First Back off, Snatched my ID from Me

[vomitcom]

I just got my first backoff, which I take as a point of pride as I got hours in here before they noticed today. The pitboss used a trick to try to get my ID and snatched it from me and he has my name now. I'm in a city with plenty of casinos, should I assume other places have my name now too? How long until I can return to this place (I'm in town visiting, won't be back for years probably)?

[Freightman]

He can’t snatch it unless you take it out of your wallet. So, what was the trick?

[vomitcom]

He said “hey **not my name** you can’t play here!” And I said “if I can show you I’m not that name can I keep playing?” And he said “we’ll see” and then I flashed it and he snatched it. I feel foolish for falling for it

[Sidecount]

He said “hey **not my name** you can’t play here!” And I said “if I can show you I’m not that name can I keep playing?” And he said “we’ll see” and then I flashed it and he snatched it. I feel foolish for falling for it

What on earth? Why would he let you continue to play just because you have a different name than what he thought you were or what he called you by?

Even if he was trying to pull a trick and get you to say your real name, that makes no sense.

If he genuinely thought your name was something else your offer to "prove" you're not him still doesn't make sense.

Yes, there's a chance your name has been shared elsewhere in the area or possibly even databased. But there is no real way to know. Some casinos cooperate with each other and do that. But there are still some that sometimes don't bother to do that as much with competitors.

[moo321]

He said “hey **not my name** you can’t play here!” And I said “if I can show you I’m not that name can I keep playing?” And he said “we’ll see” and then I flashed it and he snatched it. I feel foolish for falling for it

That's not the right way to handle that situation, at all. If you're heated up, getting out your ID should be one of the last things you do. You just took some moderate heat, not even a backoff, and may have self-escalated it to a trespassing from an entire casino chain, flyers being sent, name added to databases, etc.


There is no reason to ask for permission to do anything in a casino. Them granting the permission means nothing, because it can be revoked at any time. And it may heat up a game they weren't wise to. For example, you get backed off blackjack and ask to play slots, you're risking expanding the backoff to slots, or a full trespassing from the property. Just leave.


I might have said "that's not my name." Maybe. Absolutely nothing more. But I probably would have left. Ask yourself: why are you playing through obvious heat? Is the next hand worth $10,000 so maybe the risk is worth it?

[Sidecount]

Yup. Do the math and evaluate the situation. So many new counters especially get excited when they're placing bets of $200 or something but your EV is still relatively trivial. If you're at +4 or +5 then you have roughly a 2.0% advantage so that means your $200 hand has EV +$4. So maybe you have 3 or 4 hands left in the shoe at average +5 count. Sure you might finish up $1000. But your EV is about $15. It's okay to leave the $15 there in order to come back another time assuming you will have more EV on a future visit.

But definitely don't ask "Hey, will you let me stay if I do this?" to your average, everyday floor person assuming you aren't already longterm friends or something.

There's a lot of "read the room and read the vibes" that goes into the common sense aspect of this stuff. Asking to stay just makes you more memorable and they aren't going to agree anyway. Usually it came from a call from surveillance and the floor person would have to answer to them if he reversed the decision of booting you. Is there a reason why he would want to go through that and even potentially risk draeing attention to himself for making that kind of call? "Hey, why is that guy still playing? We thought yiu were going to kick him out."

[moo321]

There's a lot of "read the room and read the vibes" that goes into the common sense aspect of this stuff.

This is one of the most important skills an AP has. Second only to discipline.

[bjarg]

This is one of the most important skills an AP has. Second only to discipline.

x2