Vegas was pretty busy this past weekend. The casino/hotels were packed with people. The strip was packed. The buffet/show lines were packed. The taxi lines were packed. The clubs/bars were packed. It seemed like life was returning back to "normal."

My friends and I played alot of Pai Gow (spell?) and craps. We won some chunk of change playing craps. Some lady was on a hot streak and was rolling good numbers for us. I will never forget what happened at the Pai Gow table.

We were playing for about 30 minutes thinking we were high rolling with $100 bets. Some guy, dressed normal, came to the table with 8 brown chips. I didn't know how much the chips were at first. Well, we finally found out how much the brown chip was valued at. He was betting $5000 a hand. So he came to the table with $40,000. Maximum bet was $5000, but he asked the pit boss if he could bet more. The pit boss had to make some calls and ended up letting him do it. At one point, he was down $60,000. The pit boss had to give him 4 $5000 debt chips (they were orange chips). My friend was on a hot streak, so the guy put a brown chip on top of my friend's bet. My friend ended up losing him $15,000. We were getting hungry for a Bellagio buffet, so we left the table. We noticed he had 3 or 4 brown chips left.

I bet that the people in the security rooms were watching every move we made on that table. I know that there are people (high rollers) who lose millions of dollars in Vegas, but this is the first time I've ever witnessed a bet over $1000.

I ended up breaking even during my weekend. I won most of my money back on football bets. We also saw Alonzo Mourning at club Drai (spell?), which is in Barbary Coast. We saw Alonzo playing with $5 bets. Go figure.

BTW, there were so many fine looking ladies in Vegas.

-low roller

 

DeeGYM,

$5000 chip....dayumnnnnn!

I was there last month...lost about $280 and quit.

I saw 2 s2000's there. A black one at club RA (badass club) and a red one for rent.

 

Watching someone blow their brains out is pretty exciting.
I should know,,, I delt Craps for 13 years at Harrarh's. I could tell you some stories that would curl your hair. The most fun was when we (the house) were getting our butts kicked. The tips could be unreal!

dave

 

The most I've won in 1 trip to Vegas was $10,000, playing $10 hands. Pure blackjack, nothing else. The most I've lost is about $1500. I usually play with a payroll of $200 and play 2, 4-hour sessions at a time per day. But then again, I have a system and I play professional level blackjack (still fine tuning my game though).

The story of that "high roller" is not an uncommon one. I've witnessed some dramatic game play involving thousands of dollars at a time. Little do those people know that attracting more attention to yourself is a bad idea, and it will actually decrease your chances of winning, especially at blackjack. You wouldn't believe the kind of surveilance that those casinos have. They always have and now they have the aid of high technology. Everyone is being watched closely.

Anyway, Vegas is a good time. Having a good time is the reason to go to Vegas, and it's GREAT if you can pull a free trip (and more) by winning at the casinos. I love that game of "21".

 

A few weeks ago I was at Caesars (sp?) with a friend and we saw two guys drop $20k on a roulette table. Not once, but every spin. They were playing with stacks of $25 and $100 chips, and few $500 chips. They'd cover half the board with stacks all over. They'd lose a lot, but they'd always get a bunch back. I think they were slowing losing, but it was hard to tell with all those chips.

I usually lose about $100 or I break even. I've never 'hit it big'. I go with a group of guys every year and every year my friend will pay for his trip at the blackjack table. He always ends up winning $600-$1000. Now, that's not a ton of money, but he does this every time.


Psicho54: Care to share your system??

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Psicho54
[B]The

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by integrate
[B]

Yea, that's all I play, simply blackjack.

 

Hey Psicho,
That's interesting stuff. Not being a gambler, I was surprised to learn recently that (most? all?) casinos will kick you out for trying to keep track of the cards dealt in blackjack. But that seems like the whole point of the game! It seems like, as in poker, your bets should take into account the cards showing and cards previously played; and moreover, this aspect of the game is really the only one involving any kind of skill. Now, I'm not talking about those guys with trick photgraphic memories, just an honest attempt to play smart blackjack, similar to playing smart poker. So they're effectively outlawing intelligent play, even if the overall odds are still in their favor??

So anyway, two questions: 1) Have you encountered this kind of policy, and if so, how do you avoid being kicked out? It seems like ponying up to the table for 8 hrs a day and winning consistently would at least earn you some extra surveillance, and maybe get you on some blacklists...??
2) A corollary: Can smart play ever put the odds in the player's favor?

Cheers,
John

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by twohoos
[B]Hey Psicho,
That's interesting stuff.

 

Overall, I haven't won anything from Vegas. I just go with the attitude that I'm going to lose the money that I take.

Pai gow poker is one of the best games to play if you just want to sit back and drink and not lose too much money. It's hard to win money at that game, and it's also hard to lose money at that game.