Casino The Adventures of MDawg

The winner's envelope of cash plus the as yet uncashed flag add up to about $15K ahead so far!

Viva! Las Vegas.

 

How are you doing in the tourney overall, do they give you placement info as you go or only once you're knocked out or at the end?

Have never considered it until recently, but have been doing so well at Bacc the past few months it's something I'm curious about in terms of how they work.

Cheers

 

Hi! Glad to hear that someone else believes in and understands Baccarat.

I was in another Bacc tournament at this same casino last year. My first session is this afternoon.

The last tourney I progressed twice, to the final table, but not to the winner's table where every person gets something, so I won nothing.

Basically, you sit at a table with a set number of players, each starting with the same number of chips. They decide randomly which spot starts, and then you progress clockwise placing your bets, within the tournament min and max. The min and max change (go up) with each round, as do the amount of chips you are given. As I recall two players would progress from the first table, but only one from the next table to the finals. As I recall you play 18 hands per round, and the final bet in the final winner's table is secret.

If you win today you will not only win the prize money, but also a guaranteed semi final round seat in their August 2020 Bacc tournament.

I will refresh my memory and correct the mistakes of recollection from the above when I repost.

 

I just found the rules for today's tournament. For what it's worth, if legible, here is a photo:

Seems like for the most part my memory was accurate.

In case this wasn't clear, this is an invitational, free entry, tournament.

 

This is the chip start at the initial table:

I came in first place at the first table and made it to the semifinals

but came in only second place at the semi finals table - so I did not advance to the finals.

That's the bad news. It was exciting though.

The GOOD news is that before the tournament I played a mere three shoes, and again, barely betting, won $14,100.

I had some ups and downs towards the beginning of the first shoe, but once I got to $2K ahead it was smooooooth Billll all the way up.

Interestingly, at my table where four of us played, two of us won, one broke even, and one lost...simply because the other two did not follow my bet spread. I won more than anyone else at my table. I was the big player at that table tonight.

But speaking of big players, the fat guy I saw last night who was down something like $40K and came back to leave ahead something like $10K ahead last night has kept winning. He's betting crazily and was up $340,000. last I saw him. Slobby, fat guy, no jewelry, poorly dressed with a fat unattractive wife, winning big. I get the feeling by how nervous he was when he was down forty last night that the money really means something to him. Good for him, beat the house for all you can!

My total ahead now is pushing thirty grand for the trip. I cashed the yellows and the black chip, two grand at the high limit pit cashier and 2100 at the main cage, no questions asked, and now have three flags stashed away to deal with at the end of the trip.

By the way, and doubt this will mean anything to any of you, but I discussed with one of the dealers how to "read" the doughnuts, hamburgers and french fries on the video Bacc screen, and apparently there is an alternate way to read them that anticipates the next hand versus simply looking at what color it is now. Interestingly, last night my friend who lives at Encore texted me about how he had been reading them wrong. I didn't understand what he meant last night, but I do now. However, those predictors may mean nothing or they may mean everything, just depends on the shoe. I was just lucky enough to cut shoes - I cut them myself and the other players were insisting that I do the cutting since I was doing so well - where the patterns were discernible and we got several great bank and player runs. There was no need to move - I just kept winning at the same table. Really nice.

A different fat guy (not the one up $340K) beat me at the semifinals tables and won the entire tournament. It must be their night. The night of the fat boys! Well, more power to them, sock it to the casino!

I got take out Hattie B's again for dinner, including one box for one of the female dealers at my table tonight that I dropped off for her on the way back up to the suite.


It's slutty girl night at the Cosmo, they're all over da place trying to rustle up attention. Sorry I don't have any pics of that for you, but taking pics of random scantily clad betties is not my thing. You'll just have to take my word for it on this one.

 

Perfect, thanks for posting the rule sheet and filling in the blanks...excellent information.

 

As far as BJ, when I used to jump my bet all the way to table max, and for whatever reason it always worked for me (which is what led to the ban - I was banned from BJ at some casinos for a period of time and remain banned entirely from one major off-Strip casino to this day, all due to excessive BJ wins), I mean seriously I wasn't losing a single table max bet, was that I would BOTH look for a positive (true) count and I would wait until I had both a great count in my favor AND a sequence when say 11 cards or so had just passed without a single face card / ten or ace, AND I was sitting on first base. This would be playing at a table with say three players on it. I'd feel then that a "million tens" were coming and I had a good chance of catching one on first base as the first card out, with a good chance of catching another one too, or even an ace.

