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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Oct. 1, 2004

Tipping: It's Not a Yes or No Decision

It is a good idea to be ambitious, to have goals, to want to be good at what you do, but it is a terrible mistake to let drive and ambition get in the way of treating people with kindness and decency. --Robert Solow

When the subject of public poker becomes the topic of conversation, the argument about tipping practices inevitably works its way into the discourse. How much should you tip; why should you tip; who should you tip; or should you tip at all?

A recent discussion on rec.gambling.poker that actually produced a discussion with almost no flaming or slamming a person's opinion or question for a long line of posts, makes revisiting this subject a good idea.

Theoretically, tipping is an optional payment a person offers as a way of saying thanks and showing appreciation for good service. But when tipping refers to gambling the practice takes on a different meaning.

So the first question that has to be asked is: what good service does a poker dealer provide? She certainly doesn't influence the cards in your favor (although you sometimes get very angry when she snaps you off on the river).

So the dealer provides service for the house, doesn't she? In return, she gets a salary. Yes, and that's where the problem starts. Dealing really ranks in the same category with fast-food clerks when it comes to salary. That's minimum wage. And, despite the glamour (just joking) of putting on that string tie and white shirt that has to be dry cleaned to get the green felt off the cuffs, the job itself doesn't produce enough income to pay for a decent apartment yet alone a mortgage and food.

A poker dealer in a decent room, however, can go for weeks without even cashing that paycheck because tips can amount to double, triple and sometimes quadruple the measley salary. How, you ask? Well figure a typical game gets 30 hands an hour on average and the winner of the pot tips a dollar. That adds up to $30 an hour. (You can do the rest of the math.) You have to remember, though, that not every poker room measures up to that 30-hands an hour standard and most certainly won't measure up to the dollar-a-hand average. These figures, too, are just for the sake of argument.I know dealers who crow about the great money they make and I know dealers who cry about how little they make. I've talked to dealers who smirk about how little the IRS knows about what they really rake in for tips and what they report while I've overheard others complain about having to report more than they actually bring in! Likely, it depends on the room.

Traditionally, casinos, whose management often looked down on the lowly dealer as someone who could be replaced by the first robot to come off the assembly line, expected customers to tip dealers and player complied, creating a standard that to this day hasn't changed.

Many professional gamblers will not tip a casino's dealer. When they factor the rake, the ³deserved² tips for the person who brings their cocktails or sandwich or who runs chips, and other personal expenses, the idea of tipping the dealer doesn't sit well with them.Some pros don't tip because they look at dealers as robots who often ³steal² their money by dealing bad beats! Others won't tip because they think the casino should have conscience enough to pay a dealer a decent wage.

The most popular argument, both for and against tipping, is that the preservation of good dealers. If you tip, one side says, you will be sure to have the best quality dealer you can get. If you tip, the other side says, you get as many inept dealers as good dealers.

The arguments are many and each has some validity‹so much so that there might not be a true answer. It could be this is an argument that won't ever end.

Personally, I appreciate a good dealer with good control over the game. A dealer who can keep the action going, make the right calls, bring an abusive player into line without stressing him out, reading the hands properly deserves more than a simple ³thank you.² She deserves a tip because she has provided good service. On the other hand, when a dealer focuses on someone she knows and carries on a conversation that has nothing to do with the game or the players in the game or can't figure out whose turn it is to bet, or who lets someone run over the table, then that dealer doesn't provide good service and therefore will not get a thank you or a tip from me.

I won't tip if I'm just winning the ante or a single bet. My tip is always the same depending on the limits and my tip is based on the fact that the ground rules have already been established‹not by me but by convention. I can do nothing to change convention. Only the house and the employee can work out an agreement where the wage would suit the qualifications and the job and a tip would be totally unnecessary, unexpected, and perhaps even rejected.

On the other hand, I also tip casino porters who clean the toilets; I tip the delivery man who brings my lunch at work; I tip the drivers who unloaded my new sofa and the AAA mechanic who changes my flat tires. I use monetary renumeration to show my appreciation of a job well done by people who work hard for very little pay. At Christmas I tip the mail man, the newspaper deliver person, and people who perform good service throughout the year.

I don't know if there's an solution to the dilemna of tipping.

Oh, wait, of course there is. Someone just told me last week the reason he plays online poker is so he doesn't have to tip those monkeys who pitch cards.