Hi All,
Good thread that all gamblers need to monitor. Often, small changes lead to larger changes(against the player), at later dates. In other words if politicians are allowed to take and inch they will return to take a foot,..etc.
 A Bac comrade had sent a link to that the following day after it came out.

The following link at bottom addresses the same issue/ "I think" is an update to what  your article addresses:
'One Big Beautiful Bill' Has Silver Lining for Gamblers as Certain Tax Reporting Thresholds Increase

https://www.casino.org/news/one-big-beautiful-bill-has-silver-lining-for-gamblers/


Have a good week,

My reply is self deleted.

I just saved myself a lot of grief for sure.

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Article written by; Dennis Conrad.

A Las Vegas casino recently changed its tip policy for its table game dealers. The individual dealers now keep half of the tips that they personally receive from players, and the other half go into a tip pool that's shared equally among all the dealers. I'm not sure how that policy change is working out.

Having been a tipped casino employee decades ago, I certainly have some thoughts on the topic. I was always in the top 2% of tip earners in whatever casino job I had, because I always gave great service and made sure my customers had fun. And I hated whenever I had to share my tips with fellow employees who had bad attitudes, put in minimum effort, and didn't give two hoots about the customer.

There are three perspectives on tip policy: those of casino employees, casino management, and (the often-forgotten perspective) casino customers.

Good casino employees always prefer to keep their own tips. Bad casino employees (and those on the slower shifts and in low-limit sections) usually prefer pooling tips and being carried by the better tip earners in the busier sections.

Casino management typically prefers casino employees to pool their tips. It gives them more flexibility in scheduling without charges of favoritism by tip-earning employees. It creates more accuracy and standardization in tip disbursement and accounting, especially with government agencies. And truth be told, it allows management to keep a cap on how much in tips an employee can make, as in many situations tipped employees keeping their own tips can earn more than supervisors or managers, creating a disincentive for good employees to progress into management.

It may seem that casino customers don't really care what the casino's tip policies are, but trust me, they do. They enjoy tipping employees who provide them a fun exceptional experience. They're disappointed when they learn that their generous tip to a great employee might have to be split 20 ways (or more), especially when it goes to the "lumpy" employee who ignored them earlier.

My fervent belief is that every casino employee everywhere should personally keep their own tips. Very few now do. Casinos claim it creates scheduling, accounting, and perception-of- fairness issues. They say that some employees will "rough hustle" customers for tips, that they'll have a bad attitude on slow tip nights or, conversely, have a great tip night and want to go home early. Or sneer at customers who don't tip much or not at all. I say get over it. One of the best things casino management can do is connect tipped employees better to the fruits of their labor and be better paid for providing better experiences to guests.

That's not to suggest that changing a longstanding casino tip-pooling policy into a "go for your own" one will be without its challenges. But here's a step-by-step plan on how to do that and what you can expect when you do.

Let all your tipped employees know why you want to change the tip-pooling policy and why you think that would be better for them, the customers, and the casino.

Ask for the employees' input and buy-in for the changes. Have them help you identify all the potential challenges to the changes and how best to overcome then. Answer their many questions.

Be sure to make it clear that the new policy will have zero tolerance for employees who rough hustle customers for tips or who treat non-tipping guests any less well.
By whatever objective metrics you have for measuring who your best employees are (amount of tips should be a new criterion!), use them to allow your best employees preference to choose their shifts, hours, or work sections where tips will be generated. Add a system for improving employees to move up in their "tipping hierarchy" and declining employees to move down. Create a training program for all employees on how to generate more tips through great service and improved focus on guests.

Communicate to customers what the new tipping policy is and why it's being implemented. Ask for their feedback on how it's working and if they see anything that could be improved.

Post signage throughout the casino where employees have tip-earning opportunities. My message would be something like, "XYZ Casino encourages our customers to tip generously for employees who provide truly great service."

Monitor the new "keep your own" policy diligently and make needed adjustments as necessary.

Now, for those of you who say this doesn't seem fair (what's not fair about your best employees earning the most tips?), or it's too tedious to implement and supervise, or the owners, tribe, or senior management would never allow it to happen, I can only say look at the results. And here's what will happen.

