The Adventures of MDawg II

I quit ahead over a decade ago, and I can do it again now!

Why not play at ParkMGM? I’m sure they could find you a nice suite and it’s totally non smoking?

I still don’t really get it. I get a thrill out of my TEENY WEENY AP play at my local casino. If I had one that I could make $$$$ a day, pretty consistently, I can’t really imagine not doing it nearly daily.

But you gotta do you!

Because after all, Don Vito, money isn't everything.

Quote: MDawg

Because after all, Don Vito, money isn't everything.
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So, MDawg....

Is this it? End of trip? End of the adventure(s)
End of this particular exploit? Is the gig up? Have they figured out and stymied your play?

You would not quit this gig out of boredom.

What's the story?

Out of boredom. No. Out of not enjoying the ups and downs, yes. Didn't have so much of that first few years of Vegas 2.0 Lot more of that lately.

Anyway, taking a break and will see how I feel after a long enough break.

Last time I took a break, after a year I didn't even miss or think about Vegas casino play much and quit entirely, for about a decade.

This time, who knows?


Still visited Vegas a fair amount during that hiatus from casino play, just never played.

Quote: MDawg

Out of boredom. No. Out of not enjoying the ups and downs, yes. Didn't have so much of that first few years of Vegas 2.0 Lot more of that lately.

Anyway, taking a break and will see how I feel after a long enough break.

Last time I took a break, after a year I didn't even miss or think about Vegas casino play much and quit entirely, for about a decade.

This time, who knows?


Still visited Vegas a fair amount during that hiatus from casino play, just never played.
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Not enjoying the ups and downs? Over 10 days you were up over 130k and even with your down days, still cleared >70k. Never down (at the end of a session)
Is it maybe that you had a session or sessions where you WERE actually down to a much more uncomfortable level, but managed to claw back?
I won't press you on what you have decided not to post. It's more fun to speculate.

We might be getting "The Truth". We might be getting "Nothing but the truth". But we're not getting that other one. $:o)

That's cool. I won't press. Enjoy your Hiatus. Catch you later.

Quote: ChumpChange

I'm more like Vegas will run out of water if winter doesn't do its thing, and there's very little time left. Also, avoid the COVID plague at the casinos.
My local casino was really dead last night. I don't know if it was because it was freaking cold outside or people are getting the COVID paranoia again.
There's also the threat of utility bills going through the roof. Will casinos go broke paying the utility bills, or will their customers? I may have to use the casino as a warming shelter, so I'd better be well on my way with a winning streak by then.
Inflation comment on the news, it's $19 for a burger meal! Fed raises rates by 1/2 point. These year over year inflation numbers of 7.1% are being compounded upon the 7% from last year!
Oh, the gov't could shut down any day now.
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my take is it's Christmas time. People holding on to their money

Still, at some of the casinos, including the Venetian, I understand that this has been their best year ever - record revenues.

Quote: MDawg

Still, at some of the casinos, including the Venetian, I understand that this has been their best year ever - record revenues.
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Yes, since the time the pandemic was "over", the casino business has been booming like never before. Even the locals bars and slot parlours in Vegas are up hugely.

Quote: MDawg

Quote: MDawg

I actually am pretty sure I saw Robbi in a Vegas casino last week. After passing her, I thought about it and turned around to go talk to her, but she was gone.

Sunglasses, tight jeans, and tight top emphasizing her bosom. Smiling, hard to miss.

Might have been someone entirely different that just looked like her, but wouldn't have minded talking to whoever that was, too.
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Robbi's been posting a series of Instagram reels clowning Garrett Adelstein.



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This time I did run into her, in the passageway between Wynn and Encore, and talked to her. Not about the J4 drama, just talked.

Based on the way she is, I don't think she cheated in the J4 incident. People like AWolf and PGrinder who think she did I assume are saying so based on how she "acted" post incident, but that's just the way she is all the time, even when discussing Vegas in general and how many undercover hookers are out and about outside XS nightclub after midnight. She always seems a little jumpy and fast talking.

The point being that I know how to read people.

