I had an interesting
thing happen at a casino in Las Vegas recently as
I researched this article. I was playing two hands
of $30 each off the top and assuming I was being
rated at $60 for that effort (I had checked with
the host beforehand). In fact, after the first day
of play, when I asked the host to pull up my chart,
I discovered that often the rater had me rated as
betting $30! I explained to the host, then to the
casino manager, that I was never betting less than
$30 per hand on two hands and I was often betting
much, much more - although none of my big bets had
been recorded.
After another day of
play, I again asked to see my chart (most hosts
will let you see the computer screen as they check
your statistics -- if they don’t, then play
elsewhere) and I found bets of $50, $27.50, and
the like. Since I never played fewer than two hands
and never less than $30 per hand I couldn’t
at first figure out how the raters were getting
their figures. Then it hit me. There were times
when one hand busted and the other stayed in play.
If the rater came by during play, and noticed my
cards tucked under one bet but saw no bet in the
other circle and recorded that, it would account
for why $30 (or $50) would appear as my betting
unit. On my third day of play, I rectified that.
If I busted out on one hand, I’d immediately
place another bet in the circle even though the
dealer hadn’t finished the round. Then if the
rater wandered over, he/she would see the two bets
and give me credit.
How to account for
a rater placing $27.50 next to my name? Simple.
When I placed a $5 bet for the dealer I would put
it on top of my $30 -- sometimes I received a blackjack
on those hands. The blackjack paid $52.50 -- two
green chips and $2.50 in silver. If I took one of
the green chips back to get some red to pay the
dealer his $7.50 tip, the rater would see a green
chip ($25) and the $2.50 in silver and write down
$27.50! If you are playing the comp game, such moments
can kill a rating. At that particular casino I started
to alert the floorperson to all my big bets -- “Jane,
check this out. I’m going for $150 on two hands!
Three hundred bucks riding on the flip of the cards!
I’m going for broke! Pray for me!” From
that point on the rating in the computer reflected
what bets I was actually making.
Good
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