Since we started coming to Vegas about 10 years ago, we have probably played with some frequency at about 40 casinos. We're now down to about 10. In most cases -- all until quite recently -- the decision to stop patronizing a casino was ours. In the past few months, several casinos have cut off the offers that made it worthwhile for one or both of us to play there.
Over the years we have heard stories about video poker players being "no mailed" (mail offers stopped coming) and even being outright barred from playing. We learned that the players cards of those who patronized South Point only on double point days sometimes stopped working, that those who won "too much" at Ellis Island were asked not to come in any more, and that Station Casinos (slogan: "We Love Winners") had barred Bob Dancer from playing there.
But for years, we were the ones who got to decide, exclusively, where we would play video poker. We played where we thought we could make money, which meant places with good games, good players club benefits and good promotions. When any of those things changed significantly to our detriment, we were gone.
In the past 10 years, the main thing that changed was the games. Probably 90 percent or more of the changes were for the worse. There were many reasons for this. As good video poker books and software became available, more players were able to cut into the take the casinos expected from good games because a good part of that take resulted from player mistakes. Video poker, once considered just another form of slot machine, began to be seen more like blackjack, a game that players could beat. One way casinos could protect themselves was to take out high-payback games.
The recession worsened this trend, as did the additional self-inflicted financial troubles of some of the big gaming companies. In many cases players bore at least some of the burden in the form of pay-table downgrades and stingier comp policies,
In most cases we tried to work with the new realities. I think one of the biggest mistakes a player can make is to overreact to change. Even if can't do exactly what you had been doing at a particular casino, there may be other opportunities to make money there, especially if you're still getting mail offers.
But sometimes the changes are just too severe. We kept playing at several casinos as they removed one game after another, but you have to draw the line when there is nothing left that's worth playing.
The sad thing is that the public is so ignorant that these casinos have not been forced to relent and bring back better games, if not the best games they ever had.
The following is a list of some of the casinos we have stopped playing at, or are in the process of phasing out our play; the games we used to play there; and in some cases other reasons for our decision:
1. Club Fortune, Henderson, Nev. -- this neighborhood casino once had positive games, including 25 cent full pay deuces wild and $1 loose deuce deuces wild.
2. Hooters -- $1 full pay double bonus deuces wild and "not so ugly" deuces gave way to 9/6 jacks or better as the best game. We left after that came out and management decided 9/7 double bonus was too strong a game to allow point multipliers on.
3. The Stratosphere -- I think I burned out the $1 loose deuces when I hit the deuces three times in one weekend. They disappeared soon after; so did I.
4. Eastside Cannery -- $1 NSU deuces are long gone, leaving 8/5 bonus poker the best game for dollars and up. Points earned are not competitive with other casinos on the Boulder Highway, and promotions and mailers aren't making up the difference.
5. Peppermill's Rainbow -- this locals casino in downtown Henderson once had 50 cent full pay deuces. Without a players club, there's no reason to go there unless a progressive is high enough to be a positive play.
6. Jackpot Joanie's -- this chain of small casino-bars lost us as customers when it downgraded NSU deuces to "pseudo" NSU, changing the payback from 99.7 percent to 98.9.
7. Dotty's -- another group of casino-bars cut its point multipliers on video poker.
8. Arizona Charlie's Decatur -- there are good games, but you earn so few points playing them that a good mailer is needed to make playing there worthwhile. The mailers started out strong but faded with time.
9. The Palms -- My spouse still plays there a little, but all the changes since George Maloof was deposed have taken most of the value out of playing there. You can still make a little money, but not enough in my opinion to make playing there worthwhile.
10. The Orleans -- Video poker has been tight since we first played there, but for a while we got mailers with free play and giant point multipliers. When those stopped, we stopped playing there.
11. The Westgate -- When this near-Strip property was the Las Vegas Hilton, it was one of the best places to play, with the best tournaments in town, positive and near-positive $1 video poker, and great promotions. Through ownership changes, most of the benefits and the best video poker games for more than 25 cents disappeared. This was probably our biggest loss.
Showing posts with label Las Vegas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Las Vegas. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
Stations and Fiestas
If you don't live in the Las Vegas area, you may not have even heard of Station Casinos. But if you do live in Vegas, you know that Stations is as big in the residential areas as Caesars and MGM are on the Strip. Stations owns and operates seven major properties under the Station brand and two under the Fiesta brand. The same Boarding Pass players card program comprises all of the properties, as well as Stations' neighborhood Wildfire casinos.
If you live near either of the Fiestas, you also live near a Station. Fiesta Rancho is right across the street from Texas Station and not that far from Palace and Santa Fe Stations. Fiesta Henderson is near Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch, and not a great distance from Boulder Station.
Since before we moved to Vegas we have played at both Station and Fiesta properties. Maximizing the benefits of playing at each is a bit of an art form. A big part of the challenge is knowing what you can get from both Stations and Fiestas, and what you can get from only one or the other.
Most important, you can get separate Stations and Fiestas mailers. The free play, point multipliers and dining and room offers on the Stations calendar can be used at any of the Station branded properties, but not at the Fiestas. Similarly, the offers on the Fiestas mailer can be used at either Fiesta, but not at the Stations.
But some of the offers that appear on both mailers can be used only at one property. Both the Stations and the Fiestas have seniors days on Wednesdays, including a point multiplier. But you can use that multiplier only at one property, even though it's advertised in both mailers. When the same gift is offered on both mailers, you can generally get only one, at either a Station or Fiesta, but not both. Also, you can swipe your players card every day for free entries to the end-of-month drawing at either a Station or Fiesta, but not at both. The smart thing to do is to pick one or the other and concentrate your entries there.
But there's at least one exception to this rule. H-APP-Y DAYS offers appear on both mailers, and can be redeemed at both properties (these are for bonus points or drawing entries that can be redeemed only by using the Station Casinos smartphone app).
Incidentally, the mailers are usually different enough that it's worth it for many people to play regularly at both a Station and a Fiesta. Many free play and point multiplier offers are good for two or three days, so you might have a reason to go to either a Station or a Fiesta almost every day. And some promotions are at one type of property but not other other. For March, the Fiestas are having point multiplier days on both slots and video poker on two Mondays; Stations are having multiplier days on slots only on two Thursdays. The Fiestas are having drawing the first three weekends; Stations are not.
It's not always easy to figure out what offers are available at the Stations AND Fiestas and which are available at the Stations OR Fiestas. But if you play at both, eventually you'll get a feel for how the offers work, and you'll be able to maximize the benefits of your play at the Stations-owned properties.
If you live near either of the Fiestas, you also live near a Station. Fiesta Rancho is right across the street from Texas Station and not that far from Palace and Santa Fe Stations. Fiesta Henderson is near Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch, and not a great distance from Boulder Station.
Since before we moved to Vegas we have played at both Station and Fiesta properties. Maximizing the benefits of playing at each is a bit of an art form. A big part of the challenge is knowing what you can get from both Stations and Fiestas, and what you can get from only one or the other.
Most important, you can get separate Stations and Fiestas mailers. The free play, point multipliers and dining and room offers on the Stations calendar can be used at any of the Station branded properties, but not at the Fiestas. Similarly, the offers on the Fiestas mailer can be used at either Fiesta, but not at the Stations.
But some of the offers that appear on both mailers can be used only at one property. Both the Stations and the Fiestas have seniors days on Wednesdays, including a point multiplier. But you can use that multiplier only at one property, even though it's advertised in both mailers. When the same gift is offered on both mailers, you can generally get only one, at either a Station or Fiesta, but not both. Also, you can swipe your players card every day for free entries to the end-of-month drawing at either a Station or Fiesta, but not at both. The smart thing to do is to pick one or the other and concentrate your entries there.
But there's at least one exception to this rule. H-APP-Y DAYS offers appear on both mailers, and can be redeemed at both properties (these are for bonus points or drawing entries that can be redeemed only by using the Station Casinos smartphone app).
Incidentally, the mailers are usually different enough that it's worth it for many people to play regularly at both a Station and a Fiesta. Many free play and point multiplier offers are good for two or three days, so you might have a reason to go to either a Station or a Fiesta almost every day. And some promotions are at one type of property but not other other. For March, the Fiestas are having point multiplier days on both slots and video poker on two Mondays; Stations are having multiplier days on slots only on two Thursdays. The Fiestas are having drawing the first three weekends; Stations are not.
It's not always easy to figure out what offers are available at the Stations AND Fiestas and which are available at the Stations OR Fiestas. But if you play at both, eventually you'll get a feel for how the offers work, and you'll be able to maximize the benefits of your play at the Stations-owned properties.
Sunday, December 28, 2014
A quiet time in Vegas -- update
A few days ago I wrote about the last couple of weeks in December being a relatively quiet time. This years, in my experience, that was definitely true between the end of the National Finals Rodeo and Christmas. But during the past couple of days, traffic on the roads and activity in the casinos seems to have picked up considerably.
On Friday, we visited Ellis Island, a casino near the Strip. To my amazement, we were told by a security guard stationed at the garage that only four empty spaces remained in the entire structure. The casino wasn't packed, but the restaurants were very busy.
The spouse and tried to figure out what all the cars were doing in the garage. We guessed that most of them belonged to guests at the Super 8 motel adjacent to the casino. We figured that between Christmas and New Year's was probably a good time for a lot of college students and other young people with time off to come to Vegas for a few days, having fulfilled their family holiday obligations.
Also, a lot of businesses close down or slow down during the last week of the year, so a lot of other people have time off as well.
So I will modify my statement that the last two weeks of the year are a quiet time in Vegas. I would still recommend the week and half between the end of the rodeo and Christmas as a time when Vegas is uncrowded and cheap, but not so much the week between Christmas and New Year/s.
On Friday, we visited Ellis Island, a casino near the Strip. To my amazement, we were told by a security guard stationed at the garage that only four empty spaces remained in the entire structure. The casino wasn't packed, but the restaurants were very busy.
The spouse and tried to figure out what all the cars were doing in the garage. We guessed that most of them belonged to guests at the Super 8 motel adjacent to the casino. We figured that between Christmas and New Year's was probably a good time for a lot of college students and other young people with time off to come to Vegas for a few days, having fulfilled their family holiday obligations.
Also, a lot of businesses close down or slow down during the last week of the year, so a lot of other people have time off as well.
So I will modify my statement that the last two weeks of the year are a quiet time in Vegas. I would still recommend the week and half between the end of the rodeo and Christmas as a time when Vegas is uncrowded and cheap, but not so much the week between Christmas and New Year/s.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Funbooks and other coupons
In my last post, I mentioned staying at South Point Thursday night. We had stayed there a couple of times before, but I forgot that the hotel gives its guest something called a funbook at check-in. When I saw the two funbooks my spouse had picked up with our room keys, it reminded me of my amusement when I first came across the term.
