Table Games Vegas' best table game tipper

Wow, I was playing PaiGow earlier this week at a locals casino and the guy next to me was tipping like I've never seen before...I will place bets for the dealers, give a tip if I hit a good bonus, and throw them some ones when I color up. But this guy was something else. Speaking of tips, I had placed a tip bet for one dealer several times and only one hit (on the bonus); so the next one I just placed it on my regular bet, thinking it would be more likely to hit (although pay less). She moved it over to the bonus spot. So now I'm curious what would typically happen it I had hit a Seven Card Straight Flush (no joker) on that hand? Would they pay the dealer's pool $8000 or say hell no, the player placed it on his regular bet & you moved it...so we're paying you $1, not $8000....?

But back to the story, if this player made $75 on a hand, he'd throw the dealer a large odd amount, like $28 as a tip on the win...he was typically tipping like 20-30% on any winning hand...He was doing pretty well betting mostly $25 chips and within a half hour had to have donated at least $400-500 to the tip box...and $5 for each drink to the cocktail waitress (and he was drinking quite a few)...I mentioned to him that I was getting good service also for $1 a Calistoga..she wasn't stiffing me because I was only tipping $1...as a matter of fact, when I finished up at the table, I had ordered another Calistoga and even though I was standing in the aisle, several tables down from where I was playing, she knew who I was & what ordered and walked up to me & gave me the sparkling water (I was waiting for her because I didn't want to stiff her on the drink)..great memory..

Again back to the story...I asked the good tipper what he'd tip if he won the progressive jackpot ($138,000). He said he'd have the taxes taken out and that he figured the net amount would be about $80,000 so he'd tip $8000 on the win. I'd probably do $1000-2000....does that make me a cheap-ass? And shortly after, he came so close.....he had 6 spades & the Joker...but bad enough where they didn't help...he had something like 3,4,5, 8,9,10, plus the Joker...just one off from the big one...and since he didn't have 5 together, he didn't even get a Straight Flush on the hand..only a flush...man, what a disappointing hand...actually, he would have gotten more than that because he had $20 on the bonus in addition to his $1 on the progressive...crap that would have been a nice win..

And in another story he told me, he said he hit 4 video poker jackpots one night at some other casino on a bartop that totaled $10,000....he said the bartender was a dick but he still gave him a $1000 tip, and he was still a dick afterwards...I would've stiffed the guy or maybe given him $50 or $100...

 

You will find that almost every dealer you run across (in a tip-share company) will want the tip bet on the progressive feature of the game, instead of the regular bet. The only way they'll ever even notice the tip in their pocket is if the progressive hits. Otherwise, they may share your dollar tip, and the dollar win, with 100 other dealers that dealt that shift, or that day --- and end up with $0.02 in their pocket!!!

I think about this a lot when I'm sitting at a table. What a bad move by the companies to do it this way. It rewards the shitbags that deal, and penalizes good performing dealers -- kind of like what our government is starting to do now that I think about it. LOL.

I cut my teeth at an Indian casino, where tips were NOT shared -- it was each man/woman for themselves. It was great....good dealers loved their job, and the bad ones quit, because they couldn't support themselves.

Note as to tipping: At this Indian casino in Iowa (Winnavegas), I was playing BJ next to the Caribbean Stud table when they still had it years ago. Saw a guy hit the Royal Bonus for rougly $125000. Odd thing is....word got around that he won it --- and people were mulling around the area while he was waiting for the paperwork and everything....nobody could figure out why he wasn't yelling, excited, or anything. Turns out, he was a "mute". Couldn't verbalized excitement. His tip to the dealer......wait for this......was $5. His last $5 chip he had left on the table. Keep in mind....this tip was not shared...the dealer should have pocketed thousands that night. Other players felt so bad for the longtime dealer that they went by the table and tipped her themselves....including me.

To each their own.....karma is a bitch!

 

tmaas21, what's your opinion on what would have happened with the bet I placed for the dealer (which she moved from the regular bet spot to the bonus) if I had happened to get a 7-card Straight Flush on that hand (would have paid $8000 to the dealers) ? Would they have paid the $8000 or said hell no, the dealer moved the $1 and we're just going to pay her $2...? I don't think the pit saw that but if they played the tape to verify the big win, they'd have noticed it....

If I were running the casino I'd have no problem in paying it out since it would go a long way in goodwill with the dealers...but then again, we're talking about a casino that was too cheap to seed the PaiGow Progressive with any more than $10,000. Not exactly a hard choice to make to bypass them for, say, Texas Station, where the Progressive would be $138,000 instead ($13,000 at Aliante). As I took note of, 80% of each dollar bet on the Progressive (at least at Aliante) goes to Shufflemaster and Aliante, NOT into the jackpot...only 20 cents of each dollar goes toward the Jackpot...

 

I once dealt a BadBeat Jackpot in poker (we kept our own tips) for $40,000.
The "winner" tipped me $100. The other players at the table gave him a hard time and the players in the room collected and tipped me $200.

I gave $100 each to the other two dealers and pocketed the original $100.

