Oasis table mins in casino

[Yoggi]

Hello all,

 

I am wondering why the table mins were so high on the Oasis of the Seas?  $15 mins on tabe games like 3 card, LIR, etc.  $10 on craps.   These mins did not change from day to night.  Seems outrageously high.  I have friends that just returned from a cruise and told me about it.  Is this normal for Royal or just becuase its a huge ship that just went through a refurb?  I usually cruise with CCL and it's always $5.  Thank you in advance for you responses.

 

JD

[leaveitallbehind]

The table minimums have nothing to do with the refurbishment or the size of the ship.   My guess is if the tables were empty the minimums might be lower, but if the players are willing to pay it and the tables are full, then that is what will be charged.  

[Clarea]

14 minutes ago, Yoggi said:

 ...  just becuase its a huge ship that just went through a refurb?  ...

 

It's because enough people play at those levels.

[Yoggi]

I was told even in the morning times when it was slower the mins were high.  Oh well....guess we will have to stick with the "older" ships that adhere to lower mins.  I'm not losing my bankroll on the first day.

[leaveitallbehind]

12 minutes ago, Yoggi said:

I was told even in the morning times when it was slower the mins were high.  Oh well....guess we will have to stick with the "older" ships that adhere to lower mins.  I'm not losing my bankroll on the first day.

 

It more likely is cruise line related and has nothing to do with the age of the ships. Oasis was launched in 2008, so while not an older ship compared to some, she is certainly not new at 11 years old. And as indicted before, being refurbished and size have nothing to do with it.  I'm certain the the older CCL ships have been refurbished at some point....

Edited December 9, 2019 by leaveitallbehind

[lenny1287]

I was on Oasis 12/1 - 12/8 and spent quite a bit of time in the casino. Craps never went below $10 and blackjack never went below $15 from what I saw. Good thing was $15 payed 3-2 unless playing single deck which was 6-5. Didn't even play craps at all since you have to bet $25 to even play double odds. Overall the casino was always filled with players so I'm not really surprised they didn't lower the limits.

[mayleeman]

The Allure had a number of days on our Oct 20 to Nov 3 B2B where $5 mins were announced in the Daily. So size of ship certainly is not the criterion.

[waterbug123]

On 12/9/2019 at 9:50 AM, Yoggi said:

I am wondering why the table mins were so high on the Oasis of the Seas?  $15 mins on tabe games like 3 card, LIR, etc.  $10 on craps.   These mins did not change from day to night.  Seems outrageously high.  I have friends that just returned from a cruise and told me about it.  Is this normal for Royal or just becuase its a huge ship that just went through a refurb?  I usually cruise with CCL and it's always $5.  Thank you in advance for you responses.

 

It's been a long time since I've routinely seen $5 or $6 minimums at Blackjack on a Royal ship.  In recent years, it seems $15 or higher is more typical.  You might see $10 but it will only be one table, and even at $15 it's usually only 1 or 2 tables.  Best guess as to why is simply supply and demand.  If enough people are willing to play $15 a hand, there is no reason to offer a $5 table.  If you see that, then probably the demand on that particular cruise warrants it.

[gatour]

On 12/9/2019 at 11:46 AM, Yoggi said:

I was told even in the morning times when it was slower the mins were high.  Oh well....guess we will have to stick with the "older" ships that adhere to lower mins.  I'm not losing my bankroll on the first day.

It really has nothing to do with "older" ships vs "newer" ships.  RCCL in general has higher mins across the fleet than Carnival does.  This applies to drink prices also.  When I was skipping around between cruise lines, Carnival beer prices were always couple dollars cheaper than RCCL, even on Carnival's newest ships as compared to one of RCCL older ships.

[NavyCruiser]

Simple math.  Large 6000 passenger ships has 3 times more passengers than a Smaller 2000 passenger ship, thus has 3 times more people playing in the casino, thus 3 times more likely to filling up the limited number of gaming tables available...

[Tulsacoker]

The coin pusher machines are only a quarter  😄 

[Knighton]

Did they have standard odds on craps (3x4x5x)?  I was on Independence and there was a $5 minimum on craps, but it was single odds!  YUK.  Totally not worth it.  You could have double odds if you bet $25 minimum.  Wow thanks.

[lenny1287]

Single odds on min bet.

[athor]

On 12/9/2019 at 9:50 AM, Yoggi said:

Hello all,

 

I am wondering why the table mins were so high on the Oasis of the Seas?  $15 mins on tabe games like 3 card, LIR, etc.  $10 on craps.   These mins did not change from day to night.  Seems outrageously high.  I have friends that just returned from a cruise and told me about it.  Is this normal for Royal or just becuase its a huge ship that just went through a refurb?  I usually cruise with CCL and it's always $5.  Thank you in advance for you responses.

 

JD

Was Let It Ride $15 all the time?

[RCCLNYMETS41]

Excerpt from my review: Just off ship last week

Casino

-I am a basic strategy blackjack player & am comfortable at a $25 table

-I played on the “non-smoking” (yeah right), side of the casino

-they had a $10 single deck 6-5 BJ table, a couple of $15 3-2 tables, & another table that started as $50  3-2 but they would take it down to $25 upon request if it was empty

-the $15 table was frustrating as it often had non-basic strategy players (one player didn’t even know an Ace can be a 1), but I never say anything as they have a right to play however they want for their money-but it can be frustrating

-the $25 table was perfect-there were usually the same 3 of us playing basic strategy & become friendly & had fun

[SRF]

13 hours ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

-the $15 table was frustrating as it often had non-basic strategy players (one player didn’t even know an Ace can be a 1), but I never say anything as they have a right to play however they want for their money-but it can be frustrating

 

FYI, how the others play has nothing to do with your win-loss.   As many times as they screw up your hand, they also give you a better hand.