A funbook isn't as much fun as you might think, unless you find saving (usually small amounts of) money particularly entertaining. All it is is a coupon book. In the case of South Point's, the coupons are mostly for food and drink, and require that something be purchased. Some other funbooks we've seen over the years contain gaming offers such as match plays, which are of more interest to us.
It's a good idea, whenever you check into a casino hotel, to ask for a funbook. If you get one, be sure to read the rules. Often the coupons are good only while you're staying at the hotel, and often they are void if detached from the book before use. A player's card may be required when using gaming offers.
Funbooks are only one of many sources of Las Vegas coupons. Others include the "freebie" magazines, daily newspapers, several Web sites and two valuable books, the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards and the American Casino Guide. I've written about both books before and, as I use up the coupons in each before they expire at the end of the year, I'm reminded of the value both provide.
A funbook isn't as much fun as you might think, unless you find saving (usually small amounts of) money particularly entertaining. All it is is a coupon book. In the case of South Point's, the coupons are mostly for food and drink, and require that something be purchased. Some other funbooks we've seen over the years contain gaming offers such as match plays, which are of more interest to us.
It's a good idea, whenever you check into a casino hotel, to ask for a funbook. If you get one, be sure to read the rules. Often the coupons are good only while you're staying at the hotel, and often they are void if detached from the book before use. A player's card may be required when using gaming offers.
Funbooks are only one of many sources of Las Vegas coupons. Others include the "freebie" magazines, daily newspapers, several Web sites and two valuable books, the Las Vegas Advisor Member Rewards and the American Casino Guide. I've written about both books before and, as I use up the coupons in each before they expire at the end of the year, I'm reminded of the value both provide.
A quiet time in Vegas
The last couple of weeks of December are a special time in Vegas, and not just because of Christmas, Hannukah, and Festivus. It's an unusually quiet time in the hotels, and the time when the casinos traditionally "give away the store."
My spouse got an unusual invitation from South Point, one of our secondary casinos in amount of play. It was for a room night, which we took Thursday night, and dinner at either the steakhouse or Italian restaurant. We chose Don Vito's and ran up a bill of $100 without even getting the wine and soft drinks that were part of the comp.
The desk clerk told me the hotel, which had been bursting at the seams through the end of the National Finals Rodeo this past weekend, was only 30 percent full. We have been out and about quite a bit in the past few days and almost all the casinos we have visited have been about as empty as we've seen them.
As advantage players, we're always looking for an edge, and fewer people in the casinos creates opportunities where competition is a factor, particularly drawings.Also, if I were a bingo player, I'd be playing whenever I could in next week or so, particularly if there were some unusually bad weather.
This year is shaping up as a very good one for me financially, but we have faced numerous changes and challenges, as is always the case in this line of work. One of the biggest challenges was being being "no mailed," which is when a casino decides not to send you any more marketing offers. This happened to me twice, and much to my surprise, I am still finding opportunities to make money at the casinos in question. There's no guarantee, however, that this will last.
One of the biggest changes we made this year was setting up a spreadsheet system (with invaluable help from my daughter) to track not only our results but, more important, the value of what we receive from each casino we play at. This will help us greatly in the continuous process of figuring out how and where to best spend our time. We also switched our calendars from day planner books to the computer. Thanks to my spouse for a lot of hard work in setting this up.
My biggest goal for next year is to cut down on the time I spend gambling. Having more information and making better use of technology should make that easier.
My spouse got an unusual invitation from South Point, one of our secondary casinos in amount of play. It was for a room night, which we took Thursday night, and dinner at either the steakhouse or Italian restaurant. We chose Don Vito's and ran up a bill of $100 without even getting the wine and soft drinks that were part of the comp.
The desk clerk told me the hotel, which had been bursting at the seams through the end of the National Finals Rodeo this past weekend, was only 30 percent full. We have been out and about quite a bit in the past few days and almost all the casinos we have visited have been about as empty as we've seen them.
As advantage players, we're always looking for an edge, and fewer people in the casinos creates opportunities where competition is a factor, particularly drawings.Also, if I were a bingo player, I'd be playing whenever I could in next week or so, particularly if there were some unusually bad weather.
This year is shaping up as a very good one for me financially, but we have faced numerous changes and challenges, as is always the case in this line of work. One of the biggest challenges was being being "no mailed," which is when a casino decides not to send you any more marketing offers. This happened to me twice, and much to my surprise, I am still finding opportunities to make money at the casinos in question. There's no guarantee, however, that this will last.
One of the biggest changes we made this year was setting up a spreadsheet system (with invaluable help from my daughter) to track not only our results but, more important, the value of what we receive from each casino we play at. This will help us greatly in the continuous process of figuring out how and where to best spend our time. We also switched our calendars from day planner books to the computer. Thanks to my spouse for a lot of hard work in setting this up.
My biggest goal for next year is to cut down on the time I spend gambling. Having more information and making better use of technology should make that easier.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
"Beware of cheap imitations"
If you're around my age -- I just turned 60 this month -- you probably remember an old advertising slogan, "beware of cheap imitations." I was reminded of it recently by this sign in the Fiesta Henderson's parking garage:
The Fiesta buffet costs $8.99 for dinner with a player's card, about as cheap as a buffet can get. It's hard to imagine a lower-priced imitation. You may be wondering what you get for your money. I've eaten there several times recently, mostly for convenience, but it isn't bad. You could spend more and get a lot less for your money at a fast-food outlet.
Another funny thing about this sign is the exclamation, "Open 7 days a week!" I can't think of a single casino buffet in the Las Vegas area that isn't open seven days a week.
Now that my daughter has taught me how to post pictures of signs on this blog, I'm sure I'll find more funny (at least to me) ones to share in the future.
Another funny thing about this sign is the exclamation, "Open 7 days a week!" I can't think of a single casino buffet in the Las Vegas area that isn't open seven days a week.
Now that my daughter has taught me how to post pictures of signs on this blog, I'm sure I'll find more funny (at least to me) ones to share in the future.
Monday, April 30, 2012
'We want the hardcore gambler ...'
The above is an unusual, almost heretical, statement by a casino executive, yet it was made by Noah Acres, the Riviera's director of player development (more about this ironic title later), in material aimed not at industry insiders but at new players at his casino.
The reason such statements are so rare is that the "gaming" industry has taken great pains to paint gambling as just another form of entertainment, one with minimal negative effects on the communities where casinos are found. Casinos stress that they love winners, but what they really love are ignorant players who win by dumb luck. Anyone who knows enough not even to win but just to lose less than most is considered a threat by many if not most gaming executives.
Of course, the ugly truth about gambling is that it ruins lives. Not many, as a percentage of those who gamble, but undoubtedly thousands each year in the United States. The extent to which the gaming industry is responsible for creating, enabling and increasing addiction is beyond the scope of this post, because it is beyond my knowledge of these issues. But I do know that the industry does everything it can to disassociate itself from anything hinting at exploitation of addicted gamblers.
The context of Mr. Acres' statement was an information card on a promotion at the Riviera offering new and some inactive players a $1,000 loss guarantee. There's nothing new about this kind of promotion but in five years in Las Vegas I have never seen one this big.
The idea is simple. You sign up for a players' club card and go play a slot or video poker machine until you have had enough or lost $1,000. If you are unlucky enough to win, it's as if the promotion didn't exist. You cash out as usual and that's it. If you lose, you get half your loss back immediately in the form of free slot play and half on your "next visit" (if you take advantage of this promotion, be sure to ask when the second installment becomes available and how long your have to use both installments of your free slot play).
Before we went to the Riviera, my wife and I listened to a discussion of this promotion on the radio program "Gambling with an Edge." Based on the discussion among hosts Bob Dancer and Mike Shakelford and guest Richard Munchkin, we set a goal of winning $2,000 or busting out trying. Losing, say, $300 would be taking advantage of only 30 percent of the value of the promotion. We made sure to get to the casino early in the evening to give ourselves plenty of time to run through $1,000 each.
Several types of slot, video poker and virtual table game machines have been excluded from this promotion. We both decided to play video poker at the highest denomination available, $1 single line. My spouse opted to play double double bonus even though the pay table, 8/5, is horrendous (we looked it up later and found the payback was less than 97 percent). This game offers a lot of opportunities for big hits, including $2,000 for four aces and a kicker, meaning that if she got lucky, she could reach $4,000 without hitting a royal flush. The downside of this strategy is that if she didn't get many four-of-a-kinds she could go down quickly. Of course, with the loss guarantee, the downside risk was greatly reduced. I took a more conservative approach, playing the best game available, 8/5 bonus poker (slightly over 99 percent payback). I knew I'd need a royal flush to hit $2,000, but I planned to alter my strategy a bit to increase the chance of hitting a royal (but in the process decrease the statistical return of the game). I hoped that playing a game with a higher return and less variance would keep me alive longer, giving me more of a chance to hit the royal. Another factor is that I am more comfortable playing bonus poker than double double bonus, though I have played the latter in tournaments.
In retrospect, I think both decisions were defensible, but my wife's was better -- and not just because she wound up hitting four aces with a kicker (after hitting four aces without, which kept her going awhile). I wound up losing $1,000 in less than two hours. At that point she was up a couple of hundred. I went and got my first $500 in free play and ran it through the machine. We decided I'd take advantage of some opportunies at other casinos and come back in a couple of hours. A half hour, maybe 40 minutes later she called me and said she had hit the four aces with a kicker. She was down only about $200, so if she quit right then she'd lock in a $1,800 win. The alternative under our plan was to try to win more or lose a full $1,000, and there probably wasn't time for that. So she "settled" for a win that was $200 short of her goal.
The reason her strategy was probably better than mine is because she had more chances to win. She also had much more of a chance of losing, but the entire loss would be reimbursed. Of course, had she actually lost, she would have played the free play much more conservatively because at that point any losses would be hers, and real.
Now, a word about the title of that executive who said he wanted "the hardcore gambler." To the unititated, "director of player development" might sound like someone in charge of educating players, making them better. But this is the last thing the casinos want. The development in this title refers to the casinos' business, not the quality of its players (unless quality is defined as losing more).
As for Mr. Acres, I think he's got quite a challenge ahead of him. The Riviera, one of the oldest casinos on the Strip, is, by today's standards, a dump. Think the Tropicana before its recent makeover. Furthermore, it's in a really bad neighborhood, by Strip standards, stuck amid closed casinos, failed projects and that butt of jokes, Circus Circus.
The loss guarantee will bring tourists in and maybe some locals. But whether they'll come back is another issue. The Riviera has introduced some better-than-usual games, for the Strip, including single zero roulette. But the games mostly aren't as good as those available in locals' casinos. I'll be back to play my second $500 in free play, but after that Mr. Acres and his colleagues will have to come up with something else to hook me as a regular.
I wish them luck in trying to revive the Riviera, and I'm afraid they're going to need it.
