The Management Consulting Group

In cash games and poker online tournaments, it is appropriate to tip your dealer(s) when you win. How much is enough?

In life, less than a dollar tip is usually an insult. Sure, any amount of money over time will add up, and your dealers, bartenders, servers of the world probably won’t complain, but if you can’t buy anything for less than a dollar, neither can they.

Very few games, even limit games, are dealt in a casino for less than $1 stakes. Plain and simple, it’s just hard for the house to squeak money out of tiny games which they have to staff. If you play one of these games, a tip of a BB or more is appropriate.

In higher stakes cash games, most generally tip a dollar per hand that they’ve won. This goes for $1/$2 all the way up to 10/20. The amount of money you’re winning in a cash game shouldn’t really affect your tip. The dealer is basically doing the same thing at any price level. If you want to tip more, go ahead. It will be appreciated.

In a poker tournament, however, you are not playing with chips that have any real value. When you win a big pot, you are not guaranteed any money whatsoever. Only if you cash in a tournament should you have to tip, so no tip is required at the end of any hand.

Generally, players should fork over 5-10% of their winnings to the dealers of a tournament, and this should be given to the tournament director with instructions to tip the dealers with. The dealers work very hard to supply you with a comfortable rule-enforced environment to play your game in. The more money you make in a tournament should affect how much you tip, as opposed to cash games. The winner of an online poker tournament must make up for most of the playing field, because guess what; a majority of the players in a poker tournament lose.

So, don’t be a cheapskate. You just won a lot of money. If it’s millions, sure put a cap on your tip. But even if it’s thousands, remember how many dealers were involved in the entire tournament. Cough it up.