The Dealer’s Cut: How to Pay Your Poker Dealer Like a Pro??? (1 Viewer)

[grandmeme]

How to pay your dealer like a pro, Hirer family !!!

Thanks for your responses, here's what we tried, or better yet, here's how we failed !!!

Talked to the players about options to pay the dealer.

We talked about paying hourly and they wanted to keep it close to $80 an hour, they all commented about how much money would be leaving the table every hour at $80 an hour, and eventually could be $640 or more if we played longer than 8 hours. We all agreed to try it, and the dealer agreed to the $80 per hour, flat rate.

We ran the game ($2.50/$5 NL) with our usual female dealer having not found any other games to deal for her new $100 an hour asking price, she agreed to get paid 80 dollars an hour, free food, drinks and cigars.

Players were into doing flips, so we kicked off a $20 flip at the top of every hour—dealer’s choice. With 8 players tossing in $20 each and the dealer taking $80 out of the pot for herself making it an $80 flip for the players.

Same player won the first two flips, and a few guys started grumbling that it felt one-sided, no upside, just money flying out. So we switched to bomb pots instead. (Old man Complaints, sure)


Started with a $20 double-board Omaha bomb pot ($10 from each player for the dealer tip), our cap is $200 per player, this hand was capped with 4 players all in for the 200. Ended up quartered,(or quaded) two players chopped each board, top an bottom, but it was a different set of 2 players, each of the 4 players won a quarter the pot. Next hour we did a Hold’em double-board, another $200 cap with 4 players, one guy scooped both boards.

(Old man Complaints, sure)

After that, everyone just decided on a simple $10 per hour collection for the dealer. No extra tips. She ended up making $640 over 8 hours. Afterward, she said she couldn’t keep dealing unless it was $100/hour minimum—cost of time, travel, etc. So we let her go.

I called my son to fill in for the next game. He’s not a pro dealer, but he plays all the games and keeps solid track of action, he does not drink or smoke cigars. He agreed to help for the 1 night. Not super fast, but steady—averaged 25 hands/hour (he kept track) with 3 breaks of 15 minutes each. $2.50/$5 NL game, so the smallest chip on the table was a $2.50 snapper. Players were told not to tip, but they all threw him at least $2.50 a hand anyway, sometimes a $5, sometimes 2 $5's, a few $25's in there as well. After 8 hours??? $800 in tips exactly. Same rate she wanted,$100/hour. at less hands per hour.

Funny part: the players tipped more overall than the flat rate of $80 per hour, and nobody really noticed. If he was faster, he would’ve made more. Was it because they’ve known him for years? Maybe. But the players, as in raked games, do not tend to notice the slow bleed of money off the table.

Stay tuned—I’ve got a new dealer lined up for next week, working for tips only. Let’s see how it goes.

Perfect. The guy I found since my post takes average 80-90 too, minimum $600 as we agreed to run the game for at least 5 hour per session.. IME once they get started and realise how much cash in hand they get, they'll start requesting to be the main dealer.. Happened to two of my previous "regular" dealers until they moved out of town.

 

[Tight_Lay_DOWN]

***UPDATE***

Got an actual phone call (yes, a real call—not a text!) from the female dealer. She’s now open to dealing for per-hand tips, with the amount left up to player discretion. She said she’s not expecting any guaranteed rate but is “willing to try it out.”

(Maybe someone stumbled across this thread… got a DM suggesting these forum discussions might be getting noticed. Fair point, something to keep in mind.)

That said, this doesn’t really solve the issue of tip chips, especially when it comes to snappers or other small denoms. When my son was dealing, he’d color up his tips from my stack whenever the table ran low on snappers (perk for being the son of the host), and I’d just redistribute them to the table as needed. If we didn’t do that, we’d lose around 20 snappers an hour off the table, and eventually need to re-seed the game with more chips. (we do not have a dedicated dealer well). Oh, this never ends.


I told her I’d contact the crew and get feedback.

Anyone have suggestions or thoughts about a good way to handle tips per hand where the host does not have go into the bank to colorup/make change or have a dealer well to balance?

