Moving to Vegas, going pro, would like guidance

[Dynasty]

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What's the best way to handle money transactions with the casino? Do I open up an account there and EFT money from my bank account there and use it whenever I like? How would I go about doing this, and how much time would I need to give before I can use said funds? Or do I just keep a pile of chips in one of those lock-boxes I see in the cashier's cage? Or Other?


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The easiest, and perhaps most efficient, way to do this is to keep a mini (or buy-in) bankroll in big chips. For example, if you're regualrly playing 40-80, you should bring $5,000 to the casino on Day 1 and purchase five $1,000 chips.

Then, when you actually play 40-80, you bring a couple to the cashier and get $2,000 worth of $10 chips to play with. When you cash out, you request $1,000 chips(and $500 when necessary), put them in your pocket, and go home.

When you want to cash out your profits, you request the appropriate amount of cash in addition to your $1,000 chips.

[djack]

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I don't think you should be asking how the games are after you already made a decision to turn pro. If a couple people say the games are horrible don't play during the week what are you going to do?

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I know this guy (about time you started posting!) and I have every confidence that he'll be very, very successful.

It's so en vogue here to automatically assume that everyone will fail as a pro. You shouldn't assume he isn't good just because he didn't tell you that he beats the 10/20 6 max for a good bb/100.

He's better than I am, and I'm doing just fine playing for a living.

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

What's the best way to handle money transactions with the casino? Do I open up an account there and EFT money from my bank account there and use it whenever I like? How would I go about doing this, and how much time would I need to give before I can use said funds? Or do I just keep a pile of chips in one of those lock-boxes I see in the cashier's cage? Or Other?


[/ QUOTE ]

The easiest, and perhaps most efficient, way to do this is to keep a mini (or buy-in) bankroll in big chips. For example, if you're regualrly playing 40-80, you should bring $5,000 to the casino on Day 1 and purchase five $1,000 chips.

Then, when you actually play 40-80, you bring a couple to the cashier and get $2,000 worth of $10 chips to play with. When you cash out, you request $1,000 chips(and $500 when necessary), put them in your pocket, and go home.

When you want to cash out your profits, you request the appropriate amount of cash in addition to your $1,000 chips.

[/ QUOTE ]
How is this any different from or better than carrying cash back and forth, aside from the potentially huge wad of bills?

[RydenStoompala]

Just wanted to say good luck. Once I am semi-retired, I will be joining you.

You should not have any problems with the roll you need at those levels. If you cash out after a large day, the advice on using 1k chips is very good advice. Keep your cash in the bank and ATM any extra you need. I have the bank reset my atm daily limit before each foray into Vegas so that I can get at enough cash in case I am not carrying enough.

Stay frosty.

[MicroBob]

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How is this any different from or better than carrying cash back and forth, aside from the potentially huge wad of bills?

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my question too. but I am guessing it really is just to do with the bulging-wallet factor.


I don't play live much so I too was wondering about this stuff.
When I departed for the PPM cruise I had $3k in cash on me and it felt weird to be going through the airport with that much I guess.
Suppose you get used to it after awhile.

But I didn't want to have to go hit the ATM for $500 at a shot if I struggled in the cash-games (and hell, it's a boat, how do I even know they have an ATM in the first place).


Would like to take $3k-$4k with me to Vegas for the side-game action I will be hitting during the WSOP but certainly don't want to be walking around with that much on me...and also don't really want to leave it in the room (although I guess the in-room safe, if there is one, provides a LITTLE security...but not much).


I'm not trying to sound paranoid here.
I just know that most people don't walk around with $3k or more in cash on them.
But obviously this is not nearly as infrequent in Vegas.

I'm not really in love with the $1k-chip option either...but I'll be considering that when I get there.

[DrPublo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

What's the best way to handle money transactions with the casino? Do I open up an account there and EFT money from my bank account there and use it whenever I like? How would I go about doing this, and how much time would I need to give before I can use said funds? Or do I just keep a pile of chips in one of those lock-boxes I see in the cashier's cage? Or Other?


