Fight Weekend at MGM: 9/12 - 9/14 Trip Report

I arrived at the hotel shortly after the weigh in and was just stunned by the number of people walking around. Especially the number wearing Mayweather gear. I think he had more fans just hanging out at the hotel than in the arena for the fight, lol

 

"What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul."

 

lol
http://youtu.be/5hfYJsQAhl0

 

I almost spit my water out lol

 

haha fantastic....

"if peeing your pants is cool..consider me Miles Davis"

 

jd awesome freaking TR... quick and simple !

 

Saturday Night:

I arrived at the Mansion around 11:00. I played the same table as Friday night with a dealer I really enjoy - Rick. Most of the BJ tables had at least one person playing. The table next to me was reserved with a High Roller playing. He had the same table reserved Friday night, but I never saw him that night. There was one other player at the table as I sat down - nice guy who had been playing for several hours at the same table and was doing poorly. I sat on his left and played 2 spots, he played one spot, and the three spots on the other side were open.

I took a $10K marker and started with the usual 2 spots @ $500 each. Things started reasonably well and I was occasionally pressing to $2K/hand. The guy next to me starts hitting well and begins a nice run. Seems like the table has turned for the better. Then the high roller from the next table hops over to our table. I'll explain more in a second, but to keep it simple now, he bets $30K and looses, bets another $30K and looses, doubles the next bet and looses $60K. Down $120K in 3 hands, and he jumps back to his reserve table. We keep playing at our table, and then the guy jumps one table to the other side and plays a few hands. He is playing 50% at his reserved table, and the other 50% splitting between my table and a third table. His style of play is creating a LOT of stress for the pit crew... let me explain:

In the high limit room, almost no one buys in with cash - everyone just pulls a marker. The pit boss knows how much you have available. When you ask for a marker, they give you the money before the actual paperwork arrives for you to sign. The way they track this is by putting down a small physical marker on the table next to the tray. These "markers" are like flimsy, smaller, thinner chips with denominations of $1K, $5K, $10K, $20K, $50K, $100K. Once the paper work is all handled, the pit boss gives paperwork to the dealer to stuff in the money box, and pit boss picks up the marker.

Most reasonable people take a decent size marker relative to their bet size so that they are not constantly asking for more money. Not this guy! He literally was taking markers on a per bet basis - $30K each, often $60K (2 hands at $30K each). As soon as he would get on a small run, he would pay off the markers. He is doing this across three tables! Because of the way he was pulling and paying markers, the pit would never process the paperwork. They would simple keep track of the markers sitting on the three tables and keep a real time tally. Keep in mind that there is one pit boss per table in Mansion, so this means three pit bosses all coordinating and monitoring how much he had out. From what I could hear, I think he had $2.4M left on his line at the start of the night.

Because of the way he plays, and the constant communication between the three pit bosses ("how much is out on that table?", etc), it was basically public as to how much he was up or down for the night.

So he comes back to our table again as things are going well. He has $120K of markers out on our table. He plays the rest of the shoe and does well. he pays off the $120K and goes back to his reserved table with over $200K in his hand. A greater than $300K swing in 10 minutes. I am in awe; the pit boss shrugs as to imply this is normal if not a light swing. More to come...

Play is good for a long time, but then turns south. The other player at the table gives it all back, and ultimately hits his marker limit. I do the slow slide and have to pull another marker - just $5K more for the night I say....

At some point I take a break, grab a slider from the bar area. And guess who is playing at the craps table? It is "the old man and the harem"! All 12 girls and him at the table and having a great time! the pit boss was a bit tight lipped as to who he was, but when I presented my two possible theories, she laughed. DEFINITELY high roller with a harem and not a coach/manager. Pit boss referred to him as a "goof ball high roller". There was one other guy at the craps table with that group. Was that you UKFanatic?????

Back to gambling. I decide to bump it up to 2 hands at $1K each to see if I can make anything happen. We continue to get good activity at the table. Players coming and going, including the high roller. This guy is a true character - he is very animated and passionate. He gets pissed and curses at the cards. He is not too hard on the dealer, but not real nice either. I never saw him tip once. As it gets a little later, it starts to thin out. High roller and me play a fair amount with just us. He seems to tread water most of the time with big swings, but things take a BAD turn late. In the course of about 30 minutes, there is suddenly OVER $500K in outstanding markers at my table, $500K+ outstanding at his reserved table, and unknown amount at third. Million dollar downswing in 30 minutes. Ouch!

I start doing pretty well at $2K/hand. I had a few hands I would have taken a picture of, but did not feel comfortable even asking with the high traffic... and the high roller. I had a hand where I split 8s, got another to split again. So $4K on the table and won. it was picture worthy. The other picture worthy hand was a loss. $1K/hand: 1st hand is a double down. Second hand is two aces. split, and another Ace... and another Ace. So now four Ace hands and the double down - $6K on the line. Only pulled one face card on my Aces. Dealer does NOT bust. I loose 4, push the double down, and win one of the Ace hands. Could have been $3K worse.... but could have been $9K more if dealer busted!

I am now doing very well. In fact, I have now almost clawed my way back to even for the trip and have just. My stack is now a bit shy of $30K. I say I will call it quits if I get to $30K.

