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Whales

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by redsdog, Jul 3, 2012.

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  1. redsdog

    redsdog Tourist

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    Morning

    I've been reading a lot of the trip reports on here and I'm sure like most people I'm loving the insight into the betting and trips from some of the high rollers on here.

    But its got me wondering - from what I understand a "whale" is someone who can wager or risk $1m dollars per trip. And there seem to be several on here.

    How many Whales are out there? - like total that go to Vegas. Are we looking at 100's or 1000's?

    Just wondering.

    Cheers
     
  2. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    1 million per trip...... there are thousands. 300 million people in the U.S. alone.... in the big boxing weekends of the Tyson era, you would have million dollar bankroll players in town for the festivities in droves. Today, its more spread out, but 1 mil aint what it used to be.

    I would like to know the numbers on 1 mil bankrolls for Macau vs Vegas on any given weekend.......

    Nick:beer:
     
  3. natedog666

    natedog666 17 and 20 Expert

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    1m players can hardly even get a reserved table in Macau or Singapore anymore. In my opinion, whales over there start at at least 5m....they play quite big.

    In vegas, if you walk into the HL room at the Wynn, Bellagio, or Aria, you will see a ton of reserved tables. Each one is at least 1m, so I think in vegas each casino has at least 10 players that are 1m at any one time...on certain special events like the Wynn special 1.5m poker tournament this weekend, you will have about 50...
     
  4. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    natedogg, awesome info... thanks. In February, I sat at a HL blackjack table and a guy was playing with plaques 2 tables over. I never asked, as I was the doofus that didn't belong, sweating out the $100 table minimum, to a solid 3k win.

    A 1 million+ blackjack player would likely bet 5k chocolates or flags, as a buy-in of 40 chips would run 200k, which would be manageable with say a 1.5 mil bankroll. What levels are we talking with a guy that wagers placques, and what denomination ranges are common? Wayyyyyy out of my league, but i've always wondered.

    Nick:beer:
     
  5. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    plaques are just placeholders. the player can change the value of each plaque on each hand. but they're usually used only for guys betting 100ks per hand. the real kings of the whales are the 10-15M players that bet 400-700k per hand. there's one guy at the MGM that has a max bet of 400k and flat bets 400k every single hand for hours a day.
     
  6. redsdog

    redsdog Tourist

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    natedog666 - cheers for the reply. I've been reading your trip reports and they are awesome. Cheers for posting them up.

    shifter - same thing. Awesome to read about and get an insight into gambling at the level you guys are.

    400k a hand is unreal. Tjhe swings at that level of play must get into some fairly heavy numbers real quick.

    I guess its like anything its all relative to how much money you have. I always think its got to hurt a bit if you lose for you to really get the excitment outta winning. So if your worth 100m its not really gonna turn you on playing for $25 a hand.

    I was thinking about the level of big palyers and I was thinking about 10-20 at anyone time in the big casinos but more based on number of villas and high end suites available at anyone time.

    Cheers for taking the time to reply.

    Reds
     
  7. irmster

    irmster Low-Roller

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    the great thing about gambling is it's all relative.

    I have about $1500 a day bankroll, but for my level that's a lot of money and therefore I still get the buzz that I'm sure the much bigger players get, with their huge bankrolls.

    Similarly, your $100 a day player betting 30c a time on penny slots gets a big kick out of a 3 figure win.

    Basically, Las Vegas is for everybody - rich and not so rich :beer:
     
  8. redsdog

    redsdog Tourist

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    irmster - and thats what makes it great in my opinion.
     
  9. Bubbavegas

    Bubbavegas VIP Whale

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    Well stated!!
     
  10. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    How is this tracked with different valuations being played? Are they paid in placques? I didn't remember seeing that, but then again I was trying not to stare. Thanks.

    Nick:beer:
     
  11. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    players at that level have 5 or 6 suits standing around watching every hand verifying and double verifying everything. the plaques are to meet the gaming commission standards. the player has to place something in the spot to signify a bet. basically what the player says before a hand is the plaques are each 100k and puts 4 out there. he wins, they credit his account. he loses, they deduct from his account. either way he keeps the plaques. they keep a running total at all times of where he stands.
     
  12. KnotGillty

    KnotGillty High-Roller

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    Thanks for that Shifter. I always wondered what the deal was with plaques.

    Are the plaques property of the casino? If not, can a big player use anything to represent a plaque? If not, are all plaques standardized (same color, same size, etc.)?
     
  13. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    I really don't know about all that but I assume the plaques are the casinos and they're different at each property.
     
  14. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    You rock. Thanks.

    Nick:beer:
     
  15. Stacks O. Purple

    Stacks O. Purple Low-Roller

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    The chip manufacturers also manufacture the plaques, so I assume they are custom-designed for each property to their standards.
     
  16. natedog666

    natedog666 17 and 20 Expert

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    I've actually never seen the plaques that shifter was referring to as the placeholder, but I've played with large square plaques that were 100k chips. Got the heart pumping that's for sure...and especially on the Baccarat big table you feel like you are in a James Bond movie with those things...:)
     
  17. shiny

    shiny Low-Roller

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    Nate and Shifter are the Whales of this board. Their posts truly describes how whales are gambling under the casino's scrutinized eyes. A skilled whale who is having card counting expertise or accompanied by a sponsored shooter will definitely makes the casino nervous. :wink2:
     
  18. MangoPort

    MangoPort High-Roller

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    Yeah, I've also only seen the Wynn's $100k plaques.

    The one thing I will note is I asked a guy at the Bellagio what the biggest bet he's ever seen and he said it was $200k/hand and he'd been working that for 3 years (this was 2010).
     
  19. MangoPort

    MangoPort High-Roller

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    Wynn, Bellagio and Palazzo reserve tables at $500k - this is both for New Years Eve and 4th of July. Then again, from your TR it sounds like this might not be the case this week.

    Would love to have a casino host comment on this - I'm sure 5 minutes looking through the computer and they could dump a mountain of information on this message board. Number of $1m+, $5m+, $20m+. By Region, average bet, by theo, etc.
     
  20. numeno

    numeno VIP Whale

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    The idea I've gotten from natedog is that while they may consider reserving at the 500k level, there are weekends where too many people come into town and that number will go up. Natedog just experienced this at MGM it seems. They only have so many tables(less right now at MGM due to construction) and a 10m CL will trump a 2m CL.
     
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