The Best Bad Beat
Arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday May 13, with my mother who gets a free trip to Vegas every year on Mother's Day on me. My wife stays at home but she doesn't mind because she practically never sees me anyways and she doesn't like to gamble. My brother drives in from L.A. and picks us up at the airport and off we go to check in at the Flamingo.
Made it to the checkout desk using our Total Rewards player cards in no time flat (the other line was VERY long but there is a line for gold card members which nobody uses). We get the standard room but was offered an upgrade for like $20 more a nite (we were staying the week for free on comps anyways so why bother). Up to the room, change, and off we go to play. My mom and bro head off to play slots and its the poker room for me. I get seated at a 1-2NL and its off to the races. Played very tight till I could get a read on the players and finally finished up my session for 3 hours about $420.
I like the Flamingo Poker Room, it has been expanded, and the dealers are very knowledgeable except for 1 girl (no names please) who was more interested in chatting it up with every player at the table and forgetting to deal the turn and river until told to do so by someone at the table. The Poker Room was busy every day and at all times, and you guys were right when you said the cocktail service was fast, the bar is like right there!
Day 2 went over to Harrah's to play a little and find out about tourneys but the place was like a morgue and this was at 4pm. 3 tables going and no waiting so had to play short-handed at 1-2NL
with a guy who thought he was Mr. Poker analyzing every hand, telling everybody their mistakes, and just being a general pain in the ass. Played about 45 minutes and left down about $40 and went back to the Flamingo to play in the 6pm tourney ($65 buy-in). 4 tables got started and I finish in 27th I could not catch a card!
Oh well off to play some Pai-Gow. Great game if you just want to sit back, relax and get totally ripped. Played the fortune bonus and hit a straight flush that paid $250 during that session.
Day 3 played more poker at the Flamingo and my brother even took a stab at it playing a little 2-4 HE. I sat down at the 1-2NL and proceeded to donk off about $300 before I said enough is enough it's not getting any better; grabbed my brother and mom and walked across the street to the Mirage and ate dinner at Cravings (buffet).
Simply awesome! At the salad area all you do is point to what you want in your salad and they hand make it for you. Best buffet in Vegas as far as I'm concerned and I've had the m all. Finished dinner and went over to the Poker Room to play in the $230 NLHE Poker Showdown Event. Played only premium hands for the first couple of orbits when I finally caught jacks wired on the button. 2 players go all in short stacked and its up to me so I call. They turn over A-Q, both of them, and start joking about a split pot
when the flop comes 3-2-J rainbow and they both shake my hand when no improvement helps. Made it to the break and when I come back to take my seat I recognize the dealer from my home town. We make a little small talk and the very first hand he deals me is Kings in middle position. 2 limpers in front of me so I make it 2k to go and the button pushes all-in. He has me covered so I hope to double up so I call and he turns over A-7 non suit and jokes he just wants to steal. You know the story, the Ace hits on the flop and I'm done. Oh well, shake his hand and I'm off to
play at the Flamingo again. Mirage still has a great room and it is all business. The WPT Heads-up Tourney was going on at the time so I did hang around to watch some of the pros. Elizra, Jacobs, Scotty, Gavin Smith just to name a few.
Day 4 just played around at the Flamingo a little including an 8 hour stint at the Pai Gow table hitting alot of flushes and full houses for bonus pays. It was about 12:45am and my brother says he's kinda tired and wants to get some sleep so I said I'd play a little poker. Walked over to the Flamingo poker room and wanted to play 1-2NL but Jim (poker mgr) said I would be next on the list but 2-4 had a seat open. I said OK bought in for a rack (100) and sat down in the #4 seat. Very first hand I get is a J-9 hearts suited so I call. #8 seat raises to $4 and gets 2 callers plus me. Flop comes Qh-Qs-10h. Check to me and I check #8 bets $2, gets 3 callers including me. Turn card is the 8d so I hit the straight. Check-Check to me I bet out $4 and the #8 seat says raise all in with his last $4 dollars. Fold-Fold to me and of course I call. He turn over pocket Queens! He flopped Quads! I turn over my J-9 of hearts and everyone sees that this could be the bad beat hand. I look at Luis the dealer and said "no pressure here but a King or 8 of hearts would be really great at this time". We sat there for about minute before he finally took a deep breath and slapped the river card on the table. THE KING OF HEARTS! WE HIT THE BAD BEAT MEGA JACKPOT! The table exploded yelling and screaming, high fiving, but it was enough to bring over the floor. When they saw what had happened Harry (Mgr.) announced that play at all tables was to be stopped at the end of the hand and he got on the phone. #8 (Brian, I knew his name now) ordered champagne for the table and we were on a huge high. 40 minutes later they finally verified the win and announced the payouts $21,344 for the quad Queens, $14,229 for my hand and $312 each for everybody playing in 6 Harrah's properties. I also won the high hand bonus of $364 which I cashed in and handed it to Luis as his tip. Great guy, good dealer. What a night, got paid in yellow thousand dollar chips, and was escorted by security over to the cashiers cage. This was the first ever live action poker bad beat jackpot on the Strip awarded by the Flamingo. All I can say is what a trip, it's going to be tough to repeat this one!
