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It's 1:35 AM at Hollywood Park Casino and I just hit quad tens holding pocket tens. Less than an hour ago, while holding
pocket 9s I flopped quads. The very next hand I have AA and the flop comes AKK and I won with my full house. The very next hand I am dealt 99 again and -- you guessed it -- I flopped quads again.
This is what you call a rush.
I'm back home now, after a quick cash deposit at the ATM. Wow, what a night.
I didn't make much money with the two times I had quad 9s because no one was betting. I actually won less than $30 on each of those two hands. But there were fireworks when I had quad 10s because I never raised and just called and on the flop there was one spade. A second spade came on the turn and a third spade came on the river. Two players were sitting on spades, including one player who was play A3 of spades. They both acted ahead of me and both went all in. As I pushed my $200 in I said, "I hope you guys didn't make a flush." The other flush was king high.
What a night.
Of course the quads would have been worth more playing double double bonus. In fact before I got my first quad-9s another player had quad 3s and I said to him -- that would be worth more in DDB. But there weren't any VP players there to appreciate the comment.
When I colored up right before my next turn as the big blind, there was a scramble for my "lucky seat" but the player to my left had already claimed it. He was having a rough night and was down perhaps $600 or more, and I asked him before I left if he wanted it -- and he did.
By the way this was a $100 buy in table. I cashed out $515 but I bought in three times because I had a rough going when I first got there. So it was a net win of only $215. But if I could profit by $200 a night five nights a week, 52 weeks a year, it would be a nice part time job. My net win was reduced by tips to the dealers on winning hands, and to the chip runner, but I had my usual dinner there bought with comps.
I don't play live poker, but a trip to the casino is a trip to the casino. You might be chastised by someone for the net return on your evening out being less than a pure take home of $215, but it obvious the overall "return" on the evening was of great value to you..and that's the way it should be. A visit to the casino encompasses a lot more than what filters down into the wallet. You enjoyed it, all is good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
My comment of course would be, why did you have to give away some of your winnings in tips? You seem to understand the concept of had you always quit while you were ahead playing vp, you'd be a lifetime winner. So why not follow that logic with the tipping habit too....how much more cash would you have to your name if you never fell victim to being intimidated into handing out tips? It doesn't change a thing, and you're not there to make friends, are you?
First, I walked out the door with a $215 profit. The tips I gave out were over and above that amount. I would estimate that in the course of the evening my tips totaled $25.
In live poker games of this denomination, it is typical and expected to tip $1 a hand. In the case of a very big win in a pot involving hundreds of dollars, I've seen tips of as much as $10. On my big hand with the quad tens I tipped five dollars.
Dealers do not expect a tip when a pot is chopped or when there is no betting and the rake diminishes a heads up pot to no more than a couple of bucks.
Some professional poker players do not tip in tournaments and their reasoning is that the tournament fees cover the dealers. In live poker the dealers depend on their tips for income because their hourly rates are so low.
Rob, I don't mind tipping. Try it sometime, you might get a smile back. And am I there to make friends? Well, I'm certainly not there to make enemies.
Feel free to correct me if I am wrong on this, but from what I understand most casinos in foreign countries have employees that don't expect tips since the casino pays more in a base salary. Here in America the base salary is much lower than in foreign casinos so when a player stiffs someone on a tip it is cutting that much closer to the bone for employees.
HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE: Poker dealer in Europe making $14 per hour without tips (normally).
US Poker dealer makes $7 per hour plus expected tips (hopefully equalling the $14?)
If this tipping culture clash is true would this mean the casinos in the US are being stingy for cutting everyones' salaries to the bone and expecting their customers to make up the shortfall through tips? Also if this is true it only makes things worse by not tipping employees who are already being shortchanged by stingy US casinos compared to foreign casinos.
Keep in mind I am not well-informed on how well foreign casino workers are paid compared to the Americans (and you have to factor in cost of living in that country as well in case foreign salaries are deceptively low compared to the US). It's because of what I just wrote that I don't mind tipping either when I hit a jackpot, realizing that casino workers may be more dependent on tips for sheer survival than in foreign countries.
I always tip people who work in the service industry (wait staff, my barber, valet, bartenders, etc.). Generally, they are on the low end of the pay scale to begin with and a tip helps them out. It's a shame some people are comfortable with looking down their nose at other people's field of work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson
At Hollywood dealers are paid minimum wage. A typical dealer will deal about 25 to 30 hands per hour and works about eight hours a day. So they could make about $35 an hour. Benefits go to those with some seniority.