What does it take to get a reserved private table at a casino?

This isn't so much based on how much you bet per hand, but on how big your credit line is. At someplace like the Wynn/Encore, you need a minimum half million line to get a reserved table. At Palms, I understand that a $300K line will do.

Years ago, I had a Baccarat table reserved for myself at one of the best casinos in Reno, with no line at all just a promise to play big, but I knew the Director of Table Games there, and, this was Reno not Vegas. That's a bit of a story, but I ended up not even playing at all, and the dealers assigned to the table just stood there all day and night I imagine, waiting for a guy who never showed. This is pretty common actually - I see these reserved tables pretty regularly, with no player at them.

Of course, when you get a Baccarat reserved table pursuant to a high credit limit the minimums are raised and sometimes the maximums too. If you have a half million line, you're usually allowed to bet max $25,000. or $30,000. versus the usual $20K. which is everyone else's limit. A million line can get you a $50,000. max bet. Most casinos in Vegas max out at $160,000. per hand and for that you need a $5M line. (There are rare exceptions, allowing up to $250K a hand, but this depends on the player, and the economy whether the casino is going to entertain that sort of action.) We're talking Baccarat, of course.

If you are a cash player, you will see much less courtesy when it comes to both the reserved tables and the higher limits - for example back then, this was fifteen or so years ago, at Bellagio, there was this guy I remember like it was yesterday who brought in $5M cash and all they let him bet max was $50K, and didn't even give him a reserved Bacc. table. He lost every penny, he was a terrible player, mostly flat betting and so unlucky it was ominous, I mean the guy was barely winning a third of his hands most of the time, betting against streaks, betting against obvious patterns, if you'd simply bet against him it would have been a guaranteed win session, but most people would defer to his big bets out of politeness and stay out when he plopped his constant 50K down on the circle.

There are all sorts of variables. I could write an article about it. For example, if it is a Baccarat reserved table, you're free to bet between mins and maxs no restrictions. Typically the reserved BJ tables are sucker's tables, with the min and max set exactly the same - forcing a very high flat bet.

I've gotten to know many players with million dollar lines, and played with players who brought more than a million to the table. Some big Baccarat players like to play in the back all alone, and others prefer to play on the regular tables. A good friend of mine has (or rather had, he finally had to move out mid-March when they closed shop) spent most of the past two years at Wynn/Encore in a suite, gambling every single day.

All players want to win and nobody likes to lose, but some are there more for the show than others. For example the fat guy I mentioned above,
February 2020 Vegas trip - Page 4
the one who would crumple up the Baccarat cards and throw them at the dealer when he lost, all the while cursing in another language - this guy was much more into the show than the rest of us at the table, with his stupid aftermarket diamond encrusted Rolex and his stacks of yellow chips. At one point when he was playing I noticed this other player at the far end of the table, an Asian guy, wearing nothing but a cheap plastic band watch and the typically understated (shabby) clothes most of these older Asian men wear, quietly betting significant amounts and doing quite well, much better than the fat guy.

I pointed at the Asian guy and declared, "He's trying to win more than _______!"

_______ turned and looked at the Asian guy in disbelief, as if he were seeing him for the first time, and shouted, "No one wins more than ______!"

Another time, and this was years ago, this guy from a certain country who must've had at least a five million line was betting $160,000. a hand against a run, and this other guy from the same country at the other end of the Grand Baccarat table was putting down a lousy single black chip every bet, against him. It was all about ego and testosterone as the rich guy dumped about two million right in front me because he wanted to prove that he was right and he refused to switch to the other side.

I lost out too while all that was happening, because I didn't want to seem like the dick who was betting against him too, but eventually I jumped in and put something, not nearly enough, on the right side, and at least caught about half of the run.

You see, such an event is clear as day while it is happening but try to explain it to a non-believer who has never played Baccarat and he will just say that there was no streak it was all imaginary. Imaginary, my ass, tell that to the guy who lost two million. And that's the point. When you tell such a story, the point of the story is simply...the point of the story. These bozos turn it all into a statement about how to bet the game of Baccarat. I'm just relating what happened, but they get all bent out of shape trying to add unneeded commentary to try to explicate a factual event that needs no explanation. These armchair quarterbacks are the same guys who would freeze up at the blackjack table while winning hand after winning hand passes them by, and they sit rigid, thinking that they should bet more, but unable to do so out of fear that the streak will end when they press the bet.