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Im
Sorry, But SIZE Really DOES Matter First
of all, this has nothing to do with your manhood. However,
it does have a lot to do with how you are treated at the tables. Today
we are talking about your session buy-in. Your
buy-in is the amount of money that you change into casino cheques
(checks) when you first walk up to a craps table. So,
heres the question: Does
the size of your buy-in affect how you are treated, regarded, respected and rated at the
tables? The
answer is a resounding: YES! I
saw some comments by Irishsetter a while back that caught my eye. Well, in truth, ANY comments by Irishsetter catch
my eye because of his keen, unabashed insight, but these ones also stood out because they
failed to elicit more than a passing comment from readers of the Message Board. What struck me ironic about it; was the fact that
the impact of the size of your session buy-in is an often overlooked and very under-rated
tool that seasoned Precision-Shooting pros know about, and often use to their
advantage. Yet, here was some great insight
that quickly fell off of the Message Board Top-10 list with nary a comment. Good
Advice is Worth Repeating
Its
long been known that the size of your buy-in has a lot to do with how you are treated by
the dealers, boxmen and Table Game Supervisors, Pit Managers, and Casino Hosts (not to
mention how you are rated by them). Yet most
up-and-coming dicesetters fail to take the size of their buy-in into consideration when
they are looking at ways to maximize the advantage they are trying to gain over the house. Your
session buy-in plays a significant role in how you are treated, how you are regarded, how
you are respected, and how you are rated by the casino. Thats why we are going to look at it in some
added detail today. First
let me thank Irishsetter for kindly and generously letting me reprint his original
comments which prompted me to carry this torch a little further down the road today. He really captured some of the best reasons for
using a bigger buy-in when he wrote:
Ø
With
a larger buy in, I give myself a better opportunity to profit more on a good hand. How
many times have you witnessed a decent shooter buy in for $100, get whacked a bit while
waiting to shoot, and then be playing short when he/she gets the dice? Now they can't do
the regression they've been planning because one point-then-seven and they've gone through
their session bankroll. I've seen it and I've done it.
Ø
With
a larger buy-in, I'm less likely to get any heat. The one thing I noticed about dice crews
is, no matter how drunk, or how big an asshole someone is, they won't 86 them
if they've bought in large. I still play
low-stakes tables ($1 to $5), I just buy-in a bit larger than the average guy, tip well,
treat the staff with respect; and I can tell you that heat has been almost non-existent
this year. Even if you're not willing to lose even 50% of your larger buy in, the staff
PERCEIVES that you are, and PERCEIVES that you're a serious gambler, so they treat you
accordingly.
Ø
When
buying in larger, I've NEVER played down to my last cheques. In fact, I've never played past my 50% loss-limit.
I think it's more likely that a player will ignore their loss-limits when they buy in
small.
Ø
Although
I don't play for comps at all, my comp ratings have also increased significantly. Irishsetter hit several nails squarely on the head with
those comments, so let me give you my own run down of why the size of your buy-in matters,
and how it relates to what it is most skilled Precision-Shooters are trying to accomplish
when they do so. Is
This Reason Enough
?
Ø
A
sufficient buy-in allows you to carry out betting regressions so you can lock up a profit
earlier on each hand, and that leads to greater betting-flexibility.
Ø
A
larger buy-in reduces heat because casinos value MONEY above EVERYTHING else. The more you have, the more they want to
keep you happy. If that means they
have to cut you some extra slack to keep you at the tables; then so be it. That is the nature of the business that they
choose to be in.
Ø
If
you combine a slightly larger buy-in, with decent dealer tokes and show some respect
towards all the employees; then heat aimed towards you rarely becomes an
issue.
Ø
A
larger buy-in increases your "credibility" with the crew, and more importantly
with the Pitbulls who track your play (and can give you the most sustained heat).
Ø
Stated
another way, a larger buy-in decreases heat
proportionately.
The bigger your buy-in, the less heat you will receive. This is the nearly universal truth no
matter where you play in this particular galaxy, except for the places that sweat the
money and don't have much of a stomach for risk.
