My wife and I both started gambling more or less seriously as blackjack players, but about four years ago, when we started coming to Las Vegas for vacations, she decided to start playing video poker. As a music teacher, she was going to approach this like learning a new instrument, which meant practicing until she could play well. But first she had to decide which video poker game to learn.
Many experts suggest learning jacks or better first. Full pay or 9/6 jacks is easy to learn. It is widely available in all popular denominations. Most important, it is the basis for many other popular games, including bonus poker, double bonus poker and double double bonus poker. The big drawback of jack is its payback -- 99.54 percent with optimum play.
She became interested in full pay deuces wild, mostly because of its strongly positive payback -- 100.76 percent. Full pay deuces is harder to learn than full pay jacks, but not extremely difficult. It’s also more volatile -- wider swings of wins and losses -- but not dangerously so. The game was available almost exclusively in quarters, but that is what she wanted to play. And it was more widely available then than it is now and the casinos were giving more points and other comps for those playing it.
She decided to learn full-pay deuces, and it served her well. When we moved to Vegas three years ago, I followed in her footsteps. We both later learned other deuces games, including loose deuce deuces wild and “not so ugly” (16/10) deuces, which allowed us to play at the dollar level.
Recently we decided to take another look at 9/6 jacks, mostly because it is now the best game available at some of the casinos we want to play at, including the M Resort. And we have discovered some good full pay jacks progressives.
I have started playing using the simple strategy found on Wizard of Odds Web site (I learned to play the full pay deuces using the Wizard’s simple strategy for that game). This strategy uses words, which I am more comfortable with than the symbols used in the more advanced strategies. There’s a trade-off in payback -- the simple strategy gets you 99.4 percent instead of the game’s full potential, 99.54 percent. But it’s a good stopgap until I can learn the advanced strategy.
As casinos change their video poker inventories and the rewards they offer for playing different games, it is necessary to learn new games to take advantage of new opportunities. Fortunately, learning jacks or better has been -- so far -- a lot easier than I had expected.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The value of free play
Those who have been reading this blog know that serious gamblers in general and video poker players in particular often think in terms of percentages, particular the percentage return of a particular game. What we hope to find are advantage plays -- situations where a game returns more than 100 percent. Although some “full pay” video poker games such as deuces wild, joker poker and double bonus pay back more than 100 percent in the long run with optimal play and max coins bet, advantage plays also can be found in combinations of other games, slot club benefits and promotions.
I’m going to describe two current casino promotions to illustrate how this works. In particular, I’ll explain how to put a percentage value on free play, a benefit commonly offered both as a slot club benefit to a casino’s regular players and as part of many promotions. A few casinos still give “bounce back” cash instead of free play, and the principles for putting a value on it are the same.
In the first promotion, the Eastside Cannery on Saturdays is offering a minimum of $10 in “mystery” free play to anyone who earns 300 points. Players may earn a maximum of two free play awards. Some players are mailed postcards entitling them to one free play award and can earn a second; those who do not get a postcard can get two by earning 600 points.
On video poker, the Eastside Cannery awards one point for every $2 coin in. (As noted in an earlier post, this does not mean $2 deposited in the machine; it means money played through, including the proceeds of winning hands.) So two “mystery” free play awards require running $1,200 through a machine. This gets the player a minimum of $20, or 0.167 percent.
The best video poker game at this casino is 16/10 “not so ugly” deuces wild, which returns about 99.7 percent. Slot club points are worth 0.125 percent. If we add the percentage return of the game and value percentage value of the slot club points (0.167, 99.73 and 0.125), we get just over 100 percent, essentially break-even. However, the play involved in taking advantage of this and other promotions is likely to result in a mailer with additional free play and other benefits, making this clearly, but not spectacularly, an advantage play. (For players who got a postcard and/or more than $20 in mystery free play, the promotion itself is an advantage play.)
One caveat: Playing through more than $1,200 “dilutes” the percentage value of the free play, making the promotion less valuable. A typical quarter player probably needs about an hour and a half to earn 600 points, but a dollar player needs only a quarter of the time. Playing longer may or may not be worth the extra benefits, but there’s no way of knowing until next month’s mailer arrives.
