ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

I played at the Gold Spike on Saturday, and I played there again tonight.

Man, I have to tell you.  I am really starting to dig the  place.

Now, I’m not even going to pretend like I have been down with the Spike all along.  I would by lying, and I would be a raging hypocrite if I even implied such a thing.   Two years ago I was screaming for the wrecking ball for the place.  I went there every now and then, but more out of morbid curiosity than to actually drop any dollars.

Back then, it stunk, there were more homeless people than gamblers, and there seemed to be police cars in front of the place 24/7.

You could score practically any substance your heart desired, and the product you got was most likely fake or cut with rat poison.  Every time I walked by the place, I was constantly solicited by ladies who were over 50, toothless, or had male genitalia … and sometimes all three.  I am serious as a heart attack when I tell you that I was once quoted a rate as low as $2.  Yes, two dollars.  And even that rate was entirely too high for this particular “lady”.

The entire block was just a complete mess.   You were twice as likely to get shanked at the Gold Spike as you were to hit a jackpot.

Therefore, as I sit here with my fingers on the keyboard, nobody is more shocked than I am to be lavishing praise on the  place.

It’s very small, and the outside still looks like a train wreck … but the inside is sweet.

They have a large selection of slots, a very nice bar, a very nice cafeteria/restaurant, and of course, brand new gaming tables.  Three of them.  You would think that a place with only two Blackjack tables and one Roulette table would be a total bust, but this is not the case.  You can only play one Blackjack table at a time, and I would prefer my one table to be fun rather than be in the midst of a huge mega-pit, playing cards against a surly dealer.   The Gold Spike is going for quality over quantity … and I am impressed as hell with the job they have done so far.

Speaking of the employees, they are outstanding.  The dealers are all female, and they wear very casual shirts with just enough cleavage to keep you interested.  They are also pleasantly endowed.  I don’t know if they were very picky when they hired, but the dealers are young,  and quite attractive.  They aren’t model-esque, but they have a very nice “Girl Next Door” quality about them.  They speak very casually with you, joke around, and are very friendly.  Even the pit boss (also a female) engaged me many times to trade jokes, and security also stopped by to welcome me tonight.

When Gold Spike service starts putting Harrrah’s to shame, you know for a fact that times have changed.

Even the crowd was extremely cool.   I hit a couple of naturals, and I was cheered and offered high-fives by a couple of the other players.  Of course, I returned the favor for their naturals.

There is one caveat about the table games.  Don’t expect to come and play during the daytime.   You can play the video games, but the table games do not open until 5pm.  They are very much worth the wait, though.

I played for an hour tonight … with the same $20 bill.  The tables are $3, 3:2, hit soft 17 shoe.  I handed my twenty to the dealer, got 20 one dollar chips in return, and bet the minimum unless I split or doubled.  I  play here for the kick-back, leisure vibe, not primarily to make money … so the minimum is cool with me.  An hour later, I cashed out with $12.

I actually had a winning session, but I tipped quite a bit.  I placed bets for the dealer every 15 hands or so, and tipped out again at the end.  I probably made twenty or thirty bucks on the session, but who’s counting?  It was just a lazy way to spend a Sunday evening, wind down, and prepare for the week.  I also got to keep tabs on some of the basketball games on the flat screens above the BJ tables.

This place is fast becoming a  favorite of mine.  Right now, it is my “drive-through casino”.  If I am hanging at home, and have a spare 45 minutes, I take a right on Las Vegas Boulevard, make the quick drive, pull into the lot, and (traffic willing) I can go from couch-to-gambling in under 10 minutes.  It’s only a 50 foot walk from car-to-Blackjack tables, so it’s easy to just hop over on an impulse.

And so … I have been.

Since the new Spike opening, I have been there at least a dozen times. Nearly everyone in the joint recognizes me the moment I walk in, and I am now considered one of the “original regulars” of the new property.  That in and of itself is kind of cool.  It’s easy to get lost in the mega-casinos, but when people wave to you the second you walk through the door, it makes you feel welcome and just a bit more happy to be there.

I have a great deal of history with Downtown Las Vegas.  I’ve been gambling in Downtown for the past 10+ years.  I remember seeing the Fremont Street Experience for the first time, and being blown away.  I used to stay in semi-obscure properties like the California Hotel.   As a matter of fact, I played my first ever game of Blackjack at the Cal. Over the decade, I have gone through love/hate relationships with Downtown.  There have been periods where I avoided it like the plague in favor of The Strip, and there have been periods where I didn’t want to go anywhere else but Downtown.

Everything in this city is cyclical, but if someone were to ask me, I would tell them that the area from the Sahara Hotel to Downtown is where it’s at right now.

And for the first time in a long time, I don’t qualify that statement with “avoid the Gold Spike, though”.

If you haven’t been to Vegas yet since the “Grand Opening”, I encourage you to give the place a shot.

I hope you will be as pleasantly surprised as I am, and you might just find yourself going back.

Face it, three dollar 3:2 is just what this economy needs right now, and like the rest of Downtown, the Gold Spike is delivering what many places on The Strip are simply refusing to do.

Vote with your dollars, and make Las Vegas a better place for everyone.

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