That's completely awesome. Consering they just added the bad beat in the past week!
I hope you took care of the dealer well too
Awesome!!! Congratulations!!! I want to hit one of those!
Great story! Did they make you fill out the paperwork for taxes?
Prime rib..... I'm glad to hear that the Harrahs bad beat really exists! I'm heading to Vegas in 6 days and from what I've been hearing the strip poker rooms are starting to add some great comps. I've stayed at the Flamingo at least 4 times in the last 2 years and I would usually head to the Paris or Luxor to play poker where at least you had a shot at comps and or high hand. Last March I saw that that had changed at the Flamingo, albeit the Bad beat had not yet started. Heck I even hit quad 8's on my march visit for 193.00 at the Flamingo.
Harrahs, Treasure Island with 2 bucks an hour comps and high hands, the Venetian with 2 bucks an hour comps and some of the other strip casinos must have realized that they are losing players to the off strip poker rooms.
Prime rib what really makes me feel good is that all I play is limit hold'em so I will be headin to the Flamingo next weekend and see if I can continue your bad beat streak!
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@champster
You do realize that comp means complimentary, as in free or provided by the casino right? A bad beat jackpot is nowhere near a "comp". It's money taken from the players and given to other players. The casino doesn't give you anything.
A comp is basically $1 or $2 per hour in almost every poker room in Vegas and that is all.
Outstanding. Is the mega bad beat relatively new? The Flamingo is my favorite place to stay due to its location/usual price and also to play poker (since I usually stay there, the room is convenient to the both the elevators and the strip, and since it has been a much improved room over the last year with dollar/hour comps tracked electronically finally, computerized list, good location, quick/frequent drink service, solid management always encouraging railbirds to play, below average competition, and above average dealers). I think this room is very under-rated on the "players ranking" portion of this site, primarily due to the older ratings that reflect none of the above improvements. Trust me, places like O'Shea's, IP, and Riviera are NOT better poker rooms. Neither, for that matter, are the Stardust or Aladdin, lol!
What is customary for a dealers tip on a bad beat jackpot. I believe 8 to 10 percent should be the minimum. I saw a bad beat jackpot winner give a 200 tip on a 22,000 jp. That was ridiculous. Players in the room heard about the tip he recieved and a bunch of them took their own money and gave it as a tip to the dealer. Pretty neat to see that.
@croc24
Call me tight but 8-10% seems crazy. If I won 22k on a bad beat jackpot there is no way I'm flipping the deal over $2000.00. I would think that on a win like that a few hundred would be fine.
There is no set tip amount, and anyone that says there is on such a prize is really a fool.
You PAY real estate agent's 6%, and they work directly for you.
A dealer is an indifferent facilitator. He works just as hard for 8 other players as he does you. He has no financial stake in the game.
Tip your dealers, and be generous.
Do not be fooled into thinking they are your partner. They are not.
Tip in accordance to your mood and generosity, not some arbitrary percentage pulled out of some hat.
I had a dealer at a room with a true bad beat jack pot indicate that the "typical" tip in such situations was 3-5%.
I was playing at a casino in AZ when the table hit a bad beat jackpot at 7:59am. Significance is between 3am and 8am M-F the casino adds 25K to jackpot. Yeah, some high fiving there! So this was the last shift for dealer and he was ready to go home, but they keep dealer at table until players are paid jackpot.
So one guy just sat down and said he asked for chips, but upon camera review, he sat down as second card was dealt. Initially he was included in payout, so they had to redo all the paperwork, then computers went down, and it was literally 2 hours later when we saw the casino staff coming from cashier with the chips to pay us. As they reach the table, dealer turns the river card....another bad beat...aces full of Q's and guy with KJ suited stayed and hit royal on river.
Dealer stayed another 20-25 minutes until that jackpot got paid. Dude was running on fumes, and the 6 of us that stayed and hit both jackpots tipped him $200 each, since the 2 big winners from 1st jackpot did not stay to tip dealer (each had to run to get ID at home). The six of us each won just under 2K, but felt bad he might get stiffed by big winners.
