Tipping the dealer for a lower stakes home game? (2 Viewers)

[quintooo]

The game I run is 0.25/0.50, buyins are usually $40-100 (match stack later on the night). I would say the average buy in is $60 at the beginning of the night. I'm looking to get a dealer for this game, and I'm not sure how to handle tipping the dealer.

Firstly, the dealer is paid $20/hr. The dealer is not experienced and requires some coaching, so he is not gonna be fast for the first couple of games (but should be faster than self dealt). Should players even bother tipping when the buyin is low like this and dealer is unexperienced? Should I encourage players to tip 0.25 or 0.50 per hand won? Is the "casino average" of $1 tip too much for an unraked 0.25/0.50 game?

 

[Colquhoun]

Are you going to ask your players to tip?
I say, let them decide while they play. Some may want to tip when the game is over instead of every winning hand or so…

 

[doublebooyah85]

If the dealer is making $20 hour I would have a no tipping rule. Dealer making $100-$150 a night is solid.

Tipping can get pretty aggressive then and the dealer could make some big money and it takes money from your micro stakes game.

 

[quintooo]

Are you going to ask your players to tip?
I say, let them decide while they play. Some may want to tip when the game is over instead of every winning hand or so…

I'm not going to ask. The past games, I've dealt and received tips from players at the end of game, usually in the form of extra singles/quarters. So I end the night with a $10-20 tip.

By encouraging, I meant I would just tip the dealer myself each winning hand, and see if the other players catch on. If not, all good too. Tip at the end of the night is a good idea though.

 

[doublebooyah85]

I'm not going to ask. The past games, I've dealt and received tips from players at the end of game, usually in the form of extra singles/quarters. So I end the night with a $10-20 tip.

By encouraging, I meant I would just tip the dealer myself each winning hand, and see if the other players catch on. If not, all good too. Tip at the end of the night is a good idea though.

Yep at the end of the night is a solid idea. Big winners can throw him a $5-$10 etc

 

[quintooo]

Yep at the end of the night is a solid idea. Big winners can throw him a $5-$10 etc

Yea, I will probably run with this idea. No tip at the end of the night is no big deal either because he gets paid regardless.

 

[Quads]

Dealer toke bucket for players on the way out / end of the night.

 

[upNdown]

The dealer is not experienced and requires some coaching

I can't imagine I'd want to tip that guy. Especially if he's being paid. Where's his $20/hr coming from? I assume a rake? It just seems like you'll be raking an awful lot off the table at those stakes, to pay a dealer $20/hr. Obviously I'm a cheap bastard, but I don't think I'd want to tip a GOOD dealer under those circumstances.

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

Some may want to tip when the game is over instead of every winning hand or so…

+1 for tipping at end of night. At these stakes, and if dealer is already getting paid, then fracs and singles from players is a decent rate (maybe plus some from winners). Even if it is just fracs and singles, still looking at $30-35. On a $120-150 (6-7.5 h) wage, that's 20-30%.

Might cash yourself out first to set the example.

 

[quintooo]

I can't imagine I'd want to tip that guy. Especially if he's being paid. Where's his $20/hr coming from?

Straight out of my pocket and some of the reg players' (my friends) cash. They said they'd be willing to chip in for a dealer, so it's a split between 5 of us. It's really not that much, only comes out to ~$20/game from my pocket.

I didn't want to ask the randoms/less than regulars to chip in for a dealer because they're not really asking/expecting one.

It's been a while since I made this post, and I've only ran 4 paid games with a dealer so far. There were some games he wasn't paid because I was still training him.

Tips I get from the end of the game just go towards the cost of the dealer (its what I've decided). This slightly lowers the cost of the dealer me and my friends split for each game, obviously depending on tips.

 

[frankrizzo]

I run a 1/2 game… 6 hours of play the dealer walked out with over $800 in tips.
He had a good night….

$840 to be exact

 

[tabletalker7]

Have kinda like a "cash station" where people stop at to buy in and cash out. Leave a jar there labeled "dealer tips". People like me will drop in chips when I go to cash out. Others will drop in bills. Either way having a central place for money and having the tip jar there will entice players to pony up.

 

[frankrizzo]

Have kinda like a "cash station" where people stop at to buy in and cash out. Leave a jar there labeled "dealer tips". People like me will drop in chips when I go to cash out. Others will drop in bills. Either way having a central place for money and having the tip jar there will entice players to pony up.

Yeah and it doesn’t take money off the table during play

 

[Dugthefish]

An inexperienced, non-professional dealer is 100% NOT going to make the game go faster than a two deck, self dealt game. Teach your players how to deal and help keep the table tidied up.