[/ QUOTE ]

The easiest, and perhaps most efficient, way to do this is to keep a mini (or buy-in) bankroll in big chips. For example, if you're regualrly playing 40-80, you should bring $5,000 to the casino on Day 1 and purchase five $1,000 chips.

Then, when you actually play 40-80, you bring a couple to the cashier and get $2,000 worth of $10 chips to play with. When you cash out, you request $1,000 chips(and $500 when necessary), put them in your pocket, and go home.

When you want to cash out your profits, you request the appropriate amount of cash in addition to your $1,000 chips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Isn't 4 or 5 itty bitty chips (even of large denomination) easier to lose or get pickpocketed than a huge wad of bills? Why don't you recommend a box in the room he most often plays at?

The Doc

[rocketlaunch]

[ QUOTE ]

I know this guy (about time you started posting!) and I have every confidence that he'll be very, very successful.

It's so en vogue here to automatically assume that everyone will fail as a pro. You shouldn't assume he isn't good just because he didn't tell you that he beats the 10/20 6 max for a good bb/100.

He's better than I am, and I'm doing just fine playing for a living.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey there! Thanks for the support.

It's funny that you knew it was me. What gave it away? I mean besides telling the, er, exact same story I told you. I'm sure there are many people moving to Vegas for poker during these boom times, though.

[rocketlaunch]

[ QUOTE ]

When I departed for the PPM cruise I had $3k in cash on me and it felt weird to be going through the airport with that much I guess.
Suppose you get used to it after awhile.


[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. I make regular trips to Vegas and I'm always "itchy" about going through airport security with thousands of dollars in cash in my bag. I keep expecting them to stop me thinking I'm a drug dealer or some such.

My last trip I managed to do real well and so was returning with just under $10K in cash. Since I really didn't want to put up with the hassle of being stopped for any reason and knowing how the government is very careful about tracking cash transactions in amounts over $10K, I was paranoid to the point of spending about 20 minutes trying to figure out ways to make it look like less ("this much in my pocket, this much in my wallet, this much in my bag"). I finally just said screw it, doing that will just make it look more suspicious--if they want to stop me, they'll stop me. I've done nothing wrong.

The wad went through security without so much as a peep from them.

Since then I've heard of people transporting amounts of cash in excess of $20K through airport security without any problems. I imagine if you have a briefcase full, they might get suspicous, but then again, maybe not. Anyone know in general what the SOP is for airport security detecting large amounts of cash going through their machines?

Thankfully, since I'm finally just moving out there, this is one problem I won't have to contend with nearly as often.

[ChicagoTroy]

Assuming you have at least $5K on you, which would be reasonable for a day of $40-80, that's too big a stack of bills to carry comfortably.

Zipper-lined belts will hold casino chips (and $100 bills, but not 50 of them), which is reasonably secure, so five chips is easy to conceal.

[Student]

Years ago I played lots of craps in Las Vegas. I had $5,000 credit lines established at Binions Horseshoe and Vegas World (now Stratosphere), and less at Union Plaza. I'd go to Las Vegas with a minimum of cash, perhaps $500. At the time I didn't even believe in credit cards, if you can believe that! It was 2 years ago that I last did some of these operations, and everything was the same as it was years ago...

I'd take a $2,000 marker, and then keep the cash/chips in a free deposit box at the casino cashier window, if I elected to leave the premises of the casino. They would require a $25 deposit, to protect them against expense in the event they had to break into the box to restore ownership to them. This deposit was easily recovered, at the end of my stay.

I knew I could have a front money account with them at any time, without regards to my creditworthiness. So you go to your intended casino and hand them $5,000, which they'll receipt suitably. You sit down at the poker table and request a marker for whatever you deem appropriate. Once they get to know you, they'll just hand you the chips immediately, and do the paperwork even as you are playing poker. At the end of your play, you simply pay back the marker, and your front money account goes back up to where it was before you started. Of course, if you want to increase the account size or reduce (or eliminate it), you just go to the cashier window and do your business.

I would sometimes take a marker from 2 or 3 places at once, and kept all these funds in deposit boxes where it was handy for me. Sometimes I'd open such a box at each casino where I intended to play.

In this way I never had to concern myself with taking big sums out of the casino, or into it either, except initially.

Dave