There have been one or two posts recently stating that recorded time for rating purposes at big table (and midi?) baccarat is based on shoes played, rather than time at the table. One shoe earns one hour of play for comps ratings. How does this work in practice? Assume a shoe takes an average of 2.5 hours. I play 4 hours a day, meet my play 'requirements' for my host but find that I have only 1.6 hours a day of rated play. Is that really how it works? I know the 4 hours a day thing is not set in stone but how do hosts view baccarat play in this context?
Hosts look at Theo. The system set up by the casino arrives at your theo based on hours times avg bet. Obviously Bacc is rated slower, because the decisions per hour are MUCH lower. I guarantee you most hosts dont know about baccarat ratings, or much less care. They are paid to "glad-hand" and comp, and look at the numbers the computer gives them. Thats it. Bacc goes slow. You will get rated less. Thats the harsh truth.
I think all this info is accurate. But you can also find ways to turn it to your advantage. I tend to play baccarat quickly. If I am at a table by myself, I usually have them raise the limit and make it non-smoking (both of which instanly discourages other players). Then I play faster than the average player (have the dealer open the other side immediately, don;t spend ten minutes peeking at every corner of the card, etc.). When I play by myself, I can get through an entire shoe in 40 to 45 minutes. So you can get credited for four hours of play, even if you are only sitting there for three.
no, that's not how it works. 4 hours of play for your host means 4 hours of rated play. your host will only see 1.6 hours of play and wonder what you've been doing. but as y2mulder said, theo is what they look at. the 4 hours per day at $X per hand is just a way to communicate theo to the average person. 4 hours doesn't mean anything in and off itself, but if your host asks for 4 hours at $100 avg bet for certain comps, that's how much theo he needs. if you turn in 1.6 hours at $100 avg bet, you're going to come in way low. i generally play 5-6 hours a day at Bacc and end up with about 3.5 hours per day of rated play. that's just how it works with Bacc because it's such a slow game.
This rating bac by the shoe for time played must be an MGM thing as I have never really heard of it at other casinos. Guess it may not be as advantageous to play bac at mgm props in terms of comps.
if they don't deduct time, they will get you another way. maybe they give you full time but the HA value in their computations is lower. there's no free lunch anywhere.
Last Aria trip, my average bacc. bet was $300 per, and theo was over $10k. This is definite, because on my last cash for the trip, I not only asked the HL cage what I was rated at, I also looked at her screen to verify (I'm not a jerk, I just wanted to make sure - and yes, I toked heavy). I somehow managed to turn my theo $10k loss into an actual $10k win, and I have been getting ridiculous low ball offers from MGM since (standard room Sunday through Thurdday, etc.:Þ). Maybe it's just me, but it seems that MGM might consider a winning bacc. player to be an advantage player, which seems crazy.
Wow, that does seem crazy. Is there any other confirmation of this? I've been on a bac heater for ten months straight now. I've left every trip a winner, mostly from good luck at bac. And I don't think it has impacted my offers yet
the corporate offers are totally random and i'm certain that his low offers have nothing to do with winning or playing Bacc.
On the contrary, the casinos like all Bac players whether they have been winning or not. Bac makes the casinos lots, lots, and lots of money. If you do any reading recently, it is now gradually beginning to be the new black jack because of the money that it makes the casinos for table games. If they have as many tables as bj, bac would easily beat bj in terms of revenue for table games for casinos. Remember for both CET and MGM, it takes a few months for your play to reflect in the offers that you get. That's why when you call VIP marketing or a casino host, they are able to offer you certain comps because they could see your recent play. This might get a chuckle out of a few of you, but to the casinos, there is no such thing as an "advantage" bac player. Yeah, there are players who have been fortunate and go on a winning streak playing bac. Heck, I was one of them, even though I can't say that I am an expert. But eventually, those streaks will end, as the casinos rightly predict.