To really see the effects of this to your own bottom line, start tracking all the money that you spend at a casino or a card room. However, any tip of five dollars or more is almost certainly wiping out the vast majority of any profit that can be expected in a low stakes game. If you're playing those smaller stakes live games, tipping one dollar for every hand won is completely standard tipping protocol.įor those who would prefer to tip higher amounts, two dollars is generous. If they're getting tipped one dollar per hand, they would be making $30 or $35 in tips per hour in addition to any salary. It is however in the best interest of the players that dealers make reasonable wages since we want the good dealers to have an incentive to stick around and keep dealing.Ĭompetent dealers might be able to deal out 30 to 35 hands per hour in an average live NL game. At a tipping rate of five dollars or more a hand, you might be tipping out $10 to $15 or more per hour of play, which is eliminating almost all of your profit.
In a live $1/$2 game, a reasonable win rate for a skilled player might be $20 an hour. If you're playing in a $1/$2 no-limit hold'em game and tipping five dollars or more per hand, you're probably going to be wiping out any profit from that game. The amount that you choose to tip the dealer can have a pretty big impact on your bottom line, especially in small stakes games.
