One size does not fit all, when it comes to tournament tokes.

At the low end, you had folks like Sahara, who took I think $2 from $42 (plus a $20 rebuy 90% of people did) for the dealers (been a while--not sure). It was a fairly good structure and so lasted a while, and it worked out to like $6/down or less. They were fighting poverty. If the folks who took first and second weren't generous, the dealers had a bad day.

On the other end were some of the really fast daily events where they demand $10 for the dealer add-on. You get a three table event that lasts 4 hours and usually chops at 3 hours. So about 6 man-hours share $300. No need to tip anything extra.

And the freerolls can be wacky insanely good. Again, charge $10 for the dealer add-on, only this time it's three tables, 15 minute blinds double every level, and the event lasts two hours before there's a 10-way chop. Or sometimes it's two tables, they play 15 minutes, and then chop. The dealers fight with each other to deal it. One down and two dealers may share $200 (minus whatever cut the floor and cage take).

As Angus says, you can't come up with a specific "give N% if you go deep" figure. You have to look at each tournament individually.

I agree I nearly hit a bbj and it would have sickened me to have people giving me a death stare if I left "only 1 percent" to the dealer. It's just plain greed to ask for more. I know donks will leave close to 5 percent and will tip better to dealers than me, but they are donks and can't win anyway. It's like if I hit on a 35 to 1 on roulette I probably wouldn't tip more than 1 percent either as over the long haul I will lose that back to the house if I play the same stakes with any frequency. What I want to know is after I am tapped out will the same dealers pay any bills for me or give me a buy in or two to get back in the game?

For roulette I think 1/35 is a standard tip. So if I put 3 chips on number 30 and hit hits I'll tip 3 chips - if I'm playing dollars, $5 or $25 makes no difference.

I guess this makes sense, but I still wouldn't tip this much if I hit on a 35 to 1 shot. I have barely ever tipped at roulette as you will inevitably give back your win plus some. But if you think about it logically it's better to tip the staff and lose less to the house then stiff the staff and lose it all to the house...

From LVL:
"Don't forget us this time. C'mon!"

REALLY?!

Tonight I got a table share of a bad beat jackpot, a little under 5k.
I've spoken to dealers (before tonight) and know that dealing the BBJ is something every dealer looks forward to, because it is a huge payday (usually).

After the hand was dealt the table erupted (the energy was unreal when we all realized what happened), IDs and bank numbers were exchanged with the floor, and there was a lot of running back and forth figuring things out, making calls etc. By the time everything settled down a new dealer was due. Three of us tipped 100(one threw a bill, two of us shipped a stack of 5ers) but I didn't see anyone else (it is possible I missed it in the commotion). 300 seems really ****ty if that is all she got.

Obviously I can't control other people's tip amounts, but is 100 enough for a 4,700 dollar jackpot?

I would say yes.

standard would be 3-5%...generous would be up to 10%... so 100 is a little on the low end.. but definitely not BAD.. especially if it was done in a rush as you say... usually they lock the dealer into that table so people have plenty of time and opportunity to tip them

A. There is no "standard"

B. If the Jackpot was $100K total and everybody gave 5%, she would get $5K. More than a table share. More than a month's worth of tips. For one hand and locking up the table for half a down.

C. He gave ~2%. That would work out to $2K on a $100K jackpot. If $2K for fifteen minutes work is "a little on the low end", I think she has her expectations set a bit on the high end.

there is a "standard"... the "standard" is what most people give.. based on observances of tips given on jackpots won ... not saying they have to abide by it and fall into the guideline.. just that there is an established standard... whether or not you think its fair is up to you... if it was "standard" to tip the dealer $5 for dealing a bad beat jackpot or not to tip at all then that would be "standard".

$100 is very generous. It seems like the dealer didn't miss more than a few hands (and therefore a few dollars of income) during the time the payouts were being handled.

This is my theory on tipping at the poker table:
-I tip $1 on pots that are $40-$100 and 1% on all pots over $100, max $5.
-If I'm in the green, I will tip $1 on every other pot < $40.
-If the dealer is exceptionally fast, I'm willing to tip a little extra.
-I don't tip anything in tournaments because they already have a dealer add-on.
-I tip 5% after taxes on BBJ and all other promotions.
-I tip the cashier $1 if I finish the session up over 2 buy-ins.

Notes:
-If I'm playing to maximize EV, I don't see the point in tipping every hand.
-If I'm only winning $15/hr, I win 3 hands/hr, and I tip $1/hand that means that I'm tipping away $3/hour or 20% of my winnings.
-If I was playing to have fun I would tip at least $1/hand won and I would tip extra for suck-outs, dealers with good personalities, etc...

