Bullied by high roller in Pai Gow Tiles

This story happened many years ago.

I was playing Pai Gow Tiles, $25 minimum. At the time I was a very low roller, so I only bought in for $100. I'm at the table alone, betting the minimum. A few hands go by, nothing crazy happening, the dealer and I just doing our thing. A high roller walks up, and gets tens of thousands of dollars in chips. I can tell immediately there is some kind of bad blood between him and the dealer and pit boss, because they are accommodating him, but only at the absolute bare minimum they can get away with. The dealer is practically throwing the money/chips at him in a huff when he wins, and this only seems to tick him off even more, and he tells her to stack the chips nicely. They seem to be acting much nicer to me, the low roller with four chips in front of him, than this guy betting $30,000+ a hand.

Anyway, he generally starts acting like an a-hole for the next 15 minutes, being condescending to the dealer, and trying to bully me off the table. He asks me, and I quote, verbatim: "Do you really need to play this game for $25 a hand?" I can't remember if I said, "Yes," or just ignored him. He tries to get them to raise the table maximum. The pit boss says no. He then asks them to raise the minimum, presumably to knock me out of the game. They raise the minimum to $100. I asked the pit boss if I had to leave now or if I could stay and continue to bet $25. She said I could stay for $25 a hand, probably because I only had a couple chips left at this point. I busted out a few minutes later anyway, and left the table.

I wasn't even mad or angry at that guy; my friends and I got a chuckle out of it. I think it's funny that he thought he was hot spit at the tables, but you know what, dude? You're a millionaire, but at least people like me.

That's my high roller story. Let's hear some of yours.

Last year a woman got so angry that she left the table, because I was playing 3 card poker "wrong" (Ante/Play only).

Welcome to the forum, Tiger. I think if you search the forum (magnifying glass above), you'll find many interesting stories, but maybe a few more will respond here.

I have asked them to raise the minimums many many time to knock people off the table, often times there is a play and less people at the table allows me to play faster and to manipulate the play the way I see fit.

30k at pai gow/ wow. I only know of a few people that a casino would raise their max to that /
If it's on the east coast I 99 percent know who it was

When the play called for it, we would bring out own security card and ask for a rope to be placed behind us which the taj was always willingness to accommodate at a 500 minimum table

Quote: Wizardofnothing

we would bring out own security card

Should this say "guard" or is there actually some type of card which entitles you to extra security on request?

Oops typo, there actually was a note in the system that security was requested and reserved 500 game- nowadays I don't see it but back in the day taj did it all the time and the old marina would do it and have full room service delivered to the table

Quote: Wizardofnothing

30k at pai gow/ wow. I only know of a few people that a casino would raise their max to that /
If it's on the east coast I 99 percent know who it was

After I refreshed the story in my mind for a few minutes, I remember he wasn't betting $30,000 on one spot. He was betting $10,000 at a time across three spots. So, the max at the table must have been $10,000, and he wanted them to raise that, to which they said no.

Makes sense , What casino was it?

Caesar's Palace.

I've had the feeling many times that Asian tile players don't like white players. I'm not sure if it is how we play (I'd like to think I have something to do with that), that we are often asking to bank, or strictly a racial thing.

Once at the casino in Sydney I sat down to a table with I think four Asian players. As soon as I sat down, they all got up and left in a huff.

I remember the first time I even saw Pai Gow tiles, I didn't know what it was. It was at the Huntington Park Casino in Los Angeles, on Alameda, and I'm pretty sure they spread it before anyone else did in Los Angeles. At the time, it was just poker, I think still draw and lowball, and Pan. I saw them with the tiles at a table toward the back and I remember asking "What's this?" Someone answered, "This is Pai Gow". I announced, "That'll never catch on."

^ When I started playing a few years ago they seemed tolerant when they knew you knew what you were doing they seemed reasonable - on occasions even betting behind me when I was having a lucky run. However they sometimes didn't like my [setting] plays (rather like hitting 16 vs 7) but I explained that I was playing according to my crib-sheet.

More recently I have noticed less acceptance and the occasional hostility; certainly playing against their bank is a no-no and you can't really take the bank (although they're allowed to and all pile in).

I only played once in Sydney, but I was only a beginner, so didn't really notice any reaction as the pit boss was helping me set hands. I don't remember having a problem in Perth (Australia) except the stakes were higher.

Quote: Wizard

I've had the feeling many times that Asian tile players don't like white players. I'm not sure if it is how we play (I'd like to think I have something to do with that), that we are often asking to bank, or strictly a racial thing.

It's racism.

Many Asians are xenophobic racists.

I feel bad for the Hawaiians, who by report have Japanese in positions of authority over them, both politically and as property owners.

Quote: MrV

Many Asians are xenophobic racists.

Brilliant...

I've never really had problems at the Pai Gow Tiles tables when I play with other Asians. I am able to set my hands fairly quickly and I think that helps. I do set my hands according to JB's Simple strategy. So, it may raise some eyebrows once in a while when I split certain pairs or play something like 6/8 instead of the gong.

I was playing at the Bellagio in March with two older Asian high rollers (about 5k per hand) and they were very pleasant to sit with and play. I do notice that most people when I sit down at some point will ask me where I learned to play the game. But, I've never encountered behavior where someone pressured me to leave or flat out stood up and left when I arrived.