Probably across the internet the ones who think she cheated are, (1) more scammer types themselves, which is why they think everyone else must be scamming, or (2) followers who follow the herd off the cliff, or (3) who knows? why they think this and are entitled to their opinions, even in the wake of zero supporting proof.

Quote: FlyEaglesFly

Quote deleted by moderator, with permission from SOOPOO

It’s Kewl that you returned to the forum! I hope all is well with you. Your easily believable, well described, simple examples of card counting /AP play were always amongst my favorite reads.

But you just couldn’t control yourself, sadly. But if you ‘have no desire to return to the forum’, what exactly is this post, except A RETURN TO THIS FORUM?

And I am booking our bet on the Super Bowl, even if you don’t consent. A Starbucks. I got the Bills. You get the Eagles.

I went to Whole Foods


and Sprouts



and since I had to go to both (mostly the reason I was at Sprouts was they now have these little bottles of black truffle infused olive oil - hard to find, and not available at Whole Foods as far as I know),


I left some of the produce shopping for Sprouts, and casually compared at least produce prices.

I don't really pay attention to food prices enough to be any good at naming them on The Price if Right but I am aware that while Whole Foods' banana prices are about the norm (I think?) on par with Ralphs/Smiths (Kroger), I believe their non-organic Roma tomatoes at 1.79 / lb. are almost double the norm of regular supermarkets.

I end up doing most of the grocery shopping in the household unless I am able to send a domestic to do it (and even then, the help doesn't always get exactly what a gourmet chef like me desires, which I like to cook actually), because my wife doesn't take the time to choose the good gourmet stuff since she probably cooks less often than I do.



I did get tricked though, bought some king salmon at $33. / lb. at Whole Foods that ended up being previously frozen. The horror! I try to never buy previously frozen anything, especially not fish. (Exceptions however may be made for crustaceans.)

Quote: FlyEaglesFly

Quote deleted by moderator, with permission from SOOPOO.

I am not MDawg, but he asked Mike for an NDA, and Mike agreed. So if MDawg wanted to end that NDA he has had many months if not years to end it. Why would he possibly want to, at the behest of someone (you) who hates him!? He isn’t done for gambling. He’s just going home! He’ll be back.

Frankly, I don’t know if anyone was more vocal in the beginning question the big Dawg’s claims. Want me to find 10 of my posts discussing his ‘I win on ties’ claims? I consider myself a ‘good contributing member’. I didn’t run away after a temper tantrum. There are ways to challenge someone like MDawgs claims and still stay and be a good contributing member .

If you’ve read recently, he has specifically mentioned he plays with an advantage, and just isn’t telling us what it is. That makes him like A LOT of the APs here. You can choose to believe him, or not believe him.

I’ve got more, but I’m tired of typing.

At least as of now the Bills are the number one seed as well.

Quote: FlyEaglesFly

Quote deleted by moderator, with permission from OP, because the quote was by a sock puppet.
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Mdawg lives rent free inside your mind.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6ZOe7CxFL0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zT4Y-QNdto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOGM6FfHYyM

Quote: FlyEaglesFly

None of the contradictions bigger than the 7 month period from the start of his long trip on March 2021, though October 24, 2021. During that time Mdawg posted 141 reports of his play. 127 were winning sessions or days, 9 losing, 5 even, totaling a win of $1,057,000.

And then on October 24, 2021, he wrote that he had met with Michael Shackleford and said "Additionally we went over my Baccarat wins and losses this trip and I’d say that I might be about even, or slightly up or down at Bacc".
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I figure I could win $1 million in 600 hours of Black Jack if I can find a $20,000 table max when I need one. But I haven't started playing Black Jack at the tables yet. I may have to stick to PL & come bets with odds on the craps table and this is taking far too long.

I, for one, am totally looking forward to mdawgs supermarket reports.

Well let's hold on to those produce prices and compare them to a less gourmet supermarket in the next installment.

But we also need to consider quality. Between Whole Foods and Sprouts I didn't discern any real difference. Each one had superior and inferior produce depending on how long ago it had been put out.

