Comp Rating Question

[Bankerdude80]

As an example, if a player starts each game with a $50 passline bet (with or without odds- I know the odds are not rated), and places $80-$85 inside is his average calculated as the average of his initial starting bet for each game? Or, is his total average calculated by including the bets he has pressed as the game progresses? Is the player rewarded (comps) for having more money at risk out on the table throughout each game?

[heavy]

Some casinos rate your total action (excluding odds). Some rate you for what amounts to your average bet. For example, casino A might rate $110 inside as a $110 bet while casino B might rate it as a $27 bet. For that reason it can get kind of goofy trying to calculate these things. The other factors they use in calculating comps - most specifically the percentage of you're action they're willing to comp back to you - takes all that into consideration when calculating your theoretical. So $110 average bet times 60 decisions per hour gets you $6600 action. Let's say the house assumes they're going to hold 2% of that based on how they rate your skill as a player. That works out to a $132 theoretical win for the house - or theoretical loss for you. In this case they might offer to comp you something like 12% of that - or $2.64. Sound like you're playing at Harrah's?

The floor person tracks your buy in and your first bet. Once every twenty minutes or so he'll come back by the table and make a note on how much action you have on the table, so what they eventually arrive at will be some sort of "average" bet. The good news is - at the end of the session you're certainly welcome to ask how much he had you rated for - and if you think it's wrong you can toss out a "Wow, I thought it was quite a bit more," and explain how you bet. They can always go back and change it. They may not - but they can.

[Knick111]

Greetings Heavy and bankerdude 80,

Down here on the west coast of Puerto rico we have 6 casinos, players don't get rated by a floor person at all, what the casinos do IS give you 1 point for every $10 dollars of your buy in.

My buy in used to be $500 dollars every night, so I used to get 50 points every night.

My question to you is the following, on a full table of 12 players-- how does a floor person keep up with the play of 12 players at the same time--doesn't that lead to mistakes by the floor man/woman.

Do you see what I am getting at.

What comp system do you think is better for the player, the one down here OR the one in vegas.

The comps are good for food and drinks or rooms.

JAIME.

[heavy]

Interesting question Jaime. Here in the states your rating is a function of (1) buy in, (2) average bet, (3) how long you played, (4) number of decisions per hour, and (5) the house's estimation of your playing skill. It's not that complicated but it does require the floor person to be relatively on top of the game. Are the ratings particularly accurate? Probably not. Is it better - for the house - than the system you have down there? Absolutely.

Here's why. Let's say I walk up to the table down there and buy in for $5000. My first bet is a $6 six and a $6 eight. I leave them up for one hit and down, collecting a $7 win and walking. I just won $7 and collected $500 in comp dollars. I can feed my family for the next week courtesy of the casino.

Back in the day when casinos here put more emphasis on buy in than they do now, you would routinely see guys buy in at a table for $1000 or more, play one hand, then color up and leave the table. They'd go to the cage, cash in their chips, then go to another table and buy in for another $1000 and repeat the whole process - making the rounds through every pit in the casino. The system would see all of these buy-ins and presume it was new money every time and rate him up. Comps would follow. But eventually most of the casinos wised up to this ploy and went to the system we have in place today.

[AtGame7]

I have found it pays (comp wise) to be friendly to the staff. I don't do it because I want the comps, I'd like to think I am there to have fun and am generally a nice guy but I could be wrong on that last part.

Anyway at my local place you when you ask for a comp on your card they look over your play since the last time you asked for a comp and they just put xxx amount of dollars on your card that are good for anything in the building except chips. It's a pretty simply process. I have seen players who play much higher than me be given $15 or $25 and in all honesty I don't ask a lot and usually only when I have someone with me and we want to eat dinner. Like I said, I know those other players buy in for more than I do and play higher than I do yet it's not uncommon for me to get $75 or $100 on my card when I ask for "whatever you can do".

I think the hosts have a lot of leeway on comps here and not being a jerk pays off. The not being a jerk part usually pays off in most parts of life I have found.

[heavy]

I agree. In the comp game - nice guys finish first - unless they are "whales" who are being courted by the casino's executive host staff - in which case they can get away with damn near anything and still get comped.

[rcsshankar]

I would like to add more to Heavy's explanation.
This is what one of the boxguys told me.
When it comes to craps, your play is also rated on the numbers you are betting on.
Your bets on 4 and 10 gives are rated more than your 6 and 8 place bets, although your bets cost you 26 and 30 respectively.
Similarly your hop bets also give you a higher rating.
In other words, the more edge the casino has on your money, the more your play is rated,

[heavy]

Yeah, that falls into the "player skill" rating category. I have a screen shot of an old player rating system on my home computer (it's also in the full version of the seminar on DVD) that shows where the casino rates player skill level. I'll see if I can find it tonight and post a copy.

The floor guys will put comments in your rating that can lead to lower (or higher) ratings in the future if read by those who follow. For example, one casino that used to send me hundreds of dollars of comps each month dried up completely after someone rated me as a "smart player." Of the five "main" casinos in Shreveport/Bossier, I am persona-non-grate at one property due to a similar flag in my profile.

[Bankerdude80]

I guess each property is a little different in how they rate. Thanks for everyone's responses.