 

[ChipEnvy]

So in a game that size the dealer is going to be probably the 2nd biggest winner. I would tell him/her that there will be no tips ahead of time so they don't come into the night thinking, "I'm making $150 for the hourly and probably double that in tips". If you have a Tip bucket at the end of the night, that's cool, but I wouldn't let the dealer know about it so they shouldn't be expecting any more than their hourly rate.

 

[quintooo]

An inexperienced, non-professional dealer is 100% NOT going to make the game go faster than a two deck, self dealt game. Teach your players how to deal and help keep the table tidied up.

You wouldn't believe how bad my players are at pitching cards/shuffling. Also some of them are older gentlemen with not that great hand dexterity, so I swear we were probably playing like 10 hands an hour. Probably doesn't help that the players are call happy and I don't think I've ever not seen a flop at my games.

Even though games are on hold right now due to the surge of the coves, the past few games with the amateur dealer have been great.

He still needs a lot of practice pitching, but I think we're approaching ~15 hands an hour now.

The next step is a shuffletech machine (^:

 

[upNdown]

Ive

You wouldn't believe how bad my players are at pitching cards/shuffling. Also some of them are older gentlemen with not that great hand dexterity, so I swear we were probably playing like 10 hands an hour. Probably doesn't help that the players are call happy and I don't think I've ever not seen a flop at my games.

Even though games are on hold right now due to the surge of the coves, the past few games with the amateur dealer have been great.

He still needs a lot of practice pitching, but I think we're approaching ~15 hands an hour now.

The next step is a shuffletech machine (^:

Ive been thinking a lot about this. I get hung up on the stakes vs how much the dealer makes, but I think that’s fair.
As long as you and a few other guys are happy tossing a $20 in for the dealer, that’s fine, of course, it’s your game. But I have a couple of thoughts.

1) it doesn’t seem sustainable to me that half your players are paying for the dealer and half of them aren’t. I don’t want to encourage a rake, but maybe a simple house rule - “Every player must toss $10 to the dealer.” and that’s that. If you have a slow night where only 3 other guys show up, well, the dealer can be disappointed like the rest of you, oh well.

2) I really don’t think you should encourage tipping at all, as long as the dealer is getting paid. I’m not saying to discourage it, but at these stakes, tipping doesn’t make a lot of economic sense.

 

[ovo]

20 bucks an hour for a dealer that needs to be trained sounds pretty good already, just saying

 

[Goldfish]

Having a good dealer is a huge benefit to the game and imperative for any serious game regardless of the stakes. While the job may look easy at times, it’s not. It is an incredibly hard and draining job, especially if done well. A good dealer has to pay attention EVERY hand of the night (that is incredibly hard) and sometimes deal for incredibly long periods of time. They are responsible for moving the game along, managing players, and managing pots. While they make some players happy, they make some sad/mad and take the berating in stride. Whatever they make in a night is well worth it IMO, and is not like a rake because the tips are voluntarily given by the players. Pay them all, and pay them well IMO.

 

[jimmyvulgaer]

when the game and the evening ends, you as a host can for sure encourage your players to tip the dealer if there wasn't any tips yet and the dealer made a good job.

like in the movie "mollys game" where the host at this first gathering said something like "...and dont forget to tip molly" as the poker evening was finished. (i know, molly didnt work there as a dealer but you get the point.)

 

[Machine]

Think of it like this, $2 a hand times 20 hands an hour is 40 bucks, that's a decent night of dealing. This is typically going to be on a 2 / 5 NLH game, or PLO. Maybe a 5/10 limit game.

You can say X * 20 = Hourly rate. If you think of X as the small blind. This is why it's not typically feasible to have a dealer in low stake games.

.25 * 20 = $5 (plus the 20) decent hourly rate.

.5 * 20 = $10 (plus the 20) that's a great rate honestly for the game. GL on getting 20 hands an hour.

A shuffler will make it go faster, if you don't use a shuffler, make sure you have bridge cards, it will be easier on the dealer.

The best way to encourage tipping is lead by example, try to make sure you toss 3-4 quarters into the middle of the table. Teach him to collect and tap the edge of the chip tray, it calls attention to the tip, and show appreciation.

have you had many games since Nov? Any lessons learned? how is it going any odd issues?

