Caesars' poker room just completed a WSOP circuit event that was a sizable $5,000 + $150 buy-in, with the $150 going to the house to pay for dealers, overhead, and yes, go to Harrah's profit as well.

Larger-than-life tournament pro Allen Cunningham won the event. I say larger-than-life because with his boyish looks and his subdued personality, he's had as much NLHE tournament success as just about anyone. He's either a machine, or a luckbox, or a combination of both. After all his successes, I'd have to go with the "machine" label.

Anyway, I know most of the dealers at Caesars. Some of them don't like me I'm sure. Most of them do, I hope. One came up to me in a bitter mood saying that Cunningham tipped nothing. He won a half-million dollars but left nothing for the dealers. This dealer was not all-too-pleased with it.

This is a difficult argument from all sides. The house charges a fee to play. Should the players still tip on top of the house take out? It's not the players' fault if the house decides to keep the majority and pay the dealers the minority, is it?

I'd say that the biggest detriments to being a professional gambler are three-fold. One is discipline. Two is taxes. Three is tips. Tips come right out of the bottom line, but in many cases, they're absolutely required. A professional gambler who never tips will have a much harder time in many instances.

So who's right? Should Cunningham have left $10,000? Think about that. That's enough to buy a small new car. And would that have been enough? Do the dealers expect 10% or $50,000? Some dealers may think that way.

What I find in gambling and tipping is that there is very rarely a number that is within reason for the gambler to tip that the dealers will also be happy with. In other words, if you tip what they expect, you'll never make any money. If you tip less than they expect, they'll hate you.

Some may say, "Let them hate me." But there are intangibles that come along. Let's say there's a dispute at the poker table that you're involved in and you're a known stiff. They might rule against you. Sure they gotta play by the book, but there are always subjective situations that come along. And while it may not apply to tournaments, if you play cash games, you may want to get in a juicy game that has a long waiting list, but if you're a known tipper, you might get in the game ahead of others.

I think the battle between professional gamblers and dealers concerning tips will be never-ending as long as they're allowed. I've heard in other countries, such as Australia, you are not allowed to tip the dealers and the dealers are paid a higher wage. This is probably the best way to keep your customers happy since there's no pressure on either side.

Question to you, if you had played this tournament and won $500,000, would you have left a tip? And if so, how much would you have left?

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