Well....

1. The amount won/loss in one tournament is irrelevant with respect to another.
2. He should tip on the amount won, i.e. the profit.
3. I would tip no more than 10% to 15%. (So in this case probably $5.)
4. The dealer should not expect more than 10% to 15%.
5. I would give the tip to the charity and not the dealer.

^^^^^ Point 1, excellent. One tournament has nothing to do with the other.

If he felt better about tipping, then he did the right thing. If he felt it was too much, then he should've tipped less. Who do you think the $10 meant more to?

ComboProf first point is dead on. One tournament has nothing to do with the other. If people only tipped based on their lifetime profit, we (the dealers) would make 0.

Concerning point 5. I am not sure of the role of dealers in a Charity tournament. I would guess they are in essence low payed volunteers helping to earn money for a worthy charity thus tipping them would be insulting. But I have never played in one, so what do I know.

I am on tilt after watching Live at the Bike and watching a $5/$10/$20 game with nothing more than $1 tips.

I have to laugh at this. 3 out of my last 5 paychecks have been $0. ZERO. NADA. ZILCH. NOTHING. We get our "paychecks" every 2 weeks.

I am taxed so much that I only make what I am tipped. And sometimes I am taxed on more than I actually made because a lot of people didn't feel like tipping that day. Or I dealt a tournament that customers didn't tip much at the end.
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And anyone who asks for a raise or tries to negotiate an hourly wage would be laughed at, I'm sure.

maybe tip 5 instead so he left break-even?

even losing money seems reasonable on a charity event though.

Then you better be making really good tips or it is not worth being a dealer. Tourneys are the worst in terms of tipping. The problem is in small tourneys you may not end up making really any money. That in turn results in the tips being low.

Persons with high incomes are always taxed at a high rate. Only the very well paid or the rich are taxed a lot.

If the room he deals at has tip compliance, it's likely that the amount of taxes equates to the casino's portion of that paycheck. Therefore his take-home portion is completely derived from the actual tips he receives. I think this may be what he meant.

And this made me laugh. If you get paid $8/hr wages plus benefits from your employer and make $30/hr tips, that is not bad. And if your employer withholds taxes on the total $38/hr, yes, you take home check would be zero. So having a $0 check says nothing about how much you are really making.

Again, says nothing without information about base rate and tips.

Sounds like you are under a Tip Compliance agreement. While it is possible to be taxed on more than you make, the overwhelming majority of the time people make a fair amount more than they are taxed on.


Tell it to management. They are the ones putting on the tournaments that only tourney regulars seem to like. Dealers and cash players hate them.


So asking for full time instead of a 4 day work week is out of the question? Asking that they schedule dealers so that you get 6hrs a shift "in the box" to make money, instead of a bunch of breaks and dead-spreads, is out of the question too?

Because you took a job with horrible working conditions (ie chances to deal cash games and make tips) the players are supposed to tip you more the few hours you are actually working?

if u have a job like that pls let me know where it is so I can transfer! 8$ base pay is double my current rate and $30 an hour tips is an exceptional day that only happens maybe 10 times a year. (and that is because we have a WSOPC stop which makes lots of cash games)

oh and a 4 day work week for part time would be great... we usually alternate 2 and 3 day weeks, 4 if there is a freeroll or something going on. 5 during the WSOP Circuit

$8 hr is the base pay in California.
While $30/hr tips is high ($240 a shift), $20/hr still would make $8 around 28% of ones total earnings. Hence, various taxes would eat up the entire "check".

So you expect a good income from "working" maybe 15 hrs a week and blame George for not tipping (enough)?

I didnt say I expect anything just letting you know that your numbers weren't the norm.

Excellent post. His logic was kind of silly when replying to me, because it was obvious that I was referring to the total sum of their checks (small piece of the pie) and their tokes (big piece)

2 things to address: "Telling it to management", that you don't want tournaments, will get you nowhere. The casino puts on tournaments for a reason--to get people into the poker room. They will not stop running tournaments just because the customers don't tip well and the dealers would rather not deal them.

