Part III, Part II, Part I

So-o-o-o-o on with the tipping thread. While dealing a $20-40H game at the Mirage years ago, I pushed a gigantic pot – like all the raises were in preflop, all the raises went in on the flop, turn, and three people called the bettor on the river. It took a forklift to get the chips to player with the winning hand. He had a roll of quarters on the table and threw me one of them. I rapped it lightly, said, “Thank you,” and shuffled for the next hand. Arvin was sitting in the 10s. He started laughing. It was a catalyst. I started laughing. And I couldn’t just put a lid on it, I chuckled for about a minute as Arvin said he would be bringing a roll of nickels the next time he played. But the 25c toke didn’t bother me…not like the one in the $3-6H game mentioned in Part III.

I dealt a $40-80H game at the Mirage, all the players took the flop with every raise, the 9s made the comment that he should just throw his hand away but he played it to the river and won a gigantic pot. I got pushed. About five minutes into my next down, he showed up to graciously give me a 50c toke. I rapped it and thanked him. I really didn’t get it then and I don’t get it now. I don’t think he was trying to be snide or mean by tracking me down to give me 50c but why bother? I still deal to him now and then.

I suppose the two incidences above remain with me because the game and the pot size were bizarre in relevance to the tip. To receive nothing would have been just another hand dealt, a pot pushed scenario.

I have had players tip me, even when they didn’t win a pot while I was dealing, that do not tip other dealers, because they liked the way I ran the game and appreciated the fact that I always did my job.

There is only one player that I’ve dealt to, long term, that has never tipped me – but he doesn’t tip anyone. His claim is that a dealer cost him a big pot one time and until he gets all of that back, he won’t tip. He doesn’t want to tip? Fine. Why create a yarn about it?

I’ve stated in other posts that there are players that I never want to tip me because I don’t want to tell them thank you. Two specific ones are Marty ($20-40 Stud player) and J.C. Pearson – super creep that plays a variety of games. But I have received tips from both of them over the years.
I always felt this was a ‘tipping bad beat’. When Andy Beal was playing at Bellagio, I dealt to him one night and he had a very good run during my down. I always got on quite well with Andy and he said he knew that the tip was in a pool but he wondered if he could tip me. Translated that means that big game was just like a tournament down, the dealers signed the card when they dealt the game, at the end of the whole game play, the winning side paid the table time and tipped the dealers, that amount was then split into all the dealer downs and the dealers received their tip in an envelope – just like tournaments. I told him I didn’t know but I would ask. When I got pushed, I raced to the office to ask Suzie (she was our supervisor then) and she said definitely not – it was all going into a pool. Craig Singer was sitting behind Andy and I went by to my next game and told Craig that the answer was no but to thank Andy for thinking of me.

The following night when I went in to work, I heard that Jennifer Harman and Ted Forrest had been tipping the dealers Red Birds when they won a pot – and the dealers were keeping the tips they received plus getting a share of the tip pool. FRIED? Not even close, I was burnt to a crisp and totally pissed. I went to Suzie, “So…Everyone else that deals the game can receive a tip and keep it but me, right?”

I love Suzie to death and I understand her plight. It had been her understanding that no one was to keep a tip – it all had to go in the tip pool. But somehow, magically, overnight that had all changed. She apologized and there wasn’t much else to be done – I would never go back to Andy and say, “Hey, guess what? You can tip me now.” That burned like a raw wound with salt in for awhile. But as all things do, it was swept away in the dust of time and I could care less now.
I definitely relied on tips for my income. I have watched the chips slide off the table in rake and toking in small rooms and games that I dealt over the years. I know it’s a huge expense for a lot of players that are struggling to make a living. I don’t know what the answer is there. I know that the way the industry is set up, if the dealers don’t receive tips, they won’t be dealing because minimum wage won’t cut it.

There are always players that feel the dealer should be tipped on every hand. There are players that resent the dealer being tipped. Not to mention the fact that if the money goes in the dealer’s pocket, the other players don’t have a chance to win it.

I’ve had a dealer tell me that when they pushed several big pots to one player in high limit and the player was going to tip them $100, another player at the table told the tipping player that they would give them $100 not to tip the dealer…umnnhhh.

Several years ago, one of our graveyard dealers at Bellagio was the recipient of three $1,000 tokes. She’s a cutie and the tipper was drinking and having a lot of fun – and the tipper never won a hand with her, he just gave her the money when he missed a hand. I wasn’t there to witness that but heard about it in the room from a lot of people. What I did witness was a high limit player complaining that the dealer had received those tips and ‘she didn’t do anything to deserve it. All she did was deal the cards.’ Like what was she supposed to do for it? A blow job under the table when she got pushed? And the complainer went on to state that she should have given it back because the tipper was drunk. And the complainer was in the game when the tipping was going on so he was obviously in a position to try and take advantage of the ‘drunken’ tipper but that’s OK. And what about all of the years that that dealer has dealt to those same players and never received a tip, night after night? She makes good one time and then she’s supposed to give it back? Kee-RIST!

One time Johnny World and I had a deal worked out, I’d been dealing to David Grey and he was complaining about tipping and how the dealer never tipped a player so why should the player tip a dealer??? I told John about it and we decided that the next time I dealt to him and David – if I had any chips in my pocket – when I pushed a pot to David, I would take out a couple of bucks and throw it to him. John was going to be my back up and tell David he put me up to it. Unfortunately, that event never happened but I would have loved for it to come about.

So let’s talk about this part. Have I ever tipped a player? Yes! I once approached a high limit game on Table 1 at the Mirage and saw a $25 chip on the floor underneath a player’s chair. I picked it up and handed it to the player, he grabbed it, never looked at me or acknowledged me and went back to his cards. That was the first six months I dealt at the Mirage.

A few years later, I went to Table 1 to deal a higher limit game (I admit to being terrified and afraid security cameras would spot anything and everything that went on). The shift supervisor was bringing in a new set up on the right hand side of the dealer, I was waiting to push in from the left when I spied a $500 chip on the floor at my feet. I picked it up and set it on the table between the chip rack and the player in the 1s. The player shuffled it into his stack without looking up. I was sick. I just tipped the 1s $500 and I could have used it. In all fairness, I believe the 1s was oblivious as to where it came from and was so lost in the his own ‘cocoon’ that he thought it was his chip and it had rolled as he shuffled.

When I told my assistant supervisor about it later, he told me the cameras wouldn’t even know what I was picking up and I should have brought it to him, he would have gotten it cashed for me. So you’re an idiot Linda. Knowing that, I wish I had. After those two incidences, I never handed found money over to anyone, unless I was sure they dropped it.

I have gotten on my hands and knees to chase chips down for people that have dropped them and they got every one I found.

I’ve also chased players down to give them email inquiries (that I’ve received through this site) on creating TV shows and DVDS…that’s how Howard became ‘The Professor’. That’s how Michael Craig got his foot through the door to write The Banker, the Lawyer, and the Suicide King, I gave him the ‘in’ to be invited to a tournament where he met Mike Matusow, Todd Bruson, and David Sklansky.

I’ve done a lot for poker – and poker’s done a lot for me. And tipping? It’s still going to go on, not necessarily in high limit but in the real world, people do tip.