Ever shocked at the huge amounts people are gambling?

On my last visit to LV just last month, I couldn't get it out of my mind. I'd walk past a $25 BJ table and see someone betting $400 a hand. At a $50 table, someone playing $1,500 at a time. And yet I know I'd be a nervous wreck just betting $25. My entire gambling budget for the trip was only $1,200.

Tim

I have to agree with you. It is not just the amount they are betting but the amounts some are loosing. On last trip hubby saw a couple go through over 1K in just over an hour. Holy Crap!!!!! I get nervous on a bad vp run of loosing a couple hunny in a few hours. What do people do to blow that much that quick.

On the other hand a friend/firefighter just returned and told us how he and some of his very drunk friends each threw down a couple hundred $$ and played $1,800 a hand on black jack. Funny thing is they kept winning and was going casino to casino doing this till one of them sobered up enough to figure out maybe they should stop while they were ahead.

and just because people bet more doesn't mean they are better educated gamblers. Have seen many people bet lots of money and make very bad basic gambling mistakes.

Not unusual at all...even at $1 VP.

Very true. I'd be curious about the correlation between bet size and skill, from what I've seen I'm guessing that it's close to zero. Maybe even negative, seems like you see a lot of bright math types who are too conservative to play more than nickels at a BJ table, and a lot of reckless party animals who superstitiously ramp up their bets. It would be an interesting study.

I love watching but could never risk that kinda money.

As my wife likes to say to me "Its only money, you can afford it".
So much for the first 40 years when we were thrifty.

I remember one time at the Bellagio I walked past a crowded roulette table that was covered with chips. I didn't think much of it until I saw the sign that said "Minimum Bet-$300" and that most of the chips on the layout were black. Needless to say, no one was betting merely the minimum.

I don't think that, even if I won the lottery, I would bet that much money on such a high-casino-advantage game as roulette with that much impunity.

I was playing Midi Baccarat at the Palazzo a few weeks ago and had the table to myself. An older asian gentleman watched for a while and then sat down at the table and pulled out his orange chips (pumpkins). Now I understand that at some casinos these are $1,000, but I looked down and these chips were $25,000 each (yellow is a thousand at Palazzo). Now he broke the chips down a bit before playing, but still ten or fifteen thousand a hand was being played. Very nice man, but I was intimidated playing with him as I did not like betting against him and a crowd gathered to watch. For those wondering, he left with more pumpkins than when he started.

I agree Marlo, if I was worth a billion, I would have just as much fun at a $3 minimum.