This is especially prevalent in places that Ive specifically
mentioned as profuse money-sweaters in my other articles, or that are found on
Irishsetters Blacklist.
In those cases, the inverse is true.
Ø
During
a session; as a small buy-in diminishes, most players place less and less value (and
respect) on their remaining funds, and therefore are MUCH more likely to squander the
balance. Loss-limits
become loss-suggestions which quickly turn into lost-it-all.
Ø
A
larger buy-in actually gives you more mental control over your bankroll and a better
positive attitude over your game.
Ø
While
I'm not suggesting that you need to play psychological tricks on yourself; some people
feel more in control and more able to maintain a good positive
attitude if they can keep their loss-limit on a $1000 buy-in to, let's say, $150
(15%). Whereas previously, they would have bought in for $150 and been willing to play
down to their last dollar. While the loss-total is still the same, they can take solace in
the fact that they only lost 15% of their session-bankroll instead of the entire 100%.
It's a bit of a self-applied mind-game, but it seems to work for most people. Need
More Reasons
? The
long list of benefits that you get if you are the biggest (buy-in) player at the table
pretty much mirrors the reasons for consistent tipping.
Here are few more areas where the size of your buy-in may buy you additional
consideration:
Ø
The casino-crews
treat big buy-in players with one set of very flexible and compliant rules,
and they treat smaller players, with a more stringent, strictly enforced set
of regulations.
Ø
The more that you
can have a dealer, boxman, Floor Supervisor, or Pit Boss look favorably upon you; the
better you will be treated
and the easier and more flexible the rules will be applied
to you.
Ø
Theyll give
you little or no hassle if you dont always hit the back wall, or if you are a little
slow when you set the dice (which you shouldnt be because of your extensive
practicing), theyll be more patient in waiting for your toss.
Ø
The stickman will
step back or step aside to give you extra shooting room, and hell be sure to keep
his stick and his hands out of your way.
Ø
Youll also
notice that the stickman will be much less fidgety when you are shooting from
the first couple of positions on either side of him.
Hell stop moving, to lessen the amount of distraction within your
shooting eye or line-of-sight.
Ø
In addition to
that, theyll often book late-bets for you, and theyll retroactively book
super-late bets, especially when the dice-outcome goes in your favor. Or theyll say,
no bet or Sorry, I couldnt book that bet for you
on your late bets when the dice-outcome goes against you.
Ø
Theyll
resolve payout-disputes in your favor, even when your mouth wasnt as clear in its
instructions, as your brain was in its intentions, and give you reminders about bets that
youve forgotten to make, or Odds that youve forgotten to wager. Theyll jog your memory to remind you about
your normal supplementary Come-Out bets or Point-cycle hedges.
Ø
Theyll
suggest certain trend-type bets when they identify a trend or streak, even
though you may not have noticed it. Theyll
say something like, Did you know youve thrown at least one Hard-6 on every
hand that youve tossed today? or Every time you throw a 4, you come
right back with a couple more outside 4s and 10s. Or if you start
throwing a particular Box-Number that you arent on, they may say, How many
more times are you going to roll the 5 before you give yourself permission to bet on
it?
Ø
Theyll
clue-in quicker to your betting methods. Whether
it be regressions, progressions, parlays, or bets-off calls; theyll
anticipate your moves and theyll be sure to ask about a usual bet-change even if you
forget to request it. The
whole point is that from the moment that you step up to the table and throw
youre your cash on the layout, your buy-in sets the tone for how they will likely
treat you. Before
you even open your mouth to make your first bet, your buy-in has made a statement about
how seriously they will take your action, and how seriously they will respect your being
at their table. A
Side-Bar Your Honor? Now
is as good a time as any to give you a bit of insight as to how every players money is
accounted for at the craps table that you buy-in at.
Ø
The
Table Game Supervisor (or in smaller casinos, the boxman) makes note of the amount of your
buy-in when he is filling out your Rating Card (if you hand in a Players Card).
Ø
The
boxman also adds the amount of your buy-in to the bank lammers (those little
plastic discs that have various denominations printed on them, that are held in tiny
fitted compartments near his right elbow).
Ø
That
is how they keep track of how much money, coupons, and markers have been
dropped into the Drop Box through the slot in the table.
