in an email to me, pit viper writes:

Here's a team policy question for you: I went by Empress today to check on the pitch games. While I was there, I cashed a coupon they had sent me in the mail for $5 cash. I used it to pay for my lunch, but then realized that perhaps I'm supposed to add that to the bankroll. Is it policy that cash coupons belong to the team? If so, then I'll just add $5 to my holdings, and update my BR to $800 from $795. Do team members generally add coupons to BR, or just use them to offset expenses?

i respond:

good question. i've been thinking about this issue recently; you're the second one to bring it up in the last couple weeks.

a good argument can be made either way, so i simply have to make a decision. i think if you take the manual as written, then the cash coupon is yours. but what about match-plays? i get a $50 or $100 match-play coupon in the mail every month from one of the local casinos. is that mine, or the team's? in the past i've always given this to the team, but this really isn't much different than a cash coupon. i think i'm going to rule that the cash coupon is yours. further, the match-play coupons belong to whoever risks the money. if you put team money on the table with the coupon, then it belongs to the team. if you want the coupon to belong to you, you can, but you have to risk your own money on the bet with it.

anyone see any fault with this line of reasoning?

-- Anonymous, January 20, 2000

Answers

(SF) here's my thinking

just say match plays that were received because of play on team funds belong to the team.

how do we know that the match-play was awarded because of play on team funds? some players on the team receive offers in the mail regularly from various casinos. some of these offers come because of play on team funds. some of the offers were coming to players before they even joined the team. how can we tell the difference? further, the same can be said of the cash coupon... was it awarded because of your activity on this team? for some the answer will be "yes".

a fairness to the players issue: most casinos do not offer cash-back for play at blackjack (slots, yes; table games, no). you are fortunate that your local casino does. the closest the rest of us can get to that, is match-plays.

i agree with your notion of taking the decision factor out of the equation. we don't want there to be any confusion as to who's money is in action... but i need to balance this with fairness to each individual player. if no one is offended by the notion that match-plays belong to the team, then that works for me; i'd rather have it that way. somehow it strikes an "unfairness" chord in me though. also, it could start getting to be a big ugly list of which freebies & bennies belong to the players and which belong to the team. i'd rather that not happen.

maybe if you want to play the match-play on your own money, you should do it at the craps table; then there could be no doubt in anyone's mind (including an observer's) who's money it was. and using a match-play at the craps table (on the pass-line), you really aren't giving up any significant EV (it's still *way* positive).

comments, anyone?

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

(SF) tournaments

tournament play is not team play. if you are invited to a tournament, it is on your own time & money.

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2000

(DJ) Sounds good to me. nt

.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

I dunno (PV)

Cash coupons don't require me to play; I can just walk in, get the cash, and walk out. But match plays require play, so I have to make a decision about who's money I'm playing with. That's a little bogus to me. I would rather take that decision out of the equation as much as possible, and just say match plays that were received because of play on team funds belong to the team. Sometimes they dont't even require your I.D. to use them, so are really not very personal. We could even send them to each other for team use, when we have a player going to the appropriate casino. I don't have a strong conviction about this, and will go along either way, but if voting is appropriate, I vote for match plays to belong to the team, whereas cash coupons can be used to offset expenses by the player. Thoughts? PV

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

Also tournaments

I think that a benefit of our play means invitations to a lot of free tournaments where the top prize can be a substantial amount of money. I think players get to reap their own benefits. The players with the better "acts" will be rewarded by more benefits, and they deserve to be rewarded due to their better "act." That is, of course, as long as they are playing by team guidelines, and not fooling around with the team money just so they get better treatment by the casinos.

David

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

Tournaments (GM)

Do prizes awarded in tournaments belong to the team ? Are players tested for tournament play if such money should belong to the team ?

-- Anonymous, January 22, 2000

Tourneys, Match-Play & Cashbacks

This can be very tricky. True, if a player receives Free Tourney Invites, Cash Back or Matchplays PURELY as a result of playing for THIS team, it should belong to the team. However, you have players who have been playing at an given casino for a number of years and such "perks" may be a result of hours built up over those years. You also have players who may be playing for more than one team. How do you measure this? A couple of years ago, when the MGM was playable, they were sending players free $500 chip vouchers in the mail. The teams whose players were receiving these were required to turn them in to the team upon redemption. But then, these teams that I know of reimbursed all player expenses. Big difference. To avoid confusion, I would recommend that any and all perks belong to the player. Especially since players are not being reimbursed for expenses, these perks can help. The only concern is that players do not attempt to play in substandard conditions in an effort to qualify for such perks.

Regards, Rick

-- Anonymous, January 23, 2000