I have a friend who works at a casino in another state. He called and asked me if I knew of a player who lives in North Las Vegas named “Sam Hill.” I asked why he wanted to know and he said the player had come to his casino and the casino wanted to know if he was an advantage player. I said I wasn’t interested in giving my opinion of a player’s abilities to casinos. I then asked what made the casino think he was a good player.
It seems the casino had something like 5x points from 9 a.m. to noon and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on a particular day. The player had come in and hammered the machines during those hours and not played at all in the six hour interval between when they “only” had 2x points.
A month later when the casino was offering a similar promotion, Sam called up beforehand and asked to receive RFB. He was told that only playing the loosest games during the biggest multiplier promotions was not the kind of action the casino was looking for. If he wanted to receive comps, he had to play at least some of the “regular” time rather than just during the juiciest promotions.
Okay. A lot of us have had similar discussions with casino employees through the years. What happens next depends on how we handle it from here. If we come up with a plausible excuse for not playing between noon and six on that particular day (perhaps “My mom, who lives 15 miles away from your casino, had a birthday party that day starting at 1 p.m. and I didn’t get out of there until after 5 p.m.”) then the casino is likely to give us another chance. Casinos are, generally speaking, predisposed to having players come in and play. Unless you prove to them that you can beat them consistently, they want you to play.
And then, on the second trip, Sam should have given them some action during the off hours. That’s just being smart. They made it clear what they were or were not looking for and the smart player would toe the line.
But that’s not what Sam did. He wrote a letter to the general manager of the casino explaining what a lousy policy it was to tell players when they should and shouldn’t play. If this casino wanted to be known as a good place to play rather than a %& $# @(# grind joint, they should treat players with more respect!
For some reason, this letter wasn’t well received. (I didn’t see the actual letter. All I was told was that it was impolite and ineffective at getting what the player wanted.) Sam is now permanently black-balled from this place. If one of the casino employees who was involved in this decision moves to another casino sometime down the road, that employee may well remember Sam as being an undesirable customer. That will kill Sam’s welcome somewhere else as well.
Maintaining your welcome in a casino is a major part of the game. It takes time to learn to play competently and if you run out of places to play, you’re dead in the water. Does it pay to be polite to casino employees? Of course. Does it make sense to bite your tongue sometimes? Certainly. Does cooling off before you write a nasty letter increase your longevity in a casino? Without a doubt.
I’ve heard one female player recently complain that she gets thrown out of casinos more often than others who play the same games. It could be she has an inaccurate view of what really happens, but listening to this lady whine convinced me that she’s probably correct. She probably does get thrown out more often than others because she whines and complains frequently and has often made it a point to “stick up for her rights” loudly and publically over relatively minor matters. No wonder the casinos conclude she’s a pain in the ass and best gotten rid of with any excuse at all.
Throwing somebody out of a casino is usually handled on a case-by-case basis. Is the player friendly or hostile? Does the player sometimes play on non-promotion days? Has the player caused an unpleasant scene or two in the casino? Does the player collect every last one of her benefits or does she leave some on the table? When she picks up free play, does the player play a little extra or just the minimum to pick up the money? Does the player occasionally have some slot play on the card in addition to primarily video poker? Does the player occasionally play some craps or roulette and make sure she gets rated? Does the player come with a non-advantage friend to offset the “damage” he causes?
There are a zillion ways you can do this. I certainly can’t give you a formula that says exactly how much cover you should lay. Every player has to figure this out for himself. But I can encourage you to avoid confrontation with others in a casino. And always ask yourself how your behavior would be perceived by others.
There are times when a player is kicked out just for being too strong. (Trust me. I know!) But there are also times when strong players manage to keep their welcome when not-so-strong players are eliminated. Mastering this is a skill worth learning.
I know some players who think that these kinds of “people skills” shouldn’t be necessary to succeed. Too bad. They are.
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