Ø
A
count of those lammers versus how many cheques (chips) are left in the tables
chip-bank (the cheques that are stacked in front of the boxman, or part of the dealers
working stacks).
Ø
This
count will give them an accurate shift-by-shift report on how much a particular table won
or lost during any given casino shift. Buy-In
vs. Heat From My Own Perspective
I
personally play about 1500 hours of casino craps each year.
That equates to approximately 30 hours a week, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a
year, all spread over roughly 200 casinos throughout North America. My
average buy-in is as follows:
Ø
At
the big bet-tolerant houses (like Bellagio, Venetian, Mandalay Bay, Caesars Palace, Beau
Rivage, Harveys, Taj Mahal, Borgata, and Foxwoods, etc.) Ill buy-in (usually by way
of a casino marker. See my four-part
Casino Credit Update
series for details) for $2,000 or $3,000. This
amount fits into my Profit Skimming - 101
concept quite nicely.
Ø
At
the upper mid-market places (like Mirage, Palms, Paris, MGM Grand, Trump Plaza, the Grand
casinos, etc.) Ill buy-in for at least $1,000, and usually $1,500 or $2,000,
depending on whether I am staying at one of those particular places and how long I plan to
be at the tables.
Ø
At
the mid-market places (like Luxor, Treasure Island, Golden Nugget, Flamingo, Claridge,
Sands, Mohegan Sun, all Harrahs nationwide, all the other Tahoe, Biloxi, Midwest,
Mid-south, Detroit, Ontario and A/C resorts, etc.) Ill usually buy-in for $1,000.
Ø
At
the lower echelon casinos like Gold Coast, Sahara, Tropicana, Stratosphere,
Shreveport-Bossier, Tunica, Lake Charles, Laughlin, Mesquite, Primm, Iowa, etc.) Ill
usually buy-in for $500.
Ø
At
small grind-joints, mini-tub locations, or places where they sweat the money more than
James Brown at his parole hearing, Ill restrict my buy-in to the comfort level that
THEY are most content with. In most cases,
that means a maximum buy-in of $300, and in some cases, as little a $100 (in $20 bills so
the dealer/boxman does not have to call out Changing one-hundred to the
Pit Supervisor). Remember
we are trying to fly UNDER the radar with our Precision-Shooting, but trying
maintain a good table presence at the same time so that we are accorded the
best treatment, the most flexible set of rules, and afforded the most generous comps and
high-value cash-vouchers. Yes,
it is a fine balancing act, but it is worth the effort. Let
me put that into a perspective that you can relate to.
I mentioned the ~1500 hours of casino craps that I play each year (30
hours/week, 5 days/week, 50 weeks/year). Throughout
all of that I receive the following amount of heat:
Ø
Four
or five times per week (usually once a day) Ill get a, Come on MP,
dont make me mention the backwall thing admonishment from the boxman.
Ø
Two
or three times per week theyll hit me with, Hey MP, dont make me look
bad here
you gotta hit the backwall with both dice remark.
Ø
Ill
get a sternly worded, SIR, you REALLY have to hit the backwall on EVERY throw
reprimand about once every two or three weeks.
Ø
Once
every month or two, Ill run into a boxman whose bulging forehead-vein looks like a
throbbing python hiding under a blanket. He
will either say that he wants me to hit the backwall MUCH, MUCH harder
or if hes having a bad day and the table is bleeding money like some piss-poor Third
World country (or like California) hell say something like, If one more
dice fails to hit the backwall one more time, I am passing the dice to the next
shooter
do you understand me sir? When
you consider the number of times that I get my hands on the dice (especially at
sparsely-populated tables), and the sheer number of hours that I play; its pretty
easy to see that the lack of heat is NOT due to my charming personality or
my rugged good looks (Im told I have neither).
On the contrary, it is strictly generated by my polite, good-natured
demeanor, decent tokes for the crew, and the SIZE of my BUY-IN! Okay,
Let Me Add a Different Perspective
This
next item may not help your game, but it may help your ego.