A promotion at the Silverton is more mysterious than the Eastside Cannery’s mystery free play. The Silverton has mailed pull tabs to many of its customers. These little cardboard squares have a tab on the front that must be pulled at the casino, in an employee’s presence, to reveal what the player has won. In addition, all players can earn 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 points in a day to receive a pull tab. The tabs for the different point totals are kept at the players’ club in separate boxes, and presumably the ones for the higher totals have better prizes.
My spouse and I received pull tabs in the mail even though we have played very little at the Silverton in recent months, since the casino took out what had been its best video poker game, $1 16/10 “not so ugly” deuces. We took our first week’s tabs to casino last Saturday. She won $50 in free play and I won $25. We found a good play on the quarter 1/9/4 “pseudo not so ugly” deuces progressives near the Flare (could they have meant “Flair”?) Bar. With the jackpot at more than $1,500, this game, which has a base return of just under 99 percent, was nearly positive. We decided to go for the 1,000 points and another pull tab each, about an hour and a half’s play for me, less for her. She won another $10 in free play; I won another $25.
The value of Silverton points, nominally 0.2 percent, is not the same to all players, because they can be used only for comps, not for cash back or free play. So if someone has no use for the restaurants or rooms there, or already has more points than he can use, the points are worthless. For the sake of discussion, let’s say our progressive was break-even with slot club benefits considered. My wife’s $50 in free play added a full 5 percent to the game’s return for the $1,000 coin-in needed for another pull tab. That’s like a bank account paying 5 percent not a year, but instantly -- a very strong advantage play. Even my $25 increased the return to 102.5 percent, nothing to scoff at (keep in mind that these figures represent the long run return for playing under these circumstances, not necessarily the result of a single session.) The second set of pull tabs yielded $10 for the spouse and $25 for me, in both cases in free play. So for the first day at least, the promotion turned out very well for both of us.
It would have worked out well even if the progressive had just been hit. They are, however, worth 0.2 percent to those who can make good use of them. The best games in the house, not counting our juicy deuces progressive, are 9/6 jacks or better in dollars and a quarter progressive, with the base game paying back 99.54 percent. Add the slot club points but not anything for the progressive and those games return 99.74 percent. The promotion would have been highly positive for us had we been playing jacks instead of the deuces progressive.
The next day we were able to go back and use the second pull tabs we got in the mail. This time my wife got a bottle of wine and I got $25 in free play. It’s hard for us to put a value on the wine because neither of us is a wine expert, and its value to us is probably negligible because with so many casinos giving out wine these days, another bottle is something we don’t really need. The pull tabs we got for earning 1,000 points each were for a free buffet (worth about $15) and for dinner for two at Mi Casa, the Silverton’s Mexican restaurant. It’s hard to put a value on that one because the tab itself doesn’t make clear what’s included, but I’m guessing it’s worth $25 to $40 -- not bad at all. We’ll definitely be back at the Silverton this week with our next set of pull tabs.
Although the amounts of free play, free bets, match plays and other cash equivalents most players receive might not seem like much -- $5 here, $10 there, an occasional $20 or more -- over the course of time it can make a substantial difference in the bottom line.
I’m going to describe two current casino promotions to illustrate how this works. In particular, I’ll explain how to put a percentage value on free play, a benefit commonly offered both as a slot club benefit to a casino’s regular players and as part of many promotions. A few casinos still give “bounce back” cash instead of free play, and the principles for putting a value on it are the same.
In the first promotion, the Eastside Cannery on Saturdays is offering a minimum of $10 in “mystery” free play to anyone who earns 300 points. Players may earn a maximum of two free play awards. Some players are mailed postcards entitling them to one free play award and can earn a second; those who do not get a postcard can get two by earning 600 points.
On video poker, the Eastside Cannery awards one point for every $2 coin in. (As noted in an earlier post, this does not mean $2 deposited in the machine; it means money played through, including the proceeds of winning hands.) So two “mystery” free play awards require running $1,200 through a machine. This gets the player a minimum of $20, or 0.167 percent.