Top tipped employees will earn a lot more money. Lagging employees will either have to accept making less tips, step up their game, or find another job where providing great service isn't such an absolute and enforced mandate. Great employees from competitors' casinos or other service businesses will want in, addressing that never-ending challenge of finding good employees in a tough labor market. Morale will go up. Guest service will dramatically improve and great guest interactions will become the norm, not be the exception. All by letting your employees keep what they have fairly, diligently, and skillfully earned.

Then if "no tax on tips" becomes more than a pipe dream or an empty promise, well, that will become the icing on the proverbial tipping cake.

NOTE:  I have written numerous times about tipping, both waitresses and dealers.  I know the game well and have experienced exactly what the author of the above article wrote about countless times, by both exceptional employees as well as the lackadaisical and plain bad ones.  There is one Indian property I play at regularly and their tipping policy is, that dealers keep 75% of their tips and 25% goes into a shift pool to split.  There is a notable difference in attitudes without a doubt, no questions about it when compared to the other regional properties without such a policy.

Great job on your trip.  Absolutely!

And in reference to the non stop talking player.  Yes in deed!  Know it well!

"I saw a narcissistic player increase what appeared to be a $15k-17k buy in to just over 40k(twice). Then, departing the table with only 3k—4k. He incessantly claimed expertise in numerous subjects and frequently placed wagers, often verbally stating the outcome of the next hand to those at the table(He was equally right and wrong)."  And more what you wrote regarding him...... 

There are players that actually wholeheartedly believe their unrealistic and impossible theories, such as:    "OMG, this guy would not stop talking about his Bac prowess et al expertise. He had all kinds of crackpot theories on Bac. He once told us the casino arranges the cards to beat players that wager only Bank (& why he NEVER wagers B). Then, a couple hands later he was wagering on Bank".  And of course, the players I have witnessed repeatedly behaving the same way, when they lose they say the exact same thing, when they win—they either cite the casino didn't set the cards up or they figured out how to beat the casino, etc., etc.

There is a huge difference between verbal camaraderie and discussion and what you wrote about here. 

Oh yes, please shut up so I/we can think a bit....thought I was the only one experiencing this, should have known better!

I know we have discussed this topic in the past. A couple good thoughts in the link below.


https://www.casino.org/blog/winning-streaks-in-poker/

10-Day 10- Casino Four-State Casino Cash Extraction

     I hope everyone has been winning bigley. Its good to see the forum is back online. A table mate told me during the trip that the forum had dissolved.  I'm not sure where he heard this obvious nonsense. He(Mostly plays in Wichita, Ks I think) , and had mentioned that he followed posters Gr8 and Asymbacguy. I asked him if it was a forum called betselection. He responded: Yes, but that forum was shutdown/no longer exists.  I had not logged on in 10-15 days due to long hours at the tables and travel. When I returned from my trip, I was unable to log on for some reason.  I'm guessing just general maintenance by Vic. Anyway, it was good to learn from a forum member a few days ago the forum had been reactivated. I think most will agree there is a couple of decades of great content on this forum. Many experienced players who have left the tables, perhaps permanently, spent years sharing valuable Baccarat content.  Many long-term early posters such as Asym are still contributing Bac wisdom as well.

Four-State Bac Trek:

I like playing in states like Kansas and Colorado as many casinos and most offer higher limits (5k and 10k). Most of my casinos in Midwest have Tmax of 2k (which means approx. 3900 is max one could wager). If one is allowed to cap another player's wager. Plus, many casinos in the Midwest require a wager (No Free Hands), or maybe only three FH per shoe, ...etc. Plus, I thoroughly like the option for monitoring several shoes at once/selecting the one I perceive is optimal. Though I'm fortunate to live in a casino market with a hundred casinos within 3 hours of driving. I would like to see more Stadium multiple-shoe (Live Dealer) setups within driving distance.

Six other Bac players caravanned with us/ made this trek playing in several states as we navigated toward the Rocky Mountains. We met four others (two dealers and two of my relatives), at our destination in the Colorado casinos (We spent seven days here). All of us play mostly Bac with a few also playing Roulette, Poker, and Craps line bets. All of us are experienced and serious gamers. I primarily play Bac, but I sometimes participate in ETG games such as roulette when they are available. etc.).

Some Personal Highlights of the Trek.