Rapini, do you ever go into the tank for a minute or more when making an important decision on a big hand? When that happens, do you tip the dealer an extra $1 for the time you took thinking about your decision if you end up winning the hand?

Or if you lose the hand do you tip the dealer $1 for the time you took thinking, when the dealer could have dealt one more hand?

I rarely if ever take a minute to make a decision. If my opponent tanks, making the hand take longer than usual, and I win, I will tip extra for the extra time it took.

I do not tip when I lose a hand.

At this point this question is purely hypothetical, but it was something I was thinking about.

I have been playing live poker for over 10 years without getting so much as a table share. Just doing some rough math lets say I played 10 hours/week (probably low estimate) * 50 weeks * 10 years, so I have played ~50,000 hours, and even if I only won 3 hands an hour (also probably low) I would have payed ~$150k to the bad beat jackpot, without getting a penny back.

So lets say I actually get a jackpot (or even just a table share), even if it is something massive like $20k I am still massively in the negative. So looking at it this way should I really feel obligated to tip the floormen/dealers/chip runners/etc?

I probably will, but all the same if you look at it logically doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

It's ok. Math isn't for everybody.

You've played 5k hours and by your estimates would have paid 15k to the BBJ.

Think of it this way. You've been playing for 2 hours and you've ran pretty bad. A few coolers and bad beats have put you down 2-3 buyins. You then win a sizeable pot stacking a guy with 100bbs.

Would you not tip about winning a 200bb pot because you're still in the negative?

Well, if you look at it in this way, you shouldn't be tipping period since poker is a -EV game because of the rake.

Most importantly, your math is off by a factor of 10:
($3 BBJ rake/hr)*(10 hr/week)*(50 weeks/yr)(10 years) = $15,000 estimated BBJ rake collected, not $150k. So winning a loser's share of the BBJ should hopefully bring you back into the black at least.

Also BBJ contributions are not usually dropped in small pots, so assuming ~$30/hr comes off of the table for the BBJ may be a little high.

Negative-sum and -EV are two different things. Most raked poker is +EV.

Thanks for correcting the math error. I guess there is hope that all I have to do is hit the big end of a very big BBJ and I will get close to even (not taking into account taxes of course).

Also, donno how it works where you play, but where I play $1 is taken out of EVERY pot. They even take $1-$2 out of pots where the blind is chopped, although I admit I don't know if this goes to the rake or the BBJ.

Random question that I'm sure might have been asked somewhere in the 222 pages, but.
On shows like "The Pokerstars Big Game" and other cash games on TV, it appears that they'll tip a red-chip on a lot of pots.

I watched an episode last night, and it appeared like a guy took down a $150,000+ pot and threw the dealer a $5. Is that standard? That amount?

Because when I'm playing 1/2-2/5 and win a pot of like $500+ I'll throw them a $5.
But then again I probably tip way too much. I play around 35-40 a week, and basically tip $1 on all pots pushed.

From what I understand it's fairly standard for really high stakes players to tip a standard amount between $1 and $5.

It ultimately doesn't matter what number is on the chips, the dealer is doing the same job. Getting the same tip seems fair.

I mean, you may tip 1% of a big pot at 1/2 because, absolute value wise, it still is a relatively small amount of money. If Ivey wins a $400,000 pot in Bobby's Room, he clearly can't tip $4,000 on it. For one thing, high stakes players would all go broke, and for another, the dealers would be the richest people in the rooms.

20 hands per hour, $5 per hand = $100/hour for the dealer. Do you think they should be making more? That probably puts them at the 3rd highest hourly at one of those tables.

+1

I would be floored to get $5 a hand.

At a valet, should the driver of a brand new Ferrari tip more than the owner of a 1993 Toyota Camry?

There was a Big Game where some rich guy was tipping very well (tipped >$100 multiple times) but he was being a douchebag in the process. Saying how the pros are worth millions of dollars but won't tip more than $5.

I'm just asking. Because when you play live, you see the tip change for the size of the pot a lot.
I do it too at times. Or if it's a dealer I really like, I'll give $2 as opposed to $1.

Like I think it's pretty standard at $1/3 if the dealer pushes you a pot of like $500+ to tip $5.
I'm not saying that's right or wrong, just what seems to happen.

But, I understand your point about the dealers making out like bandits if it were all equal, and Pros were tipping $2K on $200,000 pots.

Usually, dealers make a little more dealing NL2/5 than 1/2. 5/10 may be more or less than 2/5. But at 10/20 and beyond, the hourly tip wages start down and dealers expect to make considerably less dealing a NL25/50 sorta game than they get from 1/2.