The best video poker game at this casino is 16/10 “not so ugly” deuces wild, which returns about 99.7 percent. Slot club points are worth 0.125 percent. If we add the percentage return of the game and value percentage value of the slot club points (0.167, 99.73 and 0.125), we get just over 100 percent, essentially break-even. However, the play involved in taking advantage of this and other promotions is likely to result in a mailer with additional free play and other benefits, making this clearly, but not spectacularly, an advantage play. (For players who got a postcard and/or more than $20 in mystery free play, the promotion itself is an advantage play.)
One caveat: Playing through more than $1,200 “dilutes” the percentage value of the free play, making the promotion less valuable. A typical quarter player probably needs about an hour and a half to earn 600 points, but a dollar player needs only a quarter of the time. Playing longer may or may not be worth the extra benefits, but there’s no way of knowing until next month’s mailer arrives.
A promotion at the Silverton is more mysterious than the Eastside Cannery’s mystery free play. The Silverton has mailed pull tabs to many of its customers. These little cardboard squares have a tab on the front that must be pulled at the casino, in an employee’s presence, to reveal what the player has won. In addition, all players can earn 1,000, 5,000 or 10,000 points in a day to receive a pull tab. The tabs for the different point totals are kept at the players’ club in separate boxes, and presumably the ones for the higher totals have better prizes.
My spouse and I received pull tabs in the mail even though we have played very little at the Silverton in recent months, since the casino took out what had been its best video poker game, $1 16/10 “not so ugly” deuces. We took our first week’s tabs to casino last Saturday. She won $50 in free play and I won $25. We found a good play on the quarter 1/9/4 “pseudo not so ugly” deuces progressives near the Flare (could they have meant “Flair”?) Bar. With the jackpot at more than $1,500, this game, which has a base return of just under 99 percent, was nearly positive. We decided to go for the 1,000 points and another pull tab each, about an hour and a half’s play for me, less for her. She won another $10 in free play; I won another $25.
The value of Silverton points, nominally 0.2 percent, is not the same to all players, because they can be used only for comps, not for cash back or free play. So if someone has no use for the restaurants or rooms there, or already has more points than he can use, the points are worthless. For the sake of discussion, let’s say our progressive was break-even with slot club benefits considered. My wife’s $50 in free play added a full 5 percent to the game’s return for the $1,000 coin-in needed for another pull tab. That’s like a bank account paying 5 percent not a year, but instantly -- a very strong advantage play. Even my $25 increased the return to 102.5 percent, nothing to scoff at (keep in mind that these figures represent the long run return for playing under these circumstances, not necessarily the result of a single session.) The second set of pull tabs yielded $10 for the spouse and $25 for me, in both cases in free play. So for the first day at least, the promotion turned out very well for both of us.
It would have worked out well even if the progressive had just been hit. They are, however, worth 0.2 percent to those who can make good use of them. The best games in the house, not counting our juicy deuces progressive, are 9/6 jacks or better in dollars and a quarter progressive, with the base game paying back 99.54 percent. Add the slot club points but not anything for the progressive and those games return 99.74 percent. The promotion would have been highly positive for us had we been playing jacks instead of the deuces progressive.
The next day we were able to go back and use the second pull tabs we got in the mail. This time my wife got a bottle of wine and I got $25 in free play. It’s hard for us to put a value on the wine because neither of us is a wine expert, and its value to us is probably negligible because with so many casinos giving out wine these days, another bottle is something we don’t really need. The pull tabs we got for earning 1,000 points each were for a free buffet (worth about $15) and for dinner for two at Mi Casa, the Silverton’s Mexican restaurant. It’s hard to put a value on that one because the tab itself doesn’t make clear what’s included, but I’m guessing it’s worth $25 to $40 -- not bad at all. We’ll definitely be back at the Silverton this week with our next set of pull tabs.
Although the amounts of free play, free bets, match plays and other cash equivalents most players receive might not seem like much -- $5 here, $10 there, an occasional $20 or more -- over the course of time it can make a substantial difference in the bottom line.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Eureka, we've found it!
