Hi guys, wanna get your take on this ...

Situation:
In one room on Vegas in particular (will not mention the name right away, wanna get unbiased opinions in first) it's basically standard procedure to tip the floor guys on a regular basis. Since you are at a big disadvantage if you don't do this yourself, i called it tip/bribe

What you get in return:
- jump the line/waiting list
- change order of must move (if you wanna stay when fish is in the must move game, or wanna change to main game earlier when fish is there)
- overall more "friendly" ruling in case floor gets called over for critical decisions during a game

Since i'm mainly a PLO player, the casinos in question are the Aria, Venetian, Wynn, Bellagio and RIO during WSOP, haven't played at ResortsWorld so far, so not mentioned here, but these are mainly the places where PLO runs on a regular basis.

Now, my questions:
- Has anybody had similar experiences in one of those places?
- How do you handle it? Meaning, say **** you, i don't pay, and live with the disadvantage, call it out (never works imho), or just pay and call it cost of doing business?
- Any other ways of dealing with it, other input?

Thx.

Have you tried to report this to the nevada gaming commission? https://gaming.nv.gov/index.aspx?recordid=174&page=246

Pretty sure everyone knows which place you're talking about..

Before that poker room was even around, it had been that way at Bellagio for ages until they changed a lot of staff. No idea if it had anything to do with that though. It's also not like poker room floors are the only people in the service industry who get tipped for favorable treatment.

There's basically 4 tiers of customers in the poker room in question and probably in a lot of other rooms too. The top tier are people who are important to the casino for whatever reason. Tipping won't move you past them because the #1 objective for the floor is still to make their employer happy and keep their job. Second tier are people the floor likes. You can get to that level by being nice to them, including tipping. Third tier are people they don't know/care about followed by people they straight up dislike.

That said, if there's a ruling in question that's objectively wrong and you have proper documentation / witnesses for that, take that up to management or contact the gaming commission through the link posted above. I have no idea if anything like that happens at the place you're talking about. I know that being a good customer / tipper got you favorable rulings in borderline situations at Bellagio back in the day but never anything that was so outrageously wrong that you would have a case to file a complaint.

So obvious, he? (the place i mean) ;-)

I have never had a really bad ruling against me (been around a while and know my stuff, they know that too, so they won't try anything to obvious against me), but i've witnessed situations when i was not in a hand when a ruling that was at least tricky always went to the guy from whom i know he tips a lot.

The biggest disadvantage for me personally is the moving part (with must move and main game), but it's almost impossible to prove that they are wrong and you are right, but sometimes with a big fish/whale on one of those tables there's a lot of money at stake ... so it's important.

Regarding the complaint with gaming commission (other poster also):
No, didn't do that, mainly because i am not sure if it really changes anything (evidence???), but even more because i make good money there and i don't wanna risk get banned from the place. At the end they have the right to ban someone for no reason, it's that easy.

I guess we first have to assume that tipping the Floor is allowed in the first place? This is very uncommon but certainly shouldn't be a surprise whether it's out in the open or not.

Lots to say, but probably not much meat in the stew .. So I'll just say that the one thing you can do is verify the moving list every time someone moves. Force the Floor to announce the order so the whole table knows at least the next 3 .. just like baseball (next, on deck, double deck).

A couple casinos I've been to actually show the list as a MM table on their Bravo .. probably a stretch to ask (maybe extra work too).

It's possible that the Floor sends over a Brush to help a Player move and then you miss out on this 'opportunity' to make sure of the list.

Obviously you risk getting under the Floor's skin as well as hurt his 'income' when you are so diligent about the lists, but you'll have to feel that one out as you go. GL

Tipping floors is allowed in Vegas, and widespread.

That is exactly what happened, i caught him "in the act" so the say, which he didn't like (oh wonder), and then the mood went from dislike to open hostility.

The next day my name miraculously wasn't on the list when i called in (guess who the floor guy was).

And, regarding tipping in general: I don't mind tips at all (for actual favors or simply because you like somebody and approve that he is doing a good job), but they way it is handled there feels more like a bribe.
(and that one guy in particular is a real jerk, he hates his job, has an attitude, and i wouldn't tip him if my life depends on it)

That wasn't my point, but thx for nothing anyways.

