Biggest Losers You've Seen

What are the biggest losses, or missed wins you've seen? I haven't witnessed more than a few thousand in losses, but I've heard some recent stores. A guy at the M was telling me about a player he saw at Caesar's a few nights ago betting $250,000 a hand in roulette, losing 7 MM in total (some kind of an oil sheik?). Another player told me about a guy that was playing Pai Gow Poker who was urged by the table to bet on the bonus hand. He refused, probably because he knew the edge was higher on that bet, but a few minutes later he hit the 7 card straight flush. I guess he isn't technically a loser, but he did miss out on a hand worth thousands!

Hey mods, if you happen to read this, can you please move the post from Off Topic to General Discussion? I guess it is actually on topic for that forum!

In the small fry casino I work in, there are a few major players who will regularly drop £8-10,000 ($12-15,000) This is on roulette.

This isn't so much of a biggest loser story, but is an interesting story if you are familiar with Pai Gow Tiles.

When I was at Mandalay Bay in June, there was a guy betting big on Pai Gow. This player was at "first base", so he was the last to have his tiles revealed. He had a $3,000 bet on the table on this particular hand.

Everyone was dealt their tiles and set them. I don't recall what I had; I think it was an average hand like 6/7. The dealer then revealed his tiles:

High 10, Low 10, 11, 12

and set them to play 1/2. There was some talk from the big bettor and his friends (in a foreign language), which I presumed was because everybody at the table won. After I was paid my winnings, I was arranging my chips while the dealer paid off everyone else. However, I noticed him take the last player's bet. Confused, I looked up, and saw the player's tiles:

High 6, Low 6, Low 4, 7

Both the player and dealer had terrible hands, 1/2 each. But unfortunately for the player, the dealer had the higher 1 and the higher 2, so he lost his $3,000 bet.

It will likely be a long time before I witness something like that again, given that the probability is approximately 1 in 1,438,049.

Ouch, I lost about $1500 in a hand of Pai Gow in Macau when I was banking and was dealt the dreaded 1-2. That remains my biggest single hand loss (and hopefully will for a long time).

As for biggest losers I've seen, on my first trip to Vegas, I was standing around a $5 craps table trying to comprehend the game. A friendly guy in his late twenties who was in Vegas for his wedding offered to show me his strategy that he seemed to think couldn't possibly lose. He bet on the field and when that lost, he doubled his bet. He continued this until he had lost about $1,000 at which point he turned to me and said that was all the money he'd brought to Vegas and that he was going back to his room.

The monetary loss wasn't huge in an absolute sense, but I could see that to this guy, the amount was very meaningful.

Here's to more Pai Gow "bad beat" stories! Here's another one:

I was playing $15 tiles at Harrah's AC and was dealt a very good hand. Can't remember what it was exactly, but it was something like either Pair/Wong or Pair/Gong. The other players also had very good hands like Wong/9s, etc. We were all counting our money at this point.

The dealer uncovered Gee Joon/Pair.

Suffice it to say a lot of collective air escaped from the table at that point. Good thing I was only playing $15!

I saw a guy about a year or so ago lose $800,000 in a few hours playing blackjack at the Playboy Club. I've seen several other players lose well into six figures up there.

Lost my flush and pair of kings to a straight flush and a pair of aces fml

Quote: strictlyAP

Lost my flush and pair of kings to a straight flush and a pair of aces fml

You have been running pretty bad lately.....hope it turns around super quick!!

FWIW, saw a guy lose 2 milly at MB about 2 years ago. Also saw an NFL boy walk out there with 1.5 bar in a duffel bag.

Quote: JB

This isn't so much of a biggest loser story, but is an interesting story if you are familiar with Pai Gow Tiles.

When I was at Mandalay Bay in June, there was a guy betting big on Pai Gow. This player was at "first base", so he was the last to have his tiles revealed. He had a $3,000 bet on the table on this particular hand.

Everyone was dealt their tiles and set them. I don't recall what I had; I think it was an average hand like 6/7. The dealer then revealed his tiles:

High 10, Low 10, 11, 12

and set them to play 1/2. There was some talk from the big bettor and his friends (in a foreign language), which I presumed was because everybody at the table won. After I was paid my winnings, I was arranging my chips while the dealer paid off everyone else. However, I noticed him take the last player's bet. Confused, I looked up, and saw the player's tiles:

High 6, Low 6, Low 4, 7

Both the player and dealer had terrible hands, 1/2 each. But unfortunately for the player, the dealer had the higher 1 and the higher 2, so he lost his $3,000 bet.

It will likely be a long time before I witness something like that again, given that the probability is approximately 1 in 1,438,049.

LOL
These 2 combinations of tiles are so notorious they are each given a "name" in Chinese.
The first one roughly translates to : the 4 biggest companies coming to port, probably in reference to old time Shanghai.
The second one is just "double six, seven and four". But this hand is so infamous it is actually in the lyric of a song.