Winning Wisdom

At only 27 years old, Gavin Griffin already holds one of the most impressive collections of poker's most prestigious titles. The former poker dealer won the $3,000 buy-in pot-limit hold'em event at the 2004 World Series of Poker, a win that, at the time, bestowed upon him the record as the youngest bracelet winner in history. Since then, he has accumulated more than $4.5 million in live tournament winnings, and made history again by winning the European Poker Tour Grand Final Championship, which boasted the biggest first-place prize in EPT history at the time, more than $2.4 million. Griffin continued his quest for major titles at the 2008 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Classic, where he snagged a triple crown by winning the coveted WPT title and the $1.4 million first-place prize.



Now, Card Player is giving its readers a chance to send questions directly to the poker prodigy.



Poker fans can send Griffin their questions to [email protected]. The questions can be about anything from poker strategy to his opinions on certain aspects of poker or his life as a poker pro traveling the circuit. The best questions will be answered by Griffin and published in Card Player. If your question makes it into print, we'll send you a free Card Player T-shirt.



Tipping Dealers



Gavin:



Brandon Cantu won the Bay 101 World Poker Tour tournament and drew criticism for not tipping the dealers. I read that he won more than $1 million. Could you tell those of us who are not at that level if there is a certain percentage that the dealers should have been tipped? And should only the winner tip, or down to what place in a tourney should a player leave a tip? And do you hand this tip directly to the last dealer in cash (I'm sure that because there are many dealers throughout the tourney, this dealer will split it)?



- John





Hi, John:



This is a bit of a touchy situation; therefore, it's not really talked about in public forums a lot. I have been on both sides of this issue. I'm a former dealer and used to make my living off tips from players. I also have won more than $1 million in a poker tournament more than once. Tipping dealers is and always will be a contoversial issue. I'm going to take a look at this from two different perspectives, a player's and a dealer's.



Before that, though, let me deal with your other questions. Some of the money that comes out of the prize pool goes to the dealers in most tournaments, so all of the players who play the tournament have paid the dealers. The people who cash often leave a tip on top of that, but it is not required. Any amount that any player leaves for the dealers in a tournament is optional, just as it is optional to tip in a cash game. In answer to your final question, when you cash out of a tournament, the people who are running the cash-outs ask you if you want to tip any more, and they take that amount out of your prize money. The dealers split it based on the number of hours each of them dealt during the tournament. If you've played in poker tournaments in casinos, you have seen the dealers sign a card before they sit down. This is how they keep track of how many hours each of them has dealt. It is then determined how many dealer hours were used in the tournament. The total amount of money taken from each event is divided by the number of dealer hours to determine an hourly rate. Each individual dealer is paid that hourly rate for every hour he/she dealt in that tournament.



I have tipped in each of my three big wins and also when I have won some smaller amounts. I often don't tip when I haven't profited much or depending on the venue. When I do well in the World Series of Poker, I often don't tip very much because of the ridiculous amount of rake they take in each event. Card Player reporter Bob Pajich reported just a few weeks ago that Harrah's took in $13,116,845 in juice during the WSOP. That's almost 7 percent of the total amount of money that came in for the events. When you're averaging 7 percent in rake for each tournament, and in some they take 9 percent, that's a hard figure to beat. A total of 2 percent to 3 percent of the gross goes to the dealers and other tournament staff. That's quite a bit of money that the staff is already making. Tournaments are high-variance, and it's pretty tough to beat 7 percent rake in such a high-variance game, and if the dealers are already getting 3 percent off the top, why should a player make it tougher on himself by tipping even more? I understand that the winner of the tournament is getting several hundred thousand dollars and sometimes several million, but often a player is backed or has debts to pay, so he is not getting the full amount. Then, take into account how much money it takes to play tournament poker, and you can understand why poker players don't tip. Obviously, this amount of rake is not common. Other tournaments take much less, but it is fairly standard for 3 percent of the prize pool to go to the dealers and tournament staff. It turns out that this was not the case at Bay 101, but it was not mentioned. Brandon was asked, "Would you like to leave anything extra?" and he declined. I'm guessing he assumed, as I would have, that there was already 3 percent taken out of the prize pool. Tipping is an optional thing, and if Brandon or any other players choose not to, that is their decision.



There is another issue at work here. Why is it anybody else's business besides Brandon's whether he decided to tip or not? This issue has been brought up on several occasions, and you hear about it only when someone doesn't tip. People never talk about how generous someone was; instead, they talk about how generous someone wasn't. For instance, look at the controversy that arose from John Stoltzmann tipping $500 at the World Poker Open in 2005 or Jerry Yang not leaving any additional tip after the WSOP main event in 2007. There were many opinions voiced in forums and blogs about the issue, but the most prominent and important one was why it was an issue for anyone other than the dealers and the player. It is unethical and quite unnecessary for the tournament staff to report a "failure to tip."



Let me conclude this section of my reply by saying once again that any player's decision to tip is his and his alone, and leaving what some people consider a low tip is really none of their business in the first place.



Now I'm going to look at this from the other side of the table. I know what it is like to make my money from the generosity of poker players. I know that at times it may seem as though this generosity is a bit lacking. I have pushed pots in the range of $50,000 and not been tipped. I understand that tipping is at the discretion of the player who wins a pot or a tournament, but it is very disappointing to push someone that much money and get nothing in return for it. It must be terribly disappointing to work for days and days in a tournament, see someone win a million dollars or more, and then get nothing from it.



Dealing is a hard and thankless job. You have to deal with sour players, long hours, and almost no positive reinforcement. Rarely do you hear, "You're doing a great job, dealer." You hear only, "What's wrong with you?" "How could you make that mistake?" and so on. Players are not very forgiving and can be abusive, throwing cards and calling you names. Trying to stay mentally focused, deal with crazy situations that arise, and doing it all with a smile on your face is extremely difficult, and at the end of the day, you believe you should be rewarded. The 3 percent or whatever it is that comes out of the prize pool does not seem like enough, and there is an argument to be made there. The 3 percent does not go to the dealers only. It goes to the floor staff, the dealer coordinators, and other staff, as well. This puts a significant dent in your hourly rate, and the extra money that the players give is a nice subsidy to put you over the hump from having a good payday to having a great payday.



Let me conclude by saying that both dealers and players have a tough job. At the end of a five- or seven-day tournament, a player is completely mentally drained and may not have clarity of thought. This can make an awkward situation worse. Also, after dealing for a very long time, for several hours every day, not getting tipped would seem like an even bigger problem than it really is.



Gavin Griffin is a member of Team PokerStars. Visit his website at www.gavingriffin.net.