What was weird is that sometimes when I did this I'd catch an eleven in which case I'd double down immediately of course, and then invariably catch that ten. Weird in that - where did the little cards adding to eleven even come from? given the count and flow?

I can't tell you how upset the house would get when I kept doubling down at table max and winning. The dealers loved it, but some of the pit bosses were aghast. I recall one time I stepped in to Harrah's Tahoe and clocked them for fifty grand just like that, at a ten thousand dollar max table, with as I recall at least of the hands being double down with $10K. As soon as I was up fifty I just left, and it took so little time too.

 

Won nothing / lost nothing today.

I pulled an 8 lost it, pulled a ten lost some of it, then rallied back fairly quickly to around minus 8, then playing just 500 or so a hand I won it all back on a couple of great shoes.

I ended up pretty much even (ahead a few hundred most of which I tipped out). When I come back from a large enough negative to even I am very good at stopping.

Today therefore was an even day.

So the story of the scene remains about thirty ahead!

I extended us to Wednesday. Hey, at least I earned some comps today. Pit boss said she had me at average 1800. This is because I did play some bigger hands all the way to 4500 with mixed results.

During this same time that I played today that fat guy who was ahead $340K Saturday morning played at my table. Now I see that he's not a good player it makes me angry to see someone play like that. No matter what he gets ahead he keeps playing until he loses it all. By yesterday afternoon he had lost all he was ahead and was even, then ahead $200K, now today he is down about -$100K. Apparently he owns a couple of marijuana dispensaries, so maybe he has some money to burn, but from how upset he gets when he is losing, the money must mean something to him. He's in one of the million dollar suites at the Cosmo so he must have at least a few hundred thousand on deposit.

I talked to one of the pit bosses I know about him. Apparently the fat guy was in a limo, at the airport, ahead the two hundred grand, when he decided to come back, and since then, has lost it all and is down -100K. What he is up and down varies by the minute because he is betting anywhere from 1000 to 20000 constantly, with most of his bets around 5000. The reason I think he has only a few hundred thousand on deposit versus a million is that he has no special limits - he plays to $20K the same as the rest of us. If he had a million on deposit they would have raised his limit to at least thirty, maybe more.

One thing, today he was wearing a diamond encrusted Rolex President but it looked aftermarket to me. All of my Rolexes including the ones I have with diamond markers or bezels are all factory. I am a Rolex purist I go for all factory only. His looks gaudy. Still he is a fellow gambler, and I respect him for risking his money, but he has no money management skills and will play until he loses it all is my prediction.

 

The latest on the fat guy is that he is down -250K - I saw him in the pit around 8:30pm while on the way to pick up some Hattie B's to bring back to the room.


As far as the other fat boy, the one who won the Baccarat tournament, he blew his entire 70K in promo chips that he won. I would have just put half on bank half on player and rinsed them, but he chose to gamble and ended with not a nickel.

 

Extended our suite to Wednesday. We do have to leave Wednesday though as I have some work in another city (not home) to take care of on Thursday. We'll be back home by the weekend.

Two more days of play!

 

Yesterday the end chip count was

This was before I went back downstairs to pay off the markers and take a trip to VIP to pick up some Pellegrinos, tip the VIP staff, and make a sumptuous dining reservation (was feeling VERY celebratory).

Of this $28,000. only $1000. was my win for 3/1/2020, but still a win is a win. The winner's envelope is now bursting at the seams

and the totes ahead for the trip is about $31K.


All markers from yesterday paid, of course.

A few interesting things happened yesterday. I was actually ahead over $5K and trying to get to $6K when things started going awry and before you knew it I was betting five grand a hand with mixed results after I dipped to as low as -13K at one point. At that moment while I was heavy hitting the cigar/cigarette girl came by, and I grabbed two tubed cigars from her.

I don't even smoke, and I hate all smoking, but I was feeling ornery and wanted to flex my comp muscles. I had a trip a while back at this same casino where I asked for a cigar for a friend and they made a big deal out of having to get it approved. When I grabbed the two cigars the girl asked the pit boss if I could have two.