I saw the big winner come back later but don't know if he took care of dealer. I don't know what I would normally tip, but I chipped in since everyone else decided to do $200. Like winning a tourney, many have said 5-7% and up to 10% is fair. It might depend if I had been running good or bad as well. If it was a regular dealer I knew that dealt a jackpot, that could make a difference too. Regardless, I think dealers should be rewarded along with the players. It's all good!
There was a separate string on this topic. I'm clearly in the minority, but I generally see no obligation to tip the dealers. Their job is to deal the game correctly and make sure basic rules are enforced, which really relates to a minimum level of competence. They do not have any bearing on the cards you get. They do not give us chips when we lose. This is not like interracting with a wait person, who does directly influence our dining/gaming experience. That said, I do typically give the dealers tips in cash games - although I intend to change how I tip so that I tip once at the end depending on my overall session instead of on particular hands. However, I do not think I'd give the dealers anything resembling any whole number percentage of a large pot, as occurs in bad beat hands.
I hate to get involve din these tipping discussions but this line I found interesting.
you find that you interact more with a waitperson who come sto the table, takes your order, then comes back with the food, then with a dealer who sits at the table constantly running your game. It seems to me that you have much more interaction with a dealer than with a waitperson.
And trust me that a dealer directly influences your gaming experience, no its not that dealesr control whether you win or lose, but dealers do run the game. And when I have a bad dealer in the game my gaming experience is much less pleasant, then when i have a good dealer. A good dealer moves the game along, and enforces the rules. When you have a dealer who doesn't do one or more of these you learn to appreciate the good dealers.
I've been involved in four bad beat jackpots, all in California. Each time I tipped between 5-10%, depending on the size of the jackpot and what I thought of the dealer.
We may be splitting hairs. I was thinking about how your experience with a wait person is more direct - they are serving you. I do agree that a dealer can influence the gaming experience, but I think running the game and dealing properly really relate to just doing one's job; the dealer that can't do that should be punished for being incompetent. As I said, I do tip. But on principle I just come at this from a different perspective.
First of all, thanks for all the great response posts. To answer a few of the questions: Yes the poker room mgr. handed me a W-2G form for the total amount of my jackpot winnings and yes it will be reported to the IRS, not a problem. The Megabeat Jackpot is a new promotion that is being sponsered in 6 of the Harrah's Las Vegas Casinos all tied together, they said it started about May 1 of this year. As far as tipping the dealer, as I stated in the original post I won the K high Straight Flush High Hand jackpot $364, so I cashed that in and gave it to the dealer as a tip. My own personal feeling on this is yes it pays to be generous so tip whatever you feel comfortable with because any tip is better than nothing at all. Everybody in the room also had to fill out a slip in order to cash in on the $312 and when they paid off they called table by table to come up and collect. There was a tip jar for the dealers right there so i imagine everybody donated something. I also found out later that the dealer from the bad beat table got about 50% of this and the rest of the dealers split the rest. Good Luck to all and long live poker!
8%-10% is extremely generous. I thought standard was 3%-5%
3-5% is for a tourney win, jackpots are entirely different.
I can't speak for the rest of the country, but at Casino AZ, around 10% seems to be the norm. The badbeat jackpot is also a special thing for the dealers as well, not just the players. It is like a random bonus they get, and something to look forward to and keep moral up.
When I won one last year for about $5700, I tipped the dealer $400 and 3 floor people and the cashier $20 each, and almost felt if I was being cheap.
But then again, I don't see the jackpot as a big random win. As a winning player who plays 15-20 hours a week, I simply see it as a return on all the stupid $1 jackpot drops that have been taken out of all my winning pots. I am still slightly up overall from the jackpot drops, but that may soon dip below again....So I count it towards my yearly poker winnings, only because it is like a lump sum rake back from all the $1 jackpot drops...
I am rambling.
I agree with the concept of the jackpot winnings being a return on the dollar drop. When I first started playing, I needed help. So I read books. And a lot of them. One of the first thing I learned is that the jackpot is 1) paid for by the players and 2) not the casino's money. If you hit a jackpot, or are a part of one, it was your money to begin with (obviously only in part), but it is an enticement. Folks that make their living at this game will factor that potential payout in where they decide to play. This is a bit of a digression from the question about tipping. Obviously, as with any toke, it is at your discretion. But don't be a cheapie. Dealers don't make a ton, and do count on tokes to make a living. If nothing else, you'll make their day (you just got your day made winning that jackpot, right?!)