Best Theo Return on Promo Chips

If you can't play both sides of roulette you could play Red and Odd or Black and Even. That should cut the volatility.

Pai Gow is a very low volatility game that you might want to try. Strategy is very easy and there are a lot of pushes in that game. Wizard of Odds has info on that.

Good luck!

I originally had some roulette advice. My math was bad; for some reason I was thinking matchplays or one-shot chips. Don't play roulette with these; the house edge is too big. Assuming you can't break the chips down any further than $500, try this:

* 15 chips on pass
* 15 chips on don't pass
* $250 on 12

Pocket the real chips and keep betting the remaining chips, half on each (keep the odd chip if there is one), and bet about 1/30 of the amount of the chips on don't pass in cash on 12. When you have one chip left, bet it on pass or don't pass, whichever. Don't hedge that bet.

With baccarat or mini-bac, this is slightly better:

* 15 chips on each of bank and player. Keep going by betting an even amount on bank and player (keep the odd chip if there is one) until you have one chip left. Bet that one on player. You'll have to pay the 5% commission in real money each time the bank wins, so be sure to have a grand or so in cash.

Blackjack would be OK, if you can be assured of getting 3:2 in real money on your blackjacks. This would probably involve a discussion with the dealer, the floorman, and the pit boss - perhaps a notch or two up from there, since this doesn't happen to them every day.

But they're your chips, so have fun with them.

Thanks everyone for the congrats and suggestions.

To address a few points made herein:

Slowpoke- Correct, I presumably can't play both sides of a prop with these chips. That's what I was told by another guy who cashed in this tournament and tried to do the same thing. My question now is whether or not using real cash to play the other side has the same effect. I'm visual so it's difficult for me to figure this out without literally playing out this scenario in front of me.

Westie- Was hoping to get this answered and resolved in the next few days. I like the QoD concept but suspect that this will take too long to get an answer.

I guess what I'm really looking for is the absolute safest and highest return for these chips with zero volatility. I know that one can get on a run in BJ and run this up higher but I don't want to risk losing $3-5K for this upside. I'm a vp player so cash is king. I'd also consider BJ with real cash but not at this high of stakes.

Thanks again for all of your suggestions. Still trying to get my arms around this but will try to get it resolved by the end of this week.

Dan

I'm not sure why you can't bet both sides, but I guess since it's their chips, they can make up the rules.

If you can't bet both sides, you're going to have to accept some volatility. Least volatile are bank/player in baccarat, pass/don't pass in craps, the even money roulette bets, and blackjack. Return is maximized with baccarat (bank, then player), craps (don't pass has a microscopic edge over pass), blackjack (if they pay 3:2 on BJs and allow you to double/split with the tournament chips), and roulette.

Playing cash on the other side can work, if you have enough cash, and if they'll let you (limits and casino orneriness about hedges might come into play here). Let's take red/black at roulette as an example:

$15k in tourney chips on red
$15k in cash on black
$900 in cash on 0 and 00 (each)

If those nasty green numbers come up, you collect $31,500 and have no chips left. If black comes up, you end up with $30k and have no chips left. If red comes up, you get $15k in casino chips, but you also still have the $15k in tourney chips left, since you didn't lose. So just do the same thing again until you get black or a zero.

You can do similar things with craps and baccarat with lower house edges.

One at a time on the don't pass line. In the face of the house's 1.364% edge, your expected result of those 30 bets will be $14,795.40, with the minimum possible variance for the game.

You could decrease your expected loss by using additional promo chips as odds bets, but I wouldn't want to face the increased variance (unless you are already accustomed to such high wagers).

I wouldn't play both sides of any bet, I consider it bad form. While it greatly minimizes variance, it actually decreases expected return.

My answer is 30 bets on the don't.

Hi Dan, Wow! I wish you a very hearty congratulations on that win and for getting all of those Promo Chips!

If I were in your position, I would enquire as much as possible about whether there are any restrictions on the use of them (such as if they are to be used only on Even-Money bets, whether you can also use them to Double Down and/or Split Pairs -- if you end up using them for Blackjack and, if you do get a Blackjack, will you be paid 3 To 2 on it or just Even-Money)?

These different instances can end up changing what the actual return (the casino house advantage) of Blackjack becomes.

But if you don't end up playing that, I then think that you might be better off with playing either something with Craps or Possibly Baccarat (although if I'm remembering correctly, I think that the lower casino advantage for betting on Bank in Baccarat [which is about 1.17% overall] does factor in the separate 5% commission that you still would have to pay on winning Bank bets).

So check into all that!

RecVPPlayer

If they don't let you wager cash on one side of the bet and promo chips on the other, there is really only one thing left to do. You must, absolutely must, follow the tried and true Julie Hagerty strategy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7JNUH7P2Aw

Do you have to pay taxes on $15,000 in promo chips? Do you pay any on what you win from the promo chips?

If the question is whether or not you receive a tax form for the promo chips the answer is no.

I should preface this by saying that I'm not a CPA or tax advisor. However, it is my understanding that you should report all wins net of offsetting losses on your personal federal income tax. This is a gross generalization so others may chime in.

On table games, there is no "tax form". You can win hundreds of thousands and not have the casino report your wins/losses. On slot/vp games, if you win $1,200 or more in a single hand/play, you're going to get a W-2G form of which a copy will be supplied to the IRS.

In my case, the promo chips are limited to table games play so wins/losses are not reported to the IRS. If the win was played in cash, the amount would have been reported to the IRS on a Form 1099.

Once again, I don't profess to have all the answers on this...it's just my understanding.

Dan

Dan