Playing solo

I was at Caesars Palace a few years ago and saw a man by himself at a dice table. There were two security guards, one posted on either side of the table, to shoo people away from the table. I caught a glimpse anyway; the man was playing with $500 chips and up.

So here's the question: if you wanted to get a dice table to yourself, what kind of bankroll or action would it take? Obviously this changes from casino to casino and city to city. But at what level of play could you reserve a table for a few hours by yourself? Has anyone here done it? And for those who work in the industry, what would it take in your casino?

I, of course, have never done it myself, but I have seen it twice at Wynn. In one instance, the opposite end of the table was open to others at a $500 minimum bet, I think. I don't recall now whether there was any minimum specified for the loner's end of the table; I think it was just a "stay away" situation. The other time, I could see the player wagering with what looked like pale yellow chips. I didn't get close enough to examine them. I think "bananas" are $1,000 in some casinos, but I don't know the design of higher-level Wynn chips. I'm not sure there is real consistency in chip colors above the blacks.

I have seen this scenario at the Wynn on a weekday evening, but the security appeared more for the player's protection rather than to keep others from joining the game. The fact that the limit lights were off was a tip off that someone heavy was playing.

I recall that the Wynn, (and probably other high end joints) have private salons with craps tables for the player who really doesn't want to be disturbed. Hogging a table on the main floor seems really for the benefit of attention seekers more than anything else.

Casinos will jump thru any hoops you want them too... you just have to show them enough action.

Most people playing with 500 chips will do whatever they please for as long as they please. And that would include keeping the same dice crew if the player wanted it.

If you have to ask how much... you can't afford it.

I've seen that at the Wynn as well. Ropes and security. Box, floor, stick and TWO dealers, even though, obviously, they only needed a dealer on one side.

One player, at one end of the table with the rail on the entire side (i.e. 4 person's worth of chip holders) completely filled with a rainbow of chips.


How big of a bet / bankroll do you need to get that kind of treatment?

I think the answer is obvious: If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

I'm not trying to be a smart-ass. I truly think that if you're anywhere near that level, sooner or later (probably sooner), someone would offer to give you that kind of treatment.

I was alone at a table, on the Strip (it was at Mirage back in 2009), playing $10 pass with $20 odds for about 30 minutes. (It was around 4:30 on a weekday afternoon (I was pretty much killing time until Samba opened), and there were four or five of us when I joined, but eventually the others left.)

Way back at this post, I reported on being at the Cosmopolitan the day after it opened. The $10 crap table was dead, and after chatting a while with the crew I started the game. Almost immediately others joined in, and in less than an hour, there was a player using $1,000 chips, right in the crowd with the rest of us. Guess he wasn't so proud that he needed a private table.

First off, the thread title, as discussed by the Wizard, gave me a TOTALLY different idea of what the thread might be about... ;)

Penn National tried at Kansas City and I think still offer it at Hollywood Aurora Reservation Blackjack. The table mins were $5-500, and you would pay $20 up front for an hour. That $20 was per seat, so if you wanted other people to play, they had to fork over the $20. However, you could play low limits, and play by yourself if you wanted.

Last October I was playing at the Venetian in Las Vegas on a Sunday early evening, and the guy on the other side was betting chocolates ($5,000) line bets with full odds, I'd never seen pumpkin colored chips ($25,000) in play before! The table was a $15 table when I walked up (later changed to $25). A woman to my left who probably had $300 in her rack, received a $500 tip from this guy for her good roll.

Needless to say this guy didn't want to play alone and enjoyed the atmoshere of a full table as there is no doubt he could have had whatever he wanted.

I've never seen anything extreme. But one time at the Golden Nugget, I noticed that one side of the table was $100 minimum, and the other side of the table was $5 minimum. The $5 side was full of people, while the $100 side was empty. I was going somewhere in a bit of a hurry, so I didn't have time to stick around and see what was going on. Later in the evening, when the table was back to normal, I asked one of the dealers about it. He said that one guy, who was betting big, didn't want people on the other side of the table, and had asked that the one side be raised to $100. Apparently, he did not want people's hands or chips getting in the way of his throws. I commented that he must have been betting big in order to get an entire half of a table sectioned off, and the dealer told me he was only betting $100 pass line + odds. But, considering that the table would other wise be full of people only betting $5, I suppose his action was worth it.

I really wish I had been able to stop and see what was going on at the time it was happening. Had I known the guy was paranoid about hands in the way, I might have bought it for $100 on the opposite side from him just to annoy him with my hands. :)

Quote: DJTeddyBear

How big of a bet / bankroll do you need to get that kind of treatment?

