Usually nothing. I've been stopped several times, they just take your info and send you on your way. That said, I am wary every time I get stopped bc all it takes is an unscrupulous TSA agent or the government "seize first, apologize later" to burn me. I've also been stopped once and then literally just waved thru by a cool TSA agent. That was a shock. I haven't been stopped in a few yrs, knock on wood.

I can picture that. "I don't want to see THIS!". We get it, dude, you're a closet gay. Get over yourself.

Well, we know 99% of people have more money entering rather than leaving...

I laughed at the holding 1 A and getting quad 3s.

Playing a morning session with no worries of going home big. Man, living the dream

Leon, a random question after seeing all that cash. I have a friend from Europe (HS PLO guy that was mentioned from my previous TRs) and every time he’s in Vegas he brings home 2-3000 but leaves the rest of his winnings at the Aria cage, deposited. Since you live so close to Vegas and travel so frequently, wouldn’t it be more easy and comfortable to deposit the money with the Wynn and just take out whatever you need instead of carrying 100k+ through a flight?

I've thought about this and somewhat looked into it before. Here are my issues in no particular order-

1. I don't like "leaving" money at the casino. Yes, I know I'm coming back and eventually they'll get it all. But leaving money for use next time just makes that reality so much more stark. I know this is dumb but there's something infinitely more satisfying about being able to take money home, even if the reality is it's just a short term loan.

2. It's actually annoying to wire money to the casino. I did this once, you have to set up an account, give them 3-5 business days, etc, then when you leave technically you are supposed to re-deposit up to the amount you initially wired over so they can send it back, which also takes a few days. The last thing I want to do on my last day when I'd rather be gambling is standing at the cage, filling out paperwork.

3. I need the liquidity for my home casino. Leaving money in Vegas leaves money I can't use at Barona (I could, obv, do the same thing there).

If I was a hi roller and/or didn't need the liquidity I'd probably do what your friend does. I'm in that weird spot where it kind of makes sense but I don't gamble so big that it really becomes unwieldy to move physical money. Plus how hard is it to bring back negative 50k with me (ie, nothing, as we all know has unfortunately happened to me before).

I was thinking more of depositing at the cage, not wiring. For that you only need your players card, you get a receipt of the deposit and it’s on your card so to say.

But yeah I get it, if you want to play locally it might be a better option. Plus my friend has to declare a bunch of forms if he wants to fly with over 10k back to Europe which you don’t have to within the US.

I hate to be the one to break it to you...

Thanks again Leon for your trip reports. I know they can be time consuming but we super appreciate your effort.


I believe this was asked before in the old thread but I couldn't find the answer by searching... each trip how many total hands do you think you play? I'm guessing it's something like 6 hours x 4 days x 600 deals per hour x 10 play... so roughly 144,000 per trip.

Good point. They're probably doing a lot of the would-be gamblers a favor by relieving them of their debit cards, etc.

I know there are levels to this and I'm sure leon believes he's not, but having $100k and getting a Rolls to drive you around...

Speaking of which, how does that work with a lot of people? The Escalade at Cosmo isn't nearly as fancy, but it has 3rd row seating and a lot of trunk space.

It's not nearly that many. I keep a really accurate account and it's anywhere between 8000-12000 unique deals. More if I'm running well obv bc I'm playing faster/more. If you factor in more lines, then the calc goes out the window since I'll play anywhere between 5-30 lines depending on the game. So I basically just track how often I hit the deal button.

We actually ran into this problem a couple of times- legally they can't put more than 4 in a vehicle not designed for it. They were going to take us to dinner in the Rolls for example, then when we walked out they pivoted to an Escalade. We took the stretch limo a bunch too.

As far as me being a hi roller, serious answer is obv I know I gamble far above what a lot of people can, and then comps I get from the Wynn are first class obv. I think I'm differentiating myself mentally from what I consider true hi rollers- the ones that can lose 5,6,7 figures over and over and it really doesn't matter. If I even lose 5 figures multiple times, I start to feel like scared money.

There are some people out there that are just on a different level. Obv the Wynn has plenty of them. The guys playing craps with all 1k/5k chips for example. Or the ones hitting 6 figure jackpots at VP and saying, "now I'm only stuck 1 million for the trip". WTF. Those are the real hi rollers IMO.

There’s a famous story about Kerry Packer the media mogul/billionaire who was Australia’s richest man and a huuuuuge gambler and tipper.

He was in a high roller room in Vegas somewhere and apparently getting too much of the attention from the staff there for the liking of a Texan oilman. The story goes that the oil guy was bragging and acting up about being worth over $100m

Packer walked over and said ‘$100 million? I’ll flip you for it’

https://highstakesdb.com/news/high-s...casino-history

I laughed when I saw this

Reminds me of a story about my dad in the early 90s although not on the same level. He went to Germany to buy a watch for my mom, a Rolex. He was dressed in a plain shirt, pants and shoes that probably cost $25. Walks in the store, is super polite and friendly but the jeweller is arrogant and looks down on him and doesn’t think he can afford one. He gets angry at this point and tells the guy to add a Piaget watch to the Rolex “for washing dishes” and pays the man something like $50-60 000 in cash for the two watches. Guy was absolutely stunned.

I don't think I'm rewarding someone for talking down to me by doubling my spend in their store. Probably going to buy them somewhere else then come back to ask the guy if I got a good deal or not?

I would’ve done the same, but guess he was tilted.

Yeah, no kidding. I'm pulling out the cash, pointing out to him and his boss that his attitude cost them my business. The last word before I left would've been either "you", or "off".

LOL

Epic story from my small college town a couple of years before I got there:

The wife of the biggest and quite well known local bootlegger (state was dry and the county was also dry for beer) went to the biggest (LOL) department store in town and bought a few items. The clerk indignantly refused to accept her personal check. The woman walked down the block to the bank and returned with a $1000 bill (still in circulation then) and plopped it on the counter. The clerk told her that they couldn't change it and sheepishly accepted her personal check.

I personally try to stay unremarkable, understated, etc. I figure there's no point in being flashy or demonstrative with money bc all that does is make you a target, make people think you're a douche, etc. If my rolex ever comes through it'll be the first personal item I've ever owned that screams money. I walk around in a T-shirt 99% of the time and all my cars have either been used and/or hand-me-downs from my wife LOL. It's easier if she buys something she wants and then when she needs a new car BOOM I get one that I know works and don't have to go to the dealership haha. I'm going to assume the real Vegas hi-rollers aren't pouring bourbon into water bottles to bring home to use up all their comp

I've never had someone pre-judge me in Vegas, probably bc that city has to be the center of the universe in terms of people whose physical appearance, behavior etc has no correlation with their net worth. Any salesperson in Vegas that would pre-judge someone probably went out of business long ago. Vegas to me has always been the city where the guys acting like ballers aren't and the ones who look like nothing are probably loaded. Obv there's some overlap there.

I do find the stories of people who pre-judge and/or get shown up to be highly amusing.

I don't get it. You get back at the jeweler by spending even more money at his store, in cash? He sure did a great acting job inflating the buyer's ego and making him feel like he got one over on him.

It's always 5 o'clock somewhere anyway.

Have you looked into casino credit? You don't have to wire it in before your trip, do you?

I haven't, and as far as I know you don't. Credit should be extended to me based on what I have in my bank. I'll probably look into it for my next trip.