     +67.5 Units (Base units) for the trip. I have been on a seven-week winning streak without busting my buy in(I've lost some shoes but able to recoup and get a win in the session. Sometimes it took 2-3 shoes to grab the W). The winning streak persisted during the trek.  However, I returned home, took a day off from the tables and four days later did finally bust a buy in.


     +23.4 Units(Max win in any one session). A session was sometimes >=1 shoe.
-13.6 units (maximum drawdown recorded during a single session).  Approx 2.5 shoe session. I finally pulled ahead about 4 units/it was almost midnight. So decided to call it  a night.  I had mostly been (-) for the whole duration of the session.

     *I saw a player hit two out of three consecutive wagers on the Dragon7(3c7 B win). He jogged toward the cashier's cage a couple of hands later.

     *I played with a young lady (approx. 25—30yo) mostly wagering for Panda and or Dragon take an approx. $1500 buy in to approx. 3500—4000. She seemed to mostly win from a clumping of Bonus-Wager hits. She told a relative, possibly her father or uncle, that she was leaving to go to the bank and pay off her $2,200 car loan.  I wanted to high-five her but just told her "Smart move." . She had won several Base Bets in a row as well as a couple bonus bets in close proximity (It seems like it was the Panda8, 8-6, or 9-7 two card bet win).

    * I was playing next to a lady that seemed to mostly wager bonus bets and had been wagering for the Panda8 (I believe), nearly every hand then "erroneously" placed her wager on the 8-6 Bonus and hit it (She had almost busted), and this produced something like a +2K in front of her. She thought she had lost, and it wasn't until the dealer started paying her bet that she realized it was a big W.  She parsed out 200/ locked up the remainder. She departed about 15mins later with most of her winnings it seemed.

     *I wagered two sports bets (Wimbledon) and went 0-2 on this trip. I seldom wager sports bets unless I get a tip from comrades that have more expertise. Both tennis bets were my picks.


Most interesting/entertaining extended session (2.5--3 shoes/approx. 4-5hours).

     I saw a narcissistic player increase what appeared to be a $15k-17k buy in to just over 40k(twice). Then, departing the table with only 3k—4k. He incessantly claimed expertise in numerous subjects and frequently placed wagers, often verbally stating the outcome of the next hand to those at the table(He was equally right and wrong). 

He was another one of those "been-there-done-that" kind of guys that shared his expertise nonstop. My group are veteran serious players that are all about making money. Though friendly and more than happy to celebrate with table mates we generally don't offer advice unless solicited(& then only in brief).
His expertise spanned stock markets, luxury cars, gold investing, real estate, cyber security, computers, relationships, and being the world's greatest Bac player.  A friend who traveled with us, and owns a cyber security company, would frequently nudge me whenever this "expert" shared views on cyber security or government surveillance,..etc.. We had some laughs later on.

 One lady mentioned to a lady next to her (and Opp end of table from the "expert"), they had sold their home and looking to relocate locally. He proceeded to tell her how the real estate companies "get Cha", and one should do like him and just sell /buy your home (Without a RE agent), like he does, and on and on.
 I'm not sure I have ever met a more arrogant/narcissistic player or any person (At least not anyone over 15—25yo or so). He was in his approx. 40s. Most of us would have probably ignored his behavior if he was in his 20s and we probably would have concluded his euphoria/narcissism was due to getting an atypical big win or maybe on drugs...etc. or simply being young /naive. He didn't seem to be on stimulants nor inebriated (though drinking a few beers).  Sadly, it seemed to simply be a chronic personality trait.  At least with drug-induced Euphoria or narcissism it generally dissipates.

OMG, this guy would not stop talking about his Bac prowess et al expertise. He had all kinds of crackpot theories on Bac. He once told us the casino arranges the cards to beat players that wager only Bank (& why he NEVER wagers B). Then, a couple hands later he was wagering on Bank.

He frequently wagered a large bet on (B or P), coupled with a 2-3 bonus bets, all at the same time. He seemed to do a negpro when losing and a pos pro with similar aggressiveness when winning. He wagered very erratically and seemingly didn't care about following a smooth curve with his progressions. HTwice he had to wager a (make or break) wager that if lost he would have a remainder of approx. 2k--5k. He survived both but kept pushing his luck.

