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Royal Flushed
November 30, 2008
I have lived in Las Vegas for 4 years. I visited Las Vegas almost monthly for several years prior to moving here. During that time, I have played possibly every video poker machine in Las Vegas. I use video poker to kill time. If I am waiting for a show to start, I play video poker. If I am waiting to meet someone, I sit down at the bar and play video poker. I play video poker in the pharmacy while I am waiting for my prescriptions to be filled. Hell, if I am waiting for someone to come out of the restroom, that person often comes out to find me sitting at a video poker machine. In Las Vegas, video poker is the traditional time waster when you have nothing else to do at that particular moment in time. We've got machines in convenience stores and K-marts, and when I am forced to go ... Read the full blog post...
Pay Attention!
November 29, 2008
I went to the Excalibur Poker Room yesterday for two reasons. First, I wanted to play very low-stakes poker so that I wouldn't have to spend my own money for lunch. Second, I wanted to speak with the room manager to arrange for a private table next weekend. I succeeded on the private table front, but I failed on the lunch money front. Why? Because I was an idiot. I wish I could look for someone or something else to blame, but in the end, it all comes back to me. You see, I have something to admit. I'm an addict. I wish it were something as easy to kick as crack, meth, or herion … but it's far worse. The fact is, I'm a CrackBerry addict. I am never without a BlackBerry or similar device. My phone beeps every 90 seconds, and I dutifully check it every time. It doesn't matter if I am standing in the middle of railroad ... Read the full blog post...
Rex, The Two Time Loser
The Tropicana has a little gimmick. They try to attract people to the property by offering a spin on one of two slot machines. The grand prize is either a car or $15,000 in cash. Of course, nobody ever wins a car or $15,000. They have one machine on the bridge between the Tropicana and MGM, and one machine near the taxi stand. They are only a couple of hundred feet apart. I have been playing these machines for years. Once or twice per month for the past 8 years, and the best I have ever done is a show ticket. I usually get a deck of cards or a coupon booklet. Yesterday, I went for the big prize again … not once, but twice. I figured that I would double my odds by playing both machines. I always try to act like a hapless tourist because I am afraid that at some point they will say ... Read the full blog post...
Fear and Blackjack Loathing in Las Vegas
November 28, 2008
This was meant to be a post about the evils of 6:5 Black, until yesterday afternoon. What changed yesterday afternoon? After playing poker at the Excalibur poker room, I encountered something that I rarely see in Las Vegas. A 7:5 Blackjack table. Great, yet another bastardized version of the game. I realized that a post about the evils of 6:5 Blackjack would be lacking. It now has to be about the evils of “anything other than 3:2” Blackjack. Some people insist that anything other than 3:2 should not be called “Blackjack” at all. I think it should, because the gameplay is exactly the same. Video Poker is Video Poker no matter what the paytable. That doesn't mean all variations should be played, though. I consider myself to be a fan of Blackjack. It's an easy game to master, but there is still enough strategy to keep it interesting for a few hours each month. Some of you may laugh, but ... Read the full blog post...
More Desperate Times For The Monorail
I'm sorry guys, but it looks like the beginning of the end. Things are just looking worse and worse. Last month, I posted that the Las Vegas Monorail had pretty much ended the locals program. You basically have to live on the MGM or Sahara station to participate in the program. They closed all customer service booths except for two. Now, they aren't even staffing those booths on holidays. Talk about cutting costs to the bone. It would only require two people to staff the two service booths, and the multi-million dollar system took a pass. All major advertisers and sponsors have pulled out of the monorail because it has never once met a ridership target, and they still haven't lowered fares to make the train any more attractive to travelers. It's still $20 one-way for a party of four. To give you perspective, I took the Monorail to the MGM this morning. It now costs me ... Read the full blog post...
Thanksgiving on The Strip
November 27, 2008
It's Thanksgiving. Or so they tell me. Once again, it's that time of year when we celebrate the inferior firepower of the Native American, who's complete incompetence allowed a bunch of effeminate Englishmen build an entire nation on their property. We sat down, ate a meal with our hosts, then shot them in the face with a musket. If that's not something to celebrate, then I don't know what is. Of course, we made it up to them. We killed their ancestors and took their land, but we gave them casinos in return. In the end, I'd say it was a win-win for everyone. Needless to say, I don't celebrate Thanksgiving. If you have to be told by the Federal Government to sit down and be thankful for your family on a prescribed day ... then you're an asshole. I wish I could be more tactful, but I just don't know how else to put it. Every day, I ... Read the full blog post...
Cold November Rain
I'm curious as to how many people will get the Guns N' Roses reference. Most kids today probably think Izzy Stradlin is a new sexual technique. Anyway, today ... for the first time in a long time, it rained in Las Vegas. I am not talking showers or drizzle, but it downright RAINED for 18 hours straight. That, my friends, is rare in this town. We get flash floods and hour blasts of all hell breaking loose several times a year, but a full blown rainy day just isn't common. And that's too bad. This city actually looks the nicest during and immediately after rain storms ... especially at night. It's not good to actually be out in it. I drove over to the Excalibur today to play a little electronic poker (winning a grand total of 75 cents) and I witnessed more accidents than I care to count. Rain in Las Vegas is like a ... Read the full blog post...
The Bird Man Cometh
November 26, 2008
I recently stumbled upon some old photos and videos that I took in Las Vegas at the turn of the century. Most of the media found were taken between 1999-2001. The city has changed a great deal in that time. Some would say for the better, but I personally wouldn't go that far. At the beginning of this decade, one of my favorite hotels was the Tropicana. The price was always right, and the location simply could not be beat. It was a great home base for my gaming at the Mandalay, Luxor, NYNY, and MGM. To this day, it still has one of my favorite pools. While the Trop has been rumored to be flirting with the wrecking ball for some time, and it has fallen decidedly out of favor with the “hip” crowd … to this day I still have an affinity for the place. It still has a bit of ... Read the full blog post...
You can work up a mighty thirst at Binnons
Nevada To Lower The Gambling Age to 10?
November 25, 2008
Ah, the question mark headline … the new staple of Las Vegas media sensationalism. Far be it from me not to follow the trend. Earlier this month, “a gaming attorney” named Thomas Smock simply mentioned among other things, possibly lowering Nevada's gaming age from 21 to 18. It never got past the “mentioning” stage, but for a week afterward, this headline was screaming across every newspaper and blog even remotely associated with Las Vegas: "Nevada to Lower Gambling Age to 18?" No, there was never any serious consideration to lower Nevada's gambling age. The newspaper said the idea was “floated”. “Floated?” What does that mean? I'll tell you what it means … it means nothing. It didn't matter though. It made for good headlines. These days, you can put any kind of nonsense in a headline, and disclaim all responsibility so long as you simply put a question mark at the end. I've been waiting for awhile to use this one: "Steve ... Read the full blog post...
