If ever a question had Arnie Rothstein's name on it, it's this one. Rothstein, as long-time QoD readers (and even short-term readers; we posted another answer written by him last week) know, is the "also known as" for an informant of ours, who's spent decades as a dealer, boss, and casino executive. Here's what Arnie has to say about tracking high-denomination checks.
Actually, it goes like this: how much (average wager) times how long (did you play) times the house edge (how much the casino expects to hold on the game). How much for how long at what house advantage gives the floor a good guesstimate of the theoretical hold.
Now, we always want to know what you bought in for and what you left with, because it’s impossible for a floor person to see every buy-in and wager made by every player at every table in his section of the pit, so he’s counting on you to tell him (if he didn’t see it) how much you bought in for.
Once you tell him, he'll take a lammer or silver token or even a quarter and place it into the far right rung/tube of the dealers float/tray. Or if the dealer and floor man trust each other, the dealer might place the lammer in the tray. Now, when there's a shift change or if a stray boss is just interested in how much money his shift is winning or losing, anyone can look at any table and see what was dropped into the lock-box on that table.
For instance, three silver tokens on the far right rung on that table could signify that three $100 bills are in the box. This way they can see what table is holding and which isn’t and they also use this information to keep the shift manager abreast as to about how much his shift is holding. It also helps them to rate you for comps, about which I'll divulge a little secret in a second.
There's also a hidden reason for asking a player, "How much did you buy in for?": to tabulate the table float (tray). Doing this can help them to Jump To Conclusions if a player has rat-holed (sneaked) a few green, black, or purple chips in his pockets so as not to appear to be winning as much. Good basic strategy players and card counters like to hide a few checks here and there; it helps dissipate heat from a suspicious floor person. (Heck, Max Rubin actually recommends it in Comp City.)
Tabulating the table float also gives the pit a good idea if the dealer is stealing. For example, a table has been open for 30 minutes, during which time two players have bought in for $50 each, receiving four green chips from the dealer. One player walks with $50 (two green chips). The other walks with nothing. Yet six green chips are missing from the tray.
Likewise, just before floor people go on break, they take a secret count of the blacks and purples. When they return, they run around checking to make sure none are missing. If any are, that dealer better know where they went, and the explanation better be backed up by surveillance, or there'll be some grilling and sweating in that dealer's immediate future.
I can’t say as I’ve ever heard of a floorman or pit boss asking a player how much he/she left with. The pit usually asks the dealer or calls surveillance.
About that secret. Floor people, as a rule, rate players based on their first wager. So if you sit down and wait for the floor to notice you, then make your first play with a $25 check and stay for hours playing reds, chances are your entire play will be rated at $25 per round, which equates to a room and a steakhouse comp (at best), or a coffee shop comp (at worst). This is also in Max's book, but don’t go telling anyone else.
And by the way, the term "chips" is used for "wheel chips" at roulette wheels, which have no value until someone buys in for, let’s say a stack of pink chips for $20 (worth $1 each) and the girl next to him has tan chips and she bought 20 chips for $100 ($5 each). That’s a chip. A "cheque" or "check" has a certain value branded on it and it cannot change. For example, most