At Sprouts I saw a variety of local farm fruits, but sadly they were just too far past their prime to justify buying. I wonder how that sort of thing works - with perishables I mean - does the supermarket pay up front or only upon sale? Even if upon delivery up front if very little of that produce sells, I assume no re-orders.

Quote: ChumpChange

I figure I could win $1 million in 600 hours of Black Jack if I can find a $20,000 table max when I need one. But I haven't started playing Black Jack at the tables yet. I may have to stick to PL & come bets with odds on the craps table and this is taking far too long.
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And a ten million dollar bankroll at risk.

A recipe I wanted to make called for three female eggplants. How does one determine the sex of an eggplant without cutting it open to count the seeds?

Not sure?
From what I read just now, it's a myth?
https://sciencing.com/difference-between-male-female-eggplant-13427476.html
Dimple Differences
Two types of eggplant may develop on one plant, and that is likely the reason the myth of gender got started. One type has a roundish dimpled area at the blossom end, and the other type has a more oval-shaped dimpled area. The oval-dimpled eggplants are said to have more seeds and be less meaty than the roundish dimpled eggplants. Agriculture experts at the University of Illinois Extension describe the differences as a product of reproduction, not differences of gender.

But speaking of those types of vegetables, my wife wanted me to get zucchini. All I saw was Italian squash, and assumed it was the same, and got it. Was I right? (I even asked a grocery worker (the produce guy was not around) and he didn't know.)

Also let's talk cheeses.

I grabbed this one, Camembert, because it looked cool. I am however not into strong cheeses whatsoever (definitely nothing of the blue variety).


Turns out this one is OKAY - not entirely mild, like these "generic" ones

[
but Camembert is right on the cusp of movement towards a stronger variety. It's one step beyond Brie in terms of strength.

Beverly Hills looking more festive than the Strip, Holiday decoration wise. Rodeo Drive pretty sparkly too, but they have to be careful to be more "general Holiday Season" lit up, versus Christmas specific.

Quote: MDawg

but they have to be careful to be more "general Holiday Season" lit up, versus Christmas specific.

Why ?

Quote: Ace2

Quote: MDawg

but they have to be careful to be more "general Holiday Season" lit up, versus Christmas specific.

Why ?
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Probably to be as generic as possible, to get as much $$$$$ as possible from as many different demographics as possible.

Yes, exactly, and - Beverly Hills is more about Hanukkah than Christmas.

Quote: MDawg

Quote: MDawg

Quote: MDawg

I actually am pretty sure I saw Robbi in a Vegas casino last week. After passing her, I thought about it and turned around to go talk to her, but she was gone.

Sunglasses, tight jeans, and tight top emphasizing her bosom. Smiling, hard to miss.

Might have been someone entirely different that just looked like her, but wouldn't have minded talking to whoever that was, too.
link to original post

Robbi's been posting a series of Instagram reels clowning Garrett Adelstein.
link to original post

This time I did run into her, in the passageway between Wynn and Encore, and talked to her. Not about the J4 drama, just talked.

Based on the way she is, I don't think she cheated in the J4 incident. People like AWolf and PGrinder who think she did I assume are saying so based on how she "acted" post incident, but that's just the way she is all the time, even when discussing Vegas in general and how many undercover hookers are out and about outside XS nightclub after midnight. She always seems a little jumpy and fast talking.

The point being that I know how to read people.

Probably across the internet the ones who think she cheated are, (1) more scammer types themselves, which is why they think everyone else must be scamming, or (2) followers who follow the herd off the cliff, or (3) who knows? why they think this and are entitled to their opinions, even in the wake of zero supporting proof.
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When I judge a business proposal, or in this case, a statement about what happened or did not happen, of course I consider the facts presented and argument, but also – the source. I look at the person.

Here, when I first started posting my Adventures thread AWolf started crowing about how it must be all fake or no doubt I was like some other person who posted God knows when ago whose posts were supposedly about not himself, but about his boss.



Of course, on the ball posters like TigerWu came in and laughed at such pretzel logic.



And then even after the Wizard observed me playing



and it eventually became obvious that I was in fact a high roller who stays in the largest Vegas suites, and yet still…no apology from AxelWolf other than




I mean, even his sidekick PGrinder said from the getgo that he had “little doubt” that MDawg is a high rolling player.