Ø
A
larger buy-in may grant you additional respect from your fellow players. Im
not talking about them getting all awe-struck if they see you throw down more than one
genuine $100 bill. Instead, Im talking
about the added consideration that some players will give you when it is your turn to
shoot. They may give you a little more
comfort space, or theyll be sure to keep their bets out of your
dice-landing area with their Odds once they realize that you are shooting in close
proximity to their line-bet. On
its own, this peer respect may not be a big deal to you, but taken into
consideration with all the other benefits that a larger buy-in may bring to you; the
multiple on-going benefits are just too hard to ignore. I
Cringe When I See
Or
read about some guys who buy in for $20 or $25, and bet $3 or $5 on the Pass Line, backed
up with 2x-Odds and then have to decide WHICH Place-bets they will wager their remaining
$9 or $10 on. Yet, those same players lament
the fact that it is SO hard to make consistent money at the tables. Hell, when you give yourself such a limited
chance to succeed, it sure as hell is difficult to consistently succeed. I
was reading a low-traffic craps Message Board the other day, and was struck by the fact
that a VERY frequent poster (>400+ posts) said that his total bankroll for the
week was $21. When it comes to
playing at $3 or $5 tables (or the occasional $10 table as he admitted), how good do you
really think your chances of winning are? Hey
listen, my own Precision-Shooting is pretty damn good, in fact it is outstanding. However, if I was to follow his $21/week formula
(a $3 or $5 Pass-Line wager with 2x Odds, plus Place-bets on the 5 and 9, and then more
Place-bets on the 6 and 8 if the mood strikes him), just like him, Id
run out of money before my bet-sequence was even made, let alone have the chance to throw
the dice and hit my chosen numbers. That
is obviously an extreme example, but the abundance of times that I spend at the tables
tells me that this kind of thinking isnt as rare as you might think it would be. Spending up to 100% of your buy-in on just one
series of bets is definitely NOT the way to riches, or even the way to a 10% or 15% return
on your investment. It is a one-way ride to
almost never-ending losses. Youll
Pluck Yourself Bald
By
pulling out your hair over the frustration of not having money in action on the bets that
your money SHOULD be on. When those good
rolls do come your way, youll have the irritation, annoyance and gnawing anger that
you dont have enough money to make the kind of bets that you should be making when
opportunity comes pounding at your door. If
your buy-in isnt big enough and you cant afford to make suitable bets at the
appropriate time; then you really shouldnt be in the casino in the first place. More
Similarities Between Tokes and Buy-In
There
are even more similarities and more benefits between the recompense youll derive
from dealer-tips and those youll receive when using an above-average buy-in.
Ø
The dealers, boxmen
and Floor Supervisors feel that its incumbent on them to make your gaming experience
as comfortable and hassle-free as possible.
A
lot of times, when a big player approaches the table, virtually all of the
staff will welcome him by name.
Ø
If your buy-in is
generally known to be large, theyll make room for you even at a jam-packed table.
Ø
They will generally
start your Rating Card as soon as you buy-in, but if you forget to hand in your Players
Card at the beginning of a session, theyll back-date (time-wise) the Rating Card to
give you more accumulated playing time. This
results in higher comp ratings.
Ø
The best Floor
Supervisors (also know as TGS-Table Game Supervisors) will keep a small address-type of
book with frequent big-players Players Card numbers in it.
That way, they can start your Rating Card immediately, and they can waive
off your Players Card on a busy table by saying, Dont worry Mr. X, Ive
already got you started here.
Ø
Often times, a
smart and alert floor-man will look around to see if you are still playing at a different
table than the one you started at, then hell bring the Rating Card to your current
table to ensure that the comps and rating continue to accumulate on your account.
Ø
They will sometimes
have another player move so that you can comfortably settle in to your normal
spot. Or when they are preparing to open a
new table (usually at a shift-change), theyll reserve your spot at the soon-to-open
table with a lammer (one of those plastic off, on, buy
or lay buttons) to save your place, as they count down the check-bank, unwrap
new dice, and do the necessary paperwork that has to happen before they can start the
game.