The spouse and I discovered a spiffy little casino on Sahara Avenue in Las Vegas, a bit east of the Strip, called the Eureka. It's a small place and isn't much to look at from Sahara, although the back of the building facing the parking lot presents a nice facade. It's a small place, with slots and video poker only and a bar and small cafe, but nicely appointed. And the video poker, including positive games and progessives at the bar on 16/10 "not so ugly" deuces at 25 and 50 cents are among the better plays anywhere. Unlike some other casinos of its size, the Eureka has a players' club (the cashier's cage doubles as the players' club booth). It's affiliated with the larger Eureka in the city of Mesquite, about 80 miles north of Las Vegas. I'm looking foward to seeing what kind of mail we get from the Eureka, but from what I saw it won't take much to get us back there.
Insurance
Playing blackjack recently at Sunset Station, I was reminded of one of the most widespread misconceptions among not only players but the dealers who advise them.
The dealer was showing an ace and the count was high. I put chips amounting to half my bet on the insurance line (no one else at the table did), and the dealer flipped a 10 for the dreaded blackjack. Except for one who had blackjack and pushed, every other player but me lost his bet. My insurance bet paid 2-to-1, conveniently covering the main bet I lost and leaving me, effectively, with a push.
One of the players asked the dealer to explain insurance, which he did pretty well. If the dealer has an ace up, players can put half their bet or less on the insurance line. If the dealer has blackjack, a full insurance bet covers the lost main bet, leaving the player whole. If the dealer doesn't have blackjack, the insurance bet loses, and play of the round continues normally, with the main bet winning or losing based on the player's and dealer's hands.
Then the dealer said something I've heard dozens of times even though it makes no sense at all. You should insure a good hand, he told the player -- unless you want to gamble. Many players believe you should insure a had such as two 10-value cards but never a bad hand such as two small cards. (Many players also believe you should never hit a soft 18, another part of "folk" basic strategy that is wrong.)
Here's why that belief is wrong: The insurance bet has nothing to do with the player's hand. It is a bet on whether the dealer has blackjack. If the dealer has BJ, the insurance bet wins, no matter what the player's hand. If the dealer doesn't have BJ, the player loses the insurance bet no matter how good his hand is. In fact, as the authors of "Knock-Out Blackjack" point out, if a player has two 10-value cards, that's two less cards available for the dealer to get and make blackjack with, meaning the odds of winning the insurance bet are actually less when the player has such a hand than when he has, say, a 7 and 8.
So what to do about insurance? Unless you're a card counter, don't ever take it. It's a good bet only when the remaining deck or shoe is particularly rich in 10-value cards, and unless you are counting you have no way of knowing when this is. The cards in your hand have no significant effect on the dealer's likelihood of making a BJ, which is all the insurance bet is about. So don't ever insure a "good" hand unless you're counting, but be ready to hear "you should have taken insurance" if the dealer has BJ against your pair of monkeys.
The dealer was showing an ace and the count was high. I put chips amounting to half my bet on the insurance line (no one else at the table did), and the dealer flipped a 10 for the dreaded blackjack. Except for one who had blackjack and pushed, every other player but me lost his bet. My insurance bet paid 2-to-1, conveniently covering the main bet I lost and leaving me, effectively, with a push.
One of the players asked the dealer to explain insurance, which he did pretty well. If the dealer has an ace up, players can put half their bet or less on the insurance line. If the dealer has blackjack, a full insurance bet covers the lost main bet, leaving the player whole. If the dealer doesn't have blackjack, the insurance bet loses, and play of the round continues normally, with the main bet winning or losing based on the player's and dealer's hands.
Then the dealer said something I've heard dozens of times even though it makes no sense at all. You should insure a good hand, he told the player -- unless you want to gamble. Many players believe you should insure a had such as two 10-value cards but never a bad hand such as two small cards. (Many players also believe you should never hit a soft 18, another part of "folk" basic strategy that is wrong.)
Here's why that belief is wrong: The insurance bet has nothing to do with the player's hand. It is a bet on whether the dealer has blackjack. If the dealer has BJ, the insurance bet wins, no matter what the player's hand. If the dealer doesn't have BJ, the player loses the insurance bet no matter how good his hand is. In fact, as the authors of "Knock-Out Blackjack" point out, if a player has two 10-value cards, that's two less cards available for the dealer to get and make blackjack with, meaning the odds of winning the insurance bet are actually less when the player has such a hand than when he has, say, a 7 and 8.