 

[doublebooyah85]

***UPDATE***

Got an actual phone call (yes, a real call—not a text!) from the female dealer. She’s now open to dealing for per-hand tips, with the amount left up to player discretion. She said she’s not expecting any guaranteed rate but is “willing to try it out.”

(Maybe someone stumbled across this thread… got a DM suggesting these forum discussions might be getting noticed. Fair point, something to keep in mind.)

That said, this doesn’t really solve the issue of tip chips, especially when it comes to snappers or other small denoms. When my son was dealing, he’d color up his tips from my stack whenever the table ran low on snappers (perk for being the son of the host), and I’d just redistribute them to the table as needed. If we didn’t do that, we’d lose around 20 snappers an hour off the table, and eventually need to re-seed the game with more chips. (we do not have a dedicated dealer well). Oh, this never ends.


I told her I’d contact the crew and get feedback.

Anyone have suggestions or thoughts about a good way to handle tips per hand where the host does not have go into the bank to colorup/make change or have a dealer well to balance?

The dealer can just constantly make change with the pot, so when there’s action on the flop and she’s waiting for someone and she sees a green chip in there. She just pulls the green chip and put in five red chips. She’s constantly making change with the pot, etc..

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

***UPDATE***

Got an actual phone call (yes, a real call—not a text!) from the female dealer. She’s now open to dealing for per-hand tips, with the amount left up to player discretion. She said she’s not expecting any guaranteed rate but is “willing to try it out.”

(Maybe someone stumbled across this thread… got a DM suggesting these forum discussions might be getting noticed. Fair point, something to keep in mind.)

That said, this doesn’t really solve the issue of tip chips, especially when it comes to snappers or other small denoms. When my son was dealing, he’d color up his tips from my stack whenever the table ran low on snappers (perk for being the son of the host), and I’d just redistribute them to the table as needed. If we didn’t do that, we’d lose around 20 snappers an hour off the table, and eventually need to re-seed the game with more chips. (we do not have a dedicated dealer well). Oh, this never ends.


I told her I’d contact the crew and get feedback.

Anyone have suggestions or thoughts about a good way to handle tips per hand where the host does not have go into the bank to colorup/make change or have a dealer well to balance?

Mmmm no good answer on the color up, needs to be happening. You don't want to make it too obvious. I made it work on a table without a tray, using a small stack of chips that I would color up whenever possible, with the high denoms going in my front shirt pocket. Yes I was taking it off the table and out of sight but nothing sneaky about it, felt weird putting them in my front pockets.

 

[doublebooyah85]

The dealer can just constantly make change with the pot, so when there’s action on the flop and she’s waiting for someone and she sees a green chip in there. She just pulls the green chip and put in five red chips. She’s constantly making change with the pot, etc..

Even if she’s making change in the well, that’s totally acceptable. She’s your Dealer and you ultimately have to have trust with her…she’s handling the cards anyway. Your username is beginning to make more sense now lol

If your table doesn’t have a chip tray we just use a chip rack.

 

[mdt11]

I would expect a dealer to color up his or her tips like this. I only have 100 white chips so the dealer should never have more than 4 whites at a time in their tip tray/cup/pocket. Then when they get to five reds they should color up to a green, etc…

In your case I would either have white tip chips, or have the dealer color up to 5 every time they get two snappers.

 

[Tight_Lay_DOWN]

The dealer can just constantly make change with the pot, so when there’s action on the flop and she’s waiting for someone and she sees a green chip in there. She just pulls the green chip and put in five red chips. She’s constantly making change with the pot, etc..

that is a possibility. The dealers we have been using, have been using a poker dealer Tip Box, one of those big square metal lock boxes that they take from table to table at a pokerroom. Even though we only have the one table, there are just use to it. Maybe they can stop using those to make the chips more accessible to make change...

I like it...

 

[Oddpac87]

that is a possibility. The dealers we have been using, have been using a poker dealer Tip Box, one of those big square metal lock boxes that they take from table to table at a pokerroom. Even though we only have the one table, there are just use to it. Maybe they can stop using those to make the chips more accessible to make change...