AS such, given that AxelWolf proved to me

(1) that he has a poor read on me
(2) has a hard time backing down or apologizing,

I’d take very little of what he has to say on this Robbi matter seriously.

I haven't followed the Robbi thread at WOV closely, but at last glance it was AWolf who was the most vocal proponent in the "Robbi was cheating" camp.

Keep in mind too that I actually met the girl and talked to her a while, and as noted above the way she is in general is the way she acts at the poker table – fast talking, and a little off – which further confirms my belief that not much untoward happened in the J4 hand.

Absent more proof coming in, I stand by my belief that she misread her hand and assumed she had a pair of threes.

According to Ivey: "If you notice in the middle of the hand she asked, Can you beat a 3?...She misread her hand, and she didn't want to say [later] that she misread her hand, because she's at a poker table."

Phil Ivey shares what he thinks happened during the Robbi vs GMAN infamous poker hand

We liked these

https://eattopround.com/

and there is one located in L.A., but one by one they have been closing, including the L.A. location.

The concept is roast beef and crispy chicken sandwiches.




Good, a little over priced, evidently not working out as expected as their locations have been closing down.

One is supposed to be open in Las Vegas.

Quote: MDawg

We liked these

https://eattopround.com/

and there is one located in L.A., but one by one they have been closing, including the L.A. location.

The concept is roast beef and crispy chicken sandwiches.




Good, a little over priced, evidently not working out as expected as their locations have been closing down one by one.

One is supposed to open or be open in Las Vegas but given their movement in the shut down direction...maybe not.
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Where is the one they are opening in Las Vegas? I will try the one in Ft Lauderdale as I get there about once a month. People laugh at me because I absolutely love Arby's roast beef sandwiches. I don't care if they are mystery meat, I love it.

All right, apparently the one in Vegas opened June 2022, and is still open!

3782 S Las Vegas Blvd Las Vegas, NV 89109



The one in Ft. Lauderdale:
35 N Federal Hwy Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

But the one in L.A. which is near mid-Wilshire / Beverly Hills was closed when we stopped by last night. And has been for at least a few weeks. Perhaps it's a temporary closure.


The Top Round roast beef sandwich we like is called "Horse and Hole" - includes melted provolone cheese, roasted mushrooms, and horseradish cream. The roast beef is 100% beef (free of additives, fillers, and preservatives) and is slow roasted (supposedly up to 10 hours) in 20 pound cuts.

Quote: DRich

[ People laugh at me because I absolutely love Arby's roast beef sandwiches. I don't care if they are mystery meat, I love it.
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From what I’ve read, Arby’s beef is to real roast beef is what particle board is to real wood. It is mostly “beef” but all kinds of scraps, preservatives and bonding agents compressed into a hunk of crap. Gotta be one of the most mysterious looking “meats” there is.

I’ll admit I used to like it, too. Especially with the high fructose corn syrup Arby’s Sauce. Fat, salt and sugar

Horseradish is supposed to be very good for you, so I consider Arby's as health food. I figure an extra tube of horsey sauce compensates for the curly fries, and everyone knows how healthy diet coke is.

Not sure if the small amount of horseradish in those sandwiches or that you'd spread on prime rib at the buffet would amount to much health wise, but every now and then my wife gets an entire very large root of horseradish and pulverizes it along with turmeric ginger and other roots to make some kind of health concoction that will knock you over.

Couple of casino events from the past couple trips.

They don't always lay food out in the high limit salons these days, post-Covid, but you may order from this menu, and also order whatever you like from room service too.



The selection at Resorts World Crockford's Lounge is much better.

Promo chips. (Play until you lose)



(The 25K chip is regular - not promo.)

And of course a selection of chip porn from the past couple trips.




The larger brownish chips underneath are RW 25K chips.
















The goal on this day was to win enough yellow chips to reach the height of the tea glass. I ended up with two stacks passing the tea glass actually, that day.

When you qualify for promo chips, do you get to pick the denominations? Could you have taken those 500s and exchanged them for 100s or 1000s?

