I've played a few $50+rebuy pokerstars homegames with about 30 players. 1st place is usually around $1000. As far as I know, nobody tips, nor has anyone who runs the games or invited me mentioned tipping.

It takes only a few minutes of work using venmo / cashapp / paypal. I don't understand the need to tip absurd amounts such as 5-10%, which in my game would amount to tipping your entire buy in.

If the game runner wants to take a cut, they should be upfront and remove that amount from the prize pool.

Something else to note here: whoever is hosting if it’s in the US is operating a criminal enterprise that probably breaks multiple federal laws (including tax evasion). Since they are taking on all that risk, they probably should expect to turn a tidy profit.

tipping is closer to feudalism than to capitalism. It's an expression of how classist and elitist american society is.

You should try other countries as an experiment to test how stupid this notion is.

I remember winning about 7k in one month in a PLO group on pokerrrr app. Always tipped the ones who ran the game pretty well.as they were losing to me too.

Got kicked out of the group for telling 2 players in the group chat to wait for more players to join before starting the game or the rake will eat us alive.

Got threatened by one of the people running the game. Dude wanted to meet me up to fight. The whole works.

These mofos need to calm down and realize how lucky they are to be making anything. And its illegal on top of that. Idiots

You might be overstating this just a bit. Also, it's not tax evasion if you declare the income and pay taxes on the profits.

They have raided people for running football survivor pools. Do you not think its possibly that they raid an illegal poker club?

Your argument falters if the club is not illegal. Since they are legal almost everywhere your argument is weak.

I'd like to think I'm so good that it's this, but I'm not sure it is. I'm up big, yes, but so are some others, and I still see them playing regularly. I guess they are tipping much better than me.

Exactly. Like I said, we started with our own group of guys around town. It was a natural move. We were already Venmoing and Paypaling each other in person for cash games because we didn't want several thousand dollars sitting out in the open at one of our houses. So we just took turns when we started doing it online.

But ever since these bigger games started, these guys are thirsty for some money. Tips I gave early on no longer good enough. There were times that my tip got close to a full buy in. I know my biggest win ($3600 on a $150 buy-in) went over (5% = $180, and I actually tipped an even $200).

I think I need to find your games with the no tip expected.

I’m pretty sure that it’s not legal or else there would be legal online poker everywhere. Also, there are plenty of stories of people’s home games getting raided.

How exactly do you declare income taxes on an illegally run home game? And if you don’t report it, that’s tax evasion.

Not very likely to be prosecuted but it is possible.

You are incorrect that playing in a group on an app is the same as operating a public online poker room. You can declare it as it is gambling income the same as if you invited people over to your house and they brought cash.

My experience is that home game runners are extremely greedy, and the games are almost never ran for the best interest of the players

I think that generally, if your remuneration is closely tied to your performance, your performance will be much better than otherwise.

That doesn't necessarily hold true when tipping is essentially mandatory there if you don't want to get berated and your food spit in. I remember me and a mate once tipped 10% at a restaurant because the food/service was terrible and the manager started yelling and threatening us. It's an incredibly stupid system and culture which breeds entitlement and toxicity.

Ha, I rarely leave more than about 10% and have never been yelled at but that's here in Canada. Tipping "culture" definitely has problems. When it comes to dealers keeping their own tips, or having to share them with the rest of the casino staff, the former produces far better performance in my experience.

When I was a kid, my parents impressed upon me the idea that you should never tip people who earned significantly more than you do. If you do feel that you want to dispense free money, you should reserve your gratuities for the people that need them, not somebody earning a quarter mil a year.

Nah. You’re wrong.

Explain how.

Well the fact the host sent back the tip calling him a cheap bastard and Billy is no longer allowed to play. In addition to the sheer amount of income that the hosts are profiting off the game its pretty hard to argue that this is not a business.

Think very few people understand the scale of how much rake comes out these home club app games. I thought i understood, then saw some figures for a relatively small club with my own eyes, and still feel like i don't fully get it !

Well that seals it up then. If someone sends back a tip its legally the same thing as operating a public online poker room, and if its a business then its illegal because it is. Plus lets throw these irrelevant terms in for good 2+2 measure. Its a scam and shady. Thanks for clarifying.

K

remember i was playing at a raked home game once

we knew they were making decent money because how else would they pay to order food for people or provide all those drinks etc

but one day the chip holder connected to the drop under the table fell loose and all those chips came pouring out

they had multiple sets of chips and would rotate them daily because they were worried about people counterfeiting them and introducing chips from their pockets before cashout

so when we saw what amounted to 2-3 buyins worth of chips, all of the same variety used that night, it really drove home just how much money they were making off hosting this game

Taking rake or getting tips from “customers” is not gambling income by any definition, let alone the one the IRS or the federal government uses. Let alone state governments which may have even stricter laws.