"I can have ten!" I answered for him, and then of course the pit boss nodded his consent.

While I was playing, this Asian guy with a half million line (I figured this out later by myself even before the pit boss mentioned it after he left, because he bet one hand at $30,000. which is allowed only for a special limits high credit line player) came up and noticed my watch.

"Is that the platinum?"

"Yes."

He rolled up his sleeve. He was wearing the Rolex Daytona platinum with the chocolate bezel, this watch:

and of course I recognized it instantly. It is called, the "Platina."

Mine is the latest 40mm Rolex Day Date platinum.

We took off watches and let each of us hold them, comparing weights. Both extremely heavy - we decided that mine must be a tad heavier. The pit boss got in on it too.

"Let me hold those too." And then, after holding them, "Wow!"

That's the thing about wearing a platinum versus a white gold Rolex. It is low key and no one knows what it is - except your peer group. In fact one dipshit WOV member (the former, possibly still current, drunk, I banned from my view at the VCT forum) thought my platinum Rolex watch was a fake when he first saw a pic of it at WOV.

The third thing that happened of interest was that I won one hand just $300. with a bank 6 on a commissionless table (at this casino a bank 6 win at the commissionless table gets paid half). Dealer paid me full. Nearly a half hour later a pit boss came out of nowhere had me cough up the $150. So they are definitely on me, watching closely. It is also a testament to how good surveillance is these days versus about twenty years ago when I was paid $3750. for a $2500. BJ bet when I threw down a king and queen with exultation and the dealer hit to 21. Back then, no one ever came up later to tell me that I had actually LOST -$2500. versus getting paid 3:2 for a BJ I didn't even have.

Last night we were out late dining and had too much fun afterwards back in the suite.

Today is the last day of gaming. Leave tomorrow. Sad, but even good things must come to an end.

Good for me anyway. The fat guy lost pretty much everything. He was playing with only purple chips today. He told me that his friend had lost everything last night too. Now this fat guy, when he loses (which is frequently), forgettaboutit. He starts crumpling cards, throwing them at the dealer, and cursing in a foreign language. But afterwards, as he walks away from the table, he does come around and apologize to the dealer.

I don't believe in getting upset when losing.

In fact, afterwards, after this fat guy had lost everything and left, the pit boss pointed out, talking to me, that "I don't believe I've ever seen you mad."

How does getting steamed help anything? Must play cooly, analytically. And anyway what is there to get mad about? Even when I get down I come back to win in the end.

This always winning in the end goes for both gambling, and the stock market, which incidentally although there will be ups and downs along the way is on its inevitable course back to record highs.

 

Final results for this trip, $32,000. to the good!

That brings the total between even just the past two trips, at almost sixty K. MDAWG IS A WINNER.

I won those fifty cent pieces on a couple of odd amount Bank 6 winners where I was paid half (I was playing the commissionless Bacc. table again today). The dealer suggested I hold on to them as continued luck for the next trip.

Today was a bit tumultuous though. I was up, just like yesterday, around $6K but it was after just two or three shoes, and I kept playing. I was trying to get to ten K today, thinking okay that will make up for the 4K I didn't get yesterday where I ended up only $1K ahead. Next thing you know I was down $8K! I pulled a ten K marker, lost a thousand here and there, pressed into a player run, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3500 and had the whole 8K back immediately (I did lose the last hand for 4000 with 300 on the side for the dealer, that hurt, but still that run got me back to 18000), and I then paid back the ten. Then, not so long afterwards, I was down 8K again! I pulled a ten again. I then put 4000 on bank, WON, 4000 on bank again, WON, and repaid the second ten K marker.

From that point on I played very conservatively. By the end of the fifth shoe, things weren't really going anywhere, I was ahead $1000. just like yesterday, and I quit. Bam! $32,000. to the good for the entire trip. I will cash the 15,000 in chips just before we leave for a check. They will temp close my line for cashing so much, but the way to do that is upon departure, when it no longer matters.

Pit boss told me he gave me credit for five hours today, at 1500 average.

We leave tomorrow, and I do not play on checkout days. MDAWG PREVAILS YET AGAIN.

Wife didn't want to go out so I got some high end restaurant food from the second level, and brought it up to the suite. This morning the host already texted me that she was comp'ing everything except tips and retail, including all spa services that my wife got. Nice. Can you see why when I get to Vegas I never want to leave?

