Comps in Blackjack, can you alter pit bosses decision

Play at a casino in michigan Soaring Eagle Casino to be exact...and minimum buy in to be rated is $100. and i know all about the math equation and what not they go through to figure out how much your worth. But does it matter how much you orginally buy in for that could possibly alter the pit bosses decision on a dinner comp.

An Example would be

Im thinking of going in and layin $300 - $500 down on the table i get 100 in $5 chips (table minimum is $5) and i get $200 in $25 chips to $400 in $25 chips
my thinking is im only going spend the $100 in $5 chips, but the pit boss only see's my $500 dollar buy-in, and a few bets here and there he has no idea how much im gonna spend......put in 2 or 3 bathroom breaks and in 2 - 3 hours time, at about 15 dollar bet when pit boss is around and back to $5 when he isnt.......

so would my $500 dollar buy-in be enough to persuad him to say give me a comp in 2 or 3 hours time.....specifally dinner for 2???

Short, self-evident answer: It couldn't hurt. If you have the money, why don't you try it and report back to us? I'd be interested to know the results.

I don't know about that particular casino. I think the casinos like to see a large buy-in but they are not often fooled by it. They focus on your action... what you bet. Oh sure, maybe you will get lucky. Buy in at a real busy time. Have them notice the amount of the buy in and perhaps be impressed with your first few bets... then they wander away and you revert to playing at a more comfortable level. It might work. Probably not more than once though.

You might be better off doing action that you are comfortable with and just taking what comps they would award. If you really want a dinner comp, ask for it. See what they say. If you've done well they may want to keep you happy so as to keep you there. If you've done well by the crew with some noticeable dealer bets, they may stretch your comp calculation a bit.

The trouble is that people in a casino are paid to keep alert and not be fooled. They get paid to watch cards, dice, hands, chips, each other... so I'd think it just might be cheaper for you to buy your own dinner and bet as you want to bet without paying attention to whether a floorman or pitboss is nearby.

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hell no i dont play that single deck 6:5, and i dont play csm's either....i was just posting to see if anyone else has tryed what im thinking...plus im new to comps no idea how long i gotta sit to get what......im betting 5 to 20 a hand at most and im not gonna sit down for 5 or 6 hours just to get a comp. So i just wanted opinion on what people thought. Also, do you know if soaring eagle has shoes..i called the host and asked but they never returned my call. I dont wanna drive for an hour and a half to find out their ALL csm's.

I agree with Aces. If you play for a reasonable amount of time, and are polite, respectful, and don't cause any problems, you will be appreciated more by the boss and will have a better chance of scoring an extra comp than if you try to fool them. I have gotten comps after short times of playing by simply not being a jerk. EVERY time I bust out of any game, I never publicly express my disappointment, and always say "Thank you for the game." If you are classy, it will always get you further.

I think what you are asking about is called "comp hustling", i.e., trying to get higher comps than your play deserves. Its an excellent idea, and works surprisingly well in my experience.

A couple of things I do:
- Like you suggested, I buy in for a much larger amount than I plan to play with.
- I bet high my first few bets and whenever I see the pit boss nearby. I might even throw a bet on the side bet if I know that it will get me a better rating.
- If I'm going to specifically comp hustle, I pick crowded pits where the pit boss is very busy helping other customers.
- I'll sit out hands when the pit boss is not around (and the count is negative, of course!)
- I will make conversation with the pit boss, if possible, and mention that I am losing very badly, that I have been losing all day, etc (hopefully all lies).
- I always ask for something (dinner, free room, etc.) before I get up from the table.

These are pretty tried, tested and true techniques used by a lot of advantage players. Best of luck!

I thought chasing comps was a bad idea....

Chasing comps is generally a bad idea, but you could consider some techniques out of "comp city" ...

Get more $5 chips when you buy in. When the dealer & pit guy are not looking, pocket them so it looks like your stack is dwindling as you play. This doesn't work with those $25 chips unless other players are playing at a higher level.

When the pit boss is looking, bet an extra $10 above your normal play.

Cardshark had some great suggestions. However, I've had bad results with the strategy of betting more the first few hands and when the pit boss is watching. The problem is that most of the time when the pit boss observes my bet, it is when he wanders over mid-hand, when I can't change it. Maybe they know more than we think, and are deliberately sampling at such times. In my experience, when my most common bet is my small bet, that is what they rate me at.

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