High Stakes Baccarat Rooms

[bigcash2002]

What should your unit bet amount be, before you decide to play in a High Limits Bac area/room?

Is there a certain rule of thumb regarding buy-in amount?

If you play Black Chips, meaning wagers might be $100, $200, $300 in a 1, 2, 3 progression, is that sufficient?

Do people find playing in the high limits area is preferred, or do most folks prefer the regular floor area, since there typically are a ton more tables to select from?

Just trying to get an idea of general parameters and which area might be best for playing NOR...better dealers? Less crowded? Faster games?

Thanks

[bigcash2002]

Is it safe to assume that since I haven't received a reply in a few days, that nobody is playing baccarat in a high limits room?

[ECD]

Is it safe to assume that since I haven't received a reply in a few days, that nobody is playing baccarat in a high limits room?

There is at least 1 member here that bets with $5,000 Units and there are others that prefer the High Limit Tables...Ellis himself has related many times his reasons for prefering the High Stakes Rooms

I don't play in the "High Limits" room at my local casino...but I don't need to...Even the $200 min tables have a high limit of 50K and I can't see me ever laying out $50,000 on 1 bet

I actually prefer the $50 min tables (even if I'm using $200 units) as the games are much faster than the $200 min tables which tend to be "Touch" games and painfully slow.

I was introduced to the High Rollers Room at the Sydney Casino several years ago by a friend...and back then the table minimum was $1000

He took me to dinner first at the High Rollers Restaurant (there were a dozen of us)...It was a Degustation Menu and when I glimpsed the Bill, I damn near messed my pants... (it worked out at over $1300/ head and just when I'm wondering how many dishes I gotta wash to come close to $1300...the Maitre De asked for the Bill...and then said to my friend..."I'll take care of this for you Sir"...which made me a very happy Oz.

I soon realised why he did it...I witnessed my friend and a few of his other guests lose many times that amount in less than an hour.

I don't move in those circles...leastwise...not yet:wink:

[Guest]

What should your unit bet amount be, before you decide to play in a High Limits Bac area/room?

Is there a certain rule of thumb regarding buy-in amount?

If you play Black Chips, meaning wagers might be $100, $200, $300 in a 1, 2, 3 progression, is that sufficient?

Do people find playing in the high limits area is preferred, or do most folks prefer the regular floor area, since there typically are a ton more tables to select from?

Just trying to get an idea of general parameters and which area might be best for playing NOR...better dealers? Less crowded? Faster games?

Thanks

Sorry bigcash, with our server down for 4 days, I didn't see your post until this morning.

I've been playing high limit rooms almost exclusively since the '80s. In BJ, the less the cards have been played and the less players in the games, the more random the cards will be, the better your Basic Strategy hit rate. Also in BJ there is a huge advantage to playing head to head, especially with newer cards. Since high stakes rooms open later in the day, the cards are newer and there are more head to head opportunities. Also, in most high stakes rooms, when a table is empty, you can ask for, and often get, new cards.

I kept exhaustive BJ records for many years which showed conclusively that the red games are impossible to beat long term because of clumping and too many players at the tables. As soon as I graduated to $25 tables, my win rate tripled. But $25 tables can also easily become over played. So I again graduated to the high stakes parlors and avoided Friday and Sat night play because on those nights, even the high stakes parlors can become over played.

A practical example of all this was at our recent Vegas seminar at Flamingo, about 3 seminars ago, I noted with interest that their high stakes parlor was completely empty in spite of the fact that it was Sat night. Very peculiar. So I went in and selected a $100 2 deck table and beat it virtually every shoe for two nights straight. I couldn't even come close to doing that on the open floor on a weekend.

A more exotic example was at what has become to be known as Taj 1. In front of an invited audience of 200 I played an 8 deck high limit room $100 table and won exactly $10,000 in a half hour W/O ever betting over $200 - perhaps a world BJ record.

And, when accused of luck, I did the exact same thing again under the watchful eyes of a different invited audience of 200 at the very same Taj high stakes table 2 weeks later - which has become known as Taj 2.

So your question likely is: Does this also apply to Bac? Well I've also been playing high stakes Bac since the '80s and I say YES, at least to a certain extent. In BJ, I know exactly why high stakes parlors are best. In Bac, I have no idea - they just are better. Biases seem to hold better.

An example is the last Vegas seminar where a bunch of us ended up at a high stakes Bac table at MGM's "The Mansion". Two shoes I averaged 8.5 units a shoe W/O ever betting more than 2 units and they were, by far, the easiest shoes I saw the whole trip.

My experience is that high stakes Bac shoes are simply more consistent. But don't ask me why.

To answer your questions, there are no tricks to high stakes parlors. You just have to meet the table mins. Some parlors have $25 and $50 tables and others start at $100. 20 unit buy ins are common and you can get away with 10.

It is much easier to get comps in high stakes parlors esp if you stick to 20 unit buy ins. Just recognize that only 8 of those units are in play - the rest are for show.

Most of our members prefer the lower stakes on the open floor but the Bac games on the floor are usually tougher and the BJ games impossible long term.

Many players complain to me that they can't afford high stakes parlors. My reply is: "I can't afford the floor!"

Does that answer your questions?

[bigcash2002]

great answer Ellis. I appreciate you taking the time. It confirmed much of what was thinking already and now I'm confident that high stakes rooms are the way to go for many reasons. I typically prefer black chips, until I am able to move to higher units and it appears that I will be able to find plenty of high stakes rooms that will accept $2000 buy-in

Do u have any experience at Foxwoods? Do u have any thoughts on their high stakes BAC rooms?