The reason such statements are so rare is that the "gaming" industry has taken great pains to paint gambling as just another form of entertainment, one with minimal negative effects on the communities where casinos are found. Casinos stress that they love winners, but what they really love are ignorant players who win by dumb luck. Anyone who knows enough not even to win but just to lose less than most is considered a threat by many if not most gaming executives.
Of course, the ugly truth about gambling is that it ruins lives. Not many, as a percentage of those who gamble, but undoubtedly thousands each year in the United States. The extent to which the gaming industry is responsible for creating, enabling and increasing addiction is beyond the scope of this post, because it is beyond my knowledge of these issues. But I do know that the industry does everything it can to disassociate itself from anything hinting at exploitation of addicted gamblers.
The context of Mr. Acres' statement was an information card on a promotion at the Riviera offering new and some inactive players a $1,000 loss guarantee. There's nothing new about this kind of promotion but in five years in Las Vegas I have never seen one this big.
The idea is simple. You sign up for a players' club card and go play a slot or video poker machine until you have had enough or lost $1,000. If you are unlucky enough to win, it's as if the promotion didn't exist. You cash out as usual and that's it. If you lose, you get half your loss back immediately in the form of free slot play and half on your "next visit" (if you take advantage of this promotion, be sure to ask when the second installment becomes available and how long your have to use both installments of your free slot play).
Before we went to the Riviera, my wife and I listened to a discussion of this promotion on the radio program "Gambling with an Edge." Based on the discussion among hosts Bob Dancer and Mike Shakelford and guest Richard Munchkin, we set a goal of winning $2,000 or busting out trying. Losing, say, $300 would be taking advantage of only 30 percent of the value of the promotion. We made sure to get to the casino early in the evening to give ourselves plenty of time to run through $1,000 each.
Several types of slot, video poker and virtual table game machines have been excluded from this promotion. We both decided to play video poker at the highest denomination available, $1 single line. My spouse opted to play double double bonus even though the pay table, 8/5, is horrendous (we looked it up later and found the payback was less than 97 percent). This game offers a lot of opportunities for big hits, including $2,000 for four aces and a kicker, meaning that if she got lucky, she could reach $4,000 without hitting a royal flush. The downside of this strategy is that if she didn't get many four-of-a-kinds she could go down quickly. Of course, with the loss guarantee, the downside risk was greatly reduced. I took a more conservative approach, playing the best game available, 8/5 bonus poker (slightly over 99 percent payback). I knew I'd need a royal flush to hit $2,000, but I planned to alter my strategy a bit to increase the chance of hitting a royal (but in the process decrease the statistical return of the game). I hoped that playing a game with a higher return and less variance would keep me alive longer, giving me more of a chance to hit the royal. Another factor is that I am more comfortable playing bonus poker than double double bonus, though I have played the latter in tournaments.
In retrospect, I think both decisions were defensible, but my wife's was better -- and not just because she wound up hitting four aces with a kicker (after hitting four aces without, which kept her going awhile). I wound up losing $1,000 in less than two hours. At that point she was up a couple of hundred. I went and got my first $500 in free play and ran it through the machine. We decided I'd take advantage of some opportunies at other casinos and come back in a couple of hours. A half hour, maybe 40 minutes later she called me and said she had hit the four aces with a kicker. She was down only about $200, so if she quit right then she'd lock in a $1,800 win. The alternative under our plan was to try to win more or lose a full $1,000, and there probably wasn't time for that. So she "settled" for a win that was $200 short of her goal.
The reason her strategy was probably better than mine is because she had more chances to win. She also had much more of a chance of losing, but the entire loss would be reimbursed. Of course, had she actually lost, she would have played the free play much more conservatively because at that point any losses would be hers, and real.
Now, a word about the title of that executive who said he wanted "the hardcore gambler." To the unititated, "director of player development" might sound like someone in charge of educating players, making them better. But this is the last thing the casinos want. The development in this title refers to the casinos' business, not the quality of its players (unless quality is defined as losing more).
As for Mr. Acres, I think he's got quite a challenge ahead of him. The Riviera, one of the oldest casinos on the Strip, is, by today's standards, a dump. Think the Tropicana before its recent makeover. Furthermore, it's in a really bad neighborhood, by Strip standards, stuck amid closed casinos, failed projects and that butt of jokes, Circus Circus.
The loss guarantee will bring tourists in and maybe some locals. But whether they'll come back is another issue. The Riviera has introduced some better-than-usual games, for the Strip, including single zero roulette. But the games mostly aren't as good as those available in locals' casinos. I'll be back to play my second $500 in free play, but after that Mr. Acres and his colleagues will have to come up with something else to hook me as a regular.
I wish them luck in trying to revive the Riviera, and I'm afraid they're going to need it.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
The best fake thing in Vegas
Vegas is a city of fabulous fakes -- a fake volcano, fake Venice, fake pyramid. Rumor even has it thatcertain anatomical features of some cocktail waitresses are fake.
I have to admit that I like a lot of the fake stuff, even some of the kitsch. And I fail to see what the Luxor, for example, has gained from its "de-theming."
But my favorite fake thing in Vegas -- technically in Henderson -- is Lake Las Vegas. The "lake" is really a fake bay created by extending a fake lake, Lake Mead, the body of water collected behind Hoover Dam. But Lake Las Vegas is also a fake Italian Village and surrounding high-end residential developments.
The Village's lakeside downtown includes a nice hotel, shops and restaurants and a small but elegant casino, Casino Monte Lago. The casino reopened last year under new ownership after being closed for maybe a couple of years. It has a reasonable variety of video poker and up-to-date slots. Where the first incarnation of the casino had table is a collection of electronic table games -- blackjack, craps, roulette, Three-Card Poker and Ulitmate Texas Hold 'Em.
The decor is inspired by an Italian winery, with rows of barrel ends high on the walls, below wood and painted ceilings. There's an elegant and excellent small restaurant, Harry's, which is open until 12:30 a.m.; a sports bar; and a snack bar, Harry's Cart, that's open when the restuarant is closed. Above the casino floor is a sports bar that serves pizza and bar food. Across the street from the back of the casino is a small Chinese restaurant owned jointly with casino.
The owners of Monte Lago have an arrangement with the adjacent hotel, a former Ritz-Carlton now operated by a company called the Dolce Group, which runs some of the restaurants at the Hard Rock Hotel. The hotel, in turn, can arrange for customers to play the one golf course of the original three in Lake Las Vegas that remains open.
Lake Las Vegas has been hit hard by Vegas' economic and real estate woes, and the casino appears to be struggling a bit. I hope it can make it until the area rebounds. If I were a recreational gambler, I would likely do most of my playing at Monte Lago. It's a little gem in a lovely setting, a world away from the noise, traffic and banality of so much of the rest of Vegas.
I don't know how long the casino will last, so if you live in Vegas or are coming here soon, I urge you to check it out. It's only about a half hour from the airport. Just follow Interstate 215 east, continuing on Lake Mead Parkway to the entrance on your left. Follow the main road past the traffic circle and take your first right. Shortly, the casino will be on your left.
I have to admit that I like a lot of the fake stuff, even some of the kitsch. And I fail to see what the Luxor, for example, has gained from its "de-theming."
But my favorite fake thing in Vegas -- technically in Henderson -- is Lake Las Vegas. The "lake" is really a fake bay created by extending a fake lake, Lake Mead, the body of water collected behind Hoover Dam. But Lake Las Vegas is also a fake Italian Village and surrounding high-end residential developments.
The Village's lakeside downtown includes a nice hotel, shops and restaurants and a small but elegant casino, Casino Monte Lago. The casino reopened last year under new ownership after being closed for maybe a couple of years. It has a reasonable variety of video poker and up-to-date slots. Where the first incarnation of the casino had table is a collection of electronic table games -- blackjack, craps, roulette, Three-Card Poker and Ulitmate Texas Hold 'Em.
The decor is inspired by an Italian winery, with rows of barrel ends high on the walls, below wood and painted ceilings. There's an elegant and excellent small restaurant, Harry's, which is open until 12:30 a.m.; a sports bar; and a snack bar, Harry's Cart, that's open when the restuarant is closed. Above the casino floor is a sports bar that serves pizza and bar food. Across the street from the back of the casino is a small Chinese restaurant owned jointly with casino.
The owners of Monte Lago have an arrangement with the adjacent hotel, a former Ritz-Carlton now operated by a company called the Dolce Group, which runs some of the restaurants at the Hard Rock Hotel. The hotel, in turn, can arrange for customers to play the one golf course of the original three in Lake Las Vegas that remains open.
Lake Las Vegas has been hit hard by Vegas' economic and real estate woes, and the casino appears to be struggling a bit. I hope it can make it until the area rebounds. If I were a recreational gambler, I would likely do most of my playing at Monte Lago. It's a little gem in a lovely setting, a world away from the noise, traffic and banality of so much of the rest of Vegas.
I don't know how long the casino will last, so if you live in Vegas or are coming here soon, I urge you to check it out. It's only about a half hour from the airport. Just follow Interstate 215 east, continuing on Lake Mead Parkway to the entrance on your left. Follow the main road past the traffic circle and take your first right. Shortly, the casino will be on your left.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Palms update
At the Palms the other night I bumped into a slot manager and started what became a lengthy conversation between him and my wife and me about the recent changes at the Palms. First, the good news: According to this particular executive, the removal of good video poker games is over. But like anything else said by any casino employee, this must be taken with a grain of salt. Everthing in a casino is always subject to change, and from my outside perspective, internal communication within casinos and casino companies appears to be generally terrible, so employees are not always aware of what is going on or coming down the pike.
This manager admitted that many customers have complained about the changes and that the Palms has recently lost some business to the Gold Coast, a casino across the street that now has a generally stronger video poker lineup than the Palms. He also said that many of the complainers are still coming to the Palms, out of habit, if nothing else. Significantly, while defending the changes from a business point of view, he admitted that they were handled poorly from a public relations point of view. I'm not sure what the best way is to handle a situation where you're taking something away from people, but the Palms has done little to soften the blow, making at least some longtime customers feel their business is no longer appreciated (the executive made it clear that concerning some customers, this is in fact the case).
He also said that machines have been removed because too many were underused. Casinos pay a state fee for each machine on the slot floor, and of course have many other expenses, so a machine that doesn't get enough play is less valuable than empty floor space (maybe that explains the open prairies at the M Resort). Separted from the issue of the types of games and pay tables offered, this strikes me as simply good management and was an aspect of running a casino I had been unaware of. Of course, players don't care if machines they don't play are removed.
But there's no question that games many serious video poker players played are now gone, including the 25-cent full-pay deuces wild progressive, the 10/7 double bonus progressive and, now, all the 16/10 deuces wild on triple play/five play machines. The Palms was the last casino in Vegas to offer the latter, and they were what I usually played. I mentioned this, and my disappointment, to the slot manager, and he replied that some players had "hammered" the casino on these games. I pointed out that they are negative-return games (to the players), even with perfect play and taking into account the value of slot club points. Further, play on these machines has long been ineligible for qualifying for promotions, and for point multipliers. A few players might have been able to gain a very slight edge if you included the value of their mailers and promotions such as free pulls on Megabucks and Wheel of Fortune, but I can't see how anyone could have "hammered" the Palms on these machines. He really didn't have an answer when I pointed this out. In my opinion, the value to the Palms of continuing to be the only casino offering these enormously fun-to-play games would have been worth any small losses the casino might have incurred as a result of the play of a very few people.
