But if I win $10,000 in a tournament, is it really appropriate to leave a $1,000 tip? And what about that extra $10 or $20 for the dealer that almost everyone gives at the start of a tournament for and extra 5,000 chips? Recently I won $9,000 in such a tournament with a $50k prize pool with 205 players, in which probably 200 players paid a $20 add-on that went to the dealers. So that’s $4,000 already paid in tips, equal to every person who finished in the money tipping over 8% of his or her net winnings. How much more should I have left for a tip?

Sting as in Police frontman and faux jazz impresario? If so, I look forward to that!

Your experiment would be an interesting one. When I have informally calculated where everyone should stand after say 4 hours in a newly formed ring game given rake and tip in a $1/$2 game it has provided some insight into my subjective experience of “hey it looks like no one is ahead.” It is the conundrum of balancing the profitability of playing at a level at which you can compete better versus the greater percentage going to the house/dealer. As you say.some smaller buy-in tournaments are plagued with similar issues.

Again in the restaurant analogy, if service starts to fall below minimal levels of acceptability, then tipping practices change. You found a way to reward competence and professionalism without diluting the impact. I’ll keep this one in mind!

In one of the small $80 buyin tournaments I recently played, we started with 6k chips, you could fork over and additonal $10 and get two $5 cash game chips that you could give to the dealer and get 2000 more chips. Most exercised this option. This 10 dollars went to the dealers not the prize pool. I did the math and of the $90, only 65 was in the prize pool The vig is big.

What I call the mROI, multiple ROI, first place money/total buyin, was 16, this is a very bad investment. So these kinds of games are only good for fun and practice or as a satellite to win a buyin to a big game. btw, an mROI of 60 or more is your goal. You have to win enough to cover all the times you’re not ITM and have some left over for profit

In ring the smaller the blinds the less often you should tip and only after large pots. If everyone tips one SB after each pot, there are only two guaranteed winners, Mr. Rack and The dealer.

There is an advantage with the larger blind games say 5/10 or higher. You can tip less than a SB. even 1/5th or 2/5th of an SB. But at 1/2 it’s always a full SB.

Speaking of ring. I’d like to run an experiment. sort of a ring/tournament. In which 9 players start with one buyins and they play until one player has all the chips

My guess is it will go something like this. 6/15s to winner , 5/15th rack and 4/15 to dealer. [ Assuming a 1/2 game and standard tipping practices. ] f course knowing it’s a freezeout ring/tourney will alter the tipping pattern, So would have to just set one SB tip for every 10 sb in the pot for testing purposes.

I’m sure the programmers at ADP could set this up and let the bots play it out. It would be very informative to do at 1/2 and 5/10 game.

Next we have to ask what are we tipping for. It’s not for the cards, they are random, it’s not for intent, the deal cannot honestly help you. It is for the vib. That’s right. Did the dealers or a dealer’s speed of dealing social demeanor and other factors make you feel good, stay focused or think clearer. or it can be that you just don’t want to like a cheapskate.

Having said all that, for me it’s not a matter of whether to tip or not to tip, I like tradition, so I tip. I like sharing the fun so I tip. .

I never feel obligated to tip, but I do, even when I losing. But like Einstein, I keep it relative.

Speaking of which, I’m sure, before long, there will be post here where I can share my thoughts on the Sting Theory of Poker and Tournament Play.

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