Betting tokes in blackjack

At my area indian casino today I came across something unexpected while tipping - I'm wondering if this is standard practice.

I placed a small bet (toke) for the dealer and I was dealt a blackjack. I picked up my winnings but then the dealer picked up the bet and placed it in the house tray. I was expecting they would wait to the end of the round and then pick it up and put it in the toke box. I should have just asked what they were doing, but they were already working with the next player's hand and I forgot to bring it up later.

Is it common rules that the dealer's toke bet be surrendered to the house when the player hits blackjack? I figured the dealer bet would be paid 3:2 like my blackjack and they'd put it in their box like any other toke. Was this a dealer mistake, or is this just the way they do things?

Dealer mistake. Dealer tip bets are just an extension of your main bet and win or lose with your hand.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Dealer mistake.

Yes I agree.

Brings up a question. I think I know the answer to the question but i'll ask anyway. If you place a bet for a dealer and it wins can you take it back just before they grab it?

I know, I know, Axel why would you do such a horrible thing? I probably wouldn't, however someone was telling me a story how they were tipping too much (EACH HAND 20%). That person got skipped over before they acted on a hand. 14 vs a 7 or something like that. Dealer said, no, no it's too late. Pit boss said no.

My response was.... I would have taken back the tip immediately win or lose. I think until they put it in the toke Box it's yours. Even then, I'm not sure they wouldn't have to retrieve it. What if it was a mistake with a large denomination chip?

Quote: AxelWolf

Yes I agree.

Brings up a question. I think I know the answer to the question but i'll ask anyway. If you place a bet for a dealer and it wins can you take it back just before they grab it?

I know, I know, Axel why would you do such a horrible thing? I probably wouldn't, however someone was telling me a story how they were tipping too much (EACH HAND 20%). That person got skipped over before they acted on a hand. 14 vs a 7 or something like that. Dealer said, no, no it's too late. Pit boss said no.

My response was.... I would have taken back the tip immediately win or lose. I think until they put it in the toke Box it's yours. Even then, I'm not sure they wouldn't have to retrieve it. What if it was a mistake with a large denomination chip?

I may have told you that story -- or perhaps someone told you the same thing.

My friend (well, another dealer I dealt with) was playing $5 or sometimes $10 for himself and $1 for the dealer, almost every hand. Pair of 8's, splits, catches a ten on the first one, waves it off, dealer deals a 7 or 6 or something (for 14 or 15) on second hand....dealer justifies it as he waved it off to stand. I think I had a $10 or so bet out there and a $1 for the dealer. I won the bet...my friend lost one and won one. I grabbed the $2 in front of my money immediately, told my friend to do the same....I don't remember if he took it back or not.


A while back, a guy on our BJ team was playing, emptied the blacks out of the tray (no purple in tray)....he gets up to leave, pockets full of black, puts his last $100 (4 greens) toward the dealer. Dealer thought it was a tip (since he won like $4k or something), so she dropped it in the box...he was at least slightly embarrassed when he said it wasn't a tip and he wanted to color it up...dealer was like, "I don't have any more blacks, you took them all!" But the boss came over, took out 4 greens from the toke box....with maybe $1 or $2 remaining in the toke box. lol

A funny dealer tip maneuver I saw at the Tropicana a while ago....

Dealer is dealing BJ, and had collected about $25 in tokes (5 nickels).
Dealer places the 5 nickels in the shuffle area, and takes out a quarter (green $25 chip).
Dealer taps the $25 chip, says "thank you" to the players, and drops it in the toke box.
Dealer then collects the 5 nickel chips, and smoothly drops them into the toke box (not the rack).
Dealer claps and clears hands, and resumes play, with all steps done in fluid, quick and natural "dealer-ish looking" motions.
Surveillance did not even notice or call down.

You saw while playing?

If so how tempted were you to turn them in.

None whatsoever, just shook my head, thought it was funny, and that the dealer was just on auto-pilot dealing with checks all day.

Quote: Paigowdan

None whatsoever, just shook my head, thought it was funny, and that the dealer was just on auto-pilot dealing with checks all day.

How do reviews work for dealers? Do they go back and view random tape as an audit or do things like this have to be caught immediately?

Quote: GWAE

How do reviews work for dealers? Do they go back and view random tape as an audit or do things like this have to be caught immediately?

If it is not during an audit (periods of where dealers are graded for speed and accuracy), it can be random checking by surveillance.

Generally, most dealer performance issues in the pit are the task and responsibility of their floor supervisors, where if caught in an error, then surveillance is called for verification or for a description of what happened/what they saw. Sometimes one-off things slip through unnoticed.

The more complicated the game the more errors, if I told you how many times I've been asked to give money back in Asian poker it's just astounding