So what to do about insurance? Unless you're a card counter, don't ever take it. It's a good bet only when the remaining deck or shoe is particularly rich in 10-value cards, and unless you are counting you have no way of knowing when this is. The cards in your hand have no significant effect on the dealer's likelihood of making a BJ, which is all the insurance bet is about. So don't ever insure a "good" hand unless you're counting, but be ready to hear "you should have taken insurance" if the dealer has BJ against your pair of monkeys.
South Point: Best video poker?
Part of my definition of good VP is lots of games with a long-term return to the skilled player of above 99.5, and South Point passes this test with ease. In particular, the casino is full of 16/10 "not so ugly deuces" in a variety of denominations, a game that returns 99.73 percent. With South Point's strong slot club, these games are break-even for skilled players without point multipliers or other considerations such mailers.
But many players want the opportunity to beat the casino on a cash basis by playing games with a 100-plus percent return. Numerous casinos have such games, which include full pay versions of deuces wild, double bonus, double double bonus and joker poker. I think the best casino for video poker would have at least some "positive" games, at quarter, 50 cent and dollar denominations. To the best of my knowledge, South Point no longer has any positive video poker.
Another consideration for me and many other video poker players is the availability of progressives with decent pay tables. A progressive is a video poker (or slot) machine or group of machines from which a percentage of the players' coin in goes to fund one or more jackpots. You've probably seen groups of machines with a sign above them with a dollar amount, or a sign above a bar with a dollar amount, representing a progressive jackpot.
My wife and I did a sweep of South Point for progessives a few months ago and while we found a fair number of progressives, all the games we checked had pay tables that we consider unplayable (anything much below 99 percent return). This is common with progressives; because part of the money going into the machines is siphoned off to fund the jackpot, the casino makes it up with a bad pay table. The best casinos for progressives put them on games that give players a chance to hold on to enough of their money to survive between royals.
The Palms is famous for its progressives on positive games, including full pay deuces wild. Unfortunately, the jackpot on this group of machines near the main entrance to the casino now accrues quite slowly, and the amount rarely reaches $1,100 and is often just a few dollars above the standard $1,000 for a quarters-game royal. Still, it's a highly positive game and you get full slot club points for playing it, making it one of the best deals in town. The Palms also has a progessive on $1 10/7 double bonus with jackpots not just on the royal, but also on the straight flush and "quads." Another fabulous opportunity. Downtown, the Four Queens has a $1 10/7 double bonus progressive. I'm sure there are more.
In judging which casino has the "best" video poker, other players might take into account which has the latest or most exotic games. This isn't my thing so I can't be of much help here. And, as with blackjack, a place that offers good games for high rollers ($1 and up video poker players) might not be so good to to the little guys. And those who play a particular game of family of games may find better tables and a wider choice of denominations at some casinos rather than others.
So it's hard to say which one casino is best for all video poker players. South Point certainly is good for many, but not for those who want to play a positive game or a progressive with a decent pay table.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Best of Vegas? (Part I)
Each year the Review-Journal comes out with the in numerous categories as chosen by the newspaper's readers and staff. Many businesses use the "Best of Vegas" seal as a kind of Good Housekeeping seal of approval to gain public confidence. In my opinion these "awards" are just about meaningless, as a close look at some of the gambling winners will show.
Forget (if you can) that the same pool of voters who selected the gambling winners found that in Vegas, which has some of the finest restaurants in the world, the "best" this year included Applebees, the Olive Garden and the Red Lobster. These people don't have any particular expertise in the areas in which they voted, and they are not statistically representative of the R-J's readers. They're just people who decided to vote.
Nonetheless, just as the blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn, some of their choices aren't bad. In particular, a case can be made for Sunset Station as offering the best blackjack, though not for the reasons stated in the newspaper, which cited "Wicked 21" blackjack offered on Friday and Saturday nights.
So what criteria would I use to choose the "best blackjack" winner, and what casino would that be?
