tipping

pokerpimp

is there a certain amount you should tip when you're at the casino. i was sitting at a table in brantford on friday, for about four hours and i was the only one to tip any of the dealers, and that's because she was cute, and i won a few big hands that i was chasing. do the dealer's depend on that for income or do they make decent enough wages? :diamond:

Jay

I usually tip $1 for medium-sized pots and $2+ for large pots.

Unknown

I know it's lame to just cut and paste stuff from things that have already been written, but it's just so damn easy. I wrote this about three weeks ago or so:

Tipping—or ‘toking’ as it’s known in the gaming industry—isn’t mandatory, but it is the convention. Different players tip dealers and wait staff different amounts, and some don’t tip at all. If a dealer is particularly bad at his job, for example, or he’s rude, you shouldn’t feel obligated to tip him anything. However, like waiters and waitresses, dealers derive a large part of their income from tips.

Here’s what I like to tip: if I raise a pot preflop, and nobody calls, I tip nothing. If a couple of people just call preflop, and I raise the flop and get no callers, I tip nothing. If I win a medium-sized pot, I tip one dollar. If I win a large pot, I may tip two dollars. If I win a massive pot, I may tip three dollars. As you can see, my gratuity is linked with the size of the pot I win, and most people tip this way. Simply observing the habits of the other players at the table in terms of tipping is usually the way to go.

Regards,
all_aces

ps: It's bizarre that you were the only one at the table tipping the dealer. In my experience, while it is understood that tipping isn't mandatory, people who don't tip are in a strong minority.

Adam**

Do dealers in your area keep there own tips?

In Vegas they do, here they do not. They are pooled and spread evenly to all poker dealers.

I tip 1-2 bucks per pot, BUT there is 2-3 dealers I do not tip to. And have pointed this out to floormen so that they know. As with waiters/ress, if they make no tips they quit. But for pooled tips the only way the floormen know that I feel they aren't proforming up to others is to not tip them.

Unknown

Good question.... I'm not sure. Since the drop box doesn't seem to be emptied as each dealer leaves the table, I can only assume that the tips are indeed pooled. If I ever encounter a dealer who is incompetent/annoying enough, I'll follow your lead and inform the floorman that I don't plan on tipping that particular dealer.

ScottyZ

In Ontario (and also at the Akwesasne Casino where I play B&M most often), dealer tips are shared casino-wide. Tipping or not tipping a particular dealer essentially does nothing.

It is very easy to detect whether dealers keep their own tips or not. If they do, they will bring their own tip box to the table and take it away when they leave. (Or, if tip boxes are not used, the dealer otherwise carries the tips away on his/her person.)

What is not easy to detect (but you can just ask) is whether shared tips are actually shared by the poker room only or casino-wide.

ScottyZ