One interesting thing the slot manager shared was his view of the difference between slot (reel) players and video poker players. He described slot players as seeking entertainment and excitement, and not concerned about coming out ahead in the long run as long as they get the excitement of chasing after (mostly small) bonuses and jackpots and occasionally winning. Video poker players, on the other hand, he clearly saw as economic adversaries -- people who expect to win and to get everything they can from the casino. For example, he said that many, many more reel players play without a players' club card, giving away any comps and marketing offers they might be entitled to. Many more video poker players use a card, he said, and use all the points they accrue. I think his views may be colored by the Palms' history as a mecca for serious video poker players. What he says is undoubtedly true for a segment of video poker players, but they are probably a small minority in most casinos. Many, many video poker players don't use players' cards, don't know much if anything about pay tables or game strategy, and believe that winning is just as much a matter of luck in video poker as it is in playing reels.
Still, his attitude is one that seems to reflect the thinking in the industry, which has become less generous to video poker players in the six or so years I've been playing that game. Video poker players used to get the same benefits as reel players -- the same point multipliers, the same coin-in requirements to qualify for gifts and benefits, etc. This has changed at most casinos, and I can't say it's entirely unfair. Even bad video poker players playing bad games lose less than most reel players, and video poker machines are generally faster than reel machines, meaning players can accumulate points faster. But casino mangers should keep in mind that the reel players who lose more may lose interest in gambling -- or run out of gambling money -- sooner. To the extent that the industry squeezes video poker players it jeopardizes a part of its customer base that is likely to provide a more stable, long-lasting source of income.
So what am I going to do now about the Palms? Barring further changes in the video poker lineup, I plan to continue playing there. The Palms still has a couple of games I'm interested in playing -- 16/10 deuces wild at $2 and 9/6 jacks or better at 25 cents on 10-play machines. Both of these games return more than 99.5 percent (the Palms' slot club points add 0.25 percent), and play on the jacks qualifies for promotions. At least one positive game is still available -- 10/7 double bonus. Compared to what the Palms used to have, it's current lineup is very disappointing. Compared to what most other casinos offer, its lineup is still competitive, especially combined with its promotions, even just those available to players of "non-promotional" machines. And I was surprised to find in my March mailer that my free play and dining offers had doubled in value from February. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Palms is only a short walk across the street from the Gold Coast, a casino I usually visit several days a week.
However, just about any further cuts to the video poker at the Palms could change my plans. The slot manager I spoke with pointed out that players have a right to vote with their feet. That's a right I reserve, but hope not to have to use, concerning the Palms.
This manager admitted that many customers have complained about the changes and that the Palms has recently lost some business to the Gold Coast, a casino across the street that now has a generally stronger video poker lineup than the Palms. He also said that many of the complainers are still coming to the Palms, out of habit, if nothing else. Significantly, while defending the changes from a business point of view, he admitted that they were handled poorly from a public relations point of view. I'm not sure what the best way is to handle a situation where you're taking something away from people, but the Palms has done little to soften the blow, making at least some longtime customers feel their business is no longer appreciated (the executive made it clear that concerning some customers, this is in fact the case).
He also said that machines have been removed because too many were underused. Casinos pay a state fee for each machine on the slot floor, and of course have many other expenses, so a machine that doesn't get enough play is less valuable than empty floor space (maybe that explains the open prairies at the M Resort). Separted from the issue of the types of games and pay tables offered, this strikes me as simply good management and was an aspect of running a casino I had been unaware of. Of course, players don't care if machines they don't play are removed.
But there's no question that games many serious video poker players played are now gone, including the 25-cent full-pay deuces wild progressive, the 10/7 double bonus progressive and, now, all the 16/10 deuces wild on triple play/five play machines. The Palms was the last casino in Vegas to offer the latter, and they were what I usually played. I mentioned this, and my disappointment, to the slot manager, and he replied that some players had "hammered" the casino on these games. I pointed out that they are negative-return games (to the players), even with perfect play and taking into account the value of slot club points. Further, play on these machines has long been ineligible for qualifying for promotions, and for point multipliers. A few players might have been able to gain a very slight edge if you included the value of their mailers and promotions such as free pulls on Megabucks and Wheel of Fortune, but I can't see how anyone could have "hammered" the Palms on these machines. He really didn't have an answer when I pointed this out. In my opinion, the value to the Palms of continuing to be the only casino offering these enormously fun-to-play games would have been worth any small losses the casino might have incurred as a result of the play of a very few people.
One interesting thing the slot manager shared was his view of the difference between slot (reel) players and video poker players. He described slot players as seeking entertainment and excitement, and not concerned about coming out ahead in the long run as long as they get the excitement of chasing after (mostly small) bonuses and jackpots and occasionally winning. Video poker players, on the other hand, he clearly saw as economic adversaries -- people who expect to win and to get everything they can from the casino. For example, he said that many, many more reel players play without a players' club card, giving away any comps and marketing offers they might be entitled to. Many more video poker players use a card, he said, and use all the points they accrue. I think his views may be colored by the Palms' history as a mecca for serious video poker players. What he says is undoubtedly true for a segment of video poker players, but they are probably a small minority in most casinos. Many, many video poker players don't use players' cards, don't know much if anything about pay tables or game strategy, and believe that winning is just as much a matter of luck in video poker as it is in playing reels.
Still, his attitude is one that seems to reflect the thinking in the industry, which has become less generous to video poker players in the six or so years I've been playing that game. Video poker players used to get the same benefits as reel players -- the same point multipliers, the same coin-in requirements to qualify for gifts and benefits, etc. This has changed at most casinos, and I can't say it's entirely unfair. Even bad video poker players playing bad games lose less than most reel players, and video poker machines are generally faster than reel machines, meaning players can accumulate points faster. But casino mangers should keep in mind that the reel players who lose more may lose interest in gambling -- or run out of gambling money -- sooner. To the extent that the industry squeezes video poker players it jeopardizes a part of its customer base that is likely to provide a more stable, long-lasting source of income.
So what am I going to do now about the Palms? Barring further changes in the video poker lineup, I plan to continue playing there. The Palms still has a couple of games I'm interested in playing -- 16/10 deuces wild at $2 and 9/6 jacks or better at 25 cents on 10-play machines. Both of these games return more than 99.5 percent (the Palms' slot club points add 0.25 percent), and play on the jacks qualifies for promotions. At least one positive game is still available -- 10/7 double bonus. Compared to what the Palms used to have, it's current lineup is very disappointing. Compared to what most other casinos offer, its lineup is still competitive, especially combined with its promotions, even just those available to players of "non-promotional" machines. And I was surprised to find in my March mailer that my free play and dining offers had doubled in value from February. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Palms is only a short walk across the street from the Gold Coast, a casino I usually visit several days a week.
However, just about any further cuts to the video poker at the Palms could change my plans. The slot manager I spoke with pointed out that players have a right to vote with their feet. That's a right I reserve, but hope not to have to use, concerning the Palms.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Slot tournaments, big and small
One of the staples of casino promotions is the slot tournament. This involves a group of people playing, for a specified time, slot machines set up to record scores rather than pay out money. The participants might play one session or several, all at the same time or spread out over a number of sessions. The winner is usually the player with the highest score or the highest combined score for all his sessions, though there are variations. Many tournaments are free, giving players the attractive option of playing to win the casinos' money without risking any of their own.
Slot tournaments may be part of larger promotions, such as the senior days that have proliferated in Las Vegas-area locals' casinos. Station, in particular, advertises the $30,000 in slot tournament prizes it gives away to senior each week. So how excited should we be about this, and are these tournaments worth the time they take?
Station's $30,000 is broken down among 10 properties, which award $3,000 each. First prize is $1,000 and it drops off precipitously after that. Purses and prizes at the Coast properties that have senior tournaments are not radically different.
The formula for determining how much a tournament is worth to each player is simple (in theory): Total prize money divided by number of entries. Determining the prize money is usually easy; determing the number of entries can come down to a guess. I have asked the attendants at one tournament I used to attend regularly how many people that casino typically got and was told it was often more than 1,000. And many of those people earned as many as two additional entries with a minimal amount of slot play. So I figured this tournament might typically have 1,500 entries or more, making its mathematical value about $2. I used to go to this tournament at a Station property when that company's senior days also included a point multiplier and drawing, a package that make it worthwhile to spend several hours there. Now the point multiplier and drawing are gone, and so am I from Station casinos most Wednesdays.
Now just because the mathematical value of this tournament -- the average amount each player will win each time in the long run -- is only about $2 doesn't mean the tournament wouldn't be worth more than that to some people, even if they knew the mathematical value (my guess is that the vast majority don't). The first prize is an amount that's meaningful to most people, even if their chances of winning it are slim. It's a free roll, a reason to get out of the house and go somewhere nice for lunch, maybe meet friends, etc., etc.
As a professional, I'm more interested in the monetary value, and $2 just doesn't cut it, especially considering that there's also a time expediture involved. Although senior and other small slot tournaments seem to draw people in, at least one Vegas locals' casino has come up with what I think is a better option for both the players and the house. At the Orleans, earning 50 points on Tuesdays gets seniors a chance to spin a virtual wheel on a promotional kiosk. The prizes I've received include 10,000 slot club points (worth $10 in cash back or free play), two free buffets (worth about $20 taking into account the discount I receive as an Emerald-level player) and two tickets to Big Al's Comedy Club (which probably would be available to me and many other players as a comp). So the average is probably about $10, which combined with seven times points makes the Orleans' senior day a worthwhile stop for any oldster who plays there anyway. And the casino doesn't have the expenses of setting up and running a slot tournament, and the players save the time it would take to play. A proverbial "win-win," it seems to me.
Although the Orleans has found a good alternative to small slot tournaments, I don't think the wheel spin would be an acceptable replacement for the bigger tournaments, which often are part of a weekend package and require each participant to play in several sessions, making sure they'll all be in the casino at least a minimum amount of time. And there is genuine excitement and anticipation when a player scores well in one or two sessions and faces one more to determine his fate. Count me in, as long as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow makes it worth my time.
Slot tournaments may be part of larger promotions, such as the senior days that have proliferated in Las Vegas-area locals' casinos. Station, in particular, advertises the $30,000 in slot tournament prizes it gives away to senior each week. So how excited should we be about this, and are these tournaments worth the time they take?
Station's $30,000 is broken down among 10 properties, which award $3,000 each. First prize is $1,000 and it drops off precipitously after that. Purses and prizes at the Coast properties that have senior tournaments are not radically different.
