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There seems to be a rally underway this weekend.

It was crowded city-wide the past few days.  The monorail cars were fairly full, the sidewalks were crowded, and there was outright traffic gridlock in spots.

Since Friday, I have spent time on Fremont Street Downtown, Sahara, Wynn, Venetian, Caesars, Mandalay Bay, MGM, Flamingo, Hard Rock, and the Harrah’s/IP/O’Sheas complex.  They were all busy and the tables had better action than I have seen in awhile.

Of course, the mid-70 degree weather didn’t hurt.  I think what’s happening is that the low room rates plus the favorable turn in our climate is drawing people from parts of the country who are still experiencing Winter.

I certainly wouldn’t break out my bikini in 72 degree temps (I only do that in my bedroom), but some people were, indeed, sunbathing today.

Las Vegas is now entering its twice-annual month of livable weather. Each Spring and Autumn, there is a narrow window of a few weeks where it is not cold and windy, nor is it ball-scorching hot.  It’s the best time of year to live here because you can leave the jacket at home, but you can still wear normal clothing without coming home with a dripping wet shirt.

This is also fine walking weather, and I did a large amount of it.  I probably put a solid 10-15 miles on my sneakers.

I actually did okay from a gambling perspective.  I played some $5 3-4-5 at O’Sheas and made about fifty bucks over the course of an hour.  It’s not much, but it’s fifty bucks.  I even accepted the dice, and rolled the bones.  One die landed perfectly, and the other one hit a guy in the chest … then dropped back to the table.

Of course, they did not count the roll, but frankly, I think they should have let it count.  They are too strict about proper shooting.

Really, when it bounces off someone’s chest, how in the hell can that alter the outcome to our advantage?  If anything, it makes it more random.  It is my steadfast belief that the more objects the dice ricochet off of, the less chance they can be set.

I think they should let me bounce them off the ceiling … or use my pecker as a bat to whack them across the felt.  What does it matter? They’re freaking dice.  They don’t know any better.  Stop being paranoid.  Nobody is cheating at $5 Craps for crying out loud.  Although some stick men get really agitated when the dice leave the table, O’Sheas’ was jovial. Everyone dealt with my hideous shooting  in good humor.

After earning my fitty bucks, I made my way over to Harrah’s via Carnival Court.  I wanted to play some 21, and also wanted to hang at the Court.   I always like to chill out at Carnival Court, because it is arguably the least pretentious place on The Strip.  It’s almost got a Downtown vibe to it.  People drink, dance, sing, and make asses of themselves … and I say that in the most positive way possible.

Being a pseudo-lowbrow place, Carnival Court has received a bit of a bad reputation over the years.  Given that inexpensive booze flows freely, there are railings and walls for people to loiter around, and the adjacent rooms at the IP and Harrah’s are cheap, so it is not uncommon for there to be a brawl or two in the early morning hours.  At certain points in recent history, the small area between Harrah’s and Margaritaville was also a popular hangout for our local thug crowd. There is sometimes a perception that the area around Carnival Court is not safe.

The traffic layout of Harrah’s is responsible for a large part of this.  Because they don’t want to make a pedestrian bridge or crosswalk, Harrrah’s does not allow people to walk in a straight line from the Venetian to the IP and beyond.  They force people to walk over the vehicle entrance and through the crowded vending area (as you can see in the video).  This increases travel time, and causes pedestrian bottlenecks … which in turn leads to confrontations.

It’s hard to traverse this area without bumping into people.  Add a few beers, opposing gang affiliations, or even people with rival school sweatshirts on … and it becomes loosely-controlled chaos.  It’s also the perfect situation for pickpockets and other street criminals.

I guess it’s either that or people getting hit by cars, though.

In spite of my intentions, I did not play Blackjack at Harrah’s.

Why?

It was all 6:5.  I was unable to find a 3:2 low-limit game, and for good reason.  The 6:5 tables were packed.

It’s hard to bag on tourists too much because tourism is our primary industry, but I think they hurt our economy as much as they help it by playing these games.   It provides the casinos with a short term increased profit on popular weekends, but I think harms the reputation of the city and hampers return visitation in the long run.  Imagine if tourists came to your hometown, went to your favorite bar, and pissed in all the pitchers of beer, then proceeded to drink that beer.

Sure, they would be giving the bar money, but you certainly would not be able to drink at your favorite bar, nor would that bar ever again get customers who wanted to drink urine.  This is how I feel about 6:5 players.  Their lack of discrimination only makes the town worse for everyone else.  I’m starting to get the feeling that teaching payouts to Iowans is more difficult than teaching physics to chimpanzees … but I have faith that they will catch on.  Eventually.

Luckily, there are plenty of casinos (such as Sahara and Strat) that offer me normal odds, but if we are ever going to shake this recession, we need the entire town to return to its senses.

I hopped the Monorail to the Sahara, and proceeded to give my fifty back.  The luck of the Irish giveth, and the luck of the Irish taketh away.

Fortunately, my other sessions generally worked out well, and I have a little more today than I had on Friday.  I’ll take what I can get.

All in all, it was a great weekend for the town, and may be a harbinger of things to come with regards to visitation numbers.

I have no idea if this influx will last, or if it was simply the last dead-cat bounce before the crash, but there seems to be some cautious optimism in the air.

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