This week, a subject that often gets an airing in poker was strung up with neon lights for all to see. Tipping has come under the spotlight once more after Canadian poker legend Daniel Negreanu ‘outed’ a professional player who refused to tip appropriately when they received free mineral water at the high stakes felt.
Who was it, what did they tip and what are the ramifications of Kid Poker’s discussion point in the wider context of the professional poker world?
What Kid Poker Said
“Actions speak louder than words. You had a chance to make a difference for a single mother working her *** off.”
This week, the PokerGO Poker Masters were drawing to a close in Las Vegas, Nevada. With eight events in total, along with high rollers buying in for five figures, qualifiers also played their way to the felt, including Event #1 winner Spencer Champlin, who parlayed a $500 ticket into over $160,000 at the top of the tournament series. In the end, it was Jim Collopy who claimed the Purple Jacket in dramatic circumstances in Event #8, but Negreanu’s highlighting of bad tipping etiquette came several events earlier.
“Imagine you are a millionaire playing a $10k buy in at PokerGO Studio, you order two FREE Fijis from the cocktail waitress,” he announced on X, formerly Twitter. “In your hand is a $5 bill, you go to your pocket and pull out a wad of $100 bills and in there you dig to find two dirty $1 bills. Waitress comes back with your Fijis and you hand her the two $1 bills. Could have just sprung for the $5, but nah. You gain $3 in EV for your selfish self.
I guess I should give the guy a little credit for not asking her to break a $1. Actions speak louder than words. You had a chance to make a difference for a single mother working her ass off to pay the bills, but you chose the dirty $1’s. Yes, this actually happened, and no I’m not going to publicly name the person, but if that’s you…”
Negreanu dropped the ‘shame’ Game of Thrones meme where Cersei is hounded through the streets of King’s Landing and went on his way, setting the poker world alight with speculation.
Donning the Deerstalker
We can quite accurately assume that the event is question was a $10,000 buy-in PokerGO Poker Masters event taking place in Las Vegas. The buy-in for these events scales up from $5,000 for Event #1 right up to $25,000 for Event #8, with most events costing either $10,000 or $15,000 in between these bookend barometers.
So who could it have been? While Negreanu would only confirm that the player was a professional rather than an inexperienced businessman not used to poker etiquette, he didn’t announce the actual name of the player, stating that they were aware of who they are and to him, that was ‘enough’. It wasn’t enough for some, however, with players like Hayley Hanna speculating that she knew who the culprit was.
At one table with Negreanu the previous night were player such as Ryan Riess, Kristen Foxen and David Coleman but all of them have strong reputations and if they saw anything themselves, nothing has been forthcoming. Should Negreanu have mentioned the etiquette faux pas or was it a subject best left unsaid?
As is often the case in matters such as these, poker players have since come out of the shadows to positively identify their own tipping or vouch for others. Tipping in poker, whether it be after an event with a percentage of the winnings donated to the dealers in that tournament for example, is a wide-ranging subject that many aren’t in agreement on.
How Much Should Poker Players Tip?
Tips are gifted to staff at a poker tournament or cash room at the players’ discretion – including for refreshments delivered during poker games. Is that amount designated? Of course not. But there is an unwritten rule that says tipping is done and done fairly. As Negreanu raised, a lot of service staff are working multiple jobs for young families due to the convenience of casual shifts and balancing parenthood. Whether this should determine a 4% tip of 7% tip for example is not the case but financial capabilities do.
Of course, players typically don’t have nearly as much money as we poker fans imagine. The Hendon Mob is the industry’s holy bible, supplying us with the minute information about poker winnings we all crave. But it’s not a profit and loss sheet. It doesn’t account for multiple entries; it doesn’t declare how much of each player’s winnings were to repay make-up or went to backers.
And of course, its unable to break down exactly how much to tip waitresses in the middle of an event. Tipping is a sore subject in poker at times, with some able to tip more than others and the hierarchy of heroism that can surround it often dominating discussions. But it is a good point to raise.
What is acceptable or not as a tip is ever-changing. If more transparency comes from the conversation, then Kid Poker’s words – whoever they were aimed at – may have prompted the start of a public forum for a process that poker players have always found tough to solve.
We all win there.