I think the answer is obvious: If you have to ask, you can't afford it.

I'm not trying to be a smart-ass. I truly think that if you're anywhere near that level, sooner or later (probably sooner), someone would offer to give you that kind of treatment.

I know I'm not near "that level", at least for the Wynn. On the other hand, I'd be very interested in shooting alone at a table for a while, not just the times when I open a table and then it fills up 10 minutes later. I had a table to myself in Reno on a Thursday night a few months back. Only for 45 minutes, but still, there were no disputes at the other end about whose place bet was whose.

But beyond being a high roller on the Strip, is there anywhere where a black-chip bettor (or even a green-chip bettor) could get a table to him/herself for a few hours? Let me put it another way: What if someone showed up with $10,000 and said "I'm going to be betting black chips." Granted, that wouldn't do it at the Wynn or Caesars Palace, but where would it, if anywhere? Not necessarily in Vegas, or even Nevada...

And then repeat the question but with $5000 and green chips.

As noted before, I'm not one who will ever know how to arrange such things at the pricier establishments, but I have had a fair number of solo or near-solo (another person at the other end of the table) craps sessions. I suspect it's easiest to find such opportunities during the daytime at low-draw establishments, provided you can find one for which you like or can tolerate the environment. I remember solo or near-solo sessions at Eldorado Reno, Hacienda Boulder City, Club Fortune Henderson, Tropicana Las Vegas, Casa Blanca Mesquite, and perhaps others. All of those were $5 tables or less, not some place someone would have had to wave big bucks.

I usually don't play long in such situations, because I find a solo game goes faster than I like -- it seems the stick man is pushing the dice back at me as fast as I can throw them. I like to savor the moments just a little, without someone trying to make me feel I'm wasting their time, when they would be completely idle and bored without me around. :-)

This reminds me of an incident I saw at the Gold Strike in Tunica, I have always wondered if anyone has ever seen anything like it:

I was right next to a whale of a bettor at a full table with only a $5 min. He was a great guy and having fun even though he was betting $100 with full 3-4-5x odds. He was also playing stuff in the middle too but I didn't pay attention to that. Anyway he started on a crazy losing streak and someone sevened out with the dice right in front of him. He looked at the dealers and said, "Can I throw em?" The pit boss said yes and before I knew it he scooped up the dice turned around and seriously threw them over the empty crap tables and into the slots. He grabbed what little he had left, dropped a toke, said goodbye and was gone. We little fish were all stunned and I thought he was going to get arrested. The crew qucikly passed the remaining dice to the next shooter and went on like nothing happened. It was an education for me that if you spend enough the casino wil let you do just about anything.

haha love the story father. I think I would have fallen over from laughter if I saw a player launch the dice across the casino floor. As you said, give enough action to the casino and they will be willing to allow you to vent in just about any way you see fit.

This happened about 20 years ago in AC.

On one end of the table was a guy betting those $5000 gray chips. On the other end were two guys betting $5 red chips. My guess was they raised the table minimum to accommodate the high roller. As players left, there were no new players. The two red chip players were grandfathered in.

The high roller was a Don't Pass player. He had a row and a half $5000 chips in the rack in front of him. (A Million dollars ?)

He would bet $10k on the don't pass and lay double odds. He kept on losing and the red chip players were winning. I watched as his row and a half of chips was reduced to an amount of chips that he could hold in one hand. I left to play at another table and when I returned later to the high roller table, I asked what happened to the high roller. They said he lost it all.

That was an easy target...
Similarly, a few weeks ago, that happened to me...I was betting $2 pass with $4/$5 odds...there was a don't better playing $100 DP with $600 Odds...I straight up made SIX points in short order...absolutely WIPED HIM OUT...
If you ever wanna go and FEEL like you're winning..find a crap table with a big better and bet the OPPOSITE of him, at the table minimum and I can gurantee you'll win (The casino doesn't want YOUR money, they want HIS!)

hmmmm, if playing solo I guess you could slow roll it

but, if the game was moving faster, with one person, wouldn't that increase the HE? or just the time that the negative EV kicks in?

Quote: mike5885

hmmmm, if playing solo I guess you could slow roll it

but, if the game was moving faster, with one person, wouldn't that increase the HE? or just the time that the negative EV kicks in?

well, you dug up an old one

You would not increase the HE if the game is moving faster, but many players simply are going to be putting a lot more into action against that edge. The players that bring a small bankroll and just go until it is gone? No difference most of the time for them, except how long they last measured in time.

I have found you can slow roll it ... what can they say if you are the only one there?