Over two weeks in Vegas first class in the top suites, fun gambling, and winning. And I am able to handle my business while away as well as attend to the office building we bought here.
What's not to like?

 

Converted the three flags to a check, and with the cash, equals a $32K take-home win. I spent some and tipped a lot along the way, so the total win was actually a fair amount higher.

Pretty much the entire hotel bill at this hotel too was comp'ed, including spa. All that was left were tips (some of which I tipped in cash along the way) and a tiny bit of retail. BEAUTS! I mean my total bill charged to credit card is coming in under a couple hunny! for six nights in a 1200 square foot suite all food and bev included. DOUBLE BEAUTS!

And that concludes MDawg's Feb. 2020 two week plus Vegas adventure.

We'll be traveling in non-casino destinations in April, so the next trip report will be in May.

 

There's apparently been some rather large talk behind my sleeping back (and make no mistake about it) to the absurd effect of there is a twenty million to one chance that anyone could be a winner at Baccarat (someone inanely, and inaccurately, "calculated" that figure, and now others are repeating that 20M to 1 figure without knowing what it means - As Goebbels used to say, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."), so I decided to address at least my latest trip to establish that I won.

This is the trip report for Feb/March 2020, my latest trip.

My story, which is the truth, is that I arrived in Vegas 2/18 with an empty envelope and $50K credit lines at the three casinos we designated for this particular trip; I played at all three until we left 3/4/2020, with about $17,000. in cash in the envelope and a check for $15,000.

Step by step, the wins and markers pulled and paid were:

2/19/2020
Wynn Day 1 ($2000. win)
$8000. marker paid

2/20/2020
Wynn Day 2 ($3000. win)
$8000. marker paid

2/21/2020
Wynn Day 3 ($500.)
$8000. marker paid
$10000. marker paid
$10000. marker paid

2/23/2020
Wynn Day 3 ($1550. win)
$8000. marker paid

2/24/2020
Palms Day 1 ($100. win)
$8000. marker paid

2/25/2020
Palms Day 2 ($100. win)
$8000. marker paid
$3000. marker paid (call bet)
$10000. marker paid
$20000. marker paid

2/26/2020
Palms Day 3 ($1400. win)
$8000. marker paid

2/28/2020
Cosmo Day 1 ($6400. win)
$8000. marker paid

2/29/2020
Cosmo Day 2 ($14,100. win)
$8000. marker paid

3/1/2020
Cosmo Day 3 ($300.)
$8000. marker paid
$10000. marker paid

3/2/2020 ($1000. win)
$8000. marker paid
$20000. marker paid

3/3/2020 ($1000. win)
$8000. marker paid
$10000. marker paid
$10000. marker paid

Total winnings: $31,450. (not including the thousands I tipped out along the way to the dealers)

Now here are all the markers from the first casino, Encore:


From second casino, Palms:


From third casino, Cosmo:


(I always keep my markers after I have paid them and torn out the signature. I have bags full of them from the past years.)

I also found this, the check stub from the Cosmo check:


Now, you know my story. I came with no money, I played with credit lines, I won $17,000. in cash, and $15,000. in check, and took that home.

What is a plausible alternate explanation?

If I came with cash only and played as a cash player, and lost, and that check is somehow what was left of my money, how did I get the check? Casinos will not convert your cash to a check, that is a huge no no that got the Venetian fined millions of dollars. You arrive with cash, you leave with cash.

If I wired in the money, or deposited it in the form of a cashier’s check, and lost most of it, how did I get the cash? Again, casinos will return whatever you brought in only in the same form as you brought it in – they won’t convert your cash to check, nor will they convert your check to cash.

As well, we have the “Verified Chip Win” slip, which supports that the check was for a win.

Not to mention my images posted here of the credit inquiries on my credit profile:

that support that I am a credit line player. I sure didn’t keep pinging my credit if I kept getting denied credit at one resort after another – much more plausible is that I opened one line, then others, over a one year period.

Did I go from casino to casino LOSING and keep playing? Has any of you played Vegas with multiple credit lines before? Do casinos these days especially, allow players to check in and play to the max on credit if they owe or are already blown out at other resorts? I know the answer, but do you?

As a credit line player, how did I get the $15,000. check? Are casinos cutting checks for loans to credit line players to take home? I know the answer, but do you?

