«

How Jesus Helped Jerry Yang Stiff the Dealers

Comments (62)
by , Jul 18, 2007 | 7:37 pm

LAS VEGAS–The WSOP dealers, as mentioned before, were wanting to see Jerry Yang win for the sake of a bigger tip. He couldn’t have had a reputation as a big tipper — because as a guy playing in his first WSOP and with no noted accomplishments high-stakes or otherwise, how could they know? Perhaps they saw him as a mark … an inexperienced player who had already committed 10 percent of his winnings to charity might be easily persuaded to “give a little back,” if you know what I’m sayin’.

Not sure what Yang’s intentions were as he walked into the payouts room … but Chris Ferguson reportedly joined him — not because he was invited, but because he was a Full Tilt guy looking after a Full Tilt player. When the payout ladies asked what he would like to leave for the dealers, Ferguson supposedly informed him that he had already given 2 percent. Nolan Dalla corrected him, saying, “Actually it’s 1.8 percent.” [Ed. Note: Inaccurate as originally reported. We regret/apologize for the error lazy journalism.]

At that point Ferguson pointed out what that came out to — $148,500 by my calculations, but not certain that’s the number he cited — and said, according to a mostly reliable source who was in the payouts room, “So I recommend zero.”


And so that’s what Yang left — either $148,500ish or $0, depending on how you look at it.

The dealers were a bit pissed — probably moreso because they had their high hopes yanked from under them (just like they did last year when rumors circulated that Jamie Gold was going to tip $1 million) than because of the actual dollars in play. From any extra tips left at the WSOP, 30 percent goes to the floor staff, and 70 percent is distributed to dealers based on the number of “downs” they put in. Though I may need to doublecheck the math — Chris Ferguson is better at math than I am — a tip of, say, an additional $100k would’ve meant anywhere between an extra $250 and $500 for main event dealers.

Regardless of how the exact numbers work out, it brings up a very fair issue for discussion about how to handle tipping of big tournament wins. Harrah’s, after all, does indeed take out money to guarantee that WSOP dealers can earn a fair wage. But does that mean it should be left up to the “kinder” players to subsidize their income. I know a lot of pros would rather have tournament officials deduct a higher percentage, and then attempt to enforce a no-tipping policy.

Of course you can’t stop someone from finding a person who provided them excellent service and rivers and giving them a little something extra. And a few pros seem to be aware of this.

Second-place finisher Tuan Lam, for example, reportedly went around to floor staff, dealers, and crew to give them direct tips in cash. In the neighborhood of $200. Of all these tokes he may or may not have spread around, it’s hard to know how many of them actually made it into the official shared tournament tipping pool, and how many went directly into the pockets of temporary employees who felt they had it coming to them.


Tags: , , , , , , ,
← Older Comments
  • waldoworld

    If you want to see what can happen to a poker tournament, stop tipping dealers. Find out who takes a job that pays $6 an hour plus “no tips”. Would you work it? I am not a dealer from Harrahs and cannot speak to the structure there, but I do know this:
    Less money = lower quality + more mistakes = players lose MONEY. Tipping buys you workers who make your job run smoothly. If you pay less, you lose quality people who can make better money elsewhere and you get slower games, less hands per hour, and more errors that change the outcome of hands. Your choice.

  • Nameless

    Laurie,..what would happen to the money if one of this day an anonymous person sends you a check for lets say $50K to $100K cashier’s check. Just wondering..

  • Steve

    Im tired of dealers crying…..A tip is a tip…take what they give you….waaaa waaaaaa…….

  • http://www.pokerassault.com peko

    peko Says:
    August 2nd, 2007 at 2:51 am
    I have been around the poker indusry for about half a decade now as a dealer, player, and now a tournament director. I will say that when I work I rarely ever go in the break room. It is often a miserable place where there are dealers bitching about stiffs. This is not true about all dealers but these dealers tend to be the most vocal. They have a bad outlook about the dealing profession. Dealing can be a lucrative job weather you bitch or not but it makes it less enjoyable when you bitch. The outlook that the dealers should have is that they are just there to deal the games and be professional and freindly. Some players will be very generous while others not so generous, they should all be treated with equally proffesional service. The good tippers will make up for the players who tip less and you will a make a good average tip rate despite players who don’t tip much.

    That being said, the reason I work in this industry is the money that the tips bring in make it a profitable profession. I don’t work for the hourly rate or the extra money the casino withholds to pay us. The money comes from the extra tips. The house money that is taken out isn’t meant to fully compensate dealers, it is meant to supplement the tokes. If not tipping extra became a trend then the house would in fact have to increase the withholdings to pay the dealers more. The initial house withholding is not, in and of itself, enough money to entice the good dealers to work the events. In order to get the good dealers they need to know that there are generous tippers out there that will increase their pay. However, I reiterate they should treat all the players equally, tip or not, and allow the average tips compensate them, handsomely I might add.