 

Personally, I tip on service, not winnings. If I like the dealer I'll place bets for them. If I don't, I won't. It has nothing to do with how much I am up or down.

So I can't really agree that that dealer should have pocketed 1000s that night. She didn't risk any of her own money. She didn't do anything to influence the results. She just happened to be there when the guy won.

 

OTOH I pretty much flat bet blackjack so maybe I don't know the proper etiqutte for jackpots. What would be a 'normal' tip for a $40,000 win like that?

 

I agree.

The whole point of a tip is to reward someone for above and beyond basic service. That's why it's optional and a tip, rather than a fee. The cocktail waitress will sometimes get a tip to start off with to encourage rapidity, but if she's grumpy and slow, don't expect another one.

That said, the tips are based off of how much I'm going in with. If I had a disposable income like Shifter, I probably wouldn't be tipping $1-$2 per drink for good/great service. So in the event of a large jackpot, that certainly has the potential to be very lucrative for people who are providing better than basic service. Doesn't mean they should expect it though.

 

As to the OP's original scenario at the Pai Gow table - when the dealer moved the chip to the bonus progressive bet - I almost always see this, although I ask where they want their bets placed. I generally play $5 for the dealers on many hands (with an average bet of about $75/hand). I give them the option of where they want to place the bet.

About 95% of them put it on the bonus bet, with the others splitting it up with $3 on normal bet and $2 on bonus.

You have to remember that with pooled tips, some dealers at the Pai Gow table will not be pleased to deal to the cheapest tipping table in the casino.

Yes, Pai Gow is a very social game - and that's why I love it - the slow pace and idea that your own play does not effect others is stress-free. That is why some dealers love to deal it, however, they have shared the idea that they may make only a few dollars an hour on tips - so they ain't gettin' rich from it.

I have seen a full table play for two hours without tipping once - all except myself - and some of the players are wondering why the dealer tends to give a bit more attention to the tipping players - it doesn't have to be much - a buck or two here and there. Just like expecting good service from the cocktail waitresses, good service from the dealers come from friendly people sharing some of their winning money with the dealers (and, yes, some of the above people hit some bonus bets of $100 -$200 - I wish I was!!!)

 

To me, the most amazing part of that story was that somebody was tipping at a Pai Gow table. As a regular Pai Gow player, I have Never seen anyone tip besides myself!!

 

That's what I always see as well (no tipping). I always hand them $10-$20 when I leave, but somehow the 'flow' of the game isn't conducive to tipping on the play like blackjack. If I get 4OAK or better I'll give the dealer something right there. I'd feel like I'm just throwing my money away if I tipped ever so often on the bonus bet as you only get dealt a paying bonus hand 20% of the time.

 

That's my feeling too on a bet for the dealer on the bonus spot...that the odds are that they'll get zero for the bet...so on one hand I placed the dealer bet on my regular bet & the dealer moved it over to the bonus (and it got her zero)..

I seem to recall one time I was playing PaiGow at the one of the Station casinos and the player next to me was placing bets on MY hand since I seemed to be getting good hands at that time; the house said it was OK for her to do it and I really didn't care one way or the other, as long as she didn't try to tell me how to play my hands...but that's the only time I've ever seen THAT.

 

I've tipped on someone else's hand before. I was playing two spots of $50 each at a $5 table, and another player was playing one $5 spot. I was letting the dealer choose which hand she wanted the tip on, and the $5 player was winning more hands than me (despite making less than ideal decisions) so my $5 tip ended up on her $5 hand more often than not.

But we were having fun.

 

We're just the same I do really like Pai Gow also, sometimes I'm also thinking if there are some tricks with the cards while playing it..

 

If I wasn't too clear, the other player was PLAYING MY HAND - adding a $5 bet outside of the circle for my hand, not placing a tip for the dealer.

I've never seen that either - placing your dealer tip on another player's hand because they're doing better with bonuses...

 

I've done this before. If I'm having a good time at a BJ table I will spread a couple bucks around for the dealer on top of everyones bet; the dealer never has a problem with it. It's fun when this happens and the dealer has a 5/6 showing and goes on to bust as the table goes crazy for a second.

 

I have a question in regards to tipping of Poker jackpots, bad beats, high hands ect. I am a 1/2 or 2/5 NLH player, I have been playing in live cash games for the past 8-10 years. I have never been part of a bad beat, however have won several high hand type pots in the range of $250-$500. I still usually tip my standard $1-$2 per pot won. My reasoning is that the jackpot money is coming out of the pots won and is in a sense the players money anyways. basically the casino is taking money out of a pot that someone had won and already tipped on, so when the give it back why would you tip on the casino giving back the players own money. I am sure that I am down money in the long run by having a $1 taken out of each pot that I have won.

What are other peoples thoughts on Bad Beat and High hand payouts?

 

It seems polite to me to give $10 or $20 to the dealer if you hit a $500 bad beat jackpot. You're correct that if you tip on every pot you're 'keeping up' with the tips, but a quick bonus like that is worthy of at least a small tip, IMHO.