Tiles is my favorite game and I have taken Rosetta Stone to learn some mandarin. I use to have an issue at the game but once I learned to feel the tiles with one hand by sliding my thiumb for the dots- they were all impressed, I also learned most of them talk and say one two three or four and small or big so they share (I know it's wrong) how many of the teen and day tiles are gone.
If you don't fit in is when they seem upset

I've never really had a problem with Asians at the table either. Where I play a lot of them are super nice and they'll switch to speaking English when we're talking together or they're talking about me or a play, etc. I had one girl actually sit at the table next to me this past weekend and she went, "teach me how to play," etc., though I think that might've been less about tiles and more about something that could get me into trouble... LOL. No doubt it's an Asian-dominated game, and I've seen a lot of caucasian folks walk up to the table, stand there and watch a hand or two and then leave because they have no idea what's going on.

But other times you'd swear it was a UN convention.... Literally people from all kinds of backgrounds playing together, dealers and floor people included. And nobody typically has gotten up in my experience when a caucasian dealer taps in to a game, etc., unless they start getting hot.... but their leaving is more out of superstition I guess than the fact that he's not an Asian guy. I mean, they're more than happy to stay if everyone's winning and he's rolling over 1/2, 4/4....

And once, just once I saw an Asian guy pick up teen pair/Gee Joon pair and play it as 8/8, looking disgusted, and he walked away from the table immediately after the hand (he won anyway). I guess that's perceived as 'using up all your luck' on a single hand and it can be seen as a bad omen or something.

Maybe I'm not seeing something but I've never really had many bad experiences with other folks. And a lot of people were more than willing to help me out when I was first getting started.

Quote: Wizardofnothing

Oops typo, there actually was a note in the system that security was requested and reserved 500 game- nowadays I don't see it but back in the day taj did it all the time and the old marina would do it and have full room service delivered to the table

That sounds cool.

I figured it was a typo, but was hoping to see a "security card" someday.

Quote: Wulfgar1224

I've never really had problems at the Pai Gow Tiles tables when I play with other Asians. I am able to set my hands fairly quickly and I think that helps. I do set my hands according to JB's Simple strategy. So, it may raise some eyebrows once in a while when I split certain pairs or play something like 6/8 instead of the gong.

I was playing at the Bellagio in March with two older Asian high rollers (about 5k per hand) and they were very pleasant to sit with and play. I do notice that most people when I sit down at some point will ask me where I learned to play the game. But, I've never encountered behavior where someone pressured me to leave or flat out stood up and left when I arrived.

"Playing with other Asians" so you are an Asian and, of course, did not have a problem.

There's always going to be mega douches at the casino but the worst is when they're hopped up on something. I remember last year I was playing crapless and some guy came up to the table, probably on coke or something, and he was shouting "HOLY SHIIIIIITTTT FUUUUUCCCCKKKKKKKK!" at the top of his lungs every time a hardway came up, the dealers were getting sick of it and told him to stop it. So then a 5 comes up, the dealers for whatever reason incorrectly believed he was off and didn't pay him at first, I backed him up that he was in fact on, because yes the dealers DO make mistakes, they're human beings. That should have been the end of it but he kept yelling I'M ON!!! I'M ON!!!! every single time the dice went out. The dealers kept threatening to kick him out for yelling cuss words and being a general douche bag, and eventually he left. Later when he left there kept being a bunch of point 7s and I go "hey, could be worse, at least crazy drunk guy isn't here" and the pit boss goes "shhhhhh! He's like beetlejuice! If you say his name 3 times he might come back!" I laughed so hard. The number one rule of gambling for me is you can get pissed at the dice/cards all you want, but don't EVER be mean to the dealers.

The best highroller story I have has nothing to do with Paigow but it was pretty cool.

This was my first trip to Vegas and I was staying at treasure Island - this had to be almost 20 years ago. I had a really rough run at blackjack and I was down to my last hundred dollars for the trip when I walked to the $5 craps table. I was betting six dollars on the 6 or 8 (but not both) and betting the pass line with double odds for $15 total.

The guy next to me was betting the don't which I was unfamiliar with for the most part so I said something to him in passing about how I hadn't really seen people bet that. It wasn't just that he was betting the don't it was that he was backing it with full odds which you rarely see.

After about fifteen minutes of sweating each roll, this guy says to me "hey man, how much do you have on the table". I said "$21". He said "well if this guy rolls a seven I'll give you $100 (he was betting weird colored chips on the don't) I said "come on seven" (uncool I know) and sure enough the guy rolls a seven and this guy gives me a black chip. He said "why don't you bet with me and we'll make some money." I said "OK!!!"

Over the course of the night he gave me $400 and I ended up cashing out $777. This guy turned 80 grand into 166 grand. If someone was betting big and sevened out, he would usually throw them some money

He was tipping the dealers all night but when he left I think he tipped them like three grand. He told me that was his one serious round of betting for the weekend but he would sit and play blackjack for like five grand a session a few times also. I think he had been golfing with his host all day. He was a super nice guy and it was one of the most fun craps tables I have been at. He would never let me through the dice so when he cashed out it was my turn to roll in the dealers asked me if I wanted to roll. I started reach for the dice and the guy said "no he's going to bed he told me he was going to brag to his mother that he won if he got ahead for the trip!" My trip budget back then was $600 and I had to go along with that idea so I cashed In and went home the next day up. I think that's one of the reasons I'm still hooked on Vegas.