Mr.X: Bringing chips to the table

[Mr.X]

When I bungle in the green felt jungle, one of the tactics I sometimes use is to keep a supply of chips at the places I frequently play at. This has the advantage of not having to buy in at the table, thus avoiding some unnecesary attention from the pit. It's important for frequent players to try to stay under the radar when possible, and since I do this at casinos I play at most frequently, the number of times I avoid pit attention really adds up.
A second advantage is the pit usually doesn't know how much you bought in for, and by deftly pocketing a believable number of chips, they usually don't think I've won too much. Note- this will not work if you pocket a denomination of chips higher than anyone else at the table is betting. If one pockets greens, and others are playing reds only, it will be obvious where the greens went.
A third advantage is if I start losing a lot, then recover, the chip rack looks normal. But if I had to buy a lot of chips, my break even performance looks like I won a lot, because the (smaller denomination) chips are somewhat depleted.
Surprisingly to me, most advantage players I've observed do not do this. They buy in for a relatively large amount, immediately drawing attention to themselves before they play a hand. And if they lose and recover, they have a huge stack of chips in front of them, and often draw heat.
Your wallet does not need to be Thick as a Brick to do this, if you restrict it like I do to my top 3-5 casinos.

[LVBear584]

Your idea is a good one.

I have found that pocketing the chips when I leave saves considerable time over the course of a day by not having to go to the cage at each store I visit.

[Joe Miner]

This is also valuable when wonging. I can be that person who is on the way to cash out when that last minute urge to keep playing grabs hold.

I just recently started wonging regularly. Having a stash of chips is a benefit.

[98%]

Generally speaking, bringing chips in and not going through the rigamarole of a buy in is a good idea but, not always. If there is a chance you may make a monster score (if you're betting big and have fantastic conditions and such), you may want to buy in for a lot. Nothing upsets the pit more than doing something like money-playing or buying in for $100 or not even buying in and then cashing out a massive win. Regardless of your average bet size, if you buy in for $5,000 and cash out for $10,000, they'll be a lot less upset than if you were to show up with four green chips and then cash out $5,000 after an incredibly fortuitous shoe.

[Harold Harvey]

Yup. I will not waste time waiting in a cage line. Period. Add up the amount of time you fritter away waiting for bozos cashing checks in cage lines over the course of a year. Time is money. If there is a line, crash the doors.