The deserve part goes back to when we were hired, our salary is based on tips. We deserve a tip just like you deserve not to tip. This is a never ending debate.

SomethingStickey, you are forgetting that he is entitled to whatever he has. Everyone else cannot even THINK the wrong way or they will lose their jobs. That's okay, they probably didn't "deserve" them anyway...

Are you saying you think it's odd to be entitled to an opinion? That's your concept of self-entitlement?

And yes, as a professional poker player, I deserve everything I earn at the tables; if I play poorly, I deserve everything I lose.

I'm glad that the topic of "customary tip for a BBJ" came up again, because I had intended to contribute this story, but never got around to it. Net/net, there seems to be a wide variety of views on what is customary among dealers as well as players. Without commenting, let me share this story.

About a year ago, some lady hit the BBJ at my local casino for at least $40K - the jackpot was somewhere north of $80K at the time, it might have even been over $100K. She apparently tipped $500. I wasn't there, but I played several times during the next week or so, and heard lots of table chatter among the players regarding "the cheap tip for the BBJ." No dealers discussed the tip. The winner was apparently an occasional late week/weekend player.

Well, about a month later I was playing on a Friday night, and someone came over and congratulated a woman at my table for hitting the BBJ - it turned out that she was in fact the same woman, and the table conversation actually turned to the topic of the tip. She addressed the topic very straightforwardly.

Apparently she's a dealer from an out-of-town casino who visits this area semi-regularly. On the tip amount of $500, she said something about $500 being a perfectly fine tip for any jackpot. The conversation didn't end there - she was challenged a bit, but in a friendly way. I remember that she said "Listen, I've been a dealer for more than ten years, and I know what people tip on BBJ's - believe me." When she said this, she was laughing in a way that indicated that to her, the topic was ridiculous - suggesting that anyone "in the know" would agree with her. I'll also note that all the dealers were very friendly to her.

So it does seem that dealers also have different points of view on what is considered to be standard.

I don't know what you do or don't deserve in the way of player tips. I do know that most dealers that make a mistake seem to feel they still deserve a tip because, "I'm only human. It was a small mistake and nothing worthy of not giving me my due."

So, if you deal a $100K BBJ and you get tipped $10 total, you feel you got what you deserved?

We're simply expected to tip more in a room that has a BBJ.

Yet as per your own story, her view was the minority view - even among the non-dealer players who actually spoke with her about it.

Again with "deserve..." If that happened to me I wouldn't feel that I got what I expected.

Once again it dosnt matter how I feel it was that player that felt I was undeserving.

Yet you won't entertain the idea that maybe he's onto something?

A lot of you guys (not all) sound like people who tip well get it; people who don't tip well don't understand they should tip (or should tip more, or are cheap etc.) Never is any of it the dealer's fault for the short tip?

As far as mistakes yea they happen imo I would still tip if the dealer was professional about it and apologized. I'm human I make mistakes on and off the table I apologize and correct it. If you feel that mistake was colossal and it cost you money by all means stiff away.

Not really; it was a balanced discussion. People sincerely wanted to know. And of course, the vast majority of people say nothing at all, but they count too. It's not as if everyone was talking about the BBJ - but you know how it is after one hits, people ask about it.

The takeaway seemed to be that players will talk big about how much they would tip, and how much other players should have tipped, but that in reality, a $500 tip was a very normal and acceptable amount.

Of course, the big takeaway for me was that an experienced dealer tipped roughly 1% ($500) on a BBJ, and openly and honestly discussed her opinion that this was a reasonable amount, and stated that this would be normal and acceptable to the dealer community.

I've said this for a long time. There is a reason almost all the rooms in Vegas have HHJ's. It's not just that the players like it, the dealers love it. Basically dealers in jackpot rooms do exactly the same job, exactly the same way as dealers in non-jackpot rooms, but they get the bonus tokes now and then. It adds up, particularly since players are often percentage-wise FAR more generous toking for jackpots than for pots; $5 on a $500 pot is very generous, but $5 on a $500 HHJ would be considered very stingy.

It is interesting how the prospect of giant tokes can cause some infighting. In one room I know of, they actually had a vote and ruled that BBJ tokes had to be shared equally among all the dealers, including the extra board dealers, which included a great many who only worked one or two short shifts a week. The vote was done one vote per dealer, so duh, the extra board dealers who outnumbered the fulltime dealers voted to share the BBJ tokes; the parttimers voted to take an unfair share of the fulltimers tokes and yes, this caused significant resentment (far more than the actual dollars likely involved were worth).

The players who might consider $500 cheap on a big jackpot payoff are the ones with the dream of hitting that big score. They envision collecting the $50K payoff and with the dealer's encouragement of this dream would tie in a $3-5K tip into it. Ever notice these are the players who will play small pocket pairs or 3-6 suited in any situation? Clearly some dealers will use manipulating high end outlier examples for their self serving interests. The ones "in the know" aren't going to buy it.

Maybe it depends on the area, and what players are at your table. In all of the BBJs that have been hit where I work, most dealers have made, to my knowledge, about 5-10%. I've only dealt it once. I made about .35%.

This dichotomy is an interesting one to me. It essentially solidifies the dealer belief that this $500 came out of nowhere and we should be ecstatic to just dump a ton of it to a guy for just doing his job; a job that would usually yield a $1-$5 tip.

Interesting perspective on it. Thanks.

I wonder if this is partially due to the statements earlier ITT from some who considered the amount of the tip based on the time it subtracts from the dealing time. The other probable reason is just because it is "Surprise!" money. Some dealers and players alike don't think that you did anything to "earn" this, but you had to "work" to get that $500 pot. I would give the reasons for this particular thinking about a 10/90 split for both of these reasons.
I used to be in the camp of mostly percentage (1-2%) tips, but am now leaning more toward the time used up type of tipping. I did earn that bonus money by paying for the extra drop while waiting. On the other hand, do dealers consider a room that has HHJ or other player "bonus" in their job hunt? If room A and B are the same games, hours etc. but room A has these things in place, would a dealer prefer to deal in A over B? The dealer in room A may be "paying" some of that bonus by receiving less tips over that same span.

Thank god the back and forth bickering has slowed down, so we can get back to some meaningful discussions. My very first post was lost in the abyss about 25 pages ago.
That was just 3 weeks ago! I can see why this topic has a containment thread.

Man.

The entitlement in this thread.

I'm thinking of modifying my tipping policy.

I currently tip $1 on every pot unless I steal the blinds or win the pot with a flop bet.

I'm thinking of modifying current tipping situations to only tip if I have a diamond in my hand. It really sounds like you dealers are making too much money. The games need to keep going!

Have u ever seen a dealer give back a tip on a split pot?

I've had a dealer give me back a toke on a regular pot before.

But, and I'm sure NYC can confirm this, most dealers expect two tokes on split pots, especially if there is dead money in the chop.

If a player gives me a toke I'm not allowed to give it back unless the player wants it back. That never happened to me but I have heard stories. If your playing a split pot game and your heads up most players table there cards and check it down.(when a low is on board) I personally don't expect a tip in that situation and I appreciate checking it down and move onto the next hand. As far as getting quartered I wouldn't tip for that. Chopping high and low I usually get $2 or just $1 from the high.

If I make to much money I am sorry but I need to support my family. So I find my job fun and rewarding except when I deal to miserable people like some on this thread.

Oh, please... the attitude. Don't forget that the few-several hundred a month in tokes we dish out also can be used for helping support a family. With your attitude, please make a good case for why I should give my $400 health insurance premium to you and your like?

Also, the guy was speaking about chopped pots in non-split games.