I am not the only one turning it around. High roller is on a tear siting at his reserved table!! He periodically starts throwing money over at our table, saying to the pit boss, "pay off $90K...", "pay off $120K", etc. All bets, markers, and maker repays are in increments of $30k. In the course of a single shoe, he pays off ALL his markers. He won over a Million dollars on a single shoe betting 2 to 3 hands per deal @ $30K each. It was exciting to watch, but I guess he creates serious stress for the crew trying to track markers, average bets, and divide time between the table. I could see it even created tension between the various pit bosses at times. They also seemed slightly bitter that they guy never tips. It make them appreciate my tips all the more!

Well, I never made it to $30K, but managed to quit for the night when it looked like I was risking the stack dipping below $20K. So now down about $9K for the trip. Very, very fun night in the Mansion!!!

Next up: Sunday and all the detailed stats...

 

lol, I wish! Because I love to people watch and it sounds like the harem would have given me a lot to see! I played solo at that craps table Friday night. After the fight Saturday, I was off getting drunk and partying in the suite.

JD, did you ever see who was playing the big stack at the double deck table right next to the bar (not sure which table number it is, but its in the first BJ pit on your left when you enter the high limit, with the tall chairs, next to the two shoe tables with the shorter chairs)? Every time I played at that table Friday, Saturday and Sunday, there was always a big stack of yellow and chocolate chips underneath a plastic case (I estimated between $270k and $350k each time I saw the stack). I never saw who was playing those chips, but I thought it was remarkable that whoever it was felt comfortable leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars in chips sitting around for days on end (even in a high limit room)!

As for the guy marking each bet with lammers, I watched someone play the same way in the Bellagio high limit one time, but he was only playing at one table, not three. That is crazy!

Looking forward to the next installment

 

Great stuff. Unbelievable swings for the very high roller. How many hours were you sitting (Playing) there sat night? Im guessing 4?

 

That is my pit, and that is the high roller I have been referencing. At least to me, he was a nice guy. Regular player in from Minnesota. One of the other guys at my table was familiar with him, and had played with him at Caesars too on past trips.

 

Yup - 11:00 PM to 3:00 AM with maybe a 15 minute break.

 

Holy smokes...the swings from the high roller are insane. Wow!

PS - what are your theories of who the harem is with the 12 honey's?!?!

 

Pit boss said he is not famous and I would not know his name. Just a very rich and eccentric gambler from South America or Mexico.

 

Interesting. Late Saturday afternoon, my host swung by the table when I was playing, saw the roller's chips, and joked about me leaving my money lying around. Both he and I then asked the supervisor who was playing that spot. The supervisor pulled his card and neither he nor my host knew who the guy was. But I guess he either has a big profile somewhere in the mgm universe or sent a ton of front money to be able to call bets like the ones you witnessed! Crazy

 

Wow! Crazy! I would have been sweating bullets playing at the same table as that guy!

Your TR's are always entertaining! Hope you have many many more Vegas trips in your future!

 

Crazy runs. Glad u survived those crazy swings!

 

Sunday:

Headed to the buffet for brunch. I would not have chosen it, but my buddy wanted to go. Buffet was solid if not mostly pedestrian. I have no complaints, but nothing of note to report on.

After lunch, my buddy headed to the airport, and I have a few more hours to kill.... back to the Mansion.

I took a $10K marker and immediately started the slow bleed. With my chip stack nearing an end, I got a nice run. Pulled it all the way back to just over $10K quickly. I was watching the Broncos game while playing. Although I intended to get in two hours, having been down almost $10K and then back to even again, I thought it was a good time to stop and watch the end of the Broncos game. I closed things out at the cage and ended up getting a $16K check back against my original $25K front money. So by my wallet, I ended the trip down almost exactly $9K.

I watched the 4th quarter of the Bronco's game at the bar in the Mansion. Very enjoyable environment and nice way to unwind before heading out. 5:00 PM limo to the airport. Plane was about 30 minutes delayed, but otherwise a nice ride home - I had a bulkhead seat.

While still at the gate:


Bye Bye Vegas...


Final post next: stats.

 

STATS

I have some really clean stats this trip, as I played 100% BJ. Not one throw of the dice, not one spin of the wheel, not one pull of the handle. This is nice confirmation again of the stats we have all worked towards on this board.

Hours:................ 10.85 (10:51)
Avg Bet.............. $1,186
Theo.................. $6,753
Loss................... $8,300
Comp value........ $782*
Tier Credits........ 202,622
Express Credits.. $351.17

*This does not include comp value of fight tickets. My host said that won't show up in the system for another 2 week. Unfortunately, I did not think to ask if they comp value will be ticket face value, or some internal cost value. ​

Theo divided by (avg bet * hours)..... 0.525
Tier Credits per dollar of Theo.......... 30.0
Express Credits per dollar of Theo.... 5.20%
Comp Value as % of Theo................ 11.6% (If I add in full face value of boxing tickets to comp value, % increases to 36.8%)

Notes:

• The formula of "0.525 * average bet * hours = Theo" worked perfectly.
  
• 30 tier credits per dollar of Theo is dead on.
  
• Base Express Credits earnings is now clear to me. Base earnings is 4% of Theo, plus a bonus depending on tier. At my tier, I get 30% bonus. So the % should be 5.20%... and it is, exactly!
  
• My recorded loss vs actual loss delta is $700 this trip. In theory, that is tips. This is lower tips than past trips - a conscious effort on my part to not over tip this trip.

That's all for now. Next trip: exactly 30 days!

 

Helluva report - thank you!

 

Awesome report, can't wait to read your next one!