I am preparing my taxes for the year and showed a very modest profit from poker for 2011. This has me thinking about shrink (cost). Am I wrong to assume that 4% of total profit should be set aside for dealers?

$8,700 earnings
$3,600 bonuses

$12,300 total over 44 weeks of play of 4/8 and 3/6 HE mostly. I accounted for nearly 2,000 hours of play this year which I think is enough time to hold my winrate accountable.

I dont want to seem stingy or noncompliant with poker etiquette of tipping dealers, as I feel 4% is the right amount? Opinions appreciated?

This amounts to a tipping budget of $500 for 2012. If I assume the same 44 weeks of play in 2012, this equates to little more than $11/week available for tips.

What is the best way to tip $11 per week?

Give it all to the dealer that did the best during that week?
Break it down into quarters and dimes and tip after each pot raked?
Only tip in blind vs. blind situations that I win?

Suggestions?

Please and Thanks.

P.S. Also $500 annual tipping budget is nearly equivalent or more than the following on a yearly basis.

*Children's allowances
*Cell phone service
*Car insurance
*Haircuts
*Gym membership
Etc, So tipping more seems out of order with the big picture. Or am I wrong?

Really you compare tipping for 2000 hours of poker to be the equivalent of childrens' allowances and haircuts?

At 2000 hours you are playing poker on a full time schedule. You are being serviced by poker dealers on a full time basis. I submit that quantity of service certainly is more significant than childrens allowances unless your kids are actually performing fulltime services (perhaps you live on a farm and they actually are in which case on behalf of your children I think you ought to kick in a few more bucks) and unless you are getting 8 haircuts a day cetainly you can see how your poker dealers are doing more work than your barber.....

And if you spend 2000 hours a year playing poker when do you have time to spend 2000 hours in the gym?

Do you eat out? Have you computed how much you should tip the waitstaff based on the total profit you have made by eating? probably not........ For their sake I hope not.

Let me make a suggestion. I don't want you take this as an insult because its not intended that way.

perhaps a person with an hourly winrate of $6.15 is someone who should be dedicating less time to poker. Its a fine win rate for a recreational player ..... but 2000 hours in 44 weeks is not recreational play. Your win...rate is not enough to make this your profession.

Supppose you opened a business. And after a year of putting in fulltime work you had a total gross profit of $12,300 (and no growth in infrastructure or inventory). And let us suppose as part of your business you required a fulltime support staff. Would you conclude at the end of the year that the amount you pay for your support staff should be reduced because you only made $6.15/ hr. Or would you give serious consideration to the idea that this business is not a successful business and find a new way of making a living.

Ultimately tipping is a personal decision. You have no obligation to tip anything. But understand whether you like it or not, the way the system is set-up in this country dealers are working for tips and rely on those tips. If everybody did as you suggest and reduced their tips to the rate of 25 cents per hour ..... dealing poker would not be an attractive career choice. Instead of getting dealers like myself who care about what we do ... poker dealing would essentially be a job like working the register at McDonald's .... for 99% of the people doing the job its just a way to make a little money without much effort or thinking and to pass some time until they get a real job. Perhaps thats the way you think it should be ..... and if so well then when you get your way I hope you remember not to complain about the poor quality of dealers .....

I have often times heard "professional" poker players suggest that because they make a living playing poker .... they should be tipping less .... because tips come off their bottom line. I would suggest this is backwards thinking. People who make a living off of playing poker are the ones who get the most value out of good dealers ..... and have the most interest in trying to keep good dealers dealing and encouraging dealers to get better.

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If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -- George Orwell

This is a great question and great breakdown. I need to think on this a little more before answering. My only question is based on this you have made $12,300 this year, presumably all at the same card room, but you have not tipped anything to the dealers yet? Guess I'm a little confused. Or, have you tipped $11/week for the last year andwondering the best way to tip the same amount next year assuming you keep the same win rate?
Kudos on 2000 hours btw, I'm ecstatic to get 1000 hours in a year.

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I think you are approaching the subject all wrong. Tipping is not about how much you make or even the amount of time a dealer spends at your table. It's about the service and experience a dealer provides you when you are at the table.

Good dealers pay attention to the game, keep the pace of play moving, know and enforce the rules, and engage the players. These dealers get my best tips. Bad dealers do the opposite - they get the minimum. For example, one time I tipped a 2/5 dealer $5 in a losing hand because he called the villain on a string bet and saved me $200. Many players at the table (and the dealer) were surprised, but to me it was appropriate for the situation.