 

This has been proven.

[gdy0354]

I was recently on the Allure. BJ had $15 min the entire cruise.

Many empty tables. I asked pit boss why if empty reduce min to attract casual money players who usually lose. He said the days of $5-$10 are long gone. Same as the penny slots which have very high minimum bets. It is still very easy to lose $100's playing $5-$10 BJ with the optional matching bets.

[OldSeaDog1969]

It's called table yield. If a casino has a $10 table instead of a $5 table they have increased their potential profits by 100%. It's absolutely no different than if you go to Vegas when they have a big fight on. All of the Casinos will increase their table minimums.

[SRF]

1 hour ago, OldSeaDog1969 said:

It's called table yield. If a casino has a $10 table instead of a $5 table they have increased their potential profits by 100%. It's absolutely no different than if you go to Vegas when they have a big fight on. All of the Casinos will increase their table minimums.

 

But on slow nights, the lower the table mins.

 

That was what that poster was saying, the tables were empty, but the minimums were still high.

 

Lower the minimums and get the casual players sucked in.

 

$100 minimum makes NO money when no one plays.   That same table at $5 could have every seat filled with a player losing money to the casino.

 

 

[OldSeaDog1969]

3 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

But on slow nights, the lower the table mins.

 

That was what that poster was saying, the tables were empty, but the minimums were still high.

 

Lower the minimums and get the casual players sucked in.

 

$100 minimum makes NO money when no one plays.   That same table at $5 could have every seat filled with a player losing money to the casino.

 

 

A $100 table is set up for that specific cation with high value chips. It is not practical just to turn a $100 minimum table in to a $5 minimum table.

[RCCLNYMETS41]

SRF. You are absolutely correct that in the grand scheme of things it all balances out. It just seems to be whenever I get up to a decent size bet is when a player will deviate from basic strategy and seem to mess up that particular hand and I lose

[SRF]

13 hours ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

SRF. You are absolutely correct that in the grand scheme of things it all balances out. It just seems to be whenever I get up to a decent size bet is when a player will deviate from basic strategy and seem to mess up that particular hand and I lose

 

But they probably deviated and helped you get up to that decent sized bet. 😄

 

[SRF]

16 hours ago, OldSeaDog1969 said:

A $100 table is set up for that specific cation with high value chips. It is not practical just to turn a $100 minimum table in to a $5 minimum table.

 

I guess you have not played at some of the land casinos that when things get busy will go to a $100 minimum.

 

They just bring a tray or two of higher value chips.  At least in Vegas, they always have a row of $100 chips and some $500 and higher chips.

 

I have seen Vegas tables go from $5 in the afternoon to $50 in the height of the evening.

 

The point is, if the seats are empty, the table is not generating revenue, but unless they actually close the table, the dealer is still there getting paid.  So lower the minimum bet, get some butts in the seats, and make some money.

 

 

[waterbug123]

14 hours ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

SRF. You are absolutely correct that in the grand scheme of things it all balances out. It just seems to be whenever I get up to a decent size bet is when a player will deviate from basic strategy and seem to mess up that particular hand and I lose

 

In all honestly, I've seen plenty of players who don't play by the book and for every hand they "mess up" by not doing what they are "supposed to do," there's a hand they help with by likewise, not doing what they are supposed to do.  It's frustrating when it happens and you lose a large bet, but as mentioned, their play probably helped you get up to that point in some way.

[mayleeman]

17 hours ago, RCCLNYMETS41 said:

SRF. You are absolutely correct that in the grand scheme of things it all balances out. It just seems to be whenever I get up to a decent size bet is when a player will deviate from basic strategy and seem to mess up that particular hand and I lose

 

One reason for this is we are likely to just get annoyed in general when we see somebody doing things "wrong." So when it affects us, we get annoyed even more, and it sticks in the memory more strongly.

 

One thing I get a kick out of is when a "perfect player" gets bent out of shape at someone making one of those choices where basic strategy says to do something, but the differential is only a couple thousandths of a % between hitting or staying. The chart doesn't show the odds underlying the basic rules. If you play basic for thousands of hands, yes, playing perfectly will make a difference (and that is why it is so exhausting to try to make it work at a substantial profit). But to the casual player who stays for half an hour and will leave, it makes no practical difference to hold on 16 against a face card compared to taking a card, for example. The odds are still very substantially against you, and if it come up once in a session, it is not predictive.

 

The real fun comes when a self-appointed expert constantly comments about other people's play and tells them what to do based on basic but they aren't aware that different house rules (dbl any 2 cards, late surrender, shoe vs single deck, dealer staying on soft 17, etc) can change the rules. (Or they are unaware someone is counting cards, so they get bent out of shape when someone tries to feign an amateur move by splitting tens in a spectacularly favorable situation.) Being a jerk is bad enough, but being a jerk and being wrong is almost take-'im-out-to-the-desert stuff.

 

One thing I have noticed after hundreds of playing sessions is that people who are noobies just there to risk a smaller amount and play their hunches seem to have more fun in the casino. The players determined to make money are often dour and sour, ready to get angry at players--and sometimes at the dealer, all too often.

 

Back to the OP's discussion: As I mentioned before, $5 tables were available on many days over our 14 day B2B on the Allure in Oct/Nov. And I had been following the daily's posted by a few people in advance of our cruise, and saw some posted on those as well. It may simply depend on the casino managers aboard different ships, as I suspect they are judged on house "take" and try different stategies. I wish they would always at least have some $5 tables available early in the day as LV Strip casinos used to do.

 

Ah, for the days when Boardwalk was still there, with its roulette wheel with 2 different layouts, one for 25 cent chips, the other for 50 cents and higher....

 

Edited December 19, 2019 by mayleeman