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Live Tourney Tipping


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I'm playing a couple of tourneys at the Horseshoe in Tunica for the Magnolia Classic next week and I am wondering what you think a proper tip from the winner should be. The tourneys that I'll be playing are $125+25 with a $10 dealer toke. The Horseshoe also reserves 3% of the prize pool for the staff if I remember correctly.So, for the sake of easy math, let's say that 100 people play. That would make a net prize pool of $12,125. This means that the casino is taking in $2500 off of the registration fee plus another $375 not to mention the theoretical $1000 for the dealer toke. With that relatively high amount already covered, I do not know what a proper tip would be if the cards fell my way and I won. I'm fairly sure that the winner gets 35% if there are more than 40 players thus making the win amount $4,243.50 . I've heard that pros go anywhere from 3% ($127.30) to 7% ($297.05)depending on the circumstance. Any thoughts?

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You got the order wrong:The correct order is:1. go to casino2. enter tournament3. win tournament4. figure out tip amount based on experience and professionalism of dealers

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You got the order wrong:The correct order is:1. go to casino2. enter tournament3. win tournament4. figure out tip amount based on experience and professionalism of dealers
Perfect answer. / thread.
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You got the order wrong:The correct order is:1. go to casino2. enter tournament3. win tournament4. figure out tip amount based on experience and professionalism of dealers
Pretty funny, but then again doesn't a response like that kill any conversation?In the tourneys that I play, typically the 1st and 2nd place tip the dealer. One time when the 1st and 2nd didn't tip, I put in a tip for the dealer as 3rd place finisher. I guess by usual tipping standards, I'd come across as stingy, but bear in mind that this is the UK where people are actually paid for their work and don't have to rely on tips to make a living. Essentially in the tournament where the winner got 930 and the runner up got 600, both winner and runner up tipped 10 quid each.As for the OP, if there is something taken from the prize pool already, but it's usual to tip 3-7% then I'd lean towards the lower end of that range.
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I usually tip the extra random chips I get when I cash...I took 10th in a tourny last week for $678...I tipped $18I took 14th in one today for $689...I tipped $14min cashes suck :club: You tip almost every hand you win in a live cash game (I'm assuming), so if you cash for any amount, I think there should be some sort of tip, even if they are already withholding 3% for the staff (which they have to do since people don't tip and if there was nothing extra for the dealers, they wouldn't ever want to deal in tournies).If I would have cashed for first place for the $20K+ I would have got on the above tournies, I prolly would have tipped the extra couple hundered (like if the win was for $22,376, I probably would have tipped $376).It does depend on the staff though, but I think the staff at the tournies near me do a good job.

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You tip almost every hand you win in a live cash game (I'm assuming), so if you cash for any amount, I think there should be some sort of tip, even if they are already withholding 3% for the staff (which they have to do since people don't tip and if there was nothing extra for the dealers, they wouldn't ever want to deal in tournies).
But... since we are already giving a forced tip of 3% why do we need to tip above this? It's kind of like when pizza has a "delivery charge"... do you still tip over the delivery charge? I feel like it should be one or the other.
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But... since we are already giving a forced tip of 3% why do we need to tip above this? It's kind of like when pizza has a "delivery charge"... do you still tip over the delivery charge? I feel like it should be one or the other.
To be fair, when I did delivery, I only got half the delivery charge, which was pretty much nothing in the grand scheme.
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But... since we are already giving a forced tip of 3% why do we need to tip above this? It's kind of like when pizza has a "delivery charge"... do you still tip over the delivery charge? I feel like it should be one or the other.
Or when you stay in a nice hotel and get the $5 service fee and 18% tip added to your $19 hamburger and fries...do you add a tip to that so the steward doesn't report to his Columbian contact the value of your electronics and jewlery in your hotel room?
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But... since we are already giving a forced tip of 3% why do we need to tip above this? It's kind of like when pizza has a "delivery charge"... do you still tip over the delivery charge? I feel like it should be one or the other.
Yes, I still tip a pizza delivery a couple bucks...Going back to my other example, there were 233 players for a $300 buy in, so that's $2097 for the dealers. There were at least 40 different dealers (probably more). That's $52 per dealer.The tournament lasted about 15 hours. With the number of tables from start to finish that's at least 150 hours of combined dealing (again maybe more), plus some dealers sitting at empty tables for 30 minutes some of the time getting nothing. But that gives a high estimate of $14 per hour extra to each dealer. They get a lot more then that dealing in cash games. An extra $20 from me isn't a whole lot since it's maybe another $0.50 per dealer.I have no idea how they chop it up between the dealers, but I'm just going off averages and estimates above...So in the one I took 10th, without the 3% taken out, I would have received $699 instead of $678. After the $18 tip I gave, the total to the dealers was $39. If you would have played cash games for 12.5 hrs, and made $700, I would think the total tips you would have given would be more than $40.I'm also not saying you need to tip above this, I'm just saying that the 3% isn't a whole lot all together. It does make it so it's enough that the dealers actually want to deal in the tournaments, but I think all together, they make a little less while they are dealing in them.
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What is this $10 dealer toke? Never heard of it before. You're paying $160 yeah, of which $38.75 does not go into the prize pool? That's 24.2% which is not in the prizepool, and imo, if it's not in the prizepool, then in my view its reg. 24.2% reg is excessive. With this high rake, I wouldn't leave a big dealer tip. I think leaving just whatever extra you have is fine, like a previous poster said, if you win $4243.50, tip 43.50, that's more than enough imo.Pure percentage wise, I think 3%+ is way too high. I mean, if you lose say 7% everytime u win a tournament, that could easily be the difference between the tourney being +EV and -EV for a moderate player. Generally, 1% is reasonable imo. It all depends and service aswell obviously. If the dealing is bad, don't leave anything. I think the whole tipping expected rapes the player a bit. Esp when 24.2% is taken out of the prizepool, most players can't afford to be tipping that much, therefore shouldn't be expected to.

