Dealer Tipping? - Small Tournament

[davebreal]

I chopped a small daily NL tournament in AC yesterday, and I am very unfamiliar with dealer tipping for tournaments. I split 1st place with one other person at the time of our deal. I always toss dealers a chip or 2 whenever appropriate when playing $1/$2.

It was a $40+10 tournament, and I got $700 back, for a $650 profit. 3rd place finisher reportedly gave $20 to the house. I asked the other 1st place guy what he was planning on giving and he said $20. I said I was thinking $40, but I guess he didn't want to give up that much. I did leave $40 though. When I was conversing with a dealer mid-way through the game, he said he usually expects about $50 from 1st place.

Any thoughts?

Did I tip too much? Possibly way too little?

Thanks.

[NicksDad1970]

50 bucks

I just got 3rd at The Shoe in Tunica. I got a lil less than 1600 and gave 125.

[Huggie]

[ QUOTE ]
50 bucks

I just got 3rd at The Shoe in Tunica. I got a lil less than 1600 and gave 125.

[/ QUOTE ]
When I win a large pot at $1/2 (large being between $100-150, which is probably only $80-100 profit), I throw the dealer $3-5, which I actually consider to be very generous. Doing the math, I would imagine throwing $30-50 towards the dealer, with the $50 being at the very generous side of things. The $40 you mentioned sounds more than reasonable to me.

Then again, I've only done a live SNG once, and I bubbled out of the money. I did a live 130+ person $100 tourney and made about $39 profit in 16th place, so I tipped $1-2, I forget which.

[wrschultz]

Well... I'd say that you certainly don't have to tip if you don't want to tip, and if the dealer is unhappy with your tip, ask for it back...

[Huggie]

I definitely agree with this. My original response is what I would feel comfortable with as a max or range, and truly it depends on the quality of the dealer(s).

[highlife]

i always thought 5% of your winnings was very fair.

[davebreal]

I think I only saw 3 dealer slip-ups the entire game.
1) a hole card flipped over during the deal
2) turn was dealt before a player had a chance to act, but it did not affect outcome of the hand (QQ vs JJ on a J232 board) QQ is not folding anyways.
3) I got dealt a 3rd card somehow, and he took it back before I looked at any of them

As far as attitude, I found the service outgoing, professional, and friendly. It's probably our job as part of the poker food-chain to try to keep these people somewhat happy. I really enjoy B&M games more than online.

[samjjones]

You played at the HOB? How many people were in this tournament?

[mrkilla]

[ QUOTE ]
When I was conversing with a dealer mid-way through the game, he said he usually expects about $50 from 1st place.

[/ QUOTE ]

The dealer should never "expect" a certain amount of Money, he should be glad to get ANY period.

They (dealers) almost always DESERVE a tip though (even though this sounds contridictory its not)

That being said I always tip/over tip I would have given $60, ~10% in a smallish trny.
I usually Tip between 5-10% depending on dealers /casino/speed/players how many payouts etc etc

[davebreal]

Yeah, I played at the HOB. I think the # of entrants got up to around 80 due to it being a holiday. I think the average number of 11AM players is normally 40-50 according to the staff. They have a $40+10 PM tournament that usually attracts bigger crowds according to the room manager.

Nice structure, 5000 chips, no antes, 25-50 starting blinds, 20 minute levels, no re-buy/add-on. All-in/Panic mode does not set in for a long time, thankfully.

[samjjones]

Thanks for reply. I've played in this one recently, and thought the structure was pretty great for low-limit tournament players. Lots of play for your money.

[KenProspero]

[ QUOTE ]
When I was conversing with a dealer mid-way through the game, he said he usually expects about $50 from 1st place.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, you chopped 1st-2nd and gave $40. Doesn't sound horrible, within a few bucks one way or the other. On the other hand, it was a bigger than average payout, and was over the Xmas holiday, you might have given a few bucks extra -- but it sounds like you were in the normal range for this game.

No need to lose sleep over this one.

[TomBrooks]

[ QUOTE ]
Did I tip too much? Possibly way too little?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not sure how you would define too much, but I think your tip was generous and perhaps a little bigger than average.

[TMTTR]

I have placed well in two smallish tournaments in the last month.

In one, I came in second and made about $900. I tipped $50 (the first place winner -- about $1800 -- left $25). In the second, there was a three way chop of a $2000 prize pool of 700/700/600 ($115 buy-in). We agreed to each tip $40 from our share.

[Wisch]

Didn't want to start a new thread about tipping and violate company policy, so I am posting in this old thread.

What if the Casino charges an up front "toke" that goes to the dealers. Casino Aztar in Evansvill, Indiana has regular tournaments...the buy in is $60+10 but there is an additional "voluntary toke" of $5.oo that can be paid and gets you an additional T500 in chips (for a total of T1500). It may be "voluntary" but everyone pays for it...they dont even ask when you sign up..just collect $75.00. I won yesterday's tournament, 44 players, for $1057.00. Should I tip given that the dealers are already bringing down a $220 from the "tip" everyone paid at the start.

I did search and found nothing like this.

Thanks

[Annorax]

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't want to start a new thread about tipping and violate company policy, so I am posting in this old thread.

