Best Theo Return on Promo Chips

I won a BJ tournament earlier today and the top prize was $15K in promo chips.

I received 30 $500 promo chips. They are of the "use it until you lose it" variety and can be used for all table game bets.

I would have preferred free play but being a BJ tournament, I guess it just makes sense that they've award promo chips.

I'd like to maximize the return on this $15K in the most conservative and quickest way.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks,

Dan

Wow, congratulations Dan! That's a great win. Since they are use until you lose then they really are as good as cash (minus the edge).

The safest way would be to find a roulette machines with singe zero (hard to find) then bet Red and Black. Guaranteed $14,500.

Best value is probably craps. If you loaded up the odds bet it should be pretty close to even return. Craps is pretty slow though.

Maybe BJ playing 2 or 3 hands to even out the volatility.

What games are you "good" at?

Thanks Kiwi.

Yes, they're use until you lose so you're right that the theo loss is the game hold. However, the problem is that it's 30 x $500 chips so it's the volatility that I'm concerned with.

I can't use these in a machine so it would have to be live roulette. The HR games are all double zero. I don't normally play this so I would need to figure out how much to play on 0/00 to ensure I don't get stung.

I know nothing about craps so I'm thinking if there's an alternate choice, I'd likely go in that direction.

On table games, I'm strictly a blackjack player. If I were able to get these in smaller denominations of say $100, I would likely just flat bet these until they disappeared. But, at $500 a throw, it could be quite a bit of a roller coaster and cost more than I'd like to lose.

The more I'm thinking about it and reading what you're saying, I'm leaning towards roulette. I'm not in a particular hurry to get this done....I have 30 days to play these.....but there's likely only a few good choices.

Thanks again,

Dan

NICE problem to have Dan, CONGRATS!!!!

I'm not a table player, so can't help ya there, but really Happy for ya!




(now, IF this message will post instead of a white background of nothing-ness.........its the
weekend ya know. sigh.)

Whoa! You are the man!

Some casinos won't let you use promo chips to bet both sides of a proposition (e.g. red & black on the same roulette spin). If that's the case, you will likely be forced to flat bet bj and will be at the mercy of the volatility gods.

However, if you can bet both sides of a prop bet, here's what I would do:

Play roulette and, on each spin, bet $500 on red and $500 on black and $30 (cash) on zero and $30 (cash) on double zero.

If no zero and no double zero comes up in your 15 spins, you will net $14,100 (i.e. you will win $15,000 on your colour bets and will lose $900 in cash). In other words, you will lose $60 cash on each of your 15 spins. [$60 times 15 equals $900].

OTOH, every time a zero or double zero comes up, you will actually win $50 (i.e. you will lose the $1,000 promo chips that you wagered on colours and will also lose the $30 cash that you bet on the zero that did not come up but will win $1,080 cash on the zero that did come up).

So your worst case scenario will be plus $14,100, but you will do a little bit better than that if you get some zeros or double zeros.

All of the above assumes that the casino will pay off your colour bets with real chips. However, sometimes the casino will give you back one promo chip and one real chip. If that's the case, be sure to remove your real chip and replace it with a promo chip before the next spin. In that case, it may take up to 30 spins to play all $15,000 in promo chips and your worst case scenario would be plus $13,200.

Now go hit that wheel and let us know how you do!

Dan

First off - congratulations.

My advice is you seek Rob Singer's expertise since he almost never loses. LOL

My wife and I have done the red, black and cover the zero/double zero on the roulette table using $10-$25 MPs, but that was before the downturn in the economy. More recently, these same casinos (Sam's, Eastside Cannery, Gold Coast, Fiesta etc.) would only allow one MP per spin. I would give it a try and, if refused, head to the craps table.

I would play the don't pass line though, as you mentioned, volatility comes in to play. Hopefully your luck will continue and you will at least breakeven.

Let us know how you make out.

Hopefully you will have a much

The big factor here is that you get to keep the chips until you lose them. I would think under that scenario either Pai Gow Poker or Baccarat may be the best option since
the casino does not offer single zero Roulette.

Nice hit! The roulette plan outlined above by SP sounds pretty good to me.

Congratulations, Dan. If the casino doesn't allow you to play both sides ( red/black, odd/even), under no circumstances would I play these promo chips at the roulette wheel. Even if they do allow it, you would be better off playing pass/dont pass at the crap table.

Since you are a BJ player, and obviously a good one since you won this tournament, that is where I would play. I would also play in the high limit room where the caliber of players should be better. If you dont feel like risking them at BJ, I would think the crap table would be your next best option. I, personally, would play dont pass one chip at a time with no other wagers.

Whatever you decide to do, best of luck to you. You may go on a roll and turn that 15k into 50k. It's very possible. Once the promo chips are gone, QUIT! And be sure to report back and let us know how you did.

Dan - Why not seek the advice of the experts by submitting your question as a Question of the DaY?