The formula for determining how much a tournament is worth to each player is simple (in theory): Total prize money divided by number of entries. Determining the prize money is usually easy; determing the number of entries can come down to a guess. I have asked the attendants at one tournament I used to attend regularly how many people that casino typically got and was told it was often more than 1,000. And many of those people earned as many as two additional entries with a minimal amount of slot play. So I figured this tournament might typically have 1,500 entries or more, making its mathematical value about $2. I used to go to this tournament at a Station property when that company's senior days also included a point multiplier and drawing, a package that make it worthwhile to spend several hours there. Now the point multiplier and drawing are gone, and so am I from Station casinos most Wednesdays.
Now just because the mathematical value of this tournament -- the average amount each player will win each time in the long run -- is only about $2 doesn't mean the tournament wouldn't be worth more than that to some people, even if they knew the mathematical value (my guess is that the vast majority don't). The first prize is an amount that's meaningful to most people, even if their chances of winning it are slim. It's a free roll, a reason to get out of the house and go somewhere nice for lunch, maybe meet friends, etc., etc.
As a professional, I'm more interested in the monetary value, and $2 just doesn't cut it, especially considering that there's also a time expediture involved. Although senior and other small slot tournaments seem to draw people in, at least one Vegas locals' casino has come up with what I think is a better option for both the players and the house. At the Orleans, earning 50 points on Tuesdays gets seniors a chance to spin a virtual wheel on a promotional kiosk. The prizes I've received include 10,000 slot club points (worth $10 in cash back or free play), two free buffets (worth about $20 taking into account the discount I receive as an Emerald-level player) and two tickets to Big Al's Comedy Club (which probably would be available to me and many other players as a comp). So the average is probably about $10, which combined with seven times points makes the Orleans' senior day a worthwhile stop for any oldster who plays there anyway. And the casino doesn't have the expenses of setting up and running a slot tournament, and the players save the time it would take to play. A proverbial "win-win," it seems to me.
Although the Orleans has found a good alternative to small slot tournaments, I don't think the wheel spin would be an acceptable replacement for the bigger tournaments, which often are part of a weekend package and require each participant to play in several sessions, making sure they'll all be in the casino at least a minimum amount of time. And there is genuine excitement and anticipation when a player scores well in one or two sessions and faces one more to determine his fate. Count me in, as long as the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow makes it worth my time.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Bad news at the Palms
Since founder George Maloof lost control of the Palms, things have been going downhill, video poker-wise. First the full-pay deuces wild progressive came out; the $1 10/7 double bonus progressive was downgraded to 9/7, then removed; the $2 10/7 double bonus -- to my knowledge, the only positive game available in Vegas for more than $1 -- bit the dust. The $2 jack or better between the high-limit room and the Mint high-limit lounge, gone -- along with all the other video poker in that area, all replaced by slot machines.
On Wednesday I visited the Palms and went to play what has become my favorite game there, the $1 five-play "not so ugly" (16/10) deuces. For at least a couple of years, the Palms had been the only place you could play this good version of deuces on triple play/five machines. There was a group near the center of the casino and a couple more in the high-limit slot room. After playing my free Megabucks pulls on Wednesday I went to one of the triple play/five play machines on the main floor. Seeing the "this machine does not qualify for any promotions" sign still on the machine, I assumed the deuces were still 16/10 and began playing. Soon I noticed the deuces had been downgraded to 15/9, a reduction of about 0.9 percent to the players' return. In video poker this is a big deal.
I immediately cashed out and headed to the high limit room, where I was shocked to find an empty space where the last two triple play/five play machines had been. I asked the slot attendant what was going on and found here unsually forthcoming. She said she didn't know whether the triple play/five play machines were coming back but speculated they wouldn't, given the direction the new management was going. She said their focus was on penny slot players -- among the most helpless, pathetic gamblers (my words, not hers) -- and noted that all signs were that the Palms was headed toward becoming something like another Caesars Entertainment property. She said so many regular video poker players had left -- many of them in anger -- that she was surprised to still have a job.
It will be interesting to see what else the new management does to what had been one of the best places in the world to play video poker. If they stop the negative changes now, there's a good chance the Palms will still be worth visiting, though maybe not as often as before. But given what I've seen and heard, I can't be too optimistic that six months from now the Palms will still be on my dance card.
On Wednesday I visited the Palms and went to play what has become my favorite game there, the $1 five-play "not so ugly" (16/10) deuces. For at least a couple of years, the Palms had been the only place you could play this good version of deuces on triple play/five machines. There was a group near the center of the casino and a couple more in the high-limit slot room. After playing my free Megabucks pulls on Wednesday I went to one of the triple play/five play machines on the main floor. Seeing the "this machine does not qualify for any promotions" sign still on the machine, I assumed the deuces were still 16/10 and began playing. Soon I noticed the deuces had been downgraded to 15/9, a reduction of about 0.9 percent to the players' return. In video poker this is a big deal.
I immediately cashed out and headed to the high limit room, where I was shocked to find an empty space where the last two triple play/five play machines had been. I asked the slot attendant what was going on and found here unsually forthcoming. She said she didn't know whether the triple play/five play machines were coming back but speculated they wouldn't, given the direction the new management was going. She said their focus was on penny slot players -- among the most helpless, pathetic gamblers (my words, not hers) -- and noted that all signs were that the Palms was headed toward becoming something like another Caesars Entertainment property. She said so many regular video poker players had left -- many of them in anger -- that she was surprised to still have a job.
It will be interesting to see what else the new management does to what had been one of the best places in the world to play video poker. If they stop the negative changes now, there's a good chance the Palms will still be worth visiting, though maybe not as often as before. But given what I've seen and heard, I can't be too optimistic that six months from now the Palms will still be on my dance card.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Rio's marketing to locals
The Rio is one of the casinos in Las Vegas owned by Caesars Entertainment, formerly Harrah's, known to advantage players and other knowledgeable and value-oriented gamblers as The Evil Empire. Caesars' other Vegas properties are on the Strip and cater almost exclusively to out-of-towners. The company and its mostly second-rate properties are known for lousy games, chintzy comps and high prices, especially compared with the locals' casinos. It's been widely rumored for some time that the company would like to unload the Rio, and it has been marketing the property to locals for the past couple of months.
The Rio is part of a geographic cluster of three casinos west of the Strip on Flamingo. The others are the Palms and Gold Coast, both of which offer much better video poker but rather unattractive (to me) blackjack. I was surprised to learn a few months ago that the Rio offers a decent version of the game I prefer, double-deck with a $25 minimum. The main thing that makes the Rio's game attractive is the good penetration provided by most dealers, which makes up for the petty rule prohibiting doubling after split. I also like the absence of a side bet, which can slow the game down considerably, and the relatively liberal rules on spreading hands (playing two hands is allowed at any time with a bet of least twice the table minimum).
One of the few good things about Caesars overly complex yet stingy comp system (called Total Rewards) is that it is relatively transparent. I have asked about my comp balance a couple of times at the players' clubs. From this experience I have concluded that my blackjack play at an average $50 bet is worth less than $2 an hour in comps. But a couple of months ago I was surprised to get from the Rio not just the free bets that some other casinos send their table games players, but an entire mailer offering free slot play, gifts and hotel room nights. Conspicuously absent were any dining offers.
The three $20 free bet coupons I received for a one-month period required that I go to the cage, which exchanged each one for two $10 coupons to use at the tables. I was delighted to discover that these coupons were "play 'til you lose," not "one bet only, win or lose," like most other free bet and match play coupons. The dealers at the Rio let the coupons ride on winning bets and pushes, greatly increasing their value. The typical coupon is taken by the dealer after any hand except a push.
My most recent mailer also included "mystery" free slot play. I was surprised to see this because I had never played any slots or video poker at the Rio and had not played any video poker at any Caesars property in probably a year. At any rate, I was expecting a minimal amount, $3, maybe $5. I was surprised to get $10, although I had to earn it by standing on line at both the players' club and the cage, which took the coupon I received at the club and issed me a ticket to put into a machine. This is an unbelievably cumbersome and labor-intensive process that would break down if the Rio had a significant number of local customers trying to get their free play at any one time. (By comparison, free play at most casinos is loaded on players' accounts and avaible for download on most slot and video poker machines.)
Another problem is where to use the ticket. The best games in dollars at the Rio are 8/5 bonus poker and 9/7 double bonus, with 9/6 jacks or better at $5 in the high limit room. The dollar games in particular, at just over 99.1 percent return, are not competitive with those at the nearby Palms and Gold Coast, which have a wide selection of games returning very close to 100 percent.
I recently took up the Rio on an offer of two free room nights. The Rio is an all-suite hotel, and my room was large and comfortable. I was put off when making my reservation when the agent tried to charge me a $10 "processing fee," which is unbelievable chutzpah in view of the Caesars billboards in Vegas attacking other operators' resort fees. I protested this fee and it did not wind up on my bill.
On the plus side, the TV channel lineup included MSNBC, which in my experience is rarely available in Las Vegas hotel rooms, although Fox News almost always is. On the down side, Caesars squeezes the lemon when it comes to in-room coffee, making K cups available at three for $8.
A couple of brief news items concerning the Rio: 1. KJ, a new seafood and dim sum Chinese restaurant, has opened where the small bowling alley was, between the poker room and Carnival World Buffet. I'll review it when I earn enough comps for a dinner, in maybe three or four years. 2. A new, supposedly faster, beverage service system divides tasks of taking orders and delivering drinks between new "beverage ambassadors" -- a number of them male -- with electronic tablets and the traditional cocktail servers. The order-taking ambassadors are not allowed to take tips.
I first played blackjack at the Rio not expecting much except a game I could beat in the long run. Although the Rio remains uncompetitive with the locals' casinos in many crucial ways, it has provided me with surprising value and likely will remain on my rotation as long as I'm allowed to play blackjack there.
The Rio is part of a geographic cluster of three casinos west of the Strip on Flamingo. The others are the Palms and Gold Coast, both of which offer much better video poker but rather unattractive (to me) blackjack. I was surprised to learn a few months ago that the Rio offers a decent version of the game I prefer, double-deck with a $25 minimum. The main thing that makes the Rio's game attractive is the good penetration provided by most dealers, which makes up for the petty rule prohibiting doubling after split. I also like the absence of a side bet, which can slow the game down considerably, and the relatively liberal rules on spreading hands (playing two hands is allowed at any time with a bet of least twice the table minimum).
One of the few good things about Caesars overly complex yet stingy comp system (called Total Rewards) is that it is relatively transparent. I have asked about my comp balance a couple of times at the players' clubs. From this experience I have concluded that my blackjack play at an average $50 bet is worth less than $2 an hour in comps. But a couple of months ago I was surprised to get from the Rio not just the free bets that some other casinos send their table games players, but an entire mailer offering free slot play, gifts and hotel room nights. Conspicuously absent were any dining offers.
