Do you even play poker bro? His play is what makes or loses him money. Think about it: if he folded every hand, he'd lose only the blinds. Anytime he loses more than that (or wins, which I doubt), it's 100% due to his play.

Ss,


Ok. Two scenarios.

1:
Unlucky dealer A deals you first two Bad beats for -$1000 dollars. Then he deals you 8 winning hands for $800. Net -$200. No tips for this *******!

Lucky dealer B deals you 8 winning hands for +$800. $8 in tips for this lucky dealer!

Net: +$600, $8 tips.

2:
Lucky dealer A deals you 7 winning hands for $700, one unusual Bad beat for $500, then back to his winning ways with another $100 winning hand. +$300 and $8 in tips for this lucky dealer with one rare unlucky deal.

Lucky dealer B deals you 7 winning hands for $700, one unusual Bad beat for $500, then back to his winning ways with another $100 winning hand. +$300 and $8 in tips for this lucky dealer with one rare unlucky deal.

Net: +$600, $16 tips.

Most players tip the same either way. You tip the same amount as other players to the lucky dealers, but stiff the unlucky dealers.

So your strategy is a good way to rationalize tipping a lot less than average.

Just like the guy who tips 7% at a restaurant because he thinks that is plenty and it’s not mandatory to tip anything.

Sigh, you guys are leveling yourselves so hard. Might wanna reread the definition of "trolling".

El>
My rules aren't in concrete, so if that first 'bad' dealer gives me 8 good pots in a row, I'd tip him.

Anyway, it's ironic some ppl are calling me absurd as I also go wait till the end of the dealer's session to give an extra tip...You guys are worried about getting screwed beforehand so how's that different?

Finally, tipping is appreciated but not compulsory, there are no strict guidelines or else might as well make it mandatory. To pretty much enforce or try to compel ppl to tip no matter what is just ridiculous and the absurd part. Mind your own business there is no one right way.

So 18-20, got it.

ss,

This makes you seem like every other guy that does constant mental gymnastics with the sole purpose being how can I not tip.

Just don't tip. Nobody cares that you're a cheapskate. Plenty of others make up for your stiffs.

El D,

Don't forget 'and if they don't like it they can get a better job', which is also a go-to rationalization for these guys(and it is always guys btw.)

Which is fine, but at the same time you're still a customer of the casino/room as opposed to being employed by the room. While I am never belligerent to dealers I feel I have a right to complain if they're incompetence affects the game that I'm in on a continual basis. I've never not tipped a dealer that does the best they can and just aren't good at their job, only dealers with bad attitudes that I've seen treat patrons poorly on a regular basis make it onto my "no tip list".

I play in the same casino for 95% of my sessions, and generally get along with all of the dealers. I've also networked and have been invited to several juicy home games due to the relationships that I've struck with said dealers. I just personally find it cringe-worthy when dealers complain about tips while they're in the box, especially when they identify the players by name. To me that's unprofessional on many levels and strikes me with an entitlement complex that I'm far less likely to reward with tips.

Listen, ss1, I know you're just trolling at this point but for fun I'm knowingly engaging you with a genuine conversation in mind.

One last waitstaff example.

You go to your favorite restaurant once a week. You always order the same meal and the same drink and the bill comes to $50. You've determined that the fair tipping practice that is socially acceptable is to leave 20%, but for some reason, instead of leaving the $10 tip every time, you bring in a 6 sided die. At the end of your meal, you roll the die and if it's a 1, you don't leave a tip. If it's a 2,3,4, or 5 you leave a $10. If it's a 6, you leave $20.


Why should a server, who is performing a task, have their salary be determined by random chance because you have this weird idea in your head about being different? It doesn't make any sense. The dealers aren't determining the cards. They are performing their tasks, hopefully in a professional and mistake free manner. The cards that come out are mathematically bound to statistically come out with the same frequencies over time. When you are a better player, you'll be getting it in better than your opponents more times than not. You suck out less because you are behind less often when the money goes in. That's all you can do.

Don't punish a dealer who did nothing wrong because sometimes that 18% just gets there in a $1.5K pot that you got it all in preflop with aces. You don't have to tip on that hand. That's where you save the dollar. It's built in. If you really do keep track and do all these gymnastics (which, like ElD said, I also doubt you actually do), do you ever tip extra if a dealer can somehow get themselves back to that breakeven point to make up for all the tips you never gave them? I doubt it.

