipping more as I may be cashing out more than $1000, but at the same time, that $1000+ may be less than I bought in for.

Definitely the worst job in a poker room. From my experience dealers tip out a set percentage + any additional tips from players all pooled together then divided among all runners + typical waiter hourly pay = not much for the amount of hassle they are put through daily.

In my local room each runner has their own bank (don't go to the cage) and they get all player buy ins and dealer fills. On busy nights there might be 1 runner per 10 tables, slow times might be 1 for every 3 tables. And if they make a mistake they easily could be working for free that shift/shifts

I've maybe tipped a chip runner once in my whole life. I've seen the same people running chips @ my reg casinos the past few years, they can't do that badly or else they'd find other work (unless they are ******ed, which I guess is a possibility worth considering).

Man, I sound cheap. I've never tipped a runner or the cage ever.

Same here. I can't play without chips, therefore, they are doing an essential job. The sooner I have chips, the sooner I can play, and the sooner I can contribute to the rake. I really don't use the chip runner directly. I buy my chips at the cage and if I need change, I get it from another player or dealer. I do tip the "runner" when he goes to get food for me, because he's performing an "extra" service. Of course, going by my logic of "essential job", I wouldn't tip dealers either (but I do). I treat the cage just like a bank teller. I've never thought of tipping a bank teller for cashing a check or allowing me to withdraw money, etc.