Asking for full-time work, when you are part-time or 'extra-board', will also get you nowhere. The manager will give you full-time status when he/she sees fit, and only if they want more full-time dealers. Most casinos do not due to health and medical insurance. Most of the full-time dealers I know worked at LEAST 4-5 years as extra-board before they were asked if they wanted full-time status. Some dealers never get asked.

And asking to be scheduled 6 hours in the box? Are you nuts? Yeah, I want to come across to management and my coworkers as a demanding, greedy ass by asking to get more time in the box. The poker room would obviously like to be so busy all the time that dealers are all making money, but IT JUST DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. They can't control how many people show up for the games. They can't control when 5 people leave a table at once and it has to break because the remaining players don't want to play short-handed.


I don't consider my job, which pays minimum wage plus tips, to be 'horrible working conditions'. I love what I do. Some days are better moneywise than others. But dealers don't get a whole lot of say in their schedules, how much they deal, or how the poker room is run. Unless, of course, you're related to somebody higher up on the food chain.

Don't worry. I know how management works.

And I understand the employee mentality too.

And what was the biggest tip u ever saw??

Very few tip industries make sense for the skill/effort required. I have brushed, dealt and managed off and on in small card rooms in Washington since 18. We make more than we deserve but this type of thinking leads to the casino's saying the same towards poker players. We don't have to provide them with a food comp so lets not etc etc. I personally have had friends ask me about tipping and I think just throwing the person a few dollars $1-4 depending on the stakes is fine. I hate to reward incompetence and hate to see decent dealers move out of casino's I enjoy playing out because they can't make the money they are used to. Just some of my thoughts.

Also any type of argument about the casino's paying their employees better is laughable, they don't have to so they won't. And the idea of the dealer's rising up against the employers like some sort of proletarian revolution is also laughable. When there are easy non confrontational alternatives dealers will take these options. Many times people get involved in tipped based employment because they don't have to undertake long term responsibility and invest in projects at work. Punch in punch out. Immediate gratification mentality.

Anomalistic where do you work? I worked at Diamond lil's, played there for years, and have worked at different rooms in the WA area for a while.

On my 18th birthday (well, day after), I was convinced by the table that my $10 tip in my $1800 1/3 NL pot wasn't enough so I tipped $50. Dealer still seemed mad.

I think it's because everyone thought I had a fake ID since I looked 14.

I really should have read up on this thread before I started... but alas lesson learned.

A notable hand from play on Friday at NOON @ Trop AC. A player JOKINGLY placed chips UP TO the Betting line NOT Crossing it, but close enough for it to be IN Question... Dealer Announces Chips to the betting line, call. I was all in on River. Did not intend to call Floor here as opponent tried to fold. I was aware that he was teasing. I knew this is not something to Joke about... as he was doing. but it was too late. (he had 100 effective 1 2 NL Pot was 85 ish)

I tried to get a ruling in his favor (that it was still his decision as I knew he was goofing off but had the Trips...)

but dealer was not hearing it. she shut me down and said i been dealing 15 years. chips over the line in front of your cards is a call 100% of the time. plz show your hand u have been called. I was surprised how professionally it was ruled a call correctly. i showed the nut st8 on a paired bored. i tipped double this hand not because i won but because i was so relieved to have a dealer take ownership of her job.

If I tipped a dealer $50 and they "looked mad" I would never tip them again.

Tipping is a joke, I tip extremely well but still even waitresses, if they want to make $2.00 an hour and rely on tips for their sole income then they are asking for what they get if they get stiffed. America and all countries should ban tips and the companies should compensate fairly. Why rely on their customers to leave extra money to pay the employees. We don't tip janitors for cleaning public bathrooms... I sure as hell don't like dirty bathrooms either.

saw a guy pull a $100 bill out of his pocket to tip a female (asian) dealer a few months ago.

biggest i've ever given is probably $50ish. (same dealer)

One in every crowd.... Do u really want to pay who knows how much more for ur steak by someone who could give a crap less about the service u received? U want ur server making a few more dollars Per hour than a fast food employee? Think about it. If restaurants absorb the cost of paying otherwise tipped employees you lose no question about it.