Cost To Casino For Their Abuse Of Skilled Players

[zengrifter]

COST TO CASINO FOR THEIR ABUSE OF SKILLED
PLAYERS – A LOCAL PLAYERS PERSPECTIVE

By LVBear

LVBear is a contributor to BJ21.com Green Chip, the internets premier location for blackjack discussion. LV Bear is also a skilled blackjack player and casino critic that offers his opinions on things that sometimes go wrong in the world of casinos. The following article had been posted by LVBear onwww.bj21.com.

Sometimes casino personnel behave in such a ridiculous manner. Some small-minded pit critters and their low-level supervisors frequently seem incapable of understanding the big picture of a casino’s operations, and through their actions, cost the casino far more than they save it by abusing skilled players.

Granted, casinos is general are over-paranoid when it comes to "protecting" their games from winning players. While eye-in-the-sky surveillance and much of the "game protection" supervision is really there primarily to help prevent cheating by players, cheating by players in collusion with dishonest employees, and employee theft, the net is usually cast too wide, and ensnares patrons who are no real threat to the financial well-being of the casino. When casino personnel antagonize these patrons, and antagonize other patrons who may simply witness the often boorish behavior of the pit critters, the casino loses in the long run. I suppose the arrogance casinos acquire simply by being in a business where people just walk in off the street to hand over their money for very little, or nothing, in return takes its toll on the mindset of the employees.

This mindset serves to encourage employee behavior towards patrons that would not be tolerated by the management of any other type of business enterprise.

MORE- http://www.bjinsider.com/newsletter_56_bear.shtml

 

[SystemsTrader]

There's a lot of truth in this article and I'm speaking from experience as I have convinced non-skilled ploppy friends and acquaintances to not play at certain casinos in which I've been backed off from.

 

[sagefr0g]

time for the casino boss's and investors to put on their thinking caps. lol

 

[Doofus]

time for the casino boss's and investors to put on their thinking caps. lol

That article is 4 years old. I guess they did put their thinking caps on, and thought "If we only convert all the games to 6-5 and H17, plus tighten up even more on the scumbag criminal counters, we'll make a profit this quarter!"

 

[callipygian]

I'm guessing a lot of casino personnel, especially the upper management, suffer from the same delusions as those who watch too many movies - that there are raging swarms of card counters bilking the casinos out of millions every day.

Nobody wants to be the dealer that got hit, or the pit boss whose dealers got hit, or the shift manager whose pits got hit, or the CEO who has to tell the Board of Directors that the casino got hit. I think it's less malice and more standard corporate CYA behavior.

 

[moo321]

Lots of reasons. No financial sense; simple incremental analysis would lead you to deal deeply, ignore all red chippers, and be very cautious about backing off higher stakes counters. No gambling knowledge, or they'd know that a counter can't do much to them compared to the extra hold from better conditions. Just all around incompetence.

 

[callipygian]

ignore all red chippers

If I ran a casino, I probably wouldn't ignore the red chippers. A lot of good counters start at the red level and move up.

I'd take the time to positively identify consistent red chip winners, but let them keep playing with zero heat until they start betting more, then lifetime-bar them from blackjack abruptly. And of course never pass their information around, because I don't give a hoot if they win elsewhere.

I'd probably also personally ban anyone caught counting cards in my casino. Maybe even give them a nice plaque or something. "We've been watching you for several weeks/months/years now, congratulations, you made cut of the top 5% of counters that actually make money. Now your career here is over. Thank you, come again. But not for blackjack."

 

[moo321]

If I ran a casino, I probably wouldn't ignore the red chippers. A lot of good counters start at the red level and move up.

I'd take the time to positively identify consistent red chip winners, but let them keep playing with zero heat until they start betting more, then lifetime-bar them from blackjack abruptly. And of course never pass their information around, because I don't give a hoot if they win elsewhere.

I'd probably also personally ban anyone caught counting cards in my casino. Maybe even give them a nice plaque or something. "We've been watching you for several weeks/months/years now, congratulations, you made cut of the top 5% of counters that actually make money. Now your career here is over. Thank you, come again. But not for blackjack."

From a financial perspective, it doesn't make much sense to ban red chippers. Probably 1 in 10 people who thinks they are a card counter is even playing at an advantage, because they actually know basic strategy. And maybe 1 in 10 of them can play at anything other than a $2 an hour advantage, because they can keep the count properly, and know some index plays, and know how to spread their bets.

So, for every 100 supposed counters, you have one guy who can harm the bottom line. And you're going to pay $30 an hour, 24-7, to have a competent pit boss in every pit (pit bosses than can count cost more than the normal bosses).

The cost isn't worth the return. Even backing off a green chipper may not be worth it, because it could cause a scene and lose revenue, and you could have been wrong and kicked out a bad counter who cant actually beat you.

 

[zengrifter]

“Nevada casinos have probably lost money by turning away card counters,” said Ed Thorp, whose 1962 book “Beat the Dealer” single-handedly created a cottage industry of blackjack players who make a living counting cards. “I’d make a sales tool out of it. I’d show that people can come to the casino and win.”

The casino bosses listening to Thorp in a packed ballroom during a conference last month nodded in unison. But they aren’t likely to take his advice anytime soon — even though they know it to be true.

MORE- http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/mar/23/must-be-21-entertain-idea/

 

[EasyRhino]

78 fewer blackjack tables in vegas compared to 2000?

And more of them are owned by Harrahs?

Truly a disappointing statistic.