What if the Casino charges an up front "toke" that goes to the dealers. Casino Aztar in Evansvill, Indiana has regular tournaments...the buy in is $60+10 but there is an additional "voluntary toke" of $5.oo that can be paid and gets you an additional T500 in chips (for a total of T1500). It may be "voluntary" but everyone pays for it...they dont even ask when you sign up..just collect $75.00. I won yesterday's tournament, 44 players, for $1057.00. Should I tip given that the dealers are already bringing down a $220 from the "tip" everyone paid at the start.

I did search and found nothing like this.

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

No.

[psandman]

[ QUOTE ]
Didn't want to start a new thread about tipping and violate company policy, so I am posting in this old thread.

What if the Casino charges an up front "toke" that goes to the dealers. Casino Aztar in Evansvill, Indiana has regular tournaments...the buy in is $60+10 but there is an additional "voluntary toke" of $5.oo that can be paid and gets you an additional T500 in chips (for a total of T1500). It may be "voluntary" but everyone pays for it...they dont even ask when you sign up..just collect $75.00. I won yesterday's tournament, 44 players, for $1057.00. Should I tip given that the dealers are already bringing down a $220 from the "tip" everyone paid at the start.

I did search and found nothing like this.

Thanks

[/ QUOTE ]

Take the "Dealer add-on" into consideration but it doesn't necessraily mean you shouldn't tip. In the case you mention not tipping wouldn't be terrible since the dealer add-on was the equivalent of tipping 7.5%, but In small buy-in tournamnets I always tip at least 10% so I would leave some more.

[bav]

[ QUOTE ]
What if the Casino charges an up front "toke" that goes to the dealers. Casino Aztar in Evansvill, Indiana has regular tournaments...the buy in is $60+10 but there is an additional "voluntary toke" of $5.oo that can be paid and gets you an additional T500 in chips (for a total of T1500). It may be "voluntary" but everyone pays for it...they dont even ask when you sign up..just collect $75.00. I won yesterday's tournament, 44 players, for $1057.00. Should I tip given that the dealers are already bringing down a $220 from the "tip" everyone paid at the start.

[/ QUOTE ]

I try to do a back-of-envelope calculation to figure out about what the dealers are going to make per hour from the forced toke. Last Caesars tournament I played a while back I actually checked the payout sheet where they itemized all these things so it was not back-of-envelope--it shoulda been exact. The $5 per player upfront toke for a 7-hour tournament with 7 tables worked out to about $10/hour per dealer. Not so hot.

Sahara takes $2 per player for a tournament that with 13 tables and 140 players will last about 5 hours. Back of the envelope suggests the dealers will put in about 65 30-minute downs (this part is kinda fuzzy math--someday I'll ask the floor exactly how many downs they typically put in). If they're distributing $280, that's <$9/hr.

Definitely need to leave something extra if you cash in these. In these I've seen folks leave $20 for a $2000 first-place cash (*cough*) and I've seen folks leave 10%. 1% is unusually stingy, 10% is unusually generous. Pick a number that makes you feel good.

On the other hand, if you do the fuzzy math and come up with the dealers going home with $30/hr from the upfront entry fee toke, you don't have to feel too bad about stiffing them.

Oh yeah... and it's polite also to give the floor something. They often get forgotten in all this.

[psandman]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What if the Casino charges an up front "toke" that goes to the dealers. Casino Aztar in Evansvill, Indiana has regular tournaments...the buy in is $60+10 but there is an additional "voluntary toke" of $5.oo that can be paid and gets you an additional T500 in chips (for a total of T1500). It may be "voluntary" but everyone pays for it...they dont even ask when you sign up..just collect $75.00. I won yesterday's tournament, 44 players, for $1057.00. Should I tip given that the dealers are already bringing down a $220 from the "tip" everyone paid at the start.

[/ QUOTE ]

I try to do a back-of-envelope calculation to figure out about what the dealers are going to make per hour from the forced toke. Last Caesars tournament I played a while back I actually checked the payout sheet where they itemized all these things so it was not back-of-envelope--it shoulda been exact. The $5 per player upfront toke for a 7-hour tournament with 7 tables worked out to about $10/hour per dealer. Not so hot.

Sahara takes $2 per player for a tournament that with 13 tables and 140 players will last about 5 hours. Back of the envelope suggests the dealers will put in about 65 30-minute downs (this part is kinda fuzzy math--someday I'll ask the floor exactly how many downs they typically put in). If they're distributing $280, that's <$9/hr.

Definitely need to leave something extra if you cash in these. In these I've seen folks leave $20 for a $2000 first-place cash (*cough*) and I've seen folks leave 10%. 1% is unusually stingy, 10% is unusually generous. Pick a number that makes you feel good.

On the other hand, if you do the fuzzy math and come up with the dealers going home with $30/hr from the upfront entry fee toke, you don't have to feel too bad about stiffing them.

Oh yeah... and it's polite also to give the floor something. They often get forgotten in all this.

[/ QUOTE ]

In some rooms the Floor is taking a piece of the tokes for dealers (i have dealt tournaments where the floor takes 35% of the tokes and the dealers split the remaining 65%).

[TomBrooks]

[ QUOTE ]
When I was conversing with a dealer mid-way through the game, he said he usually expects about $50 from 1st place.Any thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Given human nature, it's pretty common for a person asked a question like that to give a reply that favors their own interests. So if he answered "about $50", I'd guess he really was thinking about $40.

By the way, there is some more discussion on this topic in the thread Won a small MTT - how much to tip dealers (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=3494207&an=0&page=0#Post 3494207).

Wishing you continued good luck,
TomBk