Tipping at table games,Am I too Generous$

I am sure some of the pros have got their egos at stake. They tend to forget about the little guy . It is bad enough when they lose to an amateur at the table. And to think they really care about the dealer .
I am sure there are exceptions so I don't want to stereotype professional gamblers as being cheap.

Actually, the pros who refuse to tip at tournaments have been very vocal about this because of the "fees" that have been added to tournament entries and these fees are not part of the prize pool but go to the dealers. Because of these higher fees theyve announced they will no longer tip. The WSOP fees prompted the "tipping strike."

Maybe the question now is. What kind of money do these dealers make .? I don't play in tournaments so my concern was more for the non tournament dealers. There are 2 categeogories here.

I found this on another discussion board about the WSOP entry fee: "currently 4.2% is withheld for entry fees, and 1.8% held for tournament staff."

slapinfunk should respond to this because he used to deal part time at Hollywood Park and a few other casinos around LA.

Im going to guess here: If a dealer averages $2 per hand (to account for the $1 tips and the larger tips and the "no tip hands") and the dealer deals 30 hands per hour, thats $60 per hour, six hours a day = $360 in tips plus the basic minimum pay from the casino. Im also going to guess that with bigger pots there will be fewer hands per hour, but the tips would increase for those bigger pots.

That sounds like decent money . I'm sure on top of that there will be somebody ,at least one a day that hits real good and will probaly tip a few extra bucks. Thanks MoneyLA

Unfortunately, at the WSOP, while a portion of the entry fees are deducted "For Staff", they have included cashiers, floor persons, and management as part of the "Staff". those deductions are no longer "For the Dealers".

There was a big bruhaha several years ago, and many dealers who "traveled" the tournament circuit stopped. Their earning had dropped significantly on an hourly basis that year, and naturally they were not happy about it. I believe they also began lumping all the "tip deductions" into one fund, rather than individual tournaments. Management got a little greedy, IMHO.

Not certain what current earning are. I know dealers that dealt the WSOP in the 90's who claimed they were making $50+. I found that number difficult to believer for a tournament, although very easy to "expect" in cash games, where dealers keep what they earn, and are expected but not required to "brush out" a percentage to various staff.

I can say with knowledge that the average for the "better" cash game dealers here in south Florida is over $30.00+ per hour.

Tournament tips are a different animal. Also, many will say the the larger the game limits, the lower their hourly earn is.

As far as tippers go. The richer the lessor. The more money one makes, the less they tend to tip.

Ask any server/waitress and they will back me up on this.

My family was in the restaurant business in NYC... so as a kid I grew up knowing that servers should be tipped well. Dad always told us kids to tip the servers well, and he said that the best tippers were others in the service industry. never forgot that... more than 50 years ago.

I modified drmilled's original posting to change it from dealers to waiters to see if it reads the same.

I play 3-6 and 4-8 limit hold'em, and occassionally 8-16. I tip $1, rarely $2. Between the rakes, the blinds and the calls that go nowhere, you shouldn't be tipping more than that if you are interested in making money at this game.

If you consider the poker dealer like a waiter, a barber or a maid, you should tip more. If you want to be buddy-buddy with the dealers, you should tip more. If you believe that having the dealer "on your side" results in your getting dealt better hands, you should tip more.

As all things, this is a personal decision.