Learn Texas Holdem

Question: I've yet to see this subject covered and I recently have wondered about tipping the dealers in holdem cash games and tournaments. In 1/3 2/5 cash games I usually tip a dollar to 3 dollars on pots and sometimes if its real big I will tip 10 dollars if the pot is over 500. Someone told me they read a book where it said you should only tip 1-2 dollars because with a rake in each pot anymore you will be giving away too much. Is this true for any size pot? Also, what is customary for tipping in tournaments. What if you chop with 4 players? Of the people who do finish in the money who tips? The tournaments I play in the house takes a portion of the buy in already but its not going to the dealer. What about re-buy tournaments? Thanks.

Answer:

Usually at smaller games, dealers get tipped more than at larger games. It isn't uncommon to see players at low limit holdem tip, like you said, multiple dollars per pot. As you get to bigger limits, the players tip less and how much they tip doesn't have anything to do with the pot size as much as it does with how well the dealer is doing his/her job. (When you tip a dealer a chip or two, it is called a "toke.")

The reason the tipping is less at larger limits than at lower ones is because everyone is more serious about the game and if you constantly tip the dealer $5 for every pot you win, it adds up after awhile. Also, does the dealer give you anything when you lose? And the dealer has no influence as to whether or not you win the pot, so why should he get more or less depending on the outcome?

The customary tip you'll see at most serious cash games is still just a buck or two a pot. (Sadly to say too, the bigger games you play, the more bad behavior players get away with, which often times means they don't treat the dealers well -- cursing at them, etc. If you did that at a low limit game they would kick you out, but at a high limit game they just put up with it.) You can tip the dealer as much or little as you like in a cash game.

The only thing that you have to keep in mind when playing smaller games is how much that can eat into your winnings. First of all, most of the casinos take out $4/pot for the rake alone. If you add to that $2 for a tip, that's a pretty big amount over the course of a session. I remember a book that stated if you play anything less than $4/8 holdem in a brick and mortar casino (not online), the rake and tipping alone are a bigger factor in you winning than anything else. Take an 8 hour session with 30 hands per hour. Six bucks per hand is $180/hour, which means that almost $1500 is taken off the table every 8 hours.

Imagine if people tipped more than $2/hand. And you aren't being a cheapskate by only toking the dealer a buck or two per hand. With 30 hands an hour, they do fine. Now, for tournaments, again, it is up to you. It is customary to give the dealer something, but that amount can widely range. Players sometimes give them nothing, while other players give them lots, while also tipping the staff too -- like the tournament director. I take the same approach to tipping the dealer in a tournament that I do for cash games: No one is going to give me anything if I lose, and the dealer has no say in if I win or not, so anything I give him is purely a gift.

I shouldn't feel obligated to give him 5% or 10%. If I were to win a 100K tourney, I would give the dealer two or three thousand. But if I were to win a million dollars, I wouldn't give the dealer 20k or 30k; that's way too much in my opinion for just dealing the cards. Now, before all the dealers send me a bunch of hate mail, this is just my opinion. Everyone is welcome to tip as much as you feel is right. As for rebuy tournaments, the same rule applies: You tip based on your net winnings. If you are in for a lot of rebuys and aren't actually winning that much, take that into account.