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Last tourney I won (only one), I won $1400 i tipped $50, but I was kind of drunk too. But the FT dealer was pretty cool. I would agree that it depends on the situation and quality of the dealer. Some are fun, some are terrible.

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To go along in this topic - I min-cashed a tourney which was barely my money back actually less if you figure the $ i paid for food and drinks during the 12+ hour day we played). The guy that cashed before me gave a tip to the dude that we had to report to in order to get our money (I guess he was the floor guy). Do you give your tip to them or to the dealer. I didn't tip b/c it was a min cash and I had an ugly beat that knocked me out on the last hand of the night (at a money jump). I didn't feel that I should tip in this case - but for some reason the guy in front of me did.Any experience with this.

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To go along in this topic - I min-cashed a tourney which was barely my money back actually less if you figure the $ i paid for food and drinks during the 12+ hour day we played). The guy that cashed before me gave a tip to the dude that we had to report to in order to get our money (I guess he was the floor guy). Do you give your tip to them or to the dealer. I didn't tip b/c it was a min cash and I had an ugly beat that knocked me out on the last hand of the night (at a money jump). I didn't feel that I should tip in this case - but for some reason the guy in front of me did.Any experience with this.
again, this has to be a case of just tipping out of the goodness of your heart. There's no way you should feel obligated to tip after a min cash. Also, I'd give my tip to the dealer directly, even though I doubt it wud make a difference. Dealer tips are supposed to be put into one pool and split equally but I know that this doesn't always happen fairly. Floormen, owners etc. have been known to take money out of the tip pool in some places so I'd give it directly to the dealer even though it prob wouldn't matter much, if the people above the dealers want to be immoral, they'll do it.
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To go along in this topic - I min-cashed a tourney which was barely my money back actually less if you figure the $ i paid for food and drinks during the 12+ hour day we played). The guy that cashed before me gave a tip to the dude that we had to report to in order to get our money (I guess he was the floor guy). Do you give your tip to them or to the dealer. I didn't tip b/c it was a min cash and I had an ugly beat that knocked me out on the last hand of the night (at a money jump). I didn't feel that I should tip in this case - but for some reason the guy in front of me did.Any experience with this.
I guess I have no idea how other places work, but the casino I play at, they have one of the tables set up near the Final Table where they pay you. They pay you in casino chips, and they have a little box at the end of the table that says "tournament dealer tips". They don't point out the box or pressure you to put anything in, so it's not like they are forcing you to tip. But that box only goes to the dealers and gets split between them.I guess if others have it set up differently, I would just ask the tournament director how you should do it.
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I guess I have no idea how other places work, but the casino I play at, they have one of the tables set up near the Final Table where they pay you. They pay you in casino chips, and they have a little box at the end of the table that says "tournament dealer tips". They don't point out the box or pressure you to put anything in, so it's not like they are forcing you to tip. But that box only goes to the dealers and gets split between them.I guess if others have it set up differently, I would just ask the tournament director how you should do it.
This is how it should be done. I feel that tipping is important if someone earns their keep, but I hate that so often it's slammed into peoples faces like they are a horrible person if they don't.
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At Turning Stone they put the tip case out, but when someone busts out I have actually seen the floor person shake it and say to remember the dealers. I have also seen them anaounce what the last tip was to get the next guy to go higher. I usually tip the extra chips that come with it ( usually $5 chips )

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