There's no problem so big, that a natural nine can't solve.

Neglecting the blog, and the beauty of baccarat plaques

5 commentsPublished Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by baccarat_guy.

So, I've been neglecting the blog lately.

But, can you really blame me? Well, maybe... but, the ice storm of December 2008 set me back a bit, and now I'm super behind on my stories. Yes, it was a pretty great run at the end of the year. Some of the highlights I promise to talk about further :

- The Caesar's baccarat curse of 2006 is broken, and broken in style. It was destined to happen, and I must happily report that it did happen in the lovely Palace Court at Caesar's Atlantic City. The triple tie at the end of the first shoe was definitely a sign; but I was unstoppable (for a bit) while dealing from very close to the top of my second shoe. Harv witnessed it all, and I predicted that I'd be betting purples! It was amazing, but... you'll have to wait for some details.

Actually, my inspiration to finally get my lazy ass going, and actually post something was a text from Rob C. this evening, from the lovely Eldorado Casino in Reno, Nevada. Seems, that the Eldorado didn't get the memo that it is currently 2009; and that baccarat plaques haven't been used in mainstream casinos (in lower than $5,000 denominations) since the lovely 1980's.

But, plaques are alive and well at the Eldorado in denominations of $100 and up. Rob sent me a text message about the oddity, and was able to snap some pics.

These are used instead of chips for wagers at the Eldorado baccarat tables. The $500 is a little difficult to see, as the color is pink. Rob will have to chime in about the other denominations available at the tables. Pretty sure this was at a mini-baccarat game, which makes it even more odd.

So, now that I've finally posted something,
what I have in store for my upcoming blog posts :

- The epic November baccarat and dice trip to Atlantic City, and a step back into yesterday with dinner at Bacchanal.
- The early December Vegas Palazzo trip, with the most amazing dinner of 2008 at Alex (Wynn) thanks to a most awesome friend
- The final Atlantic City trip of 2008, and also the rush to re-qualify for harrah's diamond. 2+ days, 21+ hours of rated play -- it was a whirlwind
- Back to Vegas again, the first trip of 2009, and the "Pimp-Daddy Suite" sans disco ball

and... well, next week, the super crazy one day trip to Vegas (don't ask!)

Labels: baccarat, eldorado, eldorado casino, plaques, reno

It's about time....

2 commentsPublished Saturday, April 05, 2008 by baccarat_guy.

Just in case a few folks out there were losing sleep.....

Atlantic City casinos will have a new casino chip!

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - It's enough to pay for a decent car, a wedding, or a year at Rutgers University, with some money left over for beer.

And it fits in the palm of your hand.

Atlantic City's casinos are getting a new gambling chip worth $25,000 for high rollers.

The state Casino Control Commission approved the new top-value chip Wednesday. The gold chip edges the yellow chip, which at $20,000 apiece is now the second-highest chip denomination.

This is going to join the current ensemble of AC casino chips in denominations of $1; $2.50; $5; $10; $20; $25; $100; $500; $1,000; $5,000; and $20,000.

New Jersey is known for very consistent regulation of casino chip colors --- so, you can count on the colors (basically) matching the denomination at any of the properties. For example, purples are always $500 and oranges are always $1000.

For a long time, plaques (very James Bond) have been the staple of high-roller (whale) currency. Bond wins $65,000 playing craps in Diamonds are Forever
and if you look closely, they use high denomination plaques at the dice table when Bond buys in.

Actually, there are two non-chip varieties of casino currency :
jetons which are round acrylic pieces
and
plaques which are rectangular, or square acrylic pieces.

A good example of a baccarat plaque is this one used many years ago at the Sahara.

Currently, you would be hard pressed to find any plaques in use that are in denominations below $10,000. More commonly, they are in denominations that exceed $20,000, such as this Trump Taj Mahal Plaque.

Seems that players really prefer the convenience of chips, which explains the decision for the $25,000 chips by the Atlantic City gaming commission. This also coincides with the decision by Caesars Atlantic City to raise their maximum bet to $50,000 per hand. There are still plaques available for bets of $50,000 or $100,000 per hand, though, I honestly am not certain which properties in Atlantic City raise to these limits. "Alyce Parker, a spokeswoman for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., which operates four casinos in Atlantic City, including Caesars, said the casino has been using $50,000 and $100,000 plaques for its top customers for the past 10 years." In Vegas, this is a more common situation; and Wynn, Bellagio and Caesars all have chips in the $25,000 range (and above).

Labels: atlantic city, chips, diamonds are forever, harrah's, james bond, las vegas, plaques