I like it...

Think a combo of these is probably the best option. Keep the box so the tips aren't sitting in the chip tray or something, but just have the dealer set aside the snapper until they get a second one and then they just make change from either the pot or tray and drop the $5 into their tip box.

 

[Tight_Lay_DOWN]

If your table doesn’t have a chip tray we just use a chip rack.

We will see - I also like the idea of the rack on the table for them, but the dealers kinda dont like everyone to see how much they make in tips. Maybe they are afraid if the players see that amount, they will be inclined to tip less, or maybe that is the psychology of dealers towards the players or a combination of both, they can use the rack intermittently for change and colorups and use the drop box when the rack gets filled.

Either way, the Rack and their box is all theirs, no mixing of Bank chips or players chips or dealer chips.

 

[Tight_Lay_DOWN]

Think a combo of these is probably the best option. Keep the box so the tips aren't sitting in the chip tray or something, but just have the dealer set aside the snapper until they get a second one and then they just make change from either the pot or tray and drop the $5 into their tip box.

Combo for the win - at least for now...

Will ponder it - try it out.

I really like keeping everything as separate and balanced as possible. It has been over 2 years since the bank, tips, or players were off balance, and that was only by $5.

Part of having a good game is having a game that runs itself, without issues or constant interventions.

 

[Budha]

NVM - lol

 

[TheYeti]

I see two options;

• Go back to $2/$5
• Moar snappers!

Option 2 would be the obvious PCF choice here.

 

[JustinInMN]

We’ve tried a few different ways to compensate dealers, and it’s worth noting that no rake is ever taken by the house:

1. $2/hand mandatory tip – This worked when we had $2 chips, but with the $2.50 snappers now in play, it’s cumbersome. So we started to tip 2.50 per pot. We prefer to keep fewer chips on the table and avoid having to make change or color up chips for tips just to keep the snappers in circulation. This process slows the game and isn’t ideal.

No, "mandatory tip" is not a thing, this is a rake.

The limits mostly played are: 2.50/5 NL (we used to play 2/5 NL, but now we have snappers), sometimes 5/5 or 5/10. The max buy-in is $1,500, though we allow players to match stacks (or up to match the stack) as the game progresses, especially at higher stakes. We average about 30 to 40 hands per hour and play a variety of no-limit mixed games: 7 Card Stud, Hold’em, Omaha, 5 Stud, 2-7 Draw, Double Draw, Triple Draw, Razz, Stud Hi-Lo, and a few others.

I have a real hard time believing 30 hands an hour with all these forms in play. 30-40 hands of hold'em and omaha, sure, but the other games, especially the triple draw games, are much slower.

That said, you cannot say "no rake is ever taken by the house", as soon as something is mandatory, it's rake, end of argument.

Now that said, I think the issue is that you don't want to add denominations, which I totally get. But that's starting to curtail the tipping.

Personally I think the best answer is that you do time charge every 30 minutes, $5 per player with the denominations you have. That raises $80-$100 and hour and then just have a culture where per hand tipping is not at all expected. Some of that should go to cover hospitality, but the dealers are still left with $50-60 an hour in cash they don't need to report. If you find you are having difficulty with that, you can adjust accordingly, and maybe go to $7.50 every 30 minutes or something.

 

[JustinInMN]

That said, this doesn’t really solve the issue of tip chips, especially when it comes to snappers or other small denoms. When my son was dealing, he’d color up his tips from my stack whenever the table ran low on snappers (perk for being the son of the host), and I’d just redistribute them to the table as needed. If we didn’t do that, we’d lose around 20 snappers an hour off the table, and eventually need to re-seed the game with more chips. (we do not have a dedicated dealer well). Oh, this never ends.


I told her I’d contact the crew and get feedback.

Anyone have suggestions or thoughts about a good way to handle tips per hand where the host does not have go into the bank to colorup/make change or have a dealer well to balance?

This is the easiest question in the world, buy more snappers.

This is the biggest difference when designing sets for games that have rake/tipping expectation versus when we we are talking about casual home games. For rake/tip games, you need about 2x-3x the blind chips.