Just admit that you are cheap and are looking for excuses not to tip. It's much better to just hear that than to hear this convoluted scheme that you think tricks people into thinking you've come up with this masterful smart plan. Everyone here can see right through it.

I'm probably more generous than the lot of you in life. Cheap? What a joke. If you're cheap, fine, don't project onto others. I'm not doing mental gymnastics, I simply don't tip if I got burnt. Now, that doesn't mean forever. Just the other day, a "bad" dealer started giving me hands. That's nice and still probably didn't make up for my losses with him but I tipped him double for most of those hands and also extra when he ended his session as I appreciated he finally gave me something. It was quite remarkable as he never gave me anything.

Anyways, you guys do what you will, and stop leveling yourselves, just because someone does it differently doesn't mean trolling. If you get stacked and then win a micro pot next hand and tip, then good for you lol. I'd just think you're a sucker being fake just to keep up with appearances...And that's the real truth in this thread, ppl are just scared to look cheap and are convincing others to tip like lemmings. A dollar here or there is not going to mean a lot in the grand scheme, but why should I reward dealers that keep burning me? It's the principle, you guys admit being the scared reluctant tippers. I invented this scheme to avoid tipping? LMAO talk about super leveling. Some players really have crazy minds.

Anyway, done with you lot. Keep being the auto tippers no matter what. Lose a grand gii good one card to come, no problem, still tip the next pot even if $5! Foolish. Done.

The main idea behind tipping is that it gives service-people incentive to work harder to earn your tips. The problem with your tipping strategy is that this doesn't happen, because you are not tipping based on elements that are under your dealers' control. If a dealer wants to earn more tips from other players, they can make banter, deal quickly and efficiently, etc. depending on the player. With you there is not much they can do except hope they don't go on a bad streak with you. Many people think this is not fair and that's why you're getting flamed.

Honestly I think tipping on winning pots only is kind of stupid for the same reasons, but it is the expected way of doing things.

Not quite ...
1) I track my chip stack, not the cards/hands .. might be the same for your point though ..
2) Parking lots can get them fired ... I would seek them when they are dealing cash and don't pool the tip.
3) I would put 'something' in the dealer pool for all of them, then adjust at cash for the 'extra'.

Now that SS1 has taken the spotlight off me I thought I was forgotten .. .. but lets clarify the points. GL

We're all suckers and you're perfectly rational. You're right, ss1.

Well, as a dealer, I know that what ss1 and answer20 are doing is completely irrational. There's nothing a dealer can do to generate more luck or better cards for certain players.

But I'm also a player, and I know that when things go badly for me at the tables, it's never *my* fault. That's why I track which waitress is on duty that day and I tip certain waitresses better than others. Because, obviously, they're putting something in the ice or bringing me cursed plastic cups when I'm not doing well at the table.

1) Irrational definition, without the faculty of reason; deprived of reason
2) Define reason: a statement offered in explanation or justification
3) "Well, as a dealer, I know that what ss1 and answer20 are doing is completely irrational. There's nothing a dealer can do to generate more luck or better cards for certain players."

I'm not fully engaging the SS1 train here, we certainly differ on the waitress analogy and more. But we both have our 'reasons' for doing what we do, mostly, even basically, rewarding those that are around/involved during our success. I'm certainly not (and I don't think SS1 is either) trying to convince or sway the masses that any Dealer actually had/has influence over the results (That would be irrational) ... we are simply tying our tipping practices to our results in our own way.

That is not irrational (without reason) nor stupid (lacking common sense) .. It is just the way we choose to do it. Since there are no set rules on tipping we have this tidy thread here open for discussion on the search for what's a 'better/best' way to go about it ... and that will always be skewed from whose perspective we are talking about .. Player/Dealer/Room.

The issues that it's non-standard (agree), unfair (very likely in the short term), cheap (point of discussion) or misunderstood (for sure) are available for comment.

To offer another (irrational by most who post here) analogy ... I will be giving the gas station clerk who sells me a winning lottery ticket of more than $10 Million a nice 'tip' of $10K. Do you really think that I believe that the clerk had anything to do with those numbers/balls matching up? I am simply sharing a portion of my sucess with a person who was 'involved'. GL

It's not irrational; it just illustrates that you're terrible with money. After all, you play the lottery.

