Are there any pooled-tip situations that still track individuals' contributions to the pool? Seems like that might smooth out the day-to-day variability but still put pressure on consistent poor performers to improve.

I've never seen this. I've actually seen the opposite quite often: when someone ask the dealer if they got them last time the dealers have typically replied, "Yes" or "I think so" or "I don't remember". I've never heard a dealer tell a player they didn't tip. I find this to be very good form on the dealer's part.

Quite honestly, it's the opposite. It's normally, "Did I get you?" or "Did you get one?", which I think is super cool. Although I've caught a few people asking me that just to see if I would fish an extra buck out of that, lol. Thankfully, honesty prevails.

+1
i always tell the truth.

"Did i get you on that one?"
"Sure did, thank you again !" once in a while i get the "here's another for telling me the truth."

Occasionally the answer is "Not on that one."
Which is usually/often followed by, oh im so sorry ! Her ya go,
"Thank you much !"

People genuinely forget and they want to know the truth.
I know players who ask knowing full well what the answer should be, there are dealers who will lie, and it will cost them in the end.
You lie, no more tokes.

Jeez...I just scanned through this thread and most of this is total trash. We have unemployment hovering around 10% with real unemployment somewhere close to double that. I can guarantee you that people would beat down the casino doors for a $12/hour job. Figure that's probably $8-9 per hour more than what most casinos are paying. Up the rake by $1 per hand MORE than covers it. All these people saying that no more tipping means rakes of $12+ are nuts....Any dealer who says that they won't work for $12/hour...fine...leave. Someone else will be begging to take your spot

I appreciate it when the dealer is honest and usually throw them a 2nd tip. Sometimes I am still deep in thought after a complex hand and it slips my mind.

Here's the way I feel about tipping the Dealers.. If they keep there own tips, I tip a Dollar, no matter what the Pot size, more if I get more.. They're doing the same work for a checked hand as a multi bet hand. Tips are their main source of income...

What if they don't keep their own tips?

So which is it? $1 no matter what the size of the pot is or more if you get more?

These 2 statements seem mutually exclusive.

There should also be some consideration given to how long a hand actually takes to deal and to play out.

If a hand takes 15 minutes to play out, at a "dollar or nothing" table that works out to $2 per down.

(yes, an extreme example, but using it to make an important point)

There is a big difference between "$1 per hand" at a fast limit game vs the same "$1 per hand" at a snail's-pace PLO game. Ironically, however, it takes far more skill and expertise to properly handle the slower-paced (yet far lower-paid) game.

It is not a rational pay structure, because it highly penalizes the best and most capable staff while rewarding weaker dealers who have to be routed around the tougher games.

More food for thought.


q/q

I agree completely. That's why I tip more than $1 if I win a pot that takes longer than the table norm and why I'd never even consider tipping a percentage of the BBJ if I were to win one. I'd merely tip the dealer for the time he lost, e.g., if he lost an hour of work I'd tip whatever I think the maximum number of hands he could have dealt in one hour and round up. So if I were to take down the losing side of a $600k BBJ and get $400k and it cost the dealer an hour, I'd probably tip ~$75 (figuring maybe 50 hands per hour plus a little extra).

Another extreme example, but the point is exactly what q/q is getting at: the money won shouldn't have nearly as much to do with the tip as the service rendered, and that includes the amount of time it takes to provide that service.

Toking is one of the few things that a player can control. The old axiom, "You get what you pay for." is certainly true when it comes to toking poker dealers. The good ones gravitate to where the good tokes are. If you stiff all the dealers you get what you deserve.

This obviously doesn't apply to pooled-toke rooms. Moreover, without pooled tokes it's still a free rider problem, unless we can put two dealers in the box so that the bad one can deal to the bad tippers at the table.

I tip a lot differently than most people. I just give them $1 every time they take the session fee. I don't think it should matter if I'm winning or losing. I play about 100 hours a month and I've decided that I can afford to tip $2/hour so that's what I do every hour. Most dealers I've asked about it think it's pretty fair. I'm a dealer too and I think it's reasonable. Also, the tips are pooled here. I think I might not tip this way if dealers kept their own tokes.

This question is directed towards you and all of the other dealers ITT.

If the dealers are allowed to keep their own tips what do you believe is acceptable? I have been tipping right around $4-$8 an hour, but the dealers keep their tips. Should I be tipping $1 an hour or do what you are doing, $2 an hour?

Btw each dealer sits for 30min.

I'm not a dealer but imo gjpsr nailed it. I love people tipping redbirds on $100 pots if the dealer's good. Dealer makes money, i just show my $1 of appreciation when i win, everyone's happy.

No one should tell another person whether or not to tip or how much to tip.

Having said that, if a poker dealer has the hope of getting tipped, they will work faster and cleaner. Dealing more hands with fewer mistakes is +EV for anyone playing.

Pay a dealer a fixed rate and any incentive to deal faster and make fewer mistakes is gone.

In regular jobs, your incentive for doing well is they don't fire you and hire one of the hundreds of other people who have applied for your job.

Works out alright for them.

I don't understand why anyone would want more $ coming off the table than there already is.

I'm very proud of stiffing all the dealers. We're a market based economy. There is absolutely no reason to tip so long as there are plenty of people waiting to replace any dealer who doesn't like his job. Why should any of us overpay for this service? It's not like the service is any better. It's almost like the more you toke a dealer, the less they try. Once they hit the min needed to fade their bills, any thoughts of service go right out the window. Dealers provide the worst service I've ever seen from any service related employee in my life.

Sounds like you're getting exactly what you pay for. The system works.


q/q

Perhaps because real winning players can make a lot more money at 25 hands per down than at 12.

q/q

For one thing, the negative effect on me is extremely marginal. It's only $4 * the probability that the pot-winner would stack off with me at a time when the extra chip would still be in her stack and i still cover her * (probability i win the hand - probability i lose the hand). Yeah, OK, plus some fraction of that representing that she might lose her money to someone else whom I cover who would then lose to me. If "money off the table" means my opponents bust out, there's almost always someone on the list to replace them, who'll buy in deeper to start. So BFD.

The positive psychic effect on me is real. I can read these threads and laugh at the notion that dealers are so poorly paid. I don't need to tip extravagantly, but i know that good dealers are making good money. That's worth more to me than the pennies lost.

Considering that 9 other players at the table, all of whom tip, get the same service, I would say that if you agree with his second statement, the system does not work.

I have tried to stay away from this thread because this is one discussion I can't stand but as a degen I finally gave in. I always tip $1 for each winning hand. Even if I split the pot I still tip a dollar then giggle to myself as the other player tips a dollar and the dealer just made more money from the hand than we did. The part I don't understand is when I play 2/4 I tip a dollar and as I walk past a 5/10NL I see them tipping $1 also. If I go to Olive Garden and buy a $40 bottle of wine I have to tip an extra $8 but if I buy a $100 bottle of wine I have to tip $20 but the waiter did the same amount of work. Why is the tipping standard different in the service industry?