That said if players prefer to tip 1-2 hand and you don't want snappers to be tipped, I would just make some singles available in the dealer tray and get good at moving five singles for two snappers. It's not ideal, but it would work well enough. Make the rule that singles do not play when counting all-ins. That might alleviate the concern about introducing an extra denomination that only has this function.

Think a combo of these is probably the best option. Keep the box so the tips aren't sitting in the chip tray or something, but just have the dealer set aside the snapper until they get a second one and then they just make change from either the pot or tray and drop the $5 into their tip box.

This option is okay as well.

 

[chipszx]

Need suggestions for paying your Poker Dealer in this scenario..

It is a private home game with 6 to 8 players, typically running for 6 to 8 hours. It’s a lively and friendly environment, complete with drinks, cigars, and a full meal catered for the evening—usually Italian cuisine, which also includes any meal requests the dealer might have, along with ample snacks.

The limits mostly played are: 2.50/5 NL (we used to play 2/5 NL, but now we have snappers), sometimes 5/5 or 5/10. The max buy-in is $1,500, though we allow players to match stacks (or up to match the stack) as the game progresses, especially at higher stakes. We average about 30 to 40 hands per hour and play a variety of no-limit mixed games: 7 Card Stud, Hold’em, Omaha, 5 Stud, 2-7 Draw, Double Draw, Triple Draw, Razz, Stud Hi-Lo, and a few others.

Dealers are welcome to take breaks as needed, with longer breaks available every hour and a half.

We’ve tried a few different ways to compensate dealers, and it’s worth noting that no rake is ever taken by the house:

1. $2/hand mandatory tip – This worked when we had $2 chips, but with the $2.50 snappers now in play, it’s cumbersome. So we started to tip 2.50 per pot. We prefer to keep fewer chips on the table and avoid having to make change or color up chips for tips just to keep the snappers in circulation. This process slows the game and isn’t ideal.

2. Bomb pot rake – At the top and bottom of each hour, each player puts in $10, and we take out $30 for the dealer. However, players aren’t particularly fond of bomb pots, and we eventually imposed a $200 per player cap on these hands.

3. Hourly rate – We’ve paid dealers $70–$80/hour, with players tipping(seat time) $10/hour each, for a minimum of seven players. This is the players’ preferred method: it’s clean, easy to calculate, and straightforward. However, some dealers seem to feel short-changed—perhaps because they don’t see the steady stream of tips like they would if tips were coming out of every pot.

In addition to the structured pay, players also tip periodically—often for big pots, exciting hands, or dramatic suck-outs. We estimate that these extra tips add up to around $20/hour, though we haven’t tracked that precisely.

We have a few important rules: dealers are strictly prohibited from discussing anything that happens in the game or mentioning players who participate. We did have to part ways with a dealer who violated this trust. Over the past three years, we’ve rotated through three different dealers.

About four months ago, we started dealing ourselves because a couple of dealers either talked about the games or constantly asked for more money. However, we’re back to wanting to bring in a dealer again. From our perspective, $60–$70/hour for a game that runs from 6 or 7 p.m. until 1–3 a.m.—with free meals and drinks—seems fair. But perhaps we’re out of touch.

We’re hoping to find a straightforward, fair way to pay dealers that avoids constant renegotiation, minimizes the clutter of chips, and doesn’t require us to track hands or make change constantly—nor do we want to continue dealing ourselves.

Any suggestions, methods, or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

I'm interested in a job dealing. I'm a good dealer and we can work out something easy for pay. Thanks

 

[glynn]

Anyone have suggestions or thoughts about a good way to handle tips per hand where the host does not have go into the bank to colorup/make change or have a dealer well to balance?

A low-profile thigh bag or dog treat pouch with a couple of sections for a graduated color-up system with unobtrusive, easy access. The dealer can make exchanges with the pot as part of her regular maintenance while players are tanking.

I agree with Justin that change chips become extra important in a tipped game. Keep them on hand and circulating.

 

[RocAFella1]

A low-profile thigh bag or dog treat pouch

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