I had an interesting experience cashing out at the Bellagio cage this morning.

I had turned about 10k into 35k over the course of a couple late night / early morning blackjack sessions at the tail end of all night poker sessions.

I go to the cage to cash out my chips I had accumulated this week during my trip, and the table games manager (I think that's what her name tag said) comes to me and tells me, "We are going to go ahead and cash you out, but we are flat betting you".

I just said "Ok", because it is their business and they can do whatever the hell they want -- however, if someone were to review my play they would see their is no doubt I wasn't counting. I was barely paying attention to the cards, tipping extravagantly, etc. I just like to vary my bet wildly since I have a lot of gamble and it's the only chance one has to win in my opinion. It seems they just got super lazy and thought "poker player does pretty good at blackjack, we better not let him play anymore".

Even more insulting though was the line "We are going to go ahead and cash you out... but..." Of course you are going to cash me out, I won the chips fair and square! Is that a line that is supposed to make me feel like they are doing me a favor or something???

You can be certain I will be telling everyone I know not to play at the Bellagio because if you win they won't let you play anymore.

 

If you vary your bets wildly it doesn't matter if you were counting or not, you gave the tell tale signs of a counter

 

That seems like a very lazy way to go about it that could easily alienate some players that would dump a lot just because they got lucky.

I emailed the Bellagio today asking to be put in touch with someone for an explanation and/or to do an actual review of my play where I am pretty sure it would be obvious I was not counting or cheating, we'll see how that goes. Knowing that place, they will probably just ban me rather than have to provide any sort of customer service.

Most of my big bets were made at the beginning of shoes, and it was a shoe deck not a hand pitch, so no way they could suspect I was marking cards or something. I think someone was just lazy.

I will be giving all my gambling action to CET from now on and only playing poker at MGM properties I think. CET has never given me any grief when I have had the occasional big win.

 

How many decks were in the shoe you were playing? And did you play in the HL room? I think most casinos are too lazy and have no interest in trying to get $$$$ back from you.....if you were good enough to beat them 1 time they believe you can do it again, to them many more fish in the sea.

 

I think 4 decks. It was a 100 min table on the floor. Both sessions played at like 3 or 4 am after I was done with poker for the night and stuck.

 

4 deck?

 

Maybe it was 2? I have no idea, all I know is it was from a shoe. I don't pay attention to these things, I just like to gamble!

 

If you have no idea and dont pay attention, you shouldnt be gambling. Not coming off like a smart ass but just IMHO. Good luck the rest of the way, we all need luck.

 

You are probably right. Most of my gambling is the worst kind, chasing losses.

 

If it was as you describe, bigger bets at the beginning of a shoe and lots of tipping then they were really clueless, which is not that surprising.
Like VBJ said, you spread your bets a lot, say 5-8X and there are pit critters who only know enough to see that as a red flag.
Casino may have it right in telling you to flat bet though. Not knowing the decks or even the cards played (did alcohol perhaps play a factor?), then you should be flat betting your minimum.
But, it's your money so good luck.
And yes, the casino could have made it a real hassle to cash, especially since you waited and had all the chips you say you had.