Yes, within reason. When they give me say 10K in promo chips I am not sure if they could find 10K worth of 100s. But as far as upwards movement, yes, sometimes they ask if I want 500s or 1000s.

I believe you have to decide right then and there. I don't think you may come back later and exchange them, or at least - I have never tried to do that.

Quote: MDawg

And of course a selection of chip porn from the past couple trips.


post

So, the photo with the $2 bill, Is that your net winnings?

tuttigym

How many hosts do you work with? And let’s say you don’t see a casino between now and Jan 31, will these hosts be contacting you in February? Or is it just one way…. you calling them?

Quote: SOOPOO

How many hosts do you work with? And let’s say you don’t see a casino between now and Jan 31, will these hosts be contacting you in February? Or is it just one way…. you calling them?
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SOOPOO, you are fairly familiar with Vegas, right? How much do the suites that Mdawg stays in go for? More questions to follow after your answer.

tuttigym

Quote: tuttigym

Quote: SOOPOO

How many hosts do you work with? And let’s say you don’t see a casino between now and Jan 31, will these hosts be contacting you in February? Or is it just one way…. you calling them?
link to original post

SOOPOO, you are fairly familiar with Vegas, right? How much do the suites that Mdawg stays in go for? More questions to follow after your answer.

tuttigym
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I am not the one to ask. But those multi room ones have to be over $2k a night retail. At the nicer properties. The even bigger suites he has occasionally pictured probably exceed $10k a night. But that includes free bottled water.

Starting about a year ago I started working with two independent hosts. One of those handles one of the properties we go to, but both are able to help me with special event tickets and such.

And then of course I have an in house host at every property at which I play.

We are actually booked to go back for New Year's but will probably cancel the stay. The way those stays - for very high demand holidays work - is the stay is guaranteed as long as you are any kind of decent player but you don't know exactly what kind of room or suite you will get until a couple weeks before arrival, so we just heard back that we'll get the usual large suite that we always get for stays, but again, I don't think we'll even go. When I am in Vegas usually I can't imagine leaving until we've been there a very long time and then when I am not in Vegas I can't imagine going until after we have been away for some time - I get comfortable in both situations.

As far as who contacts whom - I get regular emails or texts (not so much phone calls these days) about this or that promo or special event - but I respond only if we want to take them up on that offer, or I email or text whenever we decide to go.


As far as rack rate for the suites we stay in - it really depends. A couple weeks ago when I got even just standard (albeit nice) free rooms for friends / family the regular rate was over $1000. a night! so on a weekend like that, a nice suite say 1500 - 1800 sq. ft. would be around $3000. - $4000. a night.

Then other times, such as weekdays, no important conventions going on, a nice suite, rack rate might be only $1500. or so a night.

Villas, such as the 2500 - 3000 sq. ft. ones we have been in, the rack rate might be $5000. a night or more, depending on the resort and again, what else is going on in town that week or weekend.

MDawg.

Those high denom chips are you just holding onto them temporarily?

Casinos usually give players a hard time cashing those out. They ask where you got them and call the pit.

So you can't just hand them to your heirs.

Do they give you a hassle cashing them days or weeks later or are you just well known already to the cage.

There's no advantage to having a few hundred grand tied up in chips that I can see.

All of those pics were taken during or after sessions in the past two trips (which means - during the past few months). I did not take those pics today.

And - I did not take depart Vegas with any 25K or 100K chips. However, you are on the right track, at one of the casinos I kept stockpiling 25K chips long after we had left the resort, but I kept stopping in and playing and winning. Then when it came time to cash them, it took some time for the cage to verify that I had won all of them. A really long time actually. I kept trying to explain that I had won them over the course of some weeks, and eventually they did cash them, but it was a small hassle. I had to hang out at the cage for about a half hour and finally went back to the table and sat down for while, then came back after a while where they issued me a winning check. The issue was not just where did I get those chips, but whether I had won at least that amount in order for the check to be issued (checks are issued only for verified winnings).

I had a hard time over one of the 100K chips too, that I had pocketed for something like a month, until I got around to cashing it.

