How Much To Tip For A Jackpot

When involved in a jackpot, most players have no clue what to tip. In most cases the winners either over tip or under tip.

From my own experience as a poker dealer, I dealt many jackpots under $5,000. Back then they didn’t have the big jackpots as they do now at some of the big poker rooms. I usually received 8%.

If a jackpot was $3,000, my average tip was about $240 total. The player who got the biggest share might tip $160, the player who got beat would chip in about $50 and the ones who got table share would chip in about $5 each.

Now what about these jackpots that are $50,000 or more? I’ve seen some up to $150,000.

Tip 8% of a $50,000 jackpot to the dealer alone is $4,000. That is a bit extreme so I treat a big jackpot win the same a tournament win. Most casinos take 3% out of the prize pool for tips. Therefore 3% of a large jackpot would be fair.

Let’s see how that breaks down. $50,000 x 3% = $1,500. This is the total amount you should tip. I would distribute it as follows:

This person should get the most as they only get to share in a jackpot once every five years: Poker Dealer: $1,200

These people share in a jackpot all the time: Cashier $40, Chip runners/Floormen get the remaining $260.

For additional tips on tipping, here are two more posts in this three post series on tipping:

Poker Tipping 101
How Much To Tip A Dealer