He wagered significantly more than others at our table (often 1k—5k per hand. A typical base unit for most of us was a starting wager at $100–300. etc. and followed a reasonable progression. So, he frequently touted his wins and demanded to "hold the floor" on any topic mentioned at the table. Once he won a large bet (and most others lost), he proceeded to stand up and give the touchdown "arms up" gesture all the while looking at nearby tables to see if others may have seen his big W. Because he undoubtedly had the highest IQ in the room, lol.

A few times I considered asking him to just shut up for about 3 minutes and let my brain rest a little. We constantly scanned the tote boards at four adjacent tables for a possible departure. I saw a potentially good shoe profile nearby, but it was too crowded with zero chairs available, and the event was nearing the end.  However, they were all mostly similar to ours and mostly in line with expectation. So our option was to endure this table (& expert) or go to a different casino.

Though, we should never wish bad or bad results at the table upon anyone. Several players appeared thankful when he slinked off after losing his wins back to the casino. His wife was almost in tears at one of the two brief moments he had over $40K in front of him. She whispered to him "let's go now", and he scolded her that he wanted to push his totals to $50K. She responded, "We would still be down from the last two days". Two of the ladies were still laughing about him an hour later in the next shoe (as well as next day). They seemed to resent how disrespectful he was to his wife (often scolded her/ also flirting with other females). After losing almost all (approx. $3k remaining) he slipped off at a chip refill/ tried to act like he was going to another table. He stated he had won "over a 100K" just a week earlier,.etc../ the casino was watching him, and trying to get their money back, etc. You know, because according to him he was such a big winner,lol.
They headed to the cashier's cage/exited the casino.

A classic on what "NOT" to do at a bac table. In other words, never become too haughty /narcissistic and perceive one has nothing else to learn at the bac tables. Same as in life. Most everybody can do at least one thing better than us.


Biggest Single Bet/Session Win from a Tablemate.

     The cyber security friend I mentioned above mostly plays Bac and Craps line bets. He once was a very skilled BJ player for a couple decades but after the payout changed from 3:2 he stopped playing. He has mostly played Bac Base Bets/Craps Line wagers in the past decade.
 
     He took a $275 craps line bet: 275,550, 1000,1825, 3650. I didn't play with him at this Craps session, but he indicated a mix of P and Dp produced the W streak. Then he brought it to the Bac table the next day and wager $5k after seeing one of his favorite triggers (Won it on a 1-0 outcome). He brought it all down and locked it up. He is typically a very stoic/serious person and seldom talks or shows any excitement. He yelled out "YES", as he told me later, he had initially thought the hand had lost (or tied). That was a large win for him as he most commonly wagers between $250--toward $1K if he wins several times in a row.

My largest wager(s) outcomes.
     As some of you know that have played with me.  I mostly play in the Midwest with lower table max vs larger markets such as CO, MS, NV. Most of my casinos are less than or equal to 3900, which is the maximum on $2k tables, while the range is approximately 5800–5900 on a $3k table. 
Whenever I have at least three wagers at a Tmax of about 3800–3900, I reserve one for a future trip to a casino with a larger Tmax. For example, if I get five wins at Tmax, I set aside two; if at least seven wins at Tmax, I set aside three, and so on.  It doesn't happen very often and sometimes takes weeks or months to accumulate at least three of these larger wagers(to warrant a trip). So, this trip I had three "set aside" wagers that would be $5K on their next placement. On this trip, the three wagers finished: 1-1, 0-1, and 0-1.  So, I was a little disappointed as I was optimistic, I could go at least >= 1-1 performance on at least one of them. I'm always optimistic that I can get at least one to slip through the cracks and continue onward/upward. It was not to be.
     Besides the above carried-over wagers my highest in-session wager was $1480.It won.

I saw an old bac comrade at the CO tables.

     I use to frequently play with an elder Vietnamese guy in the Midwest and he frequently plays in Wichita area. It seems every time I play in either of the Colorado cas markets I run into him. He speaks English just slightly better than I speak Vietnamese (approaches zero). So, Bac is our primary shared language.  He seems like a veteran player and wins more than he loses by far. He is very patient and generally will only wager B or P. Maybe only 5-10 wagers in most shoes it seems. It was great to see him/ I enjoyed sharing the tables with him several times on this trip.