The three $20 free bet coupons I received for a one-month period required that I go to the cage, which exchanged each one for two $10 coupons to use at the tables. I was delighted to discover that these coupons were "play 'til you lose," not "one bet only, win or lose," like most other free bet and match play coupons. The dealers at the Rio let the coupons ride on winning bets and pushes, greatly increasing their value. The typical coupon is taken by the dealer after any hand except a push.
My most recent mailer also included "mystery" free slot play. I was surprised to see this because I had never played any slots or video poker at the Rio and had not played any video poker at any Caesars property in probably a year. At any rate, I was expecting a minimal amount, $3, maybe $5. I was surprised to get $10, although I had to earn it by standing on line at both the players' club and the cage, which took the coupon I received at the club and issed me a ticket to put into a machine. This is an unbelievably cumbersome and labor-intensive process that would break down if the Rio had a significant number of local customers trying to get their free play at any one time. (By comparison, free play at most casinos is loaded on players' accounts and avaible for download on most slot and video poker machines.)
Another problem is where to use the ticket. The best games in dollars at the Rio are 8/5 bonus poker and 9/7 double bonus, with 9/6 jacks or better at $5 in the high limit room. The dollar games in particular, at just over 99.1 percent return, are not competitive with those at the nearby Palms and Gold Coast, which have a wide selection of games returning very close to 100 percent.
I recently took up the Rio on an offer of two free room nights. The Rio is an all-suite hotel, and my room was large and comfortable. I was put off when making my reservation when the agent tried to charge me a $10 "processing fee," which is unbelievable chutzpah in view of the Caesars billboards in Vegas attacking other operators' resort fees. I protested this fee and it did not wind up on my bill.
On the plus side, the TV channel lineup included MSNBC, which in my experience is rarely available in Las Vegas hotel rooms, although Fox News almost always is. On the down side, Caesars squeezes the lemon when it comes to in-room coffee, making K cups available at three for $8.
A couple of brief news items concerning the Rio: 1. KJ, a new seafood and dim sum Chinese restaurant, has opened where the small bowling alley was, between the poker room and Carnival World Buffet. I'll review it when I earn enough comps for a dinner, in maybe three or four years. 2. A new, supposedly faster, beverage service system divides tasks of taking orders and delivering drinks between new "beverage ambassadors" -- a number of them male -- with electronic tablets and the traditional cocktail servers. The order-taking ambassadors are not allowed to take tips.
I first played blackjack at the Rio not expecting much except a game I could beat in the long run. Although the Rio remains uncompetitive with the locals' casinos in many crucial ways, it has provided me with surprising value and likely will remain on my rotation as long as I'm allowed to play blackjack there.
Monday, January 16, 2012
A good year
2011 was my second year as a professional gambler. Although I haven't yet added everything up, I can say that I earned more money last year than I ever had in a "legitimate" job -- by a long shot. Counting the car I won in a drawing but not comps, I cleared more than $100,000. Of course, my job comes without the usual benefits -- health insurance, paid vacation, retirement -- but does come with show tickets, gifts of all kinds and all the restaurant meals I could eat. Perhaps the best benefit is that I don't have to answer to anyone and at the places I do business I am treated like a valued customer, not an employee. The biggest downsides are the uncertainty, the frustration caused by losing steaks and the sheer amount of time required to succeed. In the latter regard the job is like that of a medical resident -- seven days a week, 10 or more hours a day. Not all of it feels like work but the amount that does seems to be growing. My main goal for this year is to make about as much money as last year but to take less time doing it.
During 2010, my first year as a pro, I occasionally had doubts about whether I would be able to make a living, long-term, by gambling. I now believe I have found a mix of methods that works for me and should continue to work for the foreseeable future. I am also convinced that, despite the long-term trend of casinos worsening the games they offer, there will be opportunties to make a living gambling for years to come. Two years of ground-level observation of casino operations has taught me that to attract and hold the vast majority of their customers, casinos must offer opportunites that can be exploited by the few people with the time, understanding and motivation to take advantage of them. One of the analogies I use to help people understand what I do is that of advantage player (long-term winning gambler) to super coupon shopper. A big part of my job is keeping track of "sales" offered by casinos in the form of point multipliers, free play and the like. I even use actual coupons from the casinos and other sources to obtain free bets and other "savings." I guess supermarkets and many other businesses have very careful customers they lose money on in the long run. This is definitely true of the casinos, at least in a highly competitive market such as Las Vegas. I intend to continue being one of those customers this year.
During 2010, my first year as a pro, I occasionally had doubts about whether I would be able to make a living, long-term, by gambling. I now believe I have found a mix of methods that works for me and should continue to work for the foreseeable future. I am also convinced that, despite the long-term trend of casinos worsening the games they offer, there will be opportunties to make a living gambling for years to come. Two years of ground-level observation of casino operations has taught me that to attract and hold the vast majority of their customers, casinos must offer opportunites that can be exploited by the few people with the time, understanding and motivation to take advantage of them. One of the analogies I use to help people understand what I do is that of advantage player (long-term winning gambler) to super coupon shopper. A big part of my job is keeping track of "sales" offered by casinos in the form of point multipliers, free play and the like. I even use actual coupons from the casinos and other sources to obtain free bets and other "savings." I guess supermarkets and many other businesses have very careful customers they lose money on in the long run. This is definitely true of the casinos, at least in a highly competitive market such as Las Vegas. I intend to continue being one of those customers this year.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Two blackjack rules my brother hates
My brother, who lives in the Northeast and plays most of his blackjack at one of the huge Indian casinos in Connecticut, recently visited Las Vegas and couldn't stop complaining about the rule requiring dealers to hit soft 17, which has become pervasive here. (A few games are still available, at higher limits, in which the dealer stands on 17. Examples are the double deck games at the Mirage and Aria -- lowest minimum $25 --and in the high-limit room of the M Resort -- $100.)
He also railed against the "no double after split" rule at the Caesars (formerly Harrah's) properties where he gets free rooms and plays. (This rule is also common downtown.)
The first rule, hitting soft 17, costs the basic strategy player 0.2 percent. The second, no double after split, costs 0.13 percent -- at least in theory. But there are key differences in the ways the rules work in practice. I believe that the first is here to stay and likely will spread to those parts of the blackjack world where it is not now the norm. I'm not happy about that -- it's costing me money -- but I understand the logic from the casinos' point of view. The same cannot be said about the second rule, which probably doesn't help the casinos nearly as much as they think and hurts their employees as well as players.
First, a little background: In blackjack, a "soft" hand is one in which an ace can function as either a one or an 11. So a soft 17 is a hand such as ace, six or ace, three, three. Traditionally, dealers would stand on such hands. Hitting the soft 17 gives the house a chance to improve its hand. If the dealer's first two cards are ace, six, the hand is immediately improved if another ace or a two, three or four is drawn. In addition, the dealer can draw a card that seems to hurt the hand -- say a seven, resulting in a total of 14 -- but then can come up with a result better than 17 by drawing one of an even bigger number of cards. Because 10-value cards make up 30 percent of the deck, the dealer will often turn a soft 17 into a hard 17. This might seem to have no effect on the players -- the dealer's total is unchanged -- but it removes a card valuable to them.
On the other hand, this rule gives the dealer an opportunity to bust, giving all the players at the table with hands of less than 17 an unexpected win. This doesn't happen often enough to offset the harm the rule does to the players, but it happens often enough to add to the suspense and excitement of the game. Because of this, the typical player, who probably has no idea of the statistical disadvantge of the rule, probaly does not mind this rule.
From the house's point of view, the rule is always applied perfectly and there is no way the statistical gain it offers can be lost. Except to the relatively rare knowledgeable player -- not a desirable customer to the casino anyway -- there is no apparent downside to this rule.
The story concerning no double after split is different in key ways. First, where it is in force, there is usually a sign to that effect on the table. Even the relatively unsophisticated player is being told he is being deprived of a privilege he knows he has elsewhere; who wants to be told that? Second, to some degree, the rule is self-defeating to the casinos in pure financial terms. The 0.13 percent edge is provides assumes all players use perfect basic strategy, which is far, far from true. The house gains when players split when they shouldn't and then double on those split hands. This rule deprives the casinos of that gain. By limiting doubling and reducing splitting -- fewer hands are worth splitting if doubling isn't possible -- casinos with this rule are taking the most exciting hands out of the game, reducing its entertainment value. And they are hurting the dealers they employ by depriving them of the the tips that result from big wins -- such as the ones that result when a dealer busts and a three- or four-way split with a double down or two pays off.
To the extent that I can take the casinos' perspective, hitting soft 17 makes sense. Not allowing doubling after split appears to be, at best, not worth the cost, and at worst totally self-defeating. And, fortunately, players still have plenty of opportunities to avoid these games. If this rule can't be eliminated, I believe it can be contained if players vote with their feet.
He also railed against the "no double after split" rule at the Caesars (formerly Harrah's) properties where he gets free rooms and plays. (This rule is also common downtown.)
The first rule, hitting soft 17, costs the basic strategy player 0.2 percent. The second, no double after split, costs 0.13 percent -- at least in theory. But there are key differences in the ways the rules work in practice. I believe that the first is here to stay and likely will spread to those parts of the blackjack world where it is not now the norm. I'm not happy about that -- it's costing me money -- but I understand the logic from the casinos' point of view. The same cannot be said about the second rule, which probably doesn't help the casinos nearly as much as they think and hurts their employees as well as players.
First, a little background: In blackjack, a "soft" hand is one in which an ace can function as either a one or an 11. So a soft 17 is a hand such as ace, six or ace, three, three. Traditionally, dealers would stand on such hands. Hitting the soft 17 gives the house a chance to improve its hand. If the dealer's first two cards are ace, six, the hand is immediately improved if another ace or a two, three or four is drawn. In addition, the dealer can draw a card that seems to hurt the hand -- say a seven, resulting in a total of 14 -- but then can come up with a result better than 17 by drawing one of an even bigger number of cards. Because 10-value cards make up 30 percent of the deck, the dealer will often turn a soft 17 into a hard 17. This might seem to have no effect on the players -- the dealer's total is unchanged -- but it removes a card valuable to them.
On the other hand, this rule gives the dealer an opportunity to bust, giving all the players at the table with hands of less than 17 an unexpected win. This doesn't happen often enough to offset the harm the rule does to the players, but it happens often enough to add to the suspense and excitement of the game. Because of this, the typical player, who probably has no idea of the statistical disadvantge of the rule, probaly does not mind this rule.
From the house's point of view, the rule is always applied perfectly and there is no way the statistical gain it offers can be lost. Except to the relatively rare knowledgeable player -- not a desirable customer to the casino anyway -- there is no apparent downside to this rule.
