Saving My Poker Bankroll for Vegas

I called to request a dealing spot in last night's tournament.  Wish granted, table 1, which receives 50% of the tip pool.  I made a huge mistake last week by turning it down as it ended up costing me the $40 buy-in when I went out early on the table from hell. Smaller crowd this week, around 24 players, so also smaller tip pool.

I felt that I played well, but really could not connect solidly with most flops (best connection- flopped set of jacks on a pre-flop all-in vs. AK.....player down).  As a dealer, I was lighting up an Asian kid who was playing for the 2nd time here.  He said he was a regional manager for Home Depot and visiting the store up North this week.  I dealt him several winning hands, including the high hand of the night, quad 3's (he was playing A/3), which won him $48. When table 3 broke he moved, but returned with a nice stack for the final table.

I limped into the final table but managed to work my stack up to a competitive level, about 6,000 with blinds still only at 200/400.  Basically lost all of my chips in 3 hands, the first calling a small stack shove with AJ, losing the coin flip to 6/6.  Next I lost a stack of chips to a short stack gamble/gamble shove of K/7 again vs. AJ suited...he flopped a 7 and rivered a king.  He would eventually go on to win the tournament.  My last loss was my shove with 9/9 vs. A/10 held by the previously mentioned Asian kid.  Unbelievable that I could not win any of my coin flips!!!  All 3 players that I mentioned went on to cash.  The winner got super lucky against one of the big stacks getting all-in with 4/4 vs. KJ.  The big stack flopped a jack, and mr. lucky hit his 2 outer 4 on the river, also making a flush.  Pocket 7's folded pre-flop, he would have won when the board showed 4 hearts and he had the biggest heart.

The tournament director was a little upset about the tip prize pool.  A couple of the players did not tip (the guy who knocked me out and won high hand money...I can understand since he was a rookie, but I did mention the tipping part at final table), and some "under-tipped".  I really did not care, but would have been nice to get my buy-in back...I got $31, so my tournament cost me $9. When I win, I like to deduct my original buy-in and pay 10%, which I think is fair.  A "rule" I would like to see is that anyone who stiffs the dealers must deal the next week so they can see how very difficult the job is. They would gain a new appreciation for the work we do, as it is over 4 hours of grinding.