First, we need to address the issue "best for whom" -- the $5 player or the $100 player? The tourist or the card counter? In blackjack and other categories, there is no one "best" for everyone. Here are the criteria I would use in evaluating casinos for the quality of their blackjack, in descending order of importance:
1. Availability. Most players should be able to find a seat most of the time at a game they want to play for a minimum bet amount they're comfortable with.
2. Rules. Doubling on any first two cards and doubling after splitting should be allowed in all games. Resplitting of aces, dealer standing on soft 17, and late surrender earn extra points. If games that pay 6-to-5 for blackjack are offered, they should be in a small minority and clearly labeled.
3. Variety. Double deck should be available. Shoe games should be six decks, not eight. Continuous shuffling machines are OK for lower-limit games as long as players have other choices.
4. Extras. Promotions especially for, or at least that include, table players earn extra credit.
5. Atmosphere, surroundings, decor, including ventilation and availability of non-smoking areas.
6. Friendliness and competence of dealers and pit staff.
7. Good penetration. Dealers don't spend half their time shuffling.
8. Tables without side bets so players have a choice.
By these criteria, I think the choice of Sunset Station is a reasonable one. The casino generally has a reasonable number of tables open, including double deck for as low as $10. The rules are better than average, with resplitting of aces allowed, though surrender is not offered on any games. The table games area has a spectacular ceiling and is well ventilated. Dealers are competent and mostly friendly. As primarly a locals' casino, Sunset attracts mostly reasonably competent players who allow the games to keep moving.
On the negative side, the Stations in general don't do much to promote blackjack (or other table games). Their comp system for table games is opaque and, in my experience, not very generous.
On the whole, though, the Stations are among the best places in Vegas for the low- to mid-level blackjack player. Other places I like to play include the M Resort, Mirage, Aria, Rampart and the Orleans.
In my next post, I'll discuss why I disagree with the Review-Journal readers' choice of South Point as having the best video poker, though I don't think it's a bad place at all for that game.
Forget (if you can) that the same pool of voters who selected the gambling winners found that in Vegas, which has some of the finest restaurants in the world, the "best" this year included Applebees, the Olive Garden and the Red Lobster. These people don't have any particular expertise in the areas in which they voted, and they are not statistically representative of the R-J's readers. They're just people who decided to vote.
Nonetheless, just as the blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn, some of their choices aren't bad. In particular, a case can be made for Sunset Station as offering the best blackjack, though not for the reasons stated in the newspaper, which cited "Wicked 21" blackjack offered on Friday and Saturday nights.
So what criteria would I use to choose the "best blackjack" winner, and what casino would that be?
First, we need to address the issue "best for whom" -- the $5 player or the $100 player? The tourist or the card counter? In blackjack and other categories, there is no one "best" for everyone. Here are the criteria I would use in evaluating casinos for the quality of their blackjack, in descending order of importance:
1. Availability. Most players should be able to find a seat most of the time at a game they want to play for a minimum bet amount they're comfortable with.
2. Rules. Doubling on any first two cards and doubling after splitting should be allowed in all games. Resplitting of aces, dealer standing on soft 17, and late surrender earn extra points. If games that pay 6-to-5 for blackjack are offered, they should be in a small minority and clearly labeled.
3. Variety. Double deck should be available. Shoe games should be six decks, not eight. Continuous shuffling machines are OK for lower-limit games as long as players have other choices.
4. Extras. Promotions especially for, or at least that include, table players earn extra credit.
5. Atmosphere, surroundings, decor, including ventilation and availability of non-smoking areas.
6. Friendliness and competence of dealers and pit staff.
7. Good penetration. Dealers don't spend half their time shuffling.
8. Tables without side bets so players have a choice.
By these criteria, I think the choice of Sunset Station is a reasonable one. The casino generally has a reasonable number of tables open, including double deck for as low as $10. The rules are better than average, with resplitting of aces allowed, though surrender is not offered on any games. The table games area has a spectacular ceiling and is well ventilated. Dealers are competent and mostly friendly. As primarly a locals' casino, Sunset attracts mostly reasonably competent players who allow the games to keep moving.