The story concerning no double after split is different in key ways. First, where it is in force, there is usually a sign to that effect on the table. Even the relatively unsophisticated player is being told he is being deprived of a privilege he knows he has elsewhere; who wants to be told that? Second, to some degree, the rule is self-defeating to the casinos in pure financial terms. The 0.13 percent edge is provides assumes all players use perfect basic strategy, which is far, far from true. The house gains when players split when they shouldn't and then double on those split hands. This rule deprives the casinos of that gain. By limiting doubling and reducing splitting -- fewer hands are worth splitting if doubling isn't possible -- casinos with this rule are taking the most exciting hands out of the game, reducing its entertainment value. And they are hurting the dealers they employ by depriving them of the the tips that result from big wins -- such as the ones that result when a dealer busts and a three- or four-way split with a double down or two pays off.
To the extent that I can take the casinos' perspective, hitting soft 17 makes sense. Not allowing doubling after split appears to be, at best, not worth the cost, and at worst totally self-defeating. And, fortunately, players still have plenty of opportunities to avoid these games. If this rule can't be eliminated, I believe it can be contained if players vote with their feet.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Barely off the Strip
This post is directed to serious blackjack and/or video poker players who are coming to Las Vegas and staying on or near the Strip, but looking for better games than the Strip casinos offer.
When it comes to blackjack, there are good games on the Strip, but the double-deck games are often available only at minimums of $25 and higher. There is little good video poker on the Strip, defined as games with 99.5 percent payback or better. Some Strip casinos do offer 9/6 jacks or better, but rarely at less than $5, unless you're willing to forgo comps (New York New York offers 9/6 Jacks at $1 and $2, but those machines don't accept a players club card).
This may come as a surprise, but Hooters offers some of the best video poker near the Strip. The good video poker is all on two banks of machines in front of the cage. Games include jacks or better (99.54 percent payback), "not so ugly" deuces wild (99.73 percent) and, on one machine only, double bonus deuces wild (99.81 percent). Slot club points for video poker accrue at a rate of one for every $3 coin in, but each dollar of free play costs only 100 points.
Hooters also offers $10-minimum double deck blackjack with typical locals casino rules and a 0.40 house edge. This game is not open all the time and is never on more than one table. Penetration varies by dealer.
This casino is a very short walk from the Strip at Tropicana, just east of the Tropicana hotel. It is easily accessible by the Monorail, which stops just across Tropicana Avenue at the MGM Grand.
Moving north, a longtime favorite of Strip casino workers and other locals is Ellis Island, a few minutes’ walk east of the Strip on Koval Lane just south of Flamingo Road. This casino, which got its name from founder Gary Ellis, features shoe and double deck blackjack games at $5 and video poker including “not so ugly” deuces at 25 cents and 9/6 jacks or better at up to $2. The casino building also houses a microbrewery, karaoke bar, restaurant, barbecue and Metro Pizza outlet. The casino and karaoke bars serve very generous drinks at moderate prices. Expect a wait at the restaurant (open 24 hours every day) and barbeque (open 4-10 p.m. every day). The restaurant is famous for its off-the-menu steak special, a 10-oz. filet-cut sirloin for $7.99, including an Ellis Island beer.
Farther east at Flamingo and Paradise Road, a fair walk or short bus or taxi ride from the Strip, is Terrible’s (named after founder “Terrible” Herbst, so-called by his competitors in the gas station business for undercutting their prices). The only video poker that meets the 99.5 percent criterion here is 9/6 jacks or better, at up to 50 cents, near the cashier. Double-deck blackjack is consistently offered at $10, based on my experience.
On the other side of the Strip, a long walk or short bus or taxi ride away, are the Palms and Gold Coast, directly across the street from each other. The Palms has one of the best and biggest selections of good video poker in Las Vegas, including a 25-cent full pay deuces wild (100.76 percent) progressive and a $1 full-pay double bonus (100.17 percent) progressive with progressives on the straight flush and quads as well as the royal flush. “Not so ugly” deuces and 9/6 jacks or better are available at pretty much all denominations, including on Triple Play/Five Play machines. Slot club points are worth a generous 0.25 percent.
The Palms also offers a range of blackjack games, including the variation Blackjack Switch. In the past double deck has been offered at $10, but I haven’t seen that for a while. Expect a minimum for double deck of $15 or even $25. Card counters would do better elsewhere; double deck penetration is set at 50 percent with a notch.
The Palms is a big, high-end property with lots of dining and entertainment options. On weekends it is filled with young club goers; during the week it draws an older crowd heavy with locals there for the good video poker and promotions.
The Gold Coast, across the street, has lots of $5 blackjack at all times with good Vegas rules (but consistently lousy penetration) and lots of good video poker, including 9/6 jacks, “not so ugly” deuces and double bonus deuces, at denominations of up to $2. A favorite of Chinese Americans, the Gold Coast has two Chinese restaurants among its dining options. Another nearby casino, the Orleans, is also part of the Coast group owned by Boyd Gaming. A free shuttle connects two and goes to the Strip at Flamingo as well.
Bracketing Las Vegas’ Chinatown area to the north, at Sahara Avenue at Interstate 15, is Palace Station, which offers blackjack with excellent rules and, usually, good penetration at as little as $5 for shoes and $10 for double deck. The selection of positive video poker games (found on machines labeled “Optimum Play” is less than at most other Station properties. To my recollection, no such games are offered at more than 50 cents, but like all things casino-related, that could change at any time.
Finally, the property most like a major Strip resort, but with much better games, is the Las Vegas Hilton, on Paradise Road east of the Strip and south of Sahara Avenue. The Hilton is a major property famous for its entertainment offerings and with excellent restaurants and full major-resort amenities.
The only downside concerning video poker at the Hilton is that all the good games are in the sports book area, which can be crowded, loud and smoky. The upside is the games themselves, including “not so ugly” deuces, loose deuce deuces wild (100.15 percent) and 9/6 jacks. All are offered at 25 cents and $1; the jacks are also offered at $5.
Blackjack at the Hilton is also excellent, with surrender offered not only on shoe games but also on double deck. Shoe games are sometimes offered at $5, usually at $10; double deck is offered at $25. Penetration for both is set by a notch, with about a deck and a third cut off for the six-deck game and about a third of the pack cut off the double-deck game.
The Hilton is a short walk from the Sahara or Riviera, and is accessible by the Monorail, which stops right at the hotel.
When it comes to blackjack, there are good games on the Strip, but the double-deck games are often available only at minimums of $25 and higher. There is little good video poker on the Strip, defined as games with 99.5 percent payback or better. Some Strip casinos do offer 9/6 jacks or better, but rarely at less than $5, unless you're willing to forgo comps (New York New York offers 9/6 Jacks at $1 and $2, but those machines don't accept a players club card).
This may come as a surprise, but Hooters offers some of the best video poker near the Strip. The good video poker is all on two banks of machines in front of the cage. Games include jacks or better (99.54 percent payback), "not so ugly" deuces wild (99.73 percent) and, on one machine only, double bonus deuces wild (99.81 percent). Slot club points for video poker accrue at a rate of one for every $3 coin in, but each dollar of free play costs only 100 points.
Hooters also offers $10-minimum double deck blackjack with typical locals casino rules and a 0.40 house edge. This game is not open all the time and is never on more than one table. Penetration varies by dealer.
This casino is a very short walk from the Strip at Tropicana, just east of the Tropicana hotel. It is easily accessible by the Monorail, which stops just across Tropicana Avenue at the MGM Grand.
Moving north, a longtime favorite of Strip casino workers and other locals is Ellis Island, a few minutes’ walk east of the Strip on Koval Lane just south of Flamingo Road. This casino, which got its name from founder Gary Ellis, features shoe and double deck blackjack games at $5 and video poker including “not so ugly” deuces at 25 cents and 9/6 jacks or better at up to $2. The casino building also houses a microbrewery, karaoke bar, restaurant, barbecue and Metro Pizza outlet. The casino and karaoke bars serve very generous drinks at moderate prices. Expect a wait at the restaurant (open 24 hours every day) and barbeque (open 4-10 p.m. every day). The restaurant is famous for its off-the-menu steak special, a 10-oz. filet-cut sirloin for $7.99, including an Ellis Island beer.
Farther east at Flamingo and Paradise Road, a fair walk or short bus or taxi ride from the Strip, is Terrible’s (named after founder “Terrible” Herbst, so-called by his competitors in the gas station business for undercutting their prices). The only video poker that meets the 99.5 percent criterion here is 9/6 jacks or better, at up to 50 cents, near the cashier. Double-deck blackjack is consistently offered at $10, based on my experience.
On the other side of the Strip, a long walk or short bus or taxi ride away, are the Palms and Gold Coast, directly across the street from each other. The Palms has one of the best and biggest selections of good video poker in Las Vegas, including a 25-cent full pay deuces wild (100.76 percent) progressive and a $1 full-pay double bonus (100.17 percent) progressive with progressives on the straight flush and quads as well as the royal flush. “Not so ugly” deuces and 9/6 jacks or better are available at pretty much all denominations, including on Triple Play/Five Play machines. Slot club points are worth a generous 0.25 percent.
The Palms also offers a range of blackjack games, including the variation Blackjack Switch. In the past double deck has been offered at $10, but I haven’t seen that for a while. Expect a minimum for double deck of $15 or even $25. Card counters would do better elsewhere; double deck penetration is set at 50 percent with a notch.
The Palms is a big, high-end property with lots of dining and entertainment options. On weekends it is filled with young club goers; during the week it draws an older crowd heavy with locals there for the good video poker and promotions.
The Gold Coast, across the street, has lots of $5 blackjack at all times with good Vegas rules (but consistently lousy penetration) and lots of good video poker, including 9/6 jacks, “not so ugly” deuces and double bonus deuces, at denominations of up to $2. A favorite of Chinese Americans, the Gold Coast has two Chinese restaurants among its dining options. Another nearby casino, the Orleans, is also part of the Coast group owned by Boyd Gaming. A free shuttle connects two and goes to the Strip at Flamingo as well.
Bracketing Las Vegas’ Chinatown area to the north, at Sahara Avenue at Interstate 15, is Palace Station, which offers blackjack with excellent rules and, usually, good penetration at as little as $5 for shoes and $10 for double deck. The selection of positive video poker games (found on machines labeled “Optimum Play” is less than at most other Station properties. To my recollection, no such games are offered at more than 50 cents, but like all things casino-related, that could change at any time.
Finally, the property most like a major Strip resort, but with much better games, is the Las Vegas Hilton, on Paradise Road east of the Strip and south of Sahara Avenue. The Hilton is a major property famous for its entertainment offerings and with excellent restaurants and full major-resort amenities.
The only downside concerning video poker at the Hilton is that all the good games are in the sports book area, which can be crowded, loud and smoky. The upside is the games themselves, including “not so ugly” deuces, loose deuce deuces wild (100.15 percent) and 9/6 jacks. All are offered at 25 cents and $1; the jacks are also offered at $5.
Blackjack at the Hilton is also excellent, with surrender offered not only on shoe games but also on double deck. Shoe games are sometimes offered at $5, usually at $10; double deck is offered at $25. Penetration for both is set by a notch, with about a deck and a third cut off for the six-deck game and about a third of the pack cut off the double-deck game.
