You know, I have seen a lot inside of casinos.  Lots of arguments with husbands/wives, BF/GF's, casino players and dealers/pit personnel, between 2 players, etc.  Some of them pretty loud to say the least.  But never I have witnessed a physical altercation taking place at a baccarat table!


Okay, here's what occurred.  Well it was a pretty normal session we were going through at the table. People winning and losing, a few people drinking heavy, one or two trying to borrow money from their friends and a few people just talking. Nothing out of the ordinary at all.

Then this regular player comes up and asks another very well-known regular player for the money that he borrowed from him a while back and he wants it back. The guy is seated at the table and keeps his head down and doesn't answer the guy asking for his money returned.

Usually everyone's pretty quiet about asking for their money back with a tap on the shoulder and a motion to pay them back or something along those lines, nobody really let's go out loud with a verbal, give me my money back, in a demanding type of way.

This guy says it several times out loud very distinctively and finally the seated player that seemingly owed the money, got up and the guy that was asking for his money back smacks the guy closed fisted right in the face.  The guy falls back and his upper rear of his body lands onto the baccarat table.  A couple of women whom were seated adjacent to the guy that fell on the table, jumped up screaming loud curse words.  Several people's chips go all over the place and mass disaster begins. The dealer immediately grabs for the chip rack cover slamming it down on top of her chips and yells as loud as she could for the floor manager who came running over, saying to lock the table down. Of course you can see another couple floor supervisors running over and others calling on the phone.  Within about a minute at most, security officers and a couple local law enforcement officers all came running over.

Just before the officers came over, the guy got in at least two more full face smacks each time the other guy attempted to get back up. They both got quickly handcuffed and taken out off the casino floor. Several floor managers were over at the table and told everybody not to touch any chips and they were calling security and they would run the cameras and find out who had what on the table. All the chips were straightened out and everybody was satisfied they got their chips back that they originally had. 

The guy that owed the money who was seated, the dealer and floor person stacked his chips off to the side of the rack.  Security was called and came to the table with an empty fill box and tray, took the chips and left. 

Like I always said, eventually you'll see it all.

That's certainly atypical for the Bac tables. I've never observed a physical altercation at the Bac tables(ever). A few exchanges of curse words (or what I perceived as curse words as I didn't comprehend the language). However, I was fairly confident it was not greetings or salutations. Never have I witnessed fights between BACers.

I once saw five get into a physical altercation at a Kansas City, Mo casino. It was near a Craps table(which was two tables and 20 feet or so over from my Bac table). Three women got into it over one of them being a mistress or girl friend to the others boy friend(or husband),and I guess one showed up unexpectedly(or that's the story I heard from a security person).

The three women were slinging each other around by the hair/trying to land punches though not with much success. Then one of their boy friends tried to break it up(Which then caused the other male to get involved). The two men threw a couple half-effort punches, and shoved each other a little/then tried to pull the girls apart. It took about 8 security persons to break it up /then two of the females were still fighting/grappling on the floor. I would have probably scored it a draw    .
Most of the Craps players just scooted out of the way a little and kept playing. They would glance at the fighters just to make sure they were not going to fall into them,lol.

Its been my experiences that most Asians are a well civilized group, especially at the Bac tables(Non-Asians too). Most Bac players in general seem to have above-average self control and less reactionary vs some of the other types of gamers. Just my perception as I've seen several verbal altercations between BJ or other card game players near the Bac tables

The above post by alrelax was a crazy event but it seems like they did a decent job of getting it under control. It appears they had been trained on what to do in such event.

    *I was in a casino once and a tornado started coming through/ just about that time they blasted the sirens throughout the city and the casino announced for everyone to go to the basement. At that time the lights flickered and the power went off. Every dealer at every table game just sprawled their whole body over the chip rack /told the players "Do not touch your chips" and step back at least five feet. Generators came on in about 15 seconds and after lights came back on order was restored/people colored up and either went to the basement or headed home(I did the latter).




Cheers,

Follow up to alrelax OP up above.

"...Within about a minute at most, security officers and a couple local law enforcement officers all came running over.

Just before the officers came over, the guy got in at least two more full face smacks each time the other guy attempted to get back up. They both got quickly handcuffed and taken out off the casino floor. Several floor managers were over at the table and told everybody not to touch any chips and they were calling security ..."


    Last week I was talking to a veteran dealer and telling her about the above story and asked if she had ever seen that between Bac players. I've know her and her husband for many years and they both dealt games in Vegas for about 15 years and 9 of the vegas years in Hi-Limit rooms. They transferred to Colorado a few years ago and now working in Midwest,USA.  Neither said they witnessed Bac players actually throw punches but witnessed several incidents where they would have if table mates or friends didn't get between them.

She said the one of the closest encounters was in the hi-limit room where a high roller became angry after busting a buyin at the end of his long losing streak. He shoved the shoe at her and into her lap/ threw the MIDI cards at her striking her in the chest/face. She said another player next to the Whale "card-throwing"  man jumped up and started to punch him. Security came over and intervened immediately and then told the Whale to come with them. At first card-throwing man refused until security told him they would cuff him "right there right now". He followed security a few feet away to edge of room and after speaking to him a minute or so they cuffed him/walked him out.

She said he was a jerk as he often would blow cigar smoke in her face if he lost a hand/never tipped. She said supervisors later asked her if she wanted to file charges against him. She declined and said as long as he didn't play at her tables she was OK. She said it surprised her they were willing to file charges. According to her they usually let "Whales" get by with anything.

The Alrelax story is a classic, unfortunately I've seen that many times but only at private clubs.

About baccarat tables, I agree with KFB.
Almost always the atmosphere is serene, thanks to the predominance of asian players more focused about "luck" and about patterns than willing to be involved in public altercations.

The female dealer was right: unfortunately in some premises whales and HS players are allowed to do almost anything.
Not at high end Vegas casinos for sure.

as.