     *Awhile back I arrived at a casino in Colorado and approached the Bac pit  on my first day. Upon entering the table pit and baccarat section, I observed an individual standing and signaling for my attention, motioning me over, and indicating that he was experiencing a winning streak.  P had won 11iar(in-a-row) , and it appeared that he caught most of them. He had approx. 8K in front of him. I believe he typically buys in with $2k or so. He indicated he caught most of them and pointed his wins out on the tote board.  After, the 11th P he then switches to B (and wins), then immediately colored up. As we walked to the cashier's cage and then to a different table I asked him why he switched to B after the run reached the  11th P. The response in his best English: "It was done, over."  LOL. I was expecting him to give some logic or explanation of how he interpretated that turn (and end of the P streak).


Thx for reading/ have a good week.

AsymBacGuy in Post #1330 above in response to my post:

"..For some reasons I'm pretty certain that he plays only at RNG shoes (new generation of shuffle machines), am I right?.."

Hi Asym /hope you are taming the tables.

He does indeed play mostly at RNG shoes though not "only" RNG shoes due to his location. He lives in Kansas and in past played alot in Oklahoma Indian casinos. However, he did not like being required to place a Side Bet( B or P) to place any of the bonus wagers such as (T). He also did not like (No Free Hands). So in the past couple years I think he mostly plays in Wichita,Ks,  Kansas City, as well as Tunica.

*I will elaborate more later on some of his triggers. He tracked several triggers/ like me felt "gaps between" events are important to track(e.g. The event gaps' contraction and expansion.)


More later,

"The less you bet, the more you lose when you win." – Bob Nastanovich

Note: if RNG shuffling machine productions will make more probable long S patterns than average, we might think to bet toward S than A after a S happened, at least at the very first step of the 2-level betting.

Nothing wrong with that, but by doing so we're somewhat denying what really get us an advantage over the house, that is that A patterns are "more due" at many shoe's spots.
After all and most of the times A patterns will rely upon the asymmetrical distribution of the cards (and so of the outcomes) thus privileging the many "predominant" situations each shoe will present.

This will transfer the problem not about the real asymmetry or symmetry of the pattern (needing two consecutive hands to be ascertained), just about the winning probability of the first attempt vs anything else.
A topic we'll see in a couple of days.

as.

S and A patterns

Paradoxically at baccarat we find ourselves in a way better shape whenever itlr some patterns will slight privilege the side we are not interested to bet (S) as the A counterpart is more entitled to happen somewhere at various levels.
Providing to properly consider the S clustering effect that happened previously in the shoe.

That means that a real randomly shuffled shoe will present a slight greater number of S isolated events than S clusters (capable to erase and invert the HE), so making as profitable a stu.pi.d wagering plan oriented to bet A after any isolated S.

Casinos are not there to concede the players any possible edge, thus the use of shuffling machines instructed to deal RNG distributions that are not random by definition.
Now the S isolated propensity will go down the drain so basically the problem will be transformed about WHEN S events will shift into more probable A patterns.
After all the vast majority of bac players cannot give a damn about the importance of selectively wagering toward asymmetry than symmetry.

In fact real random binomial propositions are characterized by a fair degree of asymmetry, making more and more improbable (by increasing the number of trials) to get the same amount of specific different patterns roaming or crossing around the 0 neutral point. Especially when back to back considered.

Furthermore, it's theorically unlikely to get many consecutive S patterns when finite parameters are involved and when an asymmetrical results game (as baccarat) is considered, unless (but partially) while unrandomly distributed.

In our opinion RNG distributions had demonstrated to deal a greater than average amount of S clustered patterns or, worse, to get abnormal S/A shoe gaps privileging the left S side.
That is the game seems to "stall" too many times than expected by a real random production.

Most of the times RNG productions tend to shift S patterns toward A patterns after a 1-level clustered S-S situation, yet the general probability to get long S consecutive lines (greater than 1-level) seems to be nearly 5-fold more probable at RNG productions than at a real random model. So telling us that the shoe featuring "too many S patterns" is just a BS shoe. That is completely unplayable.

Probably the S/A patterns ratio is one of the easiest indicators to ascertain whether we're facing a real random model or a kind of bighorn.stuff production where a natural asymmetry is denied by a weird card distribution.

See you in a couple of days.

as.