Do you tip less at a restaurant later on just because you lost money in an earlier session?

I always tip the food service relative to the bill and at casino usually higher ($2-3 on a $10 purchase is common.)

I don't find it hard to discriminate between won/lost money in a game and tipping the dealer/floors vs. getting food.

In one case I either lose money or make it, taking 100% risk in an uncertain venture. A dealer hands out cards, a service he is paid by the casino to do.

In the other case someone brings me food and I pay them for a service. I find them to be completely different.

That said, at the casino, I always tip well for food. Even when losing. But, I don't tip well if I'm losing, to floor or dealers. Obviously if i win a big pot and make a comeback, I'll tip accordingly, but, I'm talking about when I'm stuck big for several days... Don't expect more than a buck.

A server serves food. A dealer delivers cards.

I'm not saying you should tip if you lose a pot (that should be on the pot winner). The dealer is still dealing the hands that you win whether you're stuck or not.

If you're trying to save 1 or 2 dollars here and there when you're down, why don't you care about saving 1 or 2 dollars when you're in a winning session? Just seems inconsistent and just an excuse to save a few bucks. If you just want to tip less, that's cool, but don't rationalize it like the dealers aren't doing the same job dealing a hand that you win whether you're up or down for a session.

I do care about saving a few bucks in a winning session too. Or making a few extra bucks. Tipping less when losing is a matter of principle, psychology and math. If I'm losing money, I can't afford to lose more money. If I'm winning money, I can afford to give a bigger tip.

With all the grandoise expectations for tips people have nowadays...I kinda wanna sign back onto the $1 tip no matter what ... but, where I play, its a rich area and bad players tend to over tip so the dealers and floor get accustomed to it.

I expect or at least would hope dealers/floors/whatever to be happy with a $1 tip rather than a $0 tip. Sometimes this isn't the case, though.

I'm the wrong guy to ask, I've never played this game live.

Last month at Best Bet when bad beat was hit, loser of hand received $88K. Dealer ended up getting tipped $10,000 total from table. 5 1/2 % of total jackpot.

At the time it seemed like a lot, but thoughts?

Good for the dealer. He/she must be very good and also very pleasant.

Yes, it was a lot. Probably more than a table share.

Nobody put a gun to the players' heads and forced them. Unless you are the wife or a backer/creditor of one of the players, its really nobody's business what they tip.

Just don't use that percentage as a bludgeon to pressure the next table that wins the BBJ.

The server is paid by the restaurant to bring you food, the same minimum wage the dealer gets.

It is a lot. But good for the dealer.
There will be plenty of times he gets much less or nothing. It all evens out.

Last week I dealt a mini bad beat and got over 10% for close to $1000. Woo hoo.

So, you save up to go to a nice restaurant, but it is more than you really need to spend. Do you stiff the server and point to another patron that is well-dressed and say "I don't have much money, tell him to cover my tip"?

i never understood tipping the floor.. can someone briefly explain that?

It's just something nice to do. On top of that, if you're a regular, sometimes the floor will hook you up with a seat quicker than you would have normally got it.

If there's a long list and I get a seat right away, I tip $5. The good floors know this and will hook me up.

Probably about the shadiest thing I ever do.

p.s. to all the people comparing dealing hands to going to restaurants... I already said they're completely different things. We just see them differently, not going to argue it anymore.

In fairness, your definition of tipping less is what I tip normally. $1 per pot won.

You mean the bad floors? =P mostly joking

@Reid, I'm sure you're on the same page but it should be said anyway -- I wouldn't want to play in a room that allows floors to accept tips, but if I were forced to play there I might tip them for protection a la the mafia.

Where I play, floors cannot accept tips, but they can accept envelopes and stick them in their pockets. However, this place is so rule nitty that if anyone got seated out of turn, the fbi would be called.

Yes, this is certainly true. However, your default judgment when anyone adopts a different tipping policy than you, or what most consider standard, is doing so because they are cheap. This is certainly not 100% the case, and it's a far lower number than you think it is.


If you click the replies button on the main page for any thread that is several pages long, you'll see many of the same posters in that thread. Having been part of this thread for thousands of replies, I recall you as being the person that calls people cheap the most, which is why I brought your name out. Another would be bolt2112. There's no obsession involved, sorry; you have just made your position abundantly clear, is all.

I do not tip unprofessional or incompetent dealers anymore; dealers who are good-stellar get loads of tokes. However, when I have brought this up before, I had bolt wanting me to qualify what I consider unprofessional or incompetent. I really don't need anyone to grade my opinion on what I feel is unprofessional or incompetent solely to judge whether I'm being a cheapass or not (I don't even pocket their missed tokes for myself anyway), but it's pretty easy to figure out how a professional dealer carries himself - just read steamraises and ReidLockHardt's posts in this and other threads.

Anyway, I'll stop replying to your posts, or using your name as example in replies to others, since it's creeping you out.

Dealers and waitstaff are both paid minimum wage or less to provide you with a service.
Both also count on tips to make a living.

If you're a regular at a restaurant and a bad tipper you are not gonna get good service.

If you're a bad tipping regular I deal to, you will get 99.99% of the same good service as anyone else at the table.

So yeah, I guess that makes them completely different things.

The US tax code is the same way. You pay a higher % of taxes for more income you make (everyone doesn't pay an equal amount like your example)

They're fundamentally different things. If I go to a restaurant I'm paying for the ambience, the chef, the food, and the wait service. I'm getting tangible goods for my money and in the US its customary to tip food service, so I will, and have no problem with it.

When I play poker, you don't know me or what I'm doing there. Maybe I play for a living and you're making more than me the past 3 months. We're not all rich. If I toke a dollar and you're upset about it, then I really think that's your problem.

p.s. in practice I'm a sucker.. I won a decent amount tonight and tipped around what is average at my place (too high).

The distinction you're making doesn't really exist. One could just as easily say in a poker room you're paying for the ambiance, the floors, the drinks, and the dealers. You're getting services for your money and in the US it's customary to tip dealers, so you will, and you have no problem with it.

When you go to a restaurant, they don't know you or what you're doing there. Maybe you're a food critic and they make more than you. We're not all rich. If I give you 10% and you're upset about it, then I think that's really your problem.

If you can't afford to play poker, maybe you shouldn't be playing for a living.

The dealer gets tipped for the work he or she does, not for dealing winning hands. He should get tipped once per hand, with rare exception. It's a long-standing tradition that, to share the load amongst the players, it's the winner of the pot whose turn it is to tip. If you don't, you're basically mooching off those who do, because if everyone stopped tipping, the whole system would have to change. You effectively become a welfare case and a drain on the whole ecosystem. Save dollars some other way.

I'll agree with that 100%.

Even if you stiff me there's no upside to me getting upset about it.

Let me explain in multiple paragraphs how I am not obsessed.