What is your opinion of tipping dealers/staff in tournaments?

apparently a "controversy" has arisen surrounding main event champion jerry yang and chris ferguson, as supposedly when asked what yang would leave for the dealers, ferguson responded for him that he should leave nothing...ferguson later defended his actions by saying that harrah's has taken out over $1 million throughout the wsop to pay their dealers/floor staff





so, what do you think of tipping the dealers after cashing in a tournament? to me, it's a personal decision much like the one you might make in a restaurant, if the service was good you leave a tip and perhaps a good one, if you felt the service was poor then you don't tip...but what is everyone else's opinion?

What is your opinion of tipping dealers/staff in tournaments?
Common convention is to tip 10% of your winnings. I've seen a little less and I've seen a whole lot more, but 10% is the standard.





Note: some people like to tip a particular percentage (say 10 or 15 percent) AFTER taxes (assumed to be 40%).





Regarding tipping in general, both dealers and servers work A HELL OF A LOT HARDER than most people will ever realize!





Rule #1 at a restaurant: Don't f--k with people who handle your food. And while a dealer is not going to cheat to screw a stiff on the next hand, that nit's lousy karma will catch up with him or her eventually.





Edit: When you tip following a tournament, the tip is split evenly amongst all the dealers. Used to be, EVERYONE that finished in the money tipped. Seriously, what happened to tipping!!!??? Do all you people realize that by dealing a tournament, a dealer is not dealing a cash game. And by not dealing a cash game where the dealer is used to making $1 (or more)/ hand in tips, the dealer is coming out WAY BEHIND.





If this trend continues, experienced dealers may simply refuse to deal tournaments and stick to where the money is. That'll leave just break-ins (if anyone) to deal tournaments.





As for the argument "they're being paid well," doubtful, but OK, let's entertain your argument for a moment. If a casino is in fact shelling out enough dough to land quality dealers, where is the money coming from? Harrah's (or whomever else)? Yeah right... it's going to come from higher entry fees and lower and fewer payouts. Think about it...
Reply:The dealers were quite well paid for their work at the WSOP. The winner of a bracelet may choose to tip, but keep in mind they are switching dealers all the time, so who do you tip? The guy that just happened to deal you the final winning hand? Maybe. But I think it is a personal choice and has nothing to do with anyone else.





This guy that just won $8.25m is going to have to hire an accountant and figure out what to do with the money. He is probably going to pay a good three million in taxes to the government (the same government that seems to hate poker). So he really needs to be thinking about all that first, not if some guy who chose to work as a dealer should be expecting a gift or not.





As Chris Ferguson allegedly said, Harrahs has taken a nice chunk of profit out of all those buy ins for themselves and to pay the dealers quite well. It's not up to the winner to make up the short fall if Harrahs doesn't pay enough.
Reply:In a tournament setting, I think if you win big you tip, if you just squeak into the money it is uncalled for.





If you are a regular at any casino you'll see the difference. Pro's do not like to tip, after all thats how they make a living. I'll agree with the fact that Jesus doesn't want to see Harrah's get any more money, however these guys are just working stiffs like the rest of us.
Reply:I don't tip in tournaments, and here's why. You talk about J. Yang and the Main Event, and that's a good example. If I was the ME winner, I would still not tipping the dealer, in a tournament of 2, 3, 6....etc days, how many dealers are you going to have? I mean if I tip the (last) dealer at my final table, it's not fair for all the others who dealt me during that tourney. They also dealt me good hands. So am I suppose to tip every single dealer in that tourney? NO.





Sorry, I don't tip tourney. For me tipping the dealer is like playing poker, it all depend an the situation, that's why I don't have any trouble tipping the dealer at the cash tables, yes I see different dealers in one sessions, but I know that all dealer at my table received tips, so it's cool.....





Take care
Reply:I usually think if you win a hand than you would leave a little tip. It usually add up pretty good at the end. I don't know much about a tourney.
Reply:I personally don't like tipping dealers, assuming that you're playing at all, which is not a great thing. They will assuredly hate you if you don't because they're a bunch of babies and think that they're doing honest work like waiters or housekeepers, which they're not, and they don't deserve a tip in my opinion.





Also, if you're a serious professional player (which you shouldn't be), tipping can eat into your advantage.





Honest work is the best suggestion for dealers and players. Being a dealer is a cop-out, in my opinion, and is not honest work in accordance with a work ethic. They don't deserve tips.