Ø
If youve read
my Creating More Shooting Opportunities series, youll
see that the bigger your bankroll, the more accommodating the casino will try to be. Obviously
a lot of these benefits mirror those that you will enjoy as a frequent tipper (for the
dealers). When you combine tokes for
the dealers with a large buy-in, the benefits multiply because you are raising your
value to both the dealers and to the casino itself. A
couple more benefits of a larger buy-in:
Ø
Can include having
them open up a new table at a higher bet-minimum that you and only a few other players are
comfortable with. Although I dont
recommend playing at a level higher than you are comfortable with, a higher bet-minimum
table usually gives you more chances with the dice. On
the other hand, it takes away some of the bet-flexibility you have at a cheaper table,
since it forces you to raise your betting-levels just so you are able to regress them
down. Since the table-minimum is now higher,
you will also have to have more money in action, more often.
Ø
When you first walk
up to the table, theyll often take your call bets before they even
see your money, even though this move is strictly against the rules in EVERY
gaming jurisdiction in North America. Again,
if they know you from past sessions and they are aware of your normal buy-in; then
theyll push the boundaries of their operating procedures.
Ø
A
big factor that most people overlook when it comes to using a larger buy-in is that the boxman will
usually control the game-speed to YOUR liking whether or not you are the shooter. If you are the impatient type, theyll try to
keep the action flowing. If you are a slow
bettor, theyll try to reduce the pace to ensure that all of your bets are booked.
Ø
If you are a
non-smoker, theyll often ask if anyone else at your end of the table is a smoker. If there arent any smokers, they will
politely put up the No Smoking placard at your end of the layout. Moves like this
doesnt cost them one red cent, nor one ounce of energy; but it virtually guarantees
a higher-level of appreciation from the player, and it provides recognition that he is a
valued customer.
Ø
If you are a
well-known player of substance, and you ask for a Casino Marker (credit), the Pit Boss or
TGS will give the nod (approval) to the boxman to dole out chips before he
even consults the computer credit-file. He
does this based on his current knowledge of your credit availability, or the amount of
front money that he knows that you have in your account.
Ø
In
most cases (unless you are on the list of the worlds Top-10 biggest assholes) theyll be
extra generous with your Player Rating, which leads to bigger and better comps. This alone is worth anywhere from a 10% to 75%
premium (increase) over your actual (deserved) ratings.
Ø
With that in mind, it
is important to remember that lower-rung casinos have a much lower comp-threshold than the
higher-rung resorts. A good rule of
thumb to remember, is that the lower the table bet-minimum, the better the dealers will
treat a good tipper. That also applies to the
size of your buy-in. They are taught to show
respect to the bankroll FIRST, and the player SECOND.
Ø
Another
tangible benefit of enhanced ratings based partially on the size of your buy-in, is the
amount and frequency of cash-voucher mailings.
Instead of receiving $10 or $25 vouchers once a month; it translates
into multiple $50 vouchers that arrive in your mailbox twice or even four times each month
from casinos that use these items to reward valued customers.
Ø
Dealers may be a lot
more lenient on their discretionary stick-calls. This especially includes leaners
(where the call could go either way, but theyll make the dice-call in your favor
instead of announcing the other less desirable 7-Out decision).
Ø
When you are looking
around for a cocktail waitress, they will often summon one from another area, or the Pit
Boss will even call for one on the phone. It is important to
remember that alcohol makes it easier for the casino to separate a man from his money. You might want to save your serious
drinking for a post-session celebration, and substitute water, juice or coffee while
you are actually playing.
Ø
Before you depart the
table, theyll often ask if there is anything thing that you need, comp-wise, such as
lunch, dinner or perhaps a show. This list covers
the more overt help that the dice-crew can give a large buy-in player. There are many, many more benefits that are far
too numerous to list here. Have no doubt. There is definitely one set of rules for players
who buy-in large, and a completely different set for players who dont. Obviously
this DOES
NOT give you a free license to mistreat or berate the crew, or to have unreasonable
expectations. Behave yourself, and dont
act like an Im entitled to special treatment idiot, and
youll soon see the dividends of a larger buy-in start to tumble in. Good Luck &
Good Skill at the tables
and in Life. Sincerely, The Mad Professor
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