At another casino I had had an intervening LOSS and that messed up their accounting too. I explained that look, I won X amount, then lost Y amount (and paid the marker off), then won Z amount, which is why I have these chips, but it took actually two days and back and forth with the cage supervisors before everyone agreed that I had in fact won all of what I was presenting, to end up getting three separate checks for the combined winnings.

Compliance has gotten really strict about verifying wins before issuing winning checks, and the cage in general is, you are right, wary of cashing 25K or 100K chips unless they have a record of those exact denomination chips being assigned to the player presenting them.

But right now, no longer in Vegas, I am not holding any chips higher than 5K, and even then, just a few not many. I should have cashed those it was a mistake not to cash them actually. I had them in a zippered portion of one of my carry pouches and I thought the pouch carried only promo chips, but I too late realized that there were a few 5K chips in there too. And actually, even holding on to promo chips for too long is a bad idea, as the casino may void and reissue new ones at any time.

So for you the issue was you wanted checks as verification of wins?

If you had simply asked for cash would they have given the same problem?

I'm not certain of NJ statutes but I believe they have to cash out chips barring stolen status (they know it was stolen)

It seems ridiculous that I could buy in with a few $25k chips make wagers for and hour or two, finish about even, run to catch a plane and a month later on my return they say they get to keep a hundred grand because I can't prove I got the $25k myself.

Actually, if you show up at the tables with promo chips, generally no one will ask where you got them - as long as it's not too many of them.

But show up at the table with too high denomination chips, and unless you are a known player or they look on your account and see that you have them assigned to you, and you will have a brand new hassle over even trying to use them.

So given that I decided not to return to Vegas for a while, I really should have cashed out those few 5K chips AND played all my promos.


And to answer your question above - if they have NO idea where you got them, they do not have to cash the chips AT ALL. But asking for a check to be cut makes it a matter of not just whether the chips belong to you, but whether there is a documented verified win in that amount on your account (that has not yet been cashed out).

Bringing the chips a month late, a month after the play, is not a situation where they would have no idea where the chips came from, just it would take some time for the records to be pulled.

Chips belong to the casino - and are on loan to the player representing money given to the player (or maybe, money the player has given to the casino?). Since the chips belong to the casino, no one other than the player to whom they were lent may cash them, is the way I believe it stands in Vegas.


This is an old article, but I think it's still the current law in Vegas:

Chips no longer good as cash
Las Vegas Sun
Friday, March 9, 2007 | 6 a.m.

If $5,000 casino chips could talk, what would this one say? It might explain its recent travels and how it has ended up in the custody of a cashier at the MGM Grand, who questioned whether it really belonged to the gambler who turned it in.


The gambler, a poker player, made the mistake of treating the chip like currency. And all he's got to show for it today is a piece of paper - a receipt for the chip he no longer has - and no money.

The harsh lesson he learned is that this isn't old Vegas, where casino chips were the coin of the realm, used to settle debts between friends, buy groceries and pay for haircuts.

That culture started to change 20 years ago when Nevada defined tokens as the property of individual casinos and prohibited their use "for any monetary purpose" outside the casino. They were simply intended as stand-ins for cash, loaned to players for the sole purpose of gambling.

The regulation was adopted to bring state law in line with federal rules prohibiting the creation of new currencies and with existing casino accounting procedures. The rule also has favorable tax implications for casinos, which aren't taxed on unreturned chips.

But churches still find chips in collection baskets and gamblers frequently tip with chips.

So Nolan Dalla, one of many poker players who casually trade, borrow and gift poker chips to colleagues, was surprised to learn he was, technically, breaking Nevada law.

Dalla, a media organizer for the World Series of Poker and other major poker tournaments, obtained the $5,000 MGM Grand chip at the center of our story from a friend who owed him money. Dalla decided to cash the chip at the same time he cashed a winning sports book ticket from MGM Grand.

Asked whether he won the chip at the casino, Dalla told the casino cashier he got it from a friend. That's when a supervisor stepped in, asked a few more questions and then confiscated the chip, saying Dalla couldn't prove that the chip had been obtained legally.