In any case, you have before you $199,000 in paid markers with the signatures ripped out, and pictures of sums of chips alongside the paid markers that support the exact wins of the day or the exact amounts needed to pay back the markers, with the markers often posted contemporaneously with the day’s wins. What plausible theory accounts for all these paid markers and chips and still winding up with a $15,000. check and $17,000. cash other than having won $32,000.

Sometimes the simple explanation – that the guy won – is the not only the best one, but also the only one that fits.


Put even more simply: I wouldn't have had the appetite to eat all those ribs, if I had lost!

 

It's interesting learning about how casino markers and credit lines work at the high end, have never used one and wasn't clear about the process and guidelines for them. So for markers is it usually 30 days to pay them off from the time of issue, while credit lines are more flexible in terms of payments and due dates?

 

"Markers" are the name used for the instruments that the casinos issue to draw against either your credit line or funds that you have on deposit with the casino. So, a marker might be a draw against a credit line or a draw against your own money. Point being, that the term marker is not exclusive to referring to credit line draws.

To get a credit line, you need to show good personal credit, an average balance (over at least the last few months) in your bank account(s) equal to or higher than the line you seek, and a good history of having paid your markers in a timely fashion with other casinos. Casinos use a credit agency that is exclusive to casinos when examining your casino history, and then they also run a consumer credit agency, usually Experian, to examine your personal credit. All the stars - personal, casino and bank credit and history - must be in alignment before you will get a casino credit line.

Yes, once you get a credit line and pull a marker against it, assuming you lose and cannot pay it with winning chips from the table, you must repay it within a certain amount of time, typically thirty days although with some casinos it is shorter or longer depending on the terms they have entered into with you. If you do not pay the marker, never pay it, and it is deposited against your bank account(s) and bounces, then it is viewed at least in Nevada as a negotiable instrument, a check, and you may be prosecuted criminally for having written a bad check if you do not make good on it.

I have always been a credit line player, which is another factor I present in terms of proof that I have been a lifetime casino winner. Show me someone who still has high credit lines a couple decades after he started gambling and has not blown out that privilege, and I will show you either one rich fuck or someone who wins a lot. In my case both are true but if I kept losing I would not keep going back for more punishment.

 

Excellent description of the process, much more clear now. Thanks MDawg.

 

People like the example of Don Johnson, but I prefer the example of Dana White. The guy goes in there, doesn't count cards, throws a lot of money around at BJ, and walks away with so many millions that eventually, the Palms shuts him down.

Even Don Johnson the online theoreticians point to his loss rebate that enabled him to have a BJ house edge, but he didn't lose he WON, MILLIONS, in very short sessions where any kind of count would not have mattered enough to allow him to win that kind of money that fast.

There's theory - and then there's reality. You may argue theory, but you can't argue against reality.

 

Had a little time on my hands - all three gyms we belong to closed until the end of the month. Someone asked for Win/Loss statements? Ask, and you shall receive: Cosmo, Palms (which I didn't even start playing at the Palms until towards the end of 2019), and Wynn/Encore, the three casinos I play at and was at all three the latest Feb/March 2020 trip too.

For good measure I placed my 40mm Platinum Day Date by one of the statements, just to illustrate that even all of the monies won between these three statements would barely cover this watch. And so that you'll know that it's I.

As your attorney, I recommend you get an iMac Pro, 18 core 2.3 GHz Intel Xeon W, with 256 Gb Apple only factory original memory and 4 Tb SSD, Radeon Pro Vega 64X with 16GB of HBM2 memory with Dual 5K displays, no, not to display Win/Loss statements for naysayers, but to use for stock trading.

What these win/loss prove, beyond the simple fact that MDawg wins, is that the numbers I have been posting are accurate and truthful. Compare these numbers to my past trip reports, and I think you'll find that almost exactly what the casinos say I won, I posted here in my past trip reports that I won.

I think my prior post, with the copies of all the paid markers, chips, and cash/checks collected already established enough, and I note that no one came in with any kind of alternate explanation for the data, but...here's more. Personally, I think that the more dubious a person is with what I've posted, the more that person has probably lost at casinos, such that it makes sense that he espouses the theory of, "I can't win, so nobody can."

These are trip reports. Day by day, win by win, I post what happens. I tell it like it is.