I was responding to a20's first paragraph, in the post directly above mine. But GFY too.

Just to collect some more information about tipping in general, how much do you guys tip and for what? I start:

- chip-runner, simply change (color up or down, more chips, whatever)
1$
- food service
3$
- floor/chip-runner (when its more complicated, takes more time, getting money from deposit for example)
5$

Is that reasonable?

PS:
Oh, and waitress of course, when she is really hot and nice (rarely these days) 5$, otherwise standard 1$ :-)

having a bad day my friend? ;-))

If you come to someone's house, and start crapping in the living room, don't be surprised when you are asked to leave.

Stop being a jerk

Hell yeah dude, double down on being a dick because you don't know how internet forums work.

Tipping for favorable treatment/service in the future is pretty standard and usually perfectly fine if it doesn't violate any rules. the latter might apply if that might put other players in the poker room at a disadvantage though.

If your high tier player card gets you to move up the list or preferential movement in a must move game, there's nothing wrong with a $20 tip doing the same thing. At least if your employer is OK with it and the procedure doesn't violate any gaming regulations.

“thnx for nothing” and now “GFY”.

Any honest reading ITT clearly knows who is having a bad day.

Adding….
Based on your posts here I think there might be a clue why ‘the world is against you’. If you act to the floors and dealers like you have acted here, even tipping them (more) probably won’t help.


Also if the chip runner “is really hot” does she get a bigger tip? Do you tip more if the dealer is hot? I don’t want to deprive attractive staff (each to use their own definition of attractive) but being really hot should not 5x a tip. Simple blatant objectifying completely our of place now

These bring to mind an analogy. If I'm taking a crap in a public toilet and someone sees me and starts making a big deal about it to people, I'm not going to look kindly on them either. While I don't work in a casino, dealers and floors are in the customer service business.

I don't do call center service regularly, but on an emergency basis I have been asked to handle basic service calls (all hands on deck). I'm capable of a lot more than basic service when taking those calls, but not required to. Take a guess who gets me to the do the extra that will take me 2 additional minutes and who gets sent into the 1+ hour line to wait for that particular service? And no, people aren't able to tip me.

Oh my god, you guys are in the same club?? :-)))

taking things a little to serious for my taste ... but whatever. you do you.

i gotta say, start loving you guys even more now ... ;-)))

oh, and one more thing:
yeah, you are correct, apparently i dont know how forums work, and im so glad i dont ...

What room is this (or does everyone think it is)? I will be visiting Vegas later this month and play some omaha.

Or feel free to DM me if you don't want it public - tx

He’s talking about the poker room closest to Bellagio.

That said, since tipping floors is allowed in Vegas, it’s also somewhat expected at other rooms too. Obviously only from people who want something from them though. If you just go to the room, get your name on the list, wait for your call, play a couple hours and leave again, no floor expects to be tipped.

This was always really bad in LA/Vegas... this is kinda like asking what should I do if any employee is treating me worse then other customers. It's up to you to decide there are a lot of options from trying to friend him like the other people, to talking to him about being fair, to never going back there, or to trying to get him fired/fined. In my experience I try to be friendly and if they're being unfair which is causing me a disadvantage I say in private to them in generalities when this happens it is unfair to me without naming names/situations and if they keep doing it I find another place to play.

+1
if it's still unclear: the parking is really close to the entrance/room :-)

i get what you are saying, tried some of it already (without positive impact).

and regarding "then play somewhere else":
outside of WSOP time this is the place with the most action regarding PLO, so i'm kind of stuck with it

On a general note:
One dealer told me that the normal floor actually makes less money than they do, and are generally pissed because of that, so the extreme tipping need i wanna call it is explained that way.

Only when you move up to shift manager or something else you make more.

But still, it's a problem created by the room, not me, so shouldn't be my problem to solve.


PS:
funny that nobody mentions another room where this happens a lot, so it seems like a specific problem connected to this one.