Smart Baccarat

I know I still owe a trip report from the most recent (September 8-11) Vegas trip,
but, alas, it is basically written -- just haven't had time to post it with pics (yet).

Anyway, I was thinking about a strange COMP situation Alex and I ran into a Luxor after the VMA party at LAX.

So, we go into the barren high limit pit at Luxor; and Alex insists on playing the double decker. This is definitely the best BJ game at Luxor;
the stats (from what I can recall, after numerous Red-Bull & Grey Goose and glasses of sparkling wine) :
2 decks ($100 minimum - probably $5K Maximum)
Double Down after splitting is OK, and the dealer stands on a soft 17.
We can figure that the casino edge on this game is around 0.25%
(in non-technical terms this game only gives the casino a quarter of a percent edge --- if you play perfect basic strategy)

Now only Alex was playing, since I personally hate Blackjack - but, we were having a good time joking with the dealer and pit boss. Though, I must admit that one of the dealers was an absolute ice queen. Visions of that Blackjack scene in Vegas Vacation started to flash before me :



anyway, after dropping a decent bit of skrilla to the ice queen dealer; things started to look up, and a recovery was in order; and accomplished (once again, details are fuzzy.. but, those black chips started to finally stack up again).

Well, Alex, on his quest to separate himself from HET was looking to get in some nice play at Luxor (we then went to the dice pit) and had them setup a players card account for him. In the infinite wisdom of Vegas pit-bosses trying to deal with non-US players while creating a players club card, they decided to put a comp (which we had asked for) on my players card, since it would "just be easier" -- though, the rating would go on Alex's card. For this very short session (around 45 minutes, but lets call it one hour for ease) they gave us a full coffee shop comp for 3 people (drinks, appetizer, entree, dessert) -- estimated value of around $40 per person ($120 total comp).

Of course, the irony of all this, is that I just wanted a few french fries and a drink; I wasn't really in the mood to have a complete dinner at 3AM (gotta love Vegas).

Since people are always asking, what "should" I expect in comps, I usually do my little analysis for comp expectation --- and then try to compare it to what one actually gets.

Of course, we need to make a number of assumptions
1 Hour of Blackjack play
60 hands per hour (assumption of number of hands played for comp'ing purposes)
$175 average bet (based on $100 minimum table with a $100 to $200 bet spread)
2% (assumption of % used by the casino for comp'ing purposes)

Action = 60 hands x $175 x 1 hour = $10,500
Casino Edge (based on 2%) = $10,500 x 2% = $210
So, based on the above set of assumptions, a casino can expect to win $210 for this hour of play (otherwise known as the theoretical win)

Now, the question is, HOW much of this $210 will a casino give back?
If they gave back 40% of the theo (which would be considered pretty large)
Then you should get a comp for around $84.00

So, this example proves a few things (since, we really have no way of knowing all of the assumptions; though, on a game with a 0.25% edge --- figuring 2% for comp purposes is very generous).

- Luxor Pit Bosses in high limit are very bored and just loved our stunning personalities
- This comp was more discretionary, and since we were 3 people, they just wrote it as a 3 person coffee shop comp (even though, it should have been for 2 people)
- Since we were basically new table players (in an otherwise empty high limit pit) they were being extra nice --- to suck us in a bit)
- MGM-Mirage is much nicer to their table players than HET

Anyway, it is all very interesting; and goes to prove the most important point of COMPS --- that is ASK! ASK! ASK!

Personally, $100 Blackjack is a very dangerous game; unless you are stepping up to the plate with around $15K. Even though the rules (and edge) for this game made it a very good play, the variance (and risk of ruin) for Blackjack can be quite evil; and unless you get lucky (and run away very quickly) --- you might have to endure some substantial loses before things turn around a bit. And, of course, the biggest problem with playing heads up Blackjack is the speed of the game. Though, in a double deck game, they still spend a decent amount of time shuffling the cards (and, in our case, had to also introduce 2 new decks at some point --- since it was at the 2 hour mark, where they change out the cards).

Good Luck!

Labels: blackjack, comp, highlimit, luxor, mgm, mirage