Dalla's friend, reached by phone, told the supervisor he received the chip from a third gambler. That's simply how it works in the world of serious poker players: Big-denomination chips can change hands among players after they have left the table.

Dalla was given a receipt for his chip after it was seized by MGM Grand but, for now, he's down the $5,000.

He says the casino presented him with an impossible task - to prove that, at some point, a gambler at MGM Grand had bought the chip.

"I think it's very scary for gamblers that the burden of proof is on us," he said. "It's like the IRS. They think everyone's a cheat."

In fact, the casino is simply following state law. Nevada regulations allow casinos to seize chips if the casino "knows or reasonably should know" that the chips weren't obtained in the course of gambling by the individual presenting them. The little-known rule, intended to protect casinos against theft, counterfeit and other types of fraud, allows cage supervisors to keep the questionable chip while they investigate its origin.

Casinos post signs informing gamblers that chips can't be used as money, but they may go unnoticed or unheeded.

"Chips absolutely aren't legal tender. They're the property of the casino," MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said. "They are tendered for a very specific purpose and that purpose is highly regulated. We are obligated to verify that the chips were obtained through appropriate and normal gambling activity."

But old Nevada habits die hard.

"The chip represents payment," said Larry Grossman, a gaming industry commentator and former gambling talk-show host in Las Vegas. "Why does it really matter where it came from as long as it's legitimate? I think the onus should be on the casino to prove that something's wrong than for the person to prove it's theirs. I don't think that's anybody's business but the individual and the IRS."

Decades ago, casinos were more likely to cash chips without asking too many questions because fewer high-limit chips were in circulation, said David Schwartz, director of UNLV's Gaming Studies Research Center. "It was a much smaller industry, and there were fewer big gamblers to keep track of."

Casinos commonly accepted piles of chips from shopkeepers as well as chips from other gambling halls. Casinos now have tighter policies on chips that differ by property.

Generally, casinos allow employees to redeem chips they receive as tips as well as chips from other casinos owned by the same company.

But casinos can seize chips if there's any whiff of suspicion about their origin. At MGM Grand, the state's largest casino, this happens maybe once out of thousands of transactions each month. The casino won't say which denominations will trigger an investigation, but it's clear they'll question the history of a $5,000 chip.

In some cases, regulators have stepped in on customers' behalf to order that chips be cashed.

In defense of one high-stakes gambler, state gaming regulators said MGM Grand probably wouldn't have been able to prove that the man had gambled there even if he had. That's because players often choose to gamble without identifying themselves to casino bosses - preferring anonymity over the chance for comps and freebies by identifying themselves so the casinos can track and rate the level of their play.

And casinos don't rate poker players because they play against one another, not the house. So as high-value chips fly among them, the casino has no need to track the exchanges.

"Initially the burden of proof is on the person with the chip to show how he obtained it through legitimate means," said Jerry Markling, chief of the Gaming Control Board's enforcement division. But if the chip is seized and the customer complains to state regulators, the burden shifts to the casino to prove its case.

Dalla now is wondering what to do with several big-denomination chips he has accumulated over the years.

"Sports bettors and people who play high-limit poker games always carry around chips," he said. "They don't walk around with $10,000 or $15,000 in cash. This should raise a red flag in gamblers' minds. Be careful if you're in a poker room or sports book and someone wants to pay you in chips."

This problem may be moot 10 years from now, Schwartz said.

A few casinos are starting to embed chips with radio frequency identification tags. They're then given to specific gamblers so the casino can pinpoint casino profits and track play for the purpose of granting comps.

"It's going to be easier to track all kinds of transactions," Schwartz said.

And to tell if any of the chips have been to church.

So, did you confront the casino(s) with the Mdawg challenge, and after the multiple verifications, did they also pay you the additional amounts owed you for the "challenges"?

Does that mean that your Mdawg "challenge" will take several days to complete, if so, who pays for the r & b of the challenger? After all, the "challenge" content infers that such verifications are almost instantaneous? I guess that isn't quite accurate, is it?

One other curious item for me, after receiving $100,s of k's by way of checks from the casinos did they issue W2G's? If not, why not?

tuttigym