On the negative side, the Stations in general don't do much to promote blackjack (or other table games). Their comp system for table games is opaque and, in my experience, not very generous.
On the whole, though, the Stations are among the best places in Vegas for the low- to mid-level blackjack player. Other places I like to play include the M Resort, Mirage, Aria, Rampart and the Orleans.
In my next post, I'll discuss why I disagree with the Review-Journal readers' choice of South Point as having the best video poker, though I don't think it's a bad place at all for that game.
Laughlin, Nevada
The spouse and I spent a couple of days this week in Laughlin, a gambling center about 95 miles south of Las Vegas on the Colorado River. We had two free room nights at the Golden Nugget as a result of some play by the spouse at the Nugget in Vegas. If you're going to Laughlin and want to stay at a nice place, I recommend the Nugget, despite an incident in the parking garage that I'll describe later.
Laughlin caters mostly to low rollers, and a few places offers some decent opportunities for quarter video poker players and $5 blackjack players. A friend who is a low roller and a frequent visitor says he has gotten very generous room and dining offers from some of the places where he has played. He served as our guide during our first trip to Laughlin, just for a day, earlier in the month.
Probably the best gambling overall in Laughlin is at the Colorado Belle and Edgewater, adjacent properties owned by the Marnell family. Both have $5 double deck blackjack games with good penetration and each has a bank of 100 percent payback video poker machines, with all games at the quarter level. We also saw positive video poker at the Aquarius, which is affiliated with the Stratosphere and Arizona Charlie's properties in the Las Vegas area. The Aquarius has a $1 10/7 double bonus progressive, with a jackpot for the four aces as well as the royal. The same machines, just outside the hosts' office near the main entrance, have 16/10 "not so ugly" deuces for $1 as well. These were the only good video poker plays for $1 or more we saw in all of Laughlin, except for one game of 10/7 double bonus (100.17 percent payback) that we think was a programming mistake because it was in a casino where all the other games were horrible.
With few exceptions, the video poker situation in Laughlin can be described only as deplorable. In most places we checked the prevailing pay tables were 9/6 for double bonus (97.81 percent payback), 8/5 for jacks or better (97.30 percent) and 16/13 for deuces wild (96.77 percent). This appalling version of deuces is known as Colorado deuces and I always assumed the name came from the state, not the river. After visiting Laughlin, I'm not so sure.
The blackjack in Laughlin is characterized by a prohibition against doubling after split, even in some shoe games. This gives the house an additional edge of .13 percent against a perfect basic strategy player. It also takes the most exciting moments -- when the big money is out on the table -- out of the game, and prohibits customers from doing something many know they can do somewhere else, which I'm sure most appreciate as much as I do. Further, this stupid rule is self-defeating for the casinos because so few people play perfect basic strategy. They should want most of the players I saw to split and double down whenever they want; it would be money in the bank. Such rule can be made only by executives who go by statistics and not by any real experience at the gaming tables.
A couple of more things about blackjack in Laughlin: The signs at many tables say "double after any first two cards." A dealer at one place told us that in the past, many places in Laughlin allowed doubling on first two cards totaling 10 and 11 only. These signs conveniently avoid the issue of whether players can double after splitting, which was barred in all the double deck games I played in Laughlin, though it was allowed in the six deck shoe games at the Golden Nugget. If in doubt, ask the dealer. Also, table minimums are low -- mostly $5, some $10. I found it disconcerting when, at a couple of places, I put out a $30 bet and the dealer called out "green action." Nothing came of it, but the pit needs to know if someone is betting $30?
In terms of atmosphere, most of the places in Laughlin are on the level of downtown Las Vegas. As noted, the Nugget is the classiest, though the Aquarius claims to have the best (newly remodeled) rooms (you can see a mock-up on the casino floor). Out room at the Nugget was pretty standard. One thing I liked was the honor basket of snack items that were so reasonably priced we actually went for a couple of them, something I have never done in a hotel. The Nugget also has a nice tropical forest inside the main entrance, on a smaller scale but along the lines of the one at the Mirage, but with some of the flowers plastic, along the lines of the foliage at the Fiesta Henderson.
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