Harvesting Chips? (1 Viewer)

[JWJ]

Hi

I am new here and I have been reading about harvesting chips. I understand what it is, but how exactly do you do it? And do casinos care? If you get caught what happens?

Thanks for the help

 

[Lemonzest]

How?

There are several ways. Go to the main cage and ask for a rack of chips. You might request the chips for tips or you may just be up front and tell them you want them as souvenirs.

You can also sit down at a poker table either NL or Limit and slowly pocket some of the chips. Likewise you can pocket chips as you play Blackjack or Craps etc.

Third option is to try and buy them from the poker room cage.

Do the casinos care?

This largely depends on which casino and IMO more so which casino clerk. Some clerks won't care and some are going to be difficult. A smile and a tip can generally go a long way.

What if I get caught?

Worse scenario they will ask for the chips back. As long as you are civil and don't do anything crazy there is no reason for it to be a big deal. Security may stop you and request you go to the cage and exchange your chips before leaving. This would be the exception though. In most cases I think people just get away with it. Taking the actual racks is not a good idea as that could upset some people.

 

[JWJ]

How?

There are several ways. Go to the main cage and ask for a rack of chips. You might request the chips for tips or you may just be up front and tell them you want them as souvenirs.

You can also sit down at a poker table either NL or Limit and slowly pocket some of the chips. Likewise you can pocket chips as you play Blackjack or Craps etc.

Third option is to try and buy them from the poker room cage.

Do the casinos care?

This largely depends on which casino and IMO more so which casino clerk. Some clerks won't care and some are going to be difficult. A smile and a tip can generally go a long way.

What if I get caught?

Worse scenario they will ask for the chips back. As long as you are civil and don't do anything crazy there is no reason for it to be a big deal. Security may stop you and request you go to the cage and exchange your chips before leaving. This would be the exception though. In most cases I think people just get away with it. Taking the actual racks is not a good idea as that could upset some people.

Thanks for the advice. I am heading to Vegas next month and I am looking to pick up some new $1 chips. Any suggestions for which casino to harvest the chips from?

 

[Lemonzest]

I have heard Venetian is pretty cool about just letting people walk up and buy full racks of 1's. Paris, while the chips are desirable, is difficult to harvest from. You may need to play pit games for a while as they don't offer poker. My guess is Paris employees are used to people trying to harvest so they aren't interested in helping you out when it comes to buying in quantity.

Anywhere that offers Limit and NL poker is generally speaking going to be a bit more loose about selling 1 chips in bulk as there is a reasonable excuse as to why you would want them.

I have also heard that asking for new racks at the cage can work if you feign that you believe new clean chips are lucky. For example you could say something like "here is a 20 dollar tip if you can get me a full rack of new clean lucky chips!"

Good luck and please keep us posted on how you make out.

 

[Ronoh]

If they have a poker room cage it’s simple, just take a backpack. My standard is, say you want to buy in to the poker table for $300 and harvest 300 singles. I go to the cage and ask for $300 in white and $300 in red. Put them all in your bag, go to your table, sit down and pull out the $300 in red.

Easy peezy

 

[JWJ]

I have heard Venetian is pretty cool about just letting people walk up and buy full racks of 1's. Paris, while the chips are desirable, is difficult to harvest from. You may need to play pit games for a while as they don't offer poker. My guess is Paris employees are used to people trying to harvest so they aren't interested in helping you out when it comes to buying in quantity.

Anywhere that offers Limit and NL poker is generally speaking going to be a bit more loose about selling 1 chips in bulk as there is a reasonable excuse as to why you would want them.

I have also heard that asking for new racks at the cage can work if you feign that you believe new clean chips are lucky. For example you could say something like "here is a 20 dollar tip if you can get me a full rack of new clean lucky chips!"

Good luck and please keep us posted on how you make out.

Awesome!
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely try the Venetian.
Thanks again!

 

[JWJ]

If they have a poker room cage it’s simple, just take a backpack. My standard is, say you want to buy in to the poker table for $300 and harvest 300 singles. I go to the cage and ask for $300 in white and $300 in red. Put them all in your bag, go to your table, sit down and pull out the $300 in red.

Easy peezy

Seems pretty easy.
Thanks

 

[Lemonzest]

If they have a poker room cage it’s simple, just take a backpack. My standard is, say you want to buy in to the poker table for $300 and harvest 300 singles. I go to the cage and ask for $300 in white and $300 in red. Put them all in your bag, go to your table, sit down and pull out the $300 in red.

Easy peezy

Why didn't I think of this...?!

 

[allforcharity]

Welcome!

 

[ruskba]

You can also sit down at a poker table either NL or Limit and slowly pocket some of the chips. Likewise you can pocket chips as you play Blackjack or Craps etc.

Please do not do this at a poker table. Pulling chips off the table during course of play is not a good idea. You can maybe stick a single $1 chip in your pocket but anything more and you might be seen as ratholing which is no good. Go ahead a separate chips into a keeper stack if you want, but just put those in your bag/pocket when you head to the cage to cash out.

 

[Lemonzest]

Please do not do this at a poker table. Pulling chips off the table during course of play is not a good idea. You can maybe stick a single $1 chip in your pocket but anything more and you might be seen as ratholing which is no good. Go ahead a separate chips into a keeper stack if you want, but just put those in your bag/pocket when you head to the cage to cash out.

I know what you are saying but I am kinda like meh. Removing some singles from play is not really relevant IMO. It is not any different than paying for a massage or tipping a waitress with singles which happens non stop at the table. As long as people know what your stack looks like at the beginning of a hand that is close enough. Of course removing any chips mind hand would be bad.

 

[ruskba]

I think most people who are comfortable playing in a casino would agree, but I just wanted to make sure any advice given to a new poster isn’t taken to an unintended extreme. I wouldn’t be surprised if people didn’t know the rules against taking chips off the table, so I don’t want it to be condoned unconditionally.