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NICE GUY EDDIE: All right everybody;
cough up some green for the little lady. Come on throw
in a buck.
MR PINK: Uh… ah… I don’t
tip!
NICE GUY EDDIE: You don’t tip?
MR PINK: No I don’t believe
in it
NICE GUY EDDIE: You don’t believe
in tipping?
MR BLUE: You know what these chicks
make? They make sh*t.
MR PINK: Don’t give me that!
If she don’t make enough money she can quit.
This is an opening scene from one of my favorite movies
of all time, Reservoir Dogs, and deals with a subject
close to my heart (and all dealers’ hearts), tipping.
For those readers who
don’t know the standards in the industry, allow
me to explain how tipping in major tournaments works.
In almost every major tournament these days, a small
percentage of each event’s prize pool is withheld
for the staff and dealers. This is done to ensure a
couple of things: first, that these very hard working
individuals do not work for free, and secondly, that
the dealers and staff do not have to rely solely upon
the generosity of players to make their money, since
dealers make 90% of their income from gratuities. In
the same way, restaurants have an automatic tip incorporated
into the bill to ensure that the service staff do not
run around for a large group of people for several hours
only to get left a minimal gratuity, or none at all.
You could call it protection for the servers. The two
to three percent that is withheld in poker tournaments
is a similar kind of protection in the industry.
Taking into consideration the amount of players at
this year’s WSOP Main Event, you can clearly see
that the dealers/staff percentage that was withheld
stood to be a record amount. This is true, but taking
into consideration the number of dealers and staff that
were needed to run this year’s event, many questions
arise. Do these dealers walk away filthy rich? Are they
making more money than they should? Should less be taken
for the dealers? Should they take more?
First off, let’s look at the breakdown from this
year’s main event. The dealers’ cut worked
out
to be roughly $888,000 dollars. Now the question is,
is this a lot of money for 300+ dealers? Well, it’s
not bad, but at the same time, let’s look at how
they qualify for that cut.
First and foremost, the WSOP is the most grueling event
on the tour for dealers. Employees must work a solid
45 days straight, with minimal time off, and tremendous
amounts of overtime. Now combine that with a multitude
of other things, such as the fact that dealers that
do not live in Las Vegas must pay for their own accommodation
while they are here. Add to that the stress of working
in the biggest event in the history of the world, and
you have what I believe is one of the hardest dealing
gigs in the world. How would I know? Well last year
I happened to deal this incredible event, and trust
me, it was an amazing experience; however, it was also
a drain of titanic proportions both mentally and physically.
So allow me to inform all ye faithful readers of my
stance on the subject of tipping dealers. I look at
tipping as a personal choice. If someone chooses not
to tip, then I respect that as their choice, and do
not question it. Sure, it’s easy to complain about
people who don’t tip, but where does that get
you? Put simply, the job of a poker dealer is not an
easy one. With each hand, you have one winner and nine
losers; it’s not easy to keep nine losers happy
with you. Add to that the fact that players do tend
to get a little aggravated from time to time, and you
see it takes a certain type of individual to be a good
poker dealer, and nowmaybe people will read this article
and appreciate the good dealers just a tiny bit more.
At this year’s WSOP Main Event, the total amount
of money tipped out by all players in addition to the
percentage was, now wait for it...
$48,000 Yep, that’s right only $48,000! Now,
one thing that I think is totally unprofessional is
dealers, or anyone else, taking shots at some of this
year’s big money winners’ choices when it
came to tipping. Like I said before, tipping is a personal
choice and if someone chooses not to tip, then so be
it, complaining will do nothing but make you look bad.
Allow me to state what I feel is at the heart of this
problem.
At the 2005 Main Event, a new player to major tournaments
cashed for a rather large amount and was not sure as
to the procedure for tipping the staff. Well, it was
at this point that one particular poker pro decided
to give his advice to this player as to what to tip
and why. This pro, a regular tournament player who everyone
knows, (let’s just call him Mr Elastic for the
purpose of this article) informed the new player that,
since there were millions taken from the event before
a hand had been dealt, it would be wrong to tip anything
additional to the dealers. Well, the new player didn’t
know any better, so he decided to leave nothing! Now,
as I mentioned earlier, there is nothing at all wrong
with this, my problem is the fact that this certain
individual was misinformed by Mr Elastic, and therefore
withdrew his rather large toke before it was finalized.
This to me is totally unacceptable.
It’s this kind of bad information that led to
this year’s dealers making only $48,000 extra
on top of their regular cut. Sure, Harrah’s took
a bigger cut than usual (and put on, in my opinion,
an amazing event) but that extra money didn’t
find it’s way to the dealers. Now I am not complaining,
since I didn’t even deal in this year’s
event, but considering that last year the dealers made
more money, worked less and were treated better all
around, that all adds up to some pretty unhappy staff
if you ask me.
So what exactly am I trying to say? I guess I feel
that certain players should be criticized for
their behavior in certain circumstances. I feel very
strongly that, as members of the press, it is
our responsibility to point out the bad apples that
are spoiling it for all us good peaches!
That’s all for this month,
MAY THE FLOP BE WITH YOU…ALWAYS, THE HUX
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