Dealer takes tips from pot

Yikes. Did it look like he knew these particular players? Not that he shouldn't have waited to properly receive the tips to avoid any misunderstanding, but maybe there is a closeness between him and the players that you were missing.

My decision to escalate would be based on my read of the other players. Did they not seem fazed?

There are rare occasions where a regular player will just tell a dealer to always take a dollar out of their pots. Or they were just holding it for a second as a joke then tossing it to the players if they don't immediately tell him to keep it.

As a joke it's bad and should stop. It's worth telling the room manager if it happens again. If they actually kept it without the players telling them to, that's really bad. Potentially job and gaming license loss bad.

I would tell the floor/manager ASAP. If I'm the manager, there's a super high chance I fire them on the spot. Nobody in their right mind would train a dealer this way so I can't imagine the mental gymnastics somebody would have to perform to try and justify this.

Different dealer at same large well-run card room took the tip himself. I told him he stole my dollar. Didn't make a big deal about it or try to get him into trouble. Should have demanded the dollar back and then kept it.

If multiple dealers are doing this the card room might be large but it is not well-run.

How about asking him why he did that.

What did the dealer say after you told him about the dollar?

If he's skimming off the pot, I'm confident he's skimming off the rake, too.

I would note the exact time and table number and at least email the room manager. Contact gaming if you don't get a response. One time can be a momentary lapse of judgement, multiple dealers tells me they're talking about it in the break room and probably doing it a lot.

Are you sure it wasn't actually the rake they were taking?

I'm not. Skimming off the pot the casino does not seem to care. Skimming from the rake the casino cares a great deal.

Right.

I'll try this on my next shift, then. I'm sure I won't get fired before the end of my first down.

I thought they were just being cute, taking the tip they would get anyway. If I thought it was dishonesty, I would have contacted the floor, etc.

It was a time game.

You're not what?

I thought they are screwing around. It is a split pot limit time charge game. I am not sure what those dealers do at other tables. They seemed to take $1 from each pot when it was split, which is what they usually would get anyway. It didn't seem like they were up to anything, but they could be doing something else while doing that. One of them seemed to be doing everything real fast. Maybe I should report the name to the poker room manager or tell him to stop doing it or something.

I wouldn't be comfortable with this.

If the dealer did this when I was splitting the pot I would ask for the $1 chip back and I would tell the dealer it was inappropriate. And basically I tip a dealer every chopped pot I win. If the dealer didn't give it back I would call the Floor over and tell them what happened.

I probably would talk to the players after the dealer left the table to see if they had an arrangement with the dealer to take a $1 tip from their pots. If they said no, I would likely talk to the Floor and let them know what the Dealer was doing.

The thing is that in chopped pots often neither player tips the dealer. So this may be why the dealer started doing this. But it is very wrong...

I do think that if the casino knew a dealer was skimming off the pot they would probably care because it could cause players to not play there anymore. But I think the skimming would have to be more than just a $1 tip...

More than very wrong. Literally petty theft. If a dealer is guaranteed $1 from the pot, it is not a TIP. Tipping is voluntary. It is like the “tips” imposed on large parties in restaurants. Can call those tips, gratuities, whatever but they are literally service charges.

I think it's stupid to be tipping on a split pot. Dealer gets double the tips for a pot that really didn't give either player a profit many times out of those situations? Screw that.

lmao come on man. Wrong thread for that bullshit, and also it would mean dealers in split-pot games work for peanuts.

My understanding is that tipping on split pots is generally done by the high hand as custom, so I’m not sure if it’s true they get double tipped everywhere. I don’t know if it’s the same thing in other split pot games, but those games tend to be more difficult to deal so only those that know how to deal them get consistently tipped anyway.

Regardless, not many dealers would choose to deal in omaha8 as their only game, regardless of the occasional double tip of 1 dollar. You’d rather deal in a scoop game where players will play big pots, which are more likely to yield tips.

I always tip on a split pot. The other guy rarely does. I want the dealers to feel appreciated and worthy. The irony is that the dealer is doing more work on a split pot than basically any other hand. (side pot hands can be trickier). It happens so infrequently that the $1 doesn't really matter to me.

I also tip on hands where I raise preflop and everybody folds. The dealer is doing the work (especially those hands where they have to shuffle because the shuffle machine isn't ready).

I'm going to note that there is a whole containment thread on tipping.

Split pot games are harder to deal than a low limit Hold'em game. If they can't get $2 on a split pot, they should at least be getting $1 on each pot otherwise dealers aren't going to want to deal split pot games. Timed games can also pre-tip with time.

Meh, that's why I don't have a problem with robot dealers. Won't ever make a mistake and won't slow the game down. This is especially true for big/multi-way pots and for PLO. It ought to be over and make dealers find a better vocation, but, no, many (most?) still love them human dealers.