One Million in Rack

Two months ago I was at MB playing craps. The craps table next to me was private and the guy had 1 million dollars in the rack, that is what my table dealer told me. If you had to guess what do you think the dealers got tipped? They were on call for 8 hours(the 3 dealers plus a stick man plus 2 managers)while the guy ate and went back and forth to Aria. They just stood and waited. Do the dealers get special pay for catering to this guy? Nobody would say anything except he was a communist from Red China.

I don't have any answers to your questions -- just some side comments/questions. I saw a private crap table operating at Wynn the last time I was there (April). One end of the table was marked "Reserved", while the other end just had a placard that showed it as a $100 minimum. I don't know for certain whether other players were really welcome at that end or not. I did not intrude enough to see what level the lone player was wagering, what kind of wagers he was placing, or the chips in his rack. How common are private crap games on the open floor? Do casinos often have crap tables in their high limit salons?

I have seen the same thing with half a table reserved and $100 to $500 mins. I saw people try to play at the $500 reserved and were not allowed. The one million blew me away. They would not let anybody get within 10 feet of the table.

I walked through the Wynn in early January, and we came upon a lone player w a huge bankroll. After watching for a bit, we determined he was making 10k PL bets w max odds, and was always coming for 10k w max odds. The table max showed $5k. Anyways, we did a quick count of his chips (lots of brown I remember) and it was about 1.2 million. Funny thing, after every 7-out he would walk away from the table and pace around, often on his cell phone. He was shooting so fast, the dealer was trying to keep up. At one point, he claimed the dealer failed to get his come bet up, and got piiiised. He shoved his entire stack (1.2 mil) down the table and walked off, and the dealers had to clean it up for him. Looked like a baby throwing a tantrum!

BTW, he was a tall white guy who obviously liked the attention he was getting (sorry, no red commie)

Quote: RPToro

we determined he was making 10k PL bets w max odds, and was always coming for 10k w max odds. The table max showed $5k. Anyways, we did a quick count of his chips (lots of brown I remember) and it was about 1.2 million.

That is between $4M-$5M per hour. Did he look like he was having fun?

I saw Phil Ivey playing craps in the tub in the mahogany room at crown casino in January. He was having $10k line bets with full 2x odds, $10k coming every roll with full odds & placing all the numbers (pulled down when the come bet went up). He would have had at least $800k in the rack when I saw him.

He didn't like anyone else playing but they didn't stop the rare extra player who sat down. Extremely supersticipus player. Abused the dealer for even the smallest thing.

Quote: pacomartin

That is between $4M-$5M per hour. Did he look like he was having fun?

That's the funny part! He looked more pissed off the whole time than anything. I mean they'd push him the dice, then he'd let 'em fly IMMEDIATELY. Throw more money down, and put his hand out as if to say "OK I'm ready, give me the dice!". All his chips were on the table (none in the trays) and he was leaning over the whole time & never got up between throws. But then once he 7'd out, he'd walk around, almost like he was looking for someone, and look at/get on his phone. I felt like I should have known who he was, and he gave off that look like "you know who I am" but I really have no clue lol. Awesome to see that much $$ in play though!

Quote: Aussie

I saw Phil Ivey playing craps in the tub in the mahogany room at crown casino in January. He was having $10k line bets with full 2x odds, $10k coming every roll with full odds & placing all the numbers (pulled down when the come bet went up). He would have had at least $800k in the rack when I saw him.

He didn't like anyone else playing but they didn't stop the rare extra player who sat down. Extremely upersticipus player. Abused the dealer for even the smallest thing.

Question: Is 2X the norm in Australia? In Vegas that is considered fairly cheap nowdays. Downtown Boyd casinos herd all their craps players in 1 of their 3 hotels where 20X odds are offered. The other two hotels only have 2X odds.

I was not aware that professional poker players played other games (except for fun). I would think that it would go against their concept of gambling.

Quote: Aussie

I saw Phil Ivey playing craps in the tub in the mahogany room at crown casino in January. He was having $10k line bets with full 2x odds, $10k coming every roll with full odds & placing all the numbers (pulled down when the come bet went up). He would have had at least $800k in the rack when I saw him.

He didn't like anyone else playing but they didn't stop the rare extra player who sat down. Extremely supersticipus player. Abused the dealer for even the smallest thing.

he plays at the redrock casino on a reserved table quite often.

Quote: pacomartin

I was not aware that professional poker players played other games (except for fun). I would think that it would go against their concept of gambling.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

While it is true that they make a living from poker, you can't play poker without being a gambler.

Watch High Stakes Poker. Particularly in the older episodes you hear them talking about side bets all the time. There was one episode where there was a bet whether or not Antonio Esfandiari could do 'x' pushups above a stack of plates without breaking any. I forget how many, but he did it without any trouble.

The side bets got out of control to the point where the producers put an end to it.


On a side note: I think the push-up thing was a bad bet. Those were typical ceramic plates. They wouldn't have broken too easily. Had they used paper plates, stacked accordian style, then it would have been a different story.

Quote: pacomartin

Question: Is 2X the norm in Australia? In Vegas that is considered fairly cheap nowdays. Downtown Boyd casinos herd all their craps players in 1 of their 3 hotels where 20X odds are offered. The other two hotels only have 2X odds.

I was not aware that professional poker players played other games (except for fun). I would think that it would go against their concept of gambling.

the guy I saw @ wynn was betting 3x-4x-5x odds

Quote: RPToro

the guy I saw @ wynn was betting 3x-4x-5x odds

so he could have $310,000 out there with effectively $290,000 at most at risk under the assumption he was betting with $10,000 chips.

Quote: pacomartin

Question: Is 2X the norm in Australia? In Vegas that is considered fairly cheap nowdays. Downtown Boyd casinos herd all their craps players in 1 of their 3 hotels where 20X odds are offered. The other two hotels only have 2X odds.

I was not aware that professional poker players played other games (except for fun). I would think that it would go against their concept of gambling.

Yes 2x is standard. There are probably only 3 or 4 casinos that even have craps anyway though.

Quote: Aussie

Yes 2x is standard. There are probably only 3 or 4 casinos that even have craps anyway though.

It is diminishing in popularity, but still important in Nevada. Behind Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette on the Vegas strip, each table makes about $110K per month. Total of 155 tables in principal hotels.

Off the Vegas strip and in minor casinos on the strip, craps is ahead of Roulette, and each table makes about $48K per month. Total of 239 tables.

On strip 3,4,5X is standard, but there are at least 4 casinos in the city with 100X.