jim: Player' card

[jim]

What is the whole deal w/ the pit's insistance on having a player's card? Asking "do you have a card", "would you like to get a card", "gimme your license and i'll get you a card".
What are the pro's and con's of having cards? Does refusing to let them give me one cause suspition?
Also, at one casino there are several male employees who, sometimes are wearing a uniform and dealing, other times they're wearing a suit and supervising. Should I not be extra careful when playing at a table they are dealing or should I avoid them all together?
Thanx for any input.

[the_friendly_dealer]

> What is the whole deal w/ the pit's
> insistance on having a player's card? Asking
> "do you have a card", "would
> you like to get a card", "gimme
> your license and i'll get you a card".
> What are the pro's and con's of having
> cards? Does refusing to let them give me one
> cause suspition?

The Player's Card is nothing but a tool that the players benefit from, not the house. If you let the floor supervisor (that's who's asking for your card) have your card, they'll record on it how much you buy in for and if you spend enough money there, they'll give you comped rooms and meals and such. If you're worried about them knowing whether you're winning or losing, too bad. They're keeping track of that anyway, and if you don't give them a card, they just don't give you any credit for what you do there. Getting comps is a nice perk and if you play mostly at one or two casinos, why not? It's not that hard to make it look like you're losing when you're winning, and you need to do that anyway. However, if you really don't want the card, the best excuse is "I'm only in town for a couple of days." If that's obviously not the case, just make it a point to buy in for less than $100 each time you get chips, because they're not going to rate you on less than that anyway. BTW, the reason the floor supervisor really wants to rate you is that it's basically all they do, aside from making sure no one's cheating and the dealers don't screw up.

> Also, at one casino there are several male
> employees who, sometimes are wearing a
> uniform and dealing, other times they're
> wearing a suit and supervising. Should I not
> be extra careful when playing at a table
> they are dealing or should I avoid them all
> together?

You'll probably see female employees just like this there too, if you look. These are the horribly-oppressed "dual-rate dealers". You don't need to avoid them or be more careful of them at all. They're simply dealers who've taken a "promotion" on half their days to be floor supervisors. It's the halfway step to being a full-time floor supervisor, which is a pretty good gig. If anything, you should be especially nice to these employees, because this "promotion" requires a pay cut on the hours you work as a floor at many casinos (including mine). Their lives suck enough already.

> Thanx for any input.

You're welcome. I'm always happy to answer any questions concerning casino procedures and the like, assuming I know the answer.

[Sentry]

Collecting your player's card is part of their job, nothing inherently suspicious about them asking you for it. They track your play on the card for comps, and record your wins and losses. As far as what other data collect about you and they store on your card account, I have questions about that myself. By the way, I don't recommend ever letting a casino employee take your driver's license out of your sight.

> Also, at one casino there are several male
> employees who, sometimes are wearing a
> uniform and dealing, other times they're
> wearing a suit and supervising. Should I not
> be extra careful when playing at a table
> they are dealing or should I avoid them all
> together?
They are not working undercover, these are known as dual rate and both deal and supervise. This is an intermediate position and it is likely they are interested in a full-time supervisor job, so I would recommend caution with them. You can get the worst of both worlds from them. They can be hustling you for tips one day and 86 you the next.

Sentry

[Anonymous]

"If I get a card, I'll get mailings from the casino, and I don't want my wife/girlfriend to know that I'm gambling."

[methodman]

> The players cards are to keep track of you and make sure you are not a consistant winner. They benefit the casino unless used carefully. The pit like to rate and watch you to see if you have skill, then they can holler to supervisors thinking they will get brownie points. The pit are not there to merely give you free lunch. Merely joining a players card is usually simply a welcome -to club paranoia and often doesn't relsult in that much extra anyways.