    I don’t think Jerry Wang or anyone should be looked down upon for not tipping and I don’t think Chris Ferguson is all to blame, but I think he could of handled the situation a little differently. Maybe he should have said, “The house takes out x% to compensate dealers and floor staff, any tip beyond that is up to the individual. I personally don’t tip extra, however, some other players do. A typical tip is between %2 and %5 while some very genrous players will tip up to %10.” This is what I tell players when they ask me how much they should tip. It may have been better to give Jerry some more information about the range of the typical tip from winning players, rather than his own guidelines. If Chris’s practices became a trend the poker industry would certainly have to withhold more out of the prize pools to compensate dealers. Otherwise the good dealers would go elsewhere and we would be left with the junior varsity dealers handling important big games and events and I don’t think anyone wants that.

    One final thing I want to mention was about a post earlier that talked about not tipping dealers cause they made mistakes that cost them money. I think that dealers should be compensated if they do a very good job regardless of the outcome of a hand. Mistakes are going to happen sometimes even with the best dealers and I’m sure there have been times when those mistakes benefitted you but you only remember the ones that cost you. The mistakes should be looked at as random. They may help you or hurt you and dealers should be compensated when they are doing their job well, not based on the outcome of hands.

    Petar

  • evanston northwestern healthcare

    Some one tell me that your website is very good !I do think so!

  • Pingback: Pokerati | Texas hold’em blog » Blog Archive » Elvis Sighting at wsop

  • Pingback: Pokerati | Texas hold’em blog » Blog Archive » To Tip or Not to Tip?

  • Tom the Dealer

    It doesn’t surprise me that Mr. Ferguson recommended that Yang tip nothing extra, anymore than it surprised me that David Plastic (I have no problem mentioning his name, since it’s already documented in the newsgroups and elsewhere) recommended that Gold tip nothing extra. I well remember how much Mr. Ferguson tipped the dealers when he won the 2000 WSOP.

    It’s your privilege to not toke/tip and your privilege to recommend that others don’t toke/tip. Just don’t go complaining when you run off all of the good dealers because of it. I quit after 18 years of WSOP and other tournament dealing, and instances like the above are one of the reasons.

  • Solution

    Here’s a solution: People agree 2% is appropriate.
    They take out 1.8%.
    30% of that goes to non dealer staff
    5% of that goes to card runners.

    1.8% * 0.65 = .0117 (1.17%)

    So when I hit the FT, guess what I’m tipping? .83% of my winnings.
    If Jerry Yang did that with his 8.2 million, he would have tipped an extra $68,060. Not really THAT big of a deal when we look at it and it was his choice not to tip extra. Over the reported 700 dealers, we’re talking less than $100 more a dealer over their 7 days of work, or about $14 a day.

    I think they’ll get over it, and if they were expecting JY to throw down an extra 2% on top of everything, they definitely need to get off their high horses.

  • one4thedealers

    I would like to start off by saying that I apperciate every dollar I have been tipped and would like to thank all of those who have ever tipped thier dealer. I do understand the pro players veiw and the players who fly by to have fun. I, along with many of my co-workers, do the very best job we can and appericate that we even have jobs in these times. If, as a dealer, you do a good job you will be compinsated by those who reconize your good effort. I have found that every player has thier own views and procedures on tipping but in the end (if you do the best job you can) your tokes will average close to the same at the end of the year.

    I would also like to thank all the fish who blame every hand they have ever lost on the dealer. Those who have thrown thier cards at us, mucked out of our reach, destroyed the cards, flat out lied to the floor man to try to get the dealer in trouble, and even those who have called us b****, c***, and every other name in the book. Even though you stiff us (or so you think) you are and always will be the fish. And every time you lose a hand, your supporting your local pro or putting a big smile on the weekend fun party guys face, and in return they tip us with your chips. So again thank you. Without you guys there wouldn’t be $1 – $10 million dollar pay days, pros, dealers, or tips.

  • kennedy1

    I’ll start tipping the dealers when they start tipping me when I lose. Fook em. 2 percent for what I wouldnt give ya squat, just Like the cab driver or the pizza delivery guy if you dont like your job get a new one. Tip someone for doing there job, ridiculous. I don’t get tipped for doing my job. Anyone tipping their dentists or doctors, how about that bank teller or that person who screws up your phone bill or utility bill, ya head on in to that minumum wage workplace and tip the guy who says you owed more than you really did on your phone bill ,ahhhh but the doctors and dentists make a lot of money right, well go to school and become a dentist then you wont have to take a job that forces you to beg for money.

  • pitman

    Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol?

← Older Comments