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“NASCAR Weekend” just wrapped up in Las Vegas, and following a new personal tradition, I spent a good part of the weekend at the Sahara.

Frankly, I’ve always found the Sahara’s NASCAR theme to be somewhat unusual.  It just doesn’t seem to “fit” for some reason.

The Sahara is a desert-themed hotel with a rich and storied history (the Beatles stayed here during their first visit to Vegas), and I never really figured out how stock cars found their way into this paradigm.  On any given day, you can stand outside and watch a race car roller coaster loop past the iconic neon camels.  It’s a very odd paring.  Kind of like putting a gigantic poster of two Mormons facing the sinful Vegas Strip.  As if that could happen.

Anyway, since the Sahara is ground zero for racing fans in Vegas, this is obviously one of the best places in town to spend a racing weekend … second only to the track itself.

After walking to the casino and scoping out a prime Blackjack table on Saturday, I became slightly disillusioned with how the Sahara was conducting itself.  While both $3 and $5 “real” Blackjack tables are standard offerings at the casino (which is part of why the property is endearing for me), the Sahara had converted at least half of their five dollar games to 6:5.

Given the loyal crowds, this seemed very opportunistic.

Look, I understand the laws of supply and demand, and I understand what most people consider to be “good business decisions”.  Americans think “capitalism” is synonymous with “greed”, and they think that good capitalists need to “capitalize” on every customer.

I don’t subscribe to this philosophy, and I don’t agree with the premise.

“Capitalism” merely indicates the private ownership of capital.  It in no way implies that you have to aggressively get over on each and every customer.

In my opinion, the best businesspeople don’t make all the money that they can.  Instead, they make as much as they need to be comfortable, and put the excess back into the business to build up a brand, a reputation, and loyalty that results in a win-win situation for everyone involved.  The best businesspeople aren’t just parasite opportunists, rather, they contribute more than they take.  In my opinion, good businesses don’t take money from customers just because they can get away with it.  Good business has nothing to do with extracting every last drop from every customer.  That is greed.  Greed and business need not be synonymous, except in the United States, and especially in Las Vegas.

That being said, it’s almost hard to blame the Sahara for their decision to convert a large number of tables to shortpay.

Why?

Because there were more open seats at the full pay tables than the 6:5 tables of the same denomination.  Sure, I could take this opportunity to launch into a diatribe about the stereotypical intelligence of the average NASCAR fan, but why bother.  A lack of understanding of basic odds and statistics now seems to be endemic to the population as a whole.

Back in the former part of the century, I used to play $1 BJ at the Sahara, and it was 3:2.  Not only was it full pay, but everybody loved the game.  I used to spread my bets pretty high and I over-tipped as a percentage of my wagers.  People drank, played, laughed, and had fun.  Even when I was staying on the south end of The Strip, I used to always make a trip to the Sahara just to play the enjoyable $1 game.  This was one of those win-win situations of which I speak.

Even though $1 Blackjack returned to the Sahara last year, $1 bets now pay even-money.  Yes “even” as in 1:1.  “Even” as in “stand on 16 while the dealer busts”.  There is absolutely no point in hitting a Blackjack.

This brings me to my main point of this article …

I need to come up with a new name for 6:5 (and worse) Blackjack.  Typing or saying “6:5 Blackjack” each and every time I want to address this particular variation of the game is not only long and time consuming, it’s cumbersome and confusing to people who don’t know what in the hell I am talking about.  One time, when I asked a player if the table was “six five or three two”, he replied “They don’t have thirty two dollar tables in here”.

I would estimate that more than 50% of people do not know what I am talking about when I reference “6:5 Blackjack”.  This is probably why they play it.  It just doesn’t sound all that bad.  Hell, given that the odds numbers are larger, I would be willing to wager that some people actually think that it is a superior game.

Personally, I feel a little silly lumping 1:1 Blackjack and 3:2 Blackjack into the same category.  They just aren’t the same games from my point of view.  It’s almost as bad as calling both 2/4 Limit and 2/5 NL “Poker”.  One is a game involving skill, while the other is a glorified game of Bingo.

From now on, for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to call 6:5 and lower … “Wackjack”.

I tend to have my own extensive vocabulary (one day I may author an official dictionary), but almost every term I use or create makes logical sense.

According to my computer’s built-in dictionary:

wack |wak| informal

adjective
bad; inferior : a wack radio station.
noun
1 a crazy or eccentric person.
2 worthless or stupid ideas, work, or talk; rubbish : this track is a load of wack.

ORIGIN 1930s: probably a back-formation from wacky.

In my opinion, Wackjack seems completely appropriate for a “bad, inferior” version of the game of Blackjack.

Henceforth, if I use “Blackjack”, it will refer to the 3:2 game with close-to-typical rules, while “Wackjack” will refer to any game which shortpays on a natural or employs some other ruleset which is grossly disadvantageous to the player.  I just don’t want to call them by the same name anymore.

Even though the Sahara resorted to this nickel and dime scheme over the weekend, the casino itself was 70-90% full at any given time.  The crowd was dominated by racing fans, and of course, people throughout the property wore racing jackets representing their favorite teams or drivers.

Obviously, I didn’t (and still don’t) have the slightest clue as to who any of these drivers are, but it was interesting seeing these little displays of solidarity among the faithful fans.

Not only was the casino relatively crowded, but so too was the NASCAR Cafe.  All available screens were tuned into the race, and people cheered on the drivers over glasses of beer and B3 burritos.

This time last year, the Sahara Buffet was open and doing a pretty swift business, but obviously this is no longer the case.  It has been opined by some that the Sahara’s Buffet closing is merely a “seasonal thing”, but given that I’ve never seen it closed on NASCAR weekend, I think there is a chance that these people might be wrong.

While the Sahara did not seem to be quite as crowded as in years past, it at least appeared that most people were enjoying themselves.  The vibe was quite positive, and overall, it seemed like another successful racing weekend.

If the NASCAR crowd wises up to the fact that they are getting increasingly ripped off by the house, however, the loyalty of this demographic may not be the forgone conclusion it once was.

I honestly think the game of Wackjack should be abolished, or at least have its name officially changed to something far less misleading than “Blackjack”.

If people still want to play it once it is renamed, then so be it … that’s their choice and I fully support it.

It’s not the same game as your father’s 21, however, and in my opinion, the casinos should stop pretending that it is.

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