There are four major people you must appease at the casino: 1. the dealer, 2. the pit, 3. the casino host, and 4. surveillance. Many info has been written about (4), clearly I need to read up on some, but here are a few tips for the first 3.

The dealer - dealers get tips all the time, and they go into a little stupid box that gets divided up a million ways. So, step 1, when you sit at the table, smile at the dealer and say hi. Obvious. On multi-card beats, where the dealer gets you by 1 or 2, say 'don't worry, it's not your fault, I won't hold it against you'. Ask the dealer whether this is their only job (usually it's not), ask them how long their shift is (it's typically 8 hours), ask them about lunch/dinner breaks (20 minutes every hour). Then no matter what say "oh geez, that must be tough, I don't know how you can do it. All these people smoking, blowing it into your face, rude... etc." Call the pit over sand tell him the dealer needs a raise.

The importance of gum: not only does it disguise any chance your lips move, but when you pull a piece out, ask the dealer if they want one. They won't be able to take it, and again you can talk about how tough their life is. They now feel indebted to you. Extend this feeling, walk to the bar, buy yourself a coke, and get one for the dealer. They can't take it, so you've bought yourself 2 cokes, and you've bought the debt of the dealer.

For these "cover plays" you have spent nothing, and have had way more an effect than any tip would ever.

To increase speed and pen, just tell a story about how this one time, at this one casino, you had a dealer who dealt so incredibly fast, and oh my god you thought you were going to lose all your money in 1 hour... and no matter what, you swear they never shuffled! they almost dealt down to the last card! and that was the wildest time you ever had, soooo much fun, blah blah blah.

2. the pit. The gum trick works great. Tell another story about how at this one place there was this floorman who would stand by the table all the time and you never won. Ask him how his night's going. Tell him how different he is than the last pit boss who was watching your game at the last casino you were at. He was an asshole. Tell him you really like the atmosphere here.

Sometimes you can negotiate table mins. The better games are at the higher mins, and are usually less crowded and have some empty tables. "I don't know if it's possible, but is there anyway I could bet (here say half of what you actually want the min to be), at ONE of these EMPTY tables?" If he refuses, say, "ok, well how about (the actual min bet you want). Thanks, you're so accomodating, let me take your money".

3. The casino host. Send them a gift. Usually gift cards work great, since you can put them in a regular envelope. Make them cheap, don't seem try hard. A $10 Border's gift card, whatever. Just say thanks for being so hospitable, look forward to playing at X casino again. You've just spent $10 for free stays. Good deal.

Above all, stories work! To understand a story, we by nature place ourselves in it. So just tell a story of what you would like to happen, and it will.

Give and take, give and take, and take.