I’m writing this on behalf of all my fellow casino games dealers out there.  You can consider me like the Lorax: I speak for the dealers.

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

-Luke 6:38 (NIV)

It’s pretty straight forward: tip your dealer.

It’s bad form to only tip your dealer at the very end of the tournament, after you won, since you’re wagering the dealer’s income on whether or not you’re going to place first.  In an event of 100+ players, this means 99 of them (who were serviced by 10 different dealers) will not receive a tip for services rendered.  The dealers are performing a service, and have no say in how the cards are being dealt or how you play your hand.  They perform a service to you, whether you win or lose, and as one dealer smartly put it:

“It’s like you refusing to tip your wait staff if the food you ordered didn’t come out tasting what you hoped.  It’s not the server’s fault, because they still provided you good service.  To fault them is to blame the blameless.”

Understand that the dealer who is most likely working for you is a seasoned, well trained professional, whose job is not only to deal you cards, but to secure the table, keep the game in order, (and in poker) ensures the game and everyone’s bank is on point.  They act as both banker and referee.

Tipping after a winning hand is fine, and even at the end of a table, if, at a tournament, you’re moving to another table.  If not at a tournament, then tipping after a winning hand is ideal.  You want to do this because in many occasions, most dealers are cut from events before the end of the event, to prevent overhead costs to the charity.  They unfortunately lose out on the gratuity, especially if not handed to them directly by the player or client.  Some companies use the group gratuity to pay their set-up and take down crew as a way to cut costs for the casino event company.  The dealer will not see that cash.

As how much to tip per hand, use your better judgement.  Don’t tip worthless game chips to a dealer at an event because it’s not witty, it’s insulting.  Dealers do accept cash gratuity.  As for how much, use your better judgement.

If you do win the event, however, and you want to base your tip out of your prize, then it’s generally between 2%- 7% of whatever the total value of the main prize is, also based on what the buy-in was (based on a scale of $100,000 – over $1,000,000).  The lower the original buy-in, the higher the percentage.  This is only a suggested rate.  What you choose to tip is to your discretion.

It’s pretty much in almost every belief that whatever you send out, you will get in return, at least three fold.  Who knows.  It may help you get better cards in the interim.

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver.”

– 2 Corinthians 9:6-7  (NIV)