If everyone at a $1/2 table tipped an average of $1 per hand dealt, dealers would make about $30/hr in tips (assuming they don't have to share with other staff), which is not too shabby and more than many 1/2 poker players make at the table or in their careers.

All in all, tipping is voluntary, not mandatory, so tip what you feel is appropriate based on the dealer, the table, and yourself and don't worry about analyzing the hell out of it.

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Sorry sir, I have 6 Aces!

I am wondering what is the best way to tip in 2012 assuming all things are equal again next year.

Psand's response has me thinking, is it better to not tip within this budget as he has pointed out that dealers do not want to be tipped an average of 25 cents/hour or to do so? I guess I am trying to find a medium here.

Also, I feel that tipping $1 per hand is far too much. Assuming I did so, I would break even on profits. This may be sustainable in NL but I don't think a player that is making 0.75-1BB/hr in Small Stakes FL can afford that.

Thanks for the responses and input thus far.

I think you are looking at this wrong. Dealers are providing a service. it has nothing to do with how much you win or lose. I believe how much your total tips are should have more to do with how often you play and not how much you win.

Normally folks tip a $1 after they win a hand. that means it revolves around how often you win over a small sample. but reality is from the dealer point of view it just evens out over time. And if you are playing 2000 hours a year then it will even out as well.

The house rakes about $10 a person per hour (that is a guess just go with that number for comparison sake). So if you're making $6 an hour that means someone else has to be losing $16 an hour to make up for your winnings. if nobody tipped unless they won during a session or for the year and then on top of that only tipped a percentage of what they won then dealers would practically get nothing in tips (and that is what they work for).

Honestly, my personal opinion is harsh. Tipping is part of the game. just tip. If you can't afford to tip you should consider doing something else. I would say the same thing for eating out at a restaurant. It's part of the service. If you can't afford to tip while eating out at a restaurant then don't eat out.

Please note: this is not an opinion for AVP nor is it a personal attack. It's just how I feel about it and I'm pretty passionate about tipping.

now you can def adjust your tips based on how good/bad the dealer is. and as far as how much you really should be tipping. I can't say whether a $1 every hand you win is too much or too little. I just know it's standard. whatever you do I do not suggest you tip 25 cents at a time... that is prob worse than not tipping at all. I would also suggest that tipping $11 a week after playing 40 hours is kinda laughable as well. I'm not really sure how you could spread that $500 around in a way that would be of value and fairness. I'd defer to a real dealer on that.

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- pls excuse my typos... I'm prob on my iPhone

Play online with me, check out my other blog: http://vookenmeister.blogspot.com

If u can't afford $1 per winning hand, then try tipping each dealer a set amount when they start their session at your table.

Your problem with that scenario is as follows:

If u figure on 2000 hrs a year, and a $500 tipping budget, u are saying that u want to budget 25 cents an hour for the dealers.

As I recall your original question:
"I dont want to seem stingy or noncompliant with poker etiquette of tipping dealers"

With this budget, you will definitely be pegged as cheap if you play in the same room alot as the dealers will spread the word to each other and also regular players, who will then try to make your life miserable at the table.

I agree with vookenmeister above: If u can't afford to tip, don't play.

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Sorry sir, I have 6 Aces!

Listen closely. " If you worry about giving up a buck or two (when you win a pot)a half hour or even a hour , then you can't afford to play the game. "

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When you THINK you'r man enough come on over .

Tipping is all about the service one gets. If i get good service i tip very well to well most of the time, if i get bad service no tip. The owners of these casinos can afford to pay the workers more than minimum wage.

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Hookem Horns

As others have mentioned, you are coming at the question the wrong way.

I have come to appreciate that tipping - assuming competent performance by dealers - is part of the cost of playing in the game. This can be a bit of a tough pill to swallow when the rake is already too high, but it is what it is so just win more. There have been very rare occassions where I've been unhappy enough with dealers to not tip, but that is the exception to the rule.

Here's how I handle it. I tip 1 small blind per pot, regardless of pot size. My justification is that service doesn't improve on the bigger pots so my cost of participation should be constant. On rare occassions someone may comment about not taking care of the dealer if I take down a big pot or when I steal the blinds and give the dealer the SB [I confess to not always tipping here...I try to but if I'm running bad or stuck and in a bad mood I may not do it] I politely explain that I tip the same on all pots, and that is usually that.

For tournaments and jackpot payouts I try to tip @3% of profits.