The Hilton is a short walk from the Sahara or Riviera, and is accessible by the Monorail, which stops right at the hotel.
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.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
A horrifying possibility
I just became aware of reports that Harrah's Entertainment has taken over some of the debt of the Palms and may have its eyes on taking over the property, as it recently did to Planet Hollywood. The Financial Times published a fairly detailed story on Feb. 24 and the Las Vegas Sun Web site carried a brief summary the following day. Sun readers posted some interesting comments on the story. (Incidentally, the Sun failed to note that the Greenspun family, which owns the paper, also has a small stake in the Palms.)
To say the least, a Harrahs takeover of the Palms would not be good news. The Palms is a unique casino that serves a diverse group of Vegas locals and visitors in ways that no Harrah's property does or could.
On the other hand, Harrah's, the owner of a number of Strip properties and the Rio, has consistently shown nothing but contempt for local gamblers. Its games are among the worst and its comps are among the stingiest. Most of its properties (Harrah's, Flamingo, Imperial Palace, the abominable O'Sheas) are second rate or worse. Harrah's uses Vegas largely as a reward for players at its casinos in other parts of the country, who fill its rooms here, paying little or nothing. They certainly don't come for the 6-to-5 blackjack or Colorado deuces.
If Harrah's takes over the Palms, the changes will come quickly, and they will be drastic. The result will be what a blackjack dealer at Caesars Palace told a player there after Harrah's changed the rules: "This used to be one the best places to gamble. Now it's one of the worst."
Updates
It appears that since my recent post about the Westin Casuarina, the casino has dropped 16/10 "not so ugly" deuces. On a happier note, nearby Ellis Island has added full pay deuces to a group of machines against the wall of the restaurant. Labels on the machines indicate that point multipliers do not apply. These are the closest full pay deuces machines to the Strip.
Also, Peppermill's Rainbow in downtown Henderson no longer has 10-coin full pay deuces wild, leaving the Skyline on Boulder Highway the only place I know of with full pay deuces for, in effect, 50 cents. This casino has something else I haven't seen anywhere else -- wild sevens video poker, with the same pay table as full pay deuces wild. You'd have to use a different strategy for this game because in deuces games, "proximity to the deuce" is a factor in determining whether some cards are held.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
A different kind of casino
After almost three years living in Vegas, I've visited most of the casinos in the area's major tourist areas. Until recently, one of the few exceptions was the Westin Casuarina, on Flamingo Road just east of the Strip. I did duck in a couple of months ago for a few minutes but didn't play. The other night a good players' club sign-up offer and a $25 table games match play coupon in the American Casino Guide got me in the door again. The offer was a rebate in free play of up to $50 in first-day slot or video poker losses. When I signed up, I was also given a $10 table games match play coupon.
What's different about the Westin is that although it's a short walk from the Strip, it has the atmosphere of a business hotel rather than a Vegas resort. The casino is small by Vegas standards for the size of the hotel, and it was quiet and crowd-free. The only businesses in the casino are a restaurant called Suede, a gift shop and a Starbucks coffee. There's one bar in the casino, with video poker.
The best video poker in the casino is 16/10 "not so ugly" deuces wild, which pays back 99.73 percent, for 25 cents. According to vpFREE2.com, 9/6 jacks or better (99.54 percent) is also available for 25 cents. The best game at higher denominations (50 cents, $1 and $2) is 15/9/4 "pseudo not so ugly" deuces wild (98.92 percent). Playing the 16/10, I quickly lost $50 and went to the players' club booth (which doubles as the cashiers' cage) and got my $50 rebate in free play, which I managed to turn into $50 cash for a break-even session.
Then it was time for blackjack. Two tables were open, one with a continuous-shuffle machine, the other with six decks, hand-shuffled. The minimum at both was $5. I chose the latter. A sign on the table detailed the rules, which are pretty standard: Dealer hits soft 17, double on any two cards, double after split, no re-slitting aces, no surrender (for a house edge of .63 against a basic strategy strategy player. For you card counters, penetration is set by notch at about 67 percent -- two full decks cut off.
For the center-Strip area, and especially with a $5 minimum, this isn't a bad blackjack game. It's certainly a lot better than the horrific 6-to-five games at the nearby Harrah's places. It's not a game I would normally play, but with $35 in match plays, my chances of winning a little money looked good. Alas, I lost my bet with the big coupon and left a loser by $40.
For machine play, the Westin gives both points than can be converted to free play and comp dollars for use in the restaurant, gift shop and Starbucks. According to vpFREE2, it takes $10 coin in to earn a point, and 100 points equal $5 in free play, which adds 0.5 percent to the players' return. This alone makes the 16/10 deuces a positive game for those who play it well. In addition to points, comp dollars are awarded at rates ranging from 0.48 percent to 0.93 percent, according to vpFREE2. Presumably the lowest rate is awarded for at least the better video poker games, but even so the total value of free play and comps comes to almost 1 percent, with this caveat:
Through the conversation at my blackjack table, I learned that the restaurant prices are quite high. In many casinos, restaurant prices are low, to draw in potential gamblers. Apparently the Westin restaurant is more of a typical of a business hotel, where many customers are on expense accounts and more interested in convenience than value. So the real value of the comp dollars may not be as high as their nominal value, considering available alternatives. Still, the overall return of the players' club benefits is quite good.
How often I return to the Westin may well depend on the offers, if any, I get in the mail. It doesn't seem to be a place that targets locals, but if I were a visitor who wanted to stay or play near the center Strip, it's definitely a place I would consider.
What's different about the Westin is that although it's a short walk from the Strip, it has the atmosphere of a business hotel rather than a Vegas resort. The casino is small by Vegas standards for the size of the hotel, and it was quiet and crowd-free. The only businesses in the casino are a restaurant called Suede, a gift shop and a Starbucks coffee. There's one bar in the casino, with video poker.
The best video poker in the casino is 16/10 "not so ugly" deuces wild, which pays back 99.73 percent, for 25 cents. According to vpFREE2.com, 9/6 jacks or better (99.54 percent) is also available for 25 cents. The best game at higher denominations (50 cents, $1 and $2) is 15/9/4 "pseudo not so ugly" deuces wild (98.92 percent). Playing the 16/10, I quickly lost $50 and went to the players' club booth (which doubles as the cashiers' cage) and got my $50 rebate in free play, which I managed to turn into $50 cash for a break-even session.
Then it was time for blackjack. Two tables were open, one with a continuous-shuffle machine, the other with six decks, hand-shuffled. The minimum at both was $5. I chose the latter. A sign on the table detailed the rules, which are pretty standard: Dealer hits soft 17, double on any two cards, double after split, no re-slitting aces, no surrender (for a house edge of .63 against a basic strategy strategy player. For you card counters, penetration is set by notch at about 67 percent -- two full decks cut off.
For the center-Strip area, and especially with a $5 minimum, this isn't a bad blackjack game. It's certainly a lot better than the horrific 6-to-five games at the nearby Harrah's places. It's not a game I would normally play, but with $35 in match plays, my chances of winning a little money looked good. Alas, I lost my bet with the big coupon and left a loser by $40.
For machine play, the Westin gives both points than can be converted to free play and comp dollars for use in the restaurant, gift shop and Starbucks. According to vpFREE2, it takes $10 coin in to earn a point, and 100 points equal $5 in free play, which adds 0.5 percent to the players' return. This alone makes the 16/10 deuces a positive game for those who play it well. In addition to points, comp dollars are awarded at rates ranging from 0.48 percent to 0.93 percent, according to vpFREE2. Presumably the lowest rate is awarded for at least the better video poker games, but even so the total value of free play and comps comes to almost 1 percent, with this caveat:
Through the conversation at my blackjack table, I learned that the restaurant prices are quite high. In many casinos, restaurant prices are low, to draw in potential gamblers. Apparently the Westin restaurant is more of a typical of a business hotel, where many customers are on expense accounts and more interested in convenience than value. So the real value of the comp dollars may not be as high as their nominal value, considering available alternatives. Still, the overall return of the players' club benefits is quite good.
How often I return to the Westin may well depend on the offers, if any, I get in the mail. It doesn't seem to be a place that targets locals, but if I were a visitor who wanted to stay or play near the center Strip, it's definitely a place I would consider.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saying goodbye
There are many reasons to play at one casino rather than another, but the bottom line for me is games I want to play -- games that give me a fair chance to come out ahead. For video poker, these include not just 100 percent payback games but games such as 16/10 "not so ugly deuces" with 99.73 percent payback that can be combined with players' club benefits to yield a positive return. Progressives can make games with otherwise unacceptable pay tables a good play.
This aging Strip property has been doing many things right. It has a generous players' club program that awards comp points, cash back and free play. The mailers I've gotten for my video poker play have offered generous amounts of free play. It offers point multipliers, gifts to local players and invitations to special events.
In recent weeks and months, several casinos have downgraded their video poker inventory, making it diffuclt for me to continue playing there. A case in point is one of the few Strip casinos that has made a genuine effort to go after the locals' business -- the Sahara.
This aging Strip property has been doing many things right. It has a generous players' club program that awards comp points, cash back and free play. The mailers I've gotten for my video poker play have offered generous amounts of free play. It offers point multipliers, gifts to local players and invitations to special events.The Sahara deserves compliments for its $1 blackjack. Many casinos that offer low-limit blackjack have only one table of it; the Sahara always has at least one full pit open. Players get paid only even money for blackjacks and don't get rated for comps unless they bet $5 per hand (in which cases blackjacks play 6-to-5). But it's the only place I know of in Vegas where you can play blackjack for $1, and at that bet level the average loss from the reduced payout for blackjack is about $1.50 an hour. (Normally any game that pay less than 3-to-2 for blackjacks is to be avoided like the plague; in this case the disadvantage to the player is mitigated by the small amount of the bets.)
For slot and video poker players the Sahara has a "Locals Lane" with video poker that used to be better than that in the main casino. Not too long ago the best game there was 10/7 double bonus (100.17 percent payback) for 50 cents; most recently it was 16/10 "not so ugly" deuces (99.73 percent payback), in denominations up to $1. I was happy to play this game there given the Sahara's slot club benefits.
A few weeks ago, I found that the deuces pay tables had been changed to 15/9/4 "pseudo not so ugly," aka "Illinois deuces," which pays back 98.91 percent. The best double bonus is now 9/7, which pays back 99.11 percent, and it isn't even in Locals Lane. Absent incentives such as a big progressive jackpot or point multiplier, there is no reason to play games with these pay tables. The Las Vegas Hilton, right across the street, offers better games, including 16/10 deuces and 9/6 jacks or better (99.54 percent payback).
Nothing's forever in the casino business, and it's possible the folks at the Sahara will realize they've gone too far. But until they bring back the better pay tables or something else worthwile, I'll be using up my free play and than spending my time at other casinos.
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