Dear Mark, You
column last week was very interesting regarding RFID chips tracking your play.
I'm with you, I too prefer playing anonymously, though working over the pit
boss for an occasional buffet pass (I'm a low limit player, and that's usually
the best I can do) is always my goal. You stated; "These days, the monitoring
of your play at the table games is done via an educated guess from a pit boss,
but his/her guesstimate is not always reliable". So, exactly how do they
determine your worth to them as a player? Harold F
Monitoring play,
Harold, produces only an educated guess because a single pit boss can’t
hawk every player on every game. I was too busy monitoring other games, changing
decks and dice, cleaning up spilled drinks on the roulette table, filling
out football parlay cards and squinting to watch ESPN SportsCenter on the
bar TV. That's why I needed my nifty little math formula to figure out what you're
worth to the casino in the form of comps.
To acquire these goodies, a reward system for
worthy play, you have to bet a decent chunk of change for a calculated duration
to justify the casino's giving you a trip to the chow line. The mathematical
formula I used considers your average bet, how many hours you play, speed
of the game, and the casino advantage. This, in theory, computes essentially
your expected loss to the casino over the period of time you play.
So,
Harold, let’s get specific. Suppose you are betting $20 a hand for three
hours, averaging 100 hands per hour, coupled with a house advantage of five
percent the casino holds over the average blackjack player, the casino can
predict in advance that you should lose $300 ($20 X 3 hrs. X 100 hands X .05
= $300) of the $6,000 wagered over that time period.
Losing
$300 bucks should certainly get you a trip to the buffet, so long as you ask
to be rated. Regrettably, most players don't ask; consequently, a free feeding
frenzy is not in their offing.
