Tuesday night, 7:30 pm at the Bellagio Poker Room; playing 5-10 NL on Table 36, sitting in seat 9.There’s a dealer change, so I rush off to the restroom. I just lost a biggish hand, so I’m short with about $430 left in front of me (3 bills and $130 in mostly orange chips).As I’m rushing back to the table not to miss a hand, I am startled to see that both the money and the chips are gone!
The player to my right said, “someone walked by and grabbed it all and kept walking . . . ““Dealer,” I said “what’s going on?”The dealer shrugged.One floor guy says: “I think he had a brown jacket, but he disappeared into the crowd.”I go to the executive office at the back of the room near the cage. I tell the “swing” shift manager, Sean McCormack, what happened. He walks up to talk to the floor guy, and then tells me he’s called security and they are on their way.So I wait. And wait. And wait. I should say that I’ve always been a huge fan of the Bellagio. I typically play over 60 hours a month there. Maybe it resonates with my Italian heritage. Maybe I like that I read a story once that said Steve Wynn only allowed Sinatra to be played in the bathrooms. Maybe it’s that I enjoy playing in the same room as the Big Game [Wikipedia].The Bellagio brand has taken a hit recently with a widely reported million dollar heist. It very much benefits the top-end casinos to have a reputation for high security (if not, the affluent wives with thousands in jewelry won’t feel safe).But this is the Bellagio – so that heist had to be a rare exception of a mastermind pulling off a daring plan, right?And I’m still waiting for security. Literally 40 minutes later Jeffrey Gosselin arrives. He takes me into Bobby’s Room to talk. He says he needs my driver’s license to photo copy. He leaves, and doesn’t return for five minutes. I take a picture of Table 1 in Bobby’s Room while I’m waiting.He returns, and I fill out a short form [titled: “Property Loss Report” #11-0000915].And then he’s shaking my hand, leading me out of the room.“Do I get my money returned now,” I ask.“No,” he says “someone will call you.”“But you don’t have my number,” I say.“Oh,” he says, and asks me for it.“What is the typical timeline?” I ask.He shrugs.I go to talk with the manager again, and at this point I’m pretty hot. I can’t believe that not only has this taken over an hour of my time, but they are clearly not holding themselves accountable for their negligence. Sometimes at 5-10 I'll have $3k or $4k on the table! The answers are robotic, with vague references to process; followed by a hushed, conspiratorial tone, urging me to make the effort to talk to the real boss – a man named Doug Dalton.Play in a casino and the house-edge puts your money at risk - that’s a fact players are forced to live with. But the house allowing your money to be stolen under their nose, and not really seeming to care – that fact will go a long way to motivating players to find another place to play.“You are really going to let me leave here without my money, and without any real clear path for me to get it back”, I say.The manager shrugs, and reaches in his jacket and hands me a Bellagio buffet comp.Great – just don’t leave you coat at the table if you go up for seconds!--Read about RJ playing 2-5 NL with Eli Elezra on New Year's Eve (with picture!)
Bellagio? Even George Clooney and Brad Pitt can rob them. Needless to say, poker player are a small priority for the casino, even for the great Bellagio. This happen at Venetian, and there were witnesses. They were insured by a third party, and there may be a refund, but not immediate. So it happens everywhere. Tight seating, and bobby's room boycott..hell, go to the Wynn with 5-10 big game there. With that one table, you're money will not likely be stolen.
Hope you kicked that one dude off of here for his ridiculous comment
I'm gonna take chips from you too on saturday night except it'll be from right under your nose, lol.
Fucking INSANE!!!!
I like the sportsbook at the Venetian and usually play there. Needless to say I won't be playing at the Bellagio any time soon
Tweet from Daniel Negreanu:
Pretty amazing that Bellagio lost ALL of its hi limit action. Players banded together and moved the game to Aria due to poor treatment.
I had an situation like that there before. I was playing and a player showed another player her cards. Once I called she mucked her cards. The other player said it was a chop and she grabbed the cards and turned them over. The dealer chopped the pot. I went to the floor and they did NOTHING and awarded a chop. The floor people are just puppets and do NOTHING.
Come to CT, Mohegan preferably, free drinks, only 1 every 20 min though since someone drove the wrongway down the freeway leaving the casino and killed 4 people.
With that said Mohegan or Foxwoods would have imediately checked the tapes and returned your money.
This is total BS. Bellagio has pulled tape from the 30-60 Omaha8 game for me when someone didn't post their $40 kill and they won't pull tape on a robbery? Terrible.
Moachist played the 30-60 Omaha8 game all night Saturday as well and at many points left 2k to 2500 in chips and $500 to $700 in bills at the table when using the restroom. That game is played deeper in the room though and the players really look out for each other, so maybe much different.
Moachist also went crazy on the floor when that one dealer (who might possibly be mildly retarted and usually nearly asleep at the table - if you play the Bellagio, you know exactly who it is) would refuse to stack the chips to split up until the hand is over. Demanded a pass on the rake for the next dealer and was told no. The only response from the floor was "Yeah he really sucks, unfortunately we cannot fire him". Maddening.
just let me know when wanna pull an OCEAN's 11.... fukken BASTARDS!!!
$1 Heineken's or Coronas Downtown Las Vegas.
$1 Heineken's or Corona's Downtown!
Any updates?
I'd expect this stuff happens all the time in Vegas. It sucks, but I wouldn't expect to hear from them. Reality is, $430 being taken from somebody is not a big deal to them, unless of course you're some high roller. They make too much money, and if RJ quits going there, they will have somebody else to fill his seat. It sucks, but that's big business.
I have to say that I still don't understand why the floor guy would just stand there and watch this happen? He obviously saw the guy since he knew the color of his jacket. I'd be jamming that fact down the manager's throat if I was in this situation.
As of my last night in Vegas Thursday, still not word from Bellagio.
First off, I cannot believe they did not do anything to help, and at lease look at the cameras and try to make it right by you.
So based on what happened.....
This would be the last time I played there, far too many other places in Vegas that are just as good/nice and appreciate their customers.
JW