NLH Dealer Tips

I was playing NLH in the Imperial Palace in Biloxi, MS recently and encountered a method of tipping (?) the dealer with which I am unfamiliar. A player placed a couple of $1 chips directly on the button. I got the impression that, somehow or another, that was a tip for the dealer. At some point, after a few hands had been played, I realized that the chips were no longer on the dealer button. I saw this happen twice. Can anyone enlighten me?

As far as I am aware, chips on the button indicates a "button straddle", i.e. the player on the button is straddling, opposed to the player "under the gun" (first player after the big blind) or any other position (Mississippi straddle). The dealer will announce the straddle before s/he finishes dealing the hands, and the player to the left of the straddler (the small blind) will be the first to act on this pre-flop raise. If nobody else raises, the player in the straddle position will be the last to act before the flop.

Quote: bird072258

I was playing NLH in the Imperial Palace in Biloxi, MS recently and encountered a method of tipping (?) the dealer with which I am unfamiliar. A player placed a couple of $1 chips directly on the button. I got the impression that, somehow or another, that was a tip for the dealer. At some point, after a few hands had been played, I realized that the chips were no longer on the dealer button. I saw this happen twice. Can anyone enlighten me?

I have no idea why you thought that was a dealer tip.
I have no idea why you wouldn't ask the table/dealer of the purpose of the chips placed on the button.

I seen this in a small casino, I don't remember the details, because I though it was stupid and didn't want the details.

I had one question, WHY? A lady playing next to me said because it's a nice way to tip the dealers, especially when the game is slow. I got suspicious and asked if she was a prop player. She said no, I'm off duty.

But from what I gathered it WAS a tipping pool collected from the players who wanted to do it. It had something to do with the button winning the pot, then the tips went to the dealer.

Quote: sabre

I have no idea why you thought that was a dealer tip.
I have no idea why you wouldn't ask the table/dealer of the purpose of the chips placed on the button.

I got the impression that the OP is new to playing poker at a casino and wasn't familiar with the straddle. (However, most of us could be just as confused as he is, based on AxelWolf's reply.)
While a player can always ask the dealer to explain anything that's going on, it may not necessarily be a good idea to alert the other players that you may be new and perhaps easy to take advantage of (though that can be detected by how the player plays.)

Quote: AxelWolf

I had one question, WHY? A lady playing next to me said because it's a nice way to tip the dealers, especially when the game is slow.

It sounds silly. The common practice of tipping at least $1 out of the pot ensures the dealer gets $1 per hand. If "slow" means few players, that would increase the number of hands per hour.

Quote: BlueEagle

I got the impression that the OP is new to playing poker at a casino and wasn't familiar with the straddle. (However, most of us could be just as confused as he is, based on AxelWolf's reply.)
While a player can always ask the dealer to explain anything that's going on, it may not necessarily be a good idea to alert the other players that you may be new and perhaps easy to take advantage of (though that can be detected by how the player plays.)



It sounds silly. The common practice of tipping at least $1 out of the pot ensures the dealer gets $1 per hand. If "slow" means few players, that would increase the number of hands per hour.

I'm not sure what the exact angle was. No doubt the dealers who help prop the game made this up (I seen up to 3 at once, even the poker floor man) .

Eventually I will go back and find out more. At the time I was just killing time waiting for dinner.

If you read what the OP said(I did a second time) the clue is "a couple of chips" Even a 1-2 NLH would require 4 chips to straddle. Isn't button straddling usually more than the normal 2x BB? This is why i didn't automatically think straddle.

Wouldn't he know it was a straddle when it's more to come in than the blinds? But now he can see the $2 blind and a what he thinks is a straddle but he's only asked to call $2? I can see why he was confused if this is the case. When I encountered this, that's probably what happened. I probably asked why there was $2 on the button with a $1/$2 blind.

people didn't like asking questions in fear of looking like a fish. Some people don't have the personality to ask questions in person. That's why forums are so popular.

This was definitely not a straddle. The chips sat on the dealer button and they proceeded around the table on top of the button, hand after hand, until some time later when they were no longer there (I did not notice exactly when they were removed.)

Axel, your statement was the same impression that I got. When the person on the dealer button won the pot, the dealer got the tip, but if the button went all the way around the table to the person who started this whole mess... then what? Did he get to remove the "tip" from the dealer button?

In the absence of a solid answer that makes sense, I'm with you: from what I understand, it just seems dumb. Tip the dealer, for crying out loud. Why the hooplah?