ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

It’s still summer, and it’s still hot … so continuing with the poolside gaming series, today I hit the Encore’s poolside casino.

Located in the far back of the Encore pool, directly in the middle of the “adult pool” sits a round, covered, outdoor casino with a nice variety of casino table games.

When I arrived during prime swimming-time today (about 1pm), the Encore Poolcino had four tables running.  3 Blackjack and 1 Craps.  There were some other games with the large “we are closed” cover over them, one of which appeared to be Roulette, but I did not lift up the cover to look.

Outdoor Craps is a bit of a novelty, because it is not something that many poolside casinos offer.  Blackjack is by far the most prevalent game in these types of endeavors, so it was actually cool to try something different.

Unfortunately, the casino was not very full this afternoon.  There were a few people playing cards, but there was absolutely nobody playing craps.  Given that it is a Wednesday, I don’t think this means anything negative.  This is about as “mid-week” as you can get, and things are naturally slower during these times.

This did leave me with a predicament, though.  Much like I hate playing heads-up Blackjack, I also hate playing Craps by myself.  I admit that I am not a huge fan of the social aspect of the game, but I would rather play with people than without.  Playing alone means that you are always the shooter, and unless you want to shoot in a weird and uneasy silence, you have no choice but to make inane small talk with the staff.

I also have a bit of a unique problem.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a recognizable figure in this town, but that being said … I certainly do not enjoy the anonymity of a random tourist either.   This is still very much a small town, and after writing about and photographing this city nearly every day for 4 straight years, and forging various strange relationships with the properties (from friendly to adversarial) … for better or worse … people sometimes recognize me.  Especially casino employees.

This is another reason I tend to gravitate toward crowds of random people.  If I stand in front of four casino employees by myself, one of them is bound to know who I am.

To date, the reactions have run the gamut of “Hey, I like your blog, does this mean that I’m going to be in it?!” to “Go F yourself you F’ing prick!”  Nobody seems to be neutral.  They either kind of like it in some weird way, or they hate my guts and want me to die a gruesome death on the spot.

Since I was waiting for some folks to arrive at the Wynn, and I was killing time at the pool … this also meant that I was gambling alone, and would definitely be the only person at the table.  Swell.

As I walked to the empty table, I formulated a plan in my head.  I decided to act like a complete neophyte.

What would this accomplish?

It would force the dealer to spend 5 minutes explaining the game to me, allowed me to play slowly by asking stupid questions in between, ease the smalltalk requirement since I was “new”, and would make them more tolerant of my sh*tty dice throwing.  It also made any denials that came out of my mouth more plausible, such as “What’s a blog?”.

Yes, I actually think of this crap on the fly to effectuate my goals, and to my credit, this worked perfectly.  I walked up and said “Hey, this is my first time playing, can you explain what I am supposed to do?”

To the credit of the dealer, he was very friendly and more than happy to explain it to me.  After he went over the beginner speech, I told him that I would bet the pass line because I “heard this is what most people do”.  I placed my $10 on the line, and rolled the dice.   One landed perfectly, and the other bounced off the wall and onto the chip stack.

The stickwoman rolled her eyes, declared a no-roll, then pushed the dice back to me.  This was not an act.  I’m an angry roller.   I’ve thrown the damn things across the room before.  It’s also why I often pass when it’s my turn to shoot.  I roll the dice like I am trying to kill somebody at the other end of the table with two small cubes.  Subconsciously, I think I am.  Wouldn’t it be cool to become a legend for being the first guy ever to kill a man with nothing more than a pair of dice?  They would name a street after me in this town.

After my idiot roll, the dealer showed me his personal “pinch” technique.  He told me not to roll them so hard, and  I finally established 4 as the point.  Then I rolled, rolled, and rolled again.  No four, no seven.  Roll, shoot, roll.  I have no idea how many times I shot the dice, but it was getting embarrassing.  When you are the only action, shooting dice is a lot like playing with yourself while a bunch of people are watching.  It’s just awkward.

“I’m going to do this for a f**king hour”, I said and the stickwoman said “You wouldn’t do that to us would you?”

Finally, I got a four, and the whole thing started over.

I repeated the endeavor several more times, and I ended up flat.  I grabbed my chips, pushed over a tip, and declared myself finished for awhile.  I was thanked, and as I turned to walk away, the dealer said “Hey, what’s your name anyway?”.

“Uh, Rex”, I said.

I was caught off-guard, and completely forgot to use a completely fake name such as “Funkmaster Scratch”, “Harry Balsagna”, “Sir Fredrick Feltersnatch”, or any of a dozen other names I use.  I’m not joking.  On a couple of occasions I’ve put my name on poker room waiting lists as “I. Feltersnatch”, and sat back and waited for them to call my name while watching it on the screen.

“Nice to meet you, Rex”, replied the dealer as if he was doing everything possible to suppress ending the sentence with “asshole”.

I didn’t know if I had been made, or if the guy was truly glad to meet me, but I wasn’t taking a chance.  I quickly found my way back inside, and set up shop with my laptop at the Eastside Lounge.

It’s been a year since anyone has heard from Jamie, and I really don’t want to be buried next to her in the vast Nevada desert.

Anyway, the Encore poolside casino is actually very nice.  Since it is located in the adult (topless) pool, and because of this your theoretical shot at superior scenery is very good.  Unfortunately, today was a typical Vegas sausage-fest, and the few boobs I saw were over 45 years old.  What this means for most males is that, for all intents and purposes, there were no boobs.  If they aren’t fake by the time you’re forty, it’s probably just best for everyone if you leave the top on.

I’m not being a hypocrite.  My old ass doesn’t wear shorts that stop above the knees.  Nobody wants to see our old asses running around the pool.  There should be a maximum age of 35 for toplessness (both male and female), and it should be strictly enforced everywhere.

That being said, the staff is very friendly, the limits are reasonable given that it is a Wynn property, and the vibe of this casino is far less “party pit” and more “upscale classy”.  Not “if you have to ask the limit, you can’t afford to play” classy, but more “thank you very much for coming” classy.  I rather like the place.

This is a poolside casino that will probably appeal to a slightly more mature and refined crowd, and if you fall into this demographic, the Encore poolside casino is most definitely worth a shot.

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