A little more about Reno

Two more things they do differently in Reno ...

When my wife and I hit jackpots at the Peppermill and the Eldorado, the slot attendants re-set the machines when they first arrived. Everywhere we have hit in Vegas, the attendants leave the machines locked up until they come back to pay you and give you your tax form.

Usually having the machine remain locked is not a problem. If you want to keep playing, there's usually another machine with the same game nearby. But not always. And sometimes all the other machines are taken. This can be a problem if you're playing for drawing tickets or need to earn a certain number of points by a set time for some promotion.

Why they do this differently in Vegas and Reno is a mystery to me.

I also found a difference in the way some double-deck blackjack is dealt. After I sat down at the Peppermill, the dealer shuffled the cards, I cut them and he placed the cut card at least 85 percent of the way to the bottom of the pack. It looked as if I was going to get the best penetration I had ever seen!

Then the dealer took all the cards under the cut card and put them in the discard rack, effectively "burning" all of them. The cut card was now at the bottom of what was left of the two decks. The cards were dealt until the dealer decided it was time to stop. I couldn't tell exactly how many cards were left, but total of cards burned and not dealt must have amounted to 40 percent or more of the two decks, making for mediocre penetration at best. I saw the same thing at the Atlantis.

At the Eldorado, in contrast, the double deck was dealt as it is in Vegas, After a player cuts the cards, the dealer places a cut card somewhere in the two decks, them deals until the cut card comes out. At the Eldorado the card was placed about 75 percent into the two decks, making for good penetration.

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing the dominance of the single-deck game in Reno is responsible for the different way some double-deck is dealt there. A cut card in not usually used in single-deck; the number of rounds dealt is determined by the number of players at the table. I think some of the casinos in Reno are just trying to make double-deck more like single-deck for their dealers.