Quote:
Originally Posted by Pokerhauntus
Dealer's perspective here:
1/2 live is not beatable for a living wage. Yes there are some great spots where people are giving away the farm but not 40 hours/week's worth. I personally ONLY have sympathy for non-tippers who are genuinely trying to make a go of it as a professional. I certainly don't expect a tip in a $15 pot. But it's definitely annoying to push a 40BB pot at any stake without a tip.
A great way for players to help dealers out financially is to 3bet and 4bet the correct amount at low stakes. If it folds to the button, they raise and you look down at KQo in the small blind, how many of you are 3betting? If 6 loose-passive players limp and you look down at tens in the big blind, how many of you are making it 10-12BBs? It's pretty tilting to watch people misplay by playing too passively because it leads to smaller pots.
Honestly I think a large part of the reason some people never tip is an indigence/envy that dealers make as much as people think they do. It's easy to think "These guys are clearing $50/hour without a college degree? **** that, they'll be fine without my tips." Dealers are only at a table for 1/2-2/3 of their shift. You can't look at a dealer making $15/down and think "oh that's $40 an hour" because it's really not. Dealers have to subsidize their own benefits and their paid time off is for minimum wage. These differences make the financial outlook for dealers significantly bleaker than a standard 50-60k/year job.
Ultimately, dealing would be a very cushy job if every player tipped $1/hand and nobody was an ******* at the table. But this isn't how things are. I understand that it's frustrating for the onus to be on reasonable people to be a compensating differential for all the tightwads and drunk idiots at the table. If people want fast, personable, qualified dealers, the majority of players have to be tipping. And just recognize that if you aren't tipping, you're in the minority.
I have a hard time believing there are any full-time dealers out there not clearing 50k. My last job I made 76k and 79k the past 2 years while averaging like 36-38 hours per week and like 2 weeks of PTO per year. Idk if this room is an outlier but it was rare to deal less than 3 downs in a row, most strings are 4-5 downs, there were no deadspreads and brushing was rare, like maybe 1 down per week.
I took a shot and relocated earlier this year because I was burnt out and there was a new room in a nice weather area that was just opening and offering me full time. This room was way different than I was used to, I don't if it was growing pains from just opening, hired too many dealers, if this is more the norm compared to my former outlier, or some combination of the three. Average weekday I was lucky to deal 2 downs in a row, 3 in a row was a minor miracle. Shift starts with a break or deadspread, deal 1 table, brush, break, table, break, deadspread, table, break, brush, table, table, break, do you want to leave? no... table, do you want to leave or go on break? ok fine I'll go. And I was still making 100-150 a night in tips, count Fridays/Saturdays which were a bit better (although still more breaks/brushes/deadspreads than I was used to) at 200-250 per night, add it all up and I would still hit between 50k-60k for the year.
I was really regretting me relocating prior to covid hitting, I only had a month and a half at the new place but it was really bumming me out. Idk if there are any experienced dealers out there that want to confirm if my previous room or current room is closer to the norm. I'd guess it's somewhere in the middle.