 

[Highli99]

Teach him to collect and tap the edge of the chip tray,

Gaahhhh! No tapping chips on the tray please this damages the chips! Fine for casinos but unnecessary in a home game esp with nice chippies

 

[Mike mac]

in this situation with a rookie dealer that is being paid(rake?) and for these stakes, i would say"guys please do not tip the dealer". he is being paid. takes the pressure of your players to tip. when he gets faster and better at chopping pots maybe consider lowering his pay and allowing tips. i have a 1-1 or 1-2 game and my dealer makes $250 minimum a night in tips alone, he is fast and capable. he makes his own paycheck and my game is no rake

 

[Goldfish]

Another way to pay the dealer is to do a tip banger/flip at some point during the night (usually at the beginning so nobody is broke yet). You can plug in any number you want but as an example, everyone puts up $25 (half the total pot goes to the dealer and half goes to the winner of the banger). If 8 players - pot is worth $200 - $100 goes to the dealer and $100 goes to the winner of the banger/flip. Then you don’t have to worry about tipping all night.

 

[JackDeRke]

We´ve often had rules like button pays 25ct for the dealer in a lot of out small private homegames. Encourages them to try and speed up since more hands means more money and players were still allowed to tip on top of that as they please. Which often leads to 50ct or € tips after some pots especially when the button is reminded of the dealer pay.

Other larger games in out area pay a flat amount for the dealer, meaning 50-80€ for the night however long it goes. Only thing is, if the night streches out to the next night over it´ll be another 80€ xD. And they then pretty much do it for the tips only. Buddy of mine made 480€ in 3hours. Though that game played 5/5 omaha which kinda went off the rails and the highest tip was 60€ after one hand.
It can get pretty exciting that way, but isn´t how I´d treat a private game.

I think the way of encouraging the speed of the dealer by a pay per hand is pretty good. You can probably also just say we pay them from the pot, if everyone agrees it comes out to being the same as telling everyone to tip after a winning hand.
Note: My dealing speed got up to the point were people told me they´ll not pay every hand but every second since it´s getting to expensive.
But for starting off it works great.

 

[Machine]

Note: My dealing speed got up to the point were people told me they´ll not pay every hand but every second since it´s getting to expensive.

I would explain that its no problem, I can just slow down, or I can deal a hand, and then you can deal the next one. With logic like this, I would want to play in the game rather than deal.

Another way to pay the dealer is to do a tip banger/flip at some point during the night (usually at the beginning so nobody is broke yet). You can plug in any number you want but as an example, everyone puts up $25 (half the total pot goes to the dealer and half goes to the winner of the banger). If 8 players - pot is worth $200 - $100 goes to the dealer and $100 goes to the winner of the banger/flip. Then you don’t have to worry about tipping all night.

I don't want 1/2 a pot, based on how much people feel they want to gamble on one blind hand.

Dealing is a service, you deal for tips, not every other pot, you deal every hand. I take pride in speed and accuracy, I dealt last night and fucked up two hands in a rounds game. I was pissed the second time I made the same mistake.

Its a stud / Omaha game, I dealt the 3rd card in stud down about 5 mins apart, really aggravated me. I dealt about 27- 31 hands an hour, dealt for 7.5 hours w/ 2 breaks about 15m each.

 

[JackDeRke]

I would explain that its no problem, I can just slow down, or I can deal a hand, and then you can deal the next one. With logic like this, I would want to play in the game rather than deal.

We actually pretty much always have a playing Dealer. So I was usually playing and dealing. They still wanted me to deal since elseways the games usually wouldn't start. So I was kind of pere pressured into deal or we don't play. For a somewhat addicted 19year old back then, this was quite the thread

 

[Coyote]

For game integrity reasons (unless the dedicated dealer is your brother), I would pay the dealer on an hourly basis only.
Winning players could tip him or her upon cashing out in the end.

 

[Machine]

For game integrity reasons (unless the dedicated dealer is your brother), I would pay the dealer on an hourly basis only.
Winning players could tip him or her upon cashing out in the end.

Just for clarity

You would advocate a host pay for food / drink / space / table / cards / chips and the dealer's hourly rate, and no rake, correct?


All of the sudden hookers and blow seems like a better proposition.

 

[Coyote]

Just for clarity

You would advocate a host pay for food / drink / space / table / cards / chips and the dealer's hourly rate, and no rake, correct?


All of the sudden hookers and blow seems like a better proposition.

It's culture-dependent, but even in the most hospitable of cultures like mine, being a regular and not an occasional host:
I would pay for snacks and refreshments (unless we order BBQ from outside, so in the end the bill would be shared by winning players only)
the drinks would be BYOB,
and the players would all share the dealer's hourly remuneration (plus tips by winning players upon cash-out)