I was actually going suggest folks defer from that comment in my post, but it was long enough. Another subjective topic that requires perspective.
1) It's terrible to buy a new car when it's value drops 20-30% the moment you drive out of the lot.
2) It's terrible to pay $$$ for court side seats.
3) It's terrible to pay someone to fertilize your lawn just so you can pay someone else to cut it more often than before.
4) It's terrible to pay for dinner and a movie when you know you're getting some action later anyway.

What folks do with their money will always be subjective to other people's viewpoint. I don't play the lottery games very often, but it is a (very) short term form of entertainment that just might have a return some day. Now if I wanted to play the lottery for a living ... GL

PS .. I'm not saying that the list above is my opinion, but they are opinions that I've heard before.

Sweet bro, you just compared paying for cars, entertainment, labor and food with the joy of paying taxes.

answer20:

I believe that you think your heart is in the right place. But what you're doing is going around the rules of the poker room and the spirit of the tipping policy as it applies to tournaments.

The room I work in has a tip share for tournaments (as is the case with just about every room). I was at a tournament table a few months ago and saw a player who was a regular at a room where I'd previously worked and he was at my current room to play in this particular tournament. He and I had made a friendly connection at the former room and he'd always tipped me well there. As he went on break he came over and handed me a $20 bill.

I spoke to the tournament supervisor and let him know about this tip and asked him what he wanted me to do. His response was that if it was a tip that I'd received at a tournament table then it would have to be split among all of the other dealers. I pointed out that the tip had absolutely nothing to do with the tournament and that it was designated specifically for me. The supervisor heard me out and then confirmed the room's policy that it was treated as a tournament tip.

I've had other instances, including a room I'd worked in where a percentage of my tips went to the supervisors and brushes. A player won a high hand and never tipped me for it. Then he saw me outside the casino a few days later and gave me a tip in cash for it (somewhere around $20 or $40). The next time I was at work I gave the tip to a supervisor and had it added to my tips for the night, knowing that a percentage would go to the staff.

What you're doing, answer20, is effectively making your chosen dealers accomplices in theft from their co-workers. A few of them will (hopefully) do the right thing and make sure that the money you give them gets re-routed to the tournament tip pool. Maybe you don't like the tip policy of the room where you play, but you choose to play there.

Meh, come on. He's going to a dealer when the dealer is at a cash table and giving him or her money. Lol, accomplice in theft from coworkers.

He's calling it what it is. He's tipping the dealer for that dealer's tournament downs. If the room has pooled tips for tournaments, he's making that dealer an accomplice in theft from his coworkers. What part are you having difficulty with?

Example 1: I deal a tournament down and push a bunch of pots to a player. I see him finish in the money and them walk by and drop 20 dollars in my tip box. I'm giving this to the tournament supervisor to be split up.

Example 2: The same player sits at my 1-2 NL table and tips me larger than average whenever he wins a pot. I'm keeping the tips.

No he's not. A player can do whatever he wants with his money whenever he wants to. If a dealer accepts an inappropriate tip and doesn't notify the floor, then it is the dealer who is stealing from his coworkers.

Exactly. The onus is on you to not steal your coworkers' money.

I'm sure this happens all the time even after the player tipped as much as he planned to when he cashed in the torney and just feeling extra generous when you're still putting him on a heater in a cash game. If he tells you why, then you'll need to take that additional money and give it to a supervisor.

When I was new to dealing, I had a similar situation happen. A player won 4 or 5 all ins during my down, and he ended up eventually winning after having less than the BB when I sat down. About an hour after the tourney ended, he walked up while I was dealing a cash down and dropped some redbirds in my box. After the down, I immediately went to a supervisor and explained the situation.

I told him that while he tipped me while I was at a cash table, there was no doubt in my mind that it was for what happened at the tourney table. I told him I didn't want there to be any question about my integrity and would be glad to give the tip up. His response was that any tip given at a tourney table goes to the tip pool. But any tip given at a cash table stays wth the individual dealer, even it it came from a tourney player. So that's how our room distinguishes the two.

That's why you ask why he rolled up to your table and gave you $20 for no reason. Then the supervisor will probably have the same response since there's no real money to chop up, but watch his answer change if the guy drops a stack of black in your box.