Today’s blog entry comes with no attempt at a clever turn of phrase as I have run out for the month. I am going to give my impressions on my stay at Harrah’s. Other than spending a night on someone’s floor many years ago, I had not stayed here before. I had enjoyed many fun nights at both Carnaval Court and the Piano Bar so I had high hopes for my stay. One feature of Harrah’s branded properties I have noticed is that the employees are friendlier than in most other hotels and not in that, “I want a tip” kind of way. Most everyone I had contact with was helpful and seemed to care. The room itself was fine, one of the fairly recently remodeled Valley Tower rooms. Had a nice view and a comfortable bed and everything worked, even the half-door style shower. No fridge but there was a coffeemaker. The room did seem to pick up a lot of hallway noise though I didn’t notice my neighbors at all. Perhaps I didn’t have any? The casino was always busy and did feature the only Fortune Cup game I have seen at a Caesars property. Average drink service on the floor but the bartenders at the main casino bar were friendly and fast. Tomorrow, some thoughts on life center Strip.
Category: Gambling
More Gold
I neglected to sum up the overall experience at the Golden Gate, but there are some important points worth sharing. First of all, the casino has a great bar called the Prohibition Bar and it has remain largely unchanged for years. Purportedly many famous people have tipped one back here and it is a pleasant place for a cocktail and a gamble. Unlike some places, they seem to want to give you a free drink. There are no meters or lights, just a friendly face. Sadly, if you are feeling hungry, you’ll have to go elsewhere as the hotel has no restaurant. Those with happy memories of Dupars or the Bay City Diner will be disappointed. There are no pancakes or shrimp cocktails here for any price. All those spaces are now filled with tables or machines, as is the space once occupied by La Bayou. This has nearly doubled the gaming floor but it is still a small casino compared to most of its neighbors. So, if you fancy a cold drink and want to play, the Golden Gate is a good choice. If you need a bite to eat, go somewhere else.
Sixteen Candles?
No, we aren’t discussing Molly Ringwald tonight and you are going to need to have at least a few more candles than she did to take advantage of tonight’s trick. If you happen to be celebrating a birthday in Las Vegas, you may be able to get some free stuff. Of course, your mileage may vary but these are a few things to try. One that worked for me a couple of years back is a free ticket to the observation deck at the Eiffel Tower. Kind of fun and worth checking out if you are in the area. I have heard several reports that both Luxor and Excalibur will gift you some free play if you present your players club card at their customer service desk. It has been like $20 so not huge but I would take it! I have heard similar stories about the Orleans and other Boyd properties. Of course, if you have played quite a bit with any casino, it would be worth asking. The same is true with any restaurant. I know both Binion’s and Four Queens have a BOGO special for your birthday month. And, of course, many chain restaurants will also give you a little something and, if you join their loyalty programs, it might be a free meal. Tomorrow, one final trick!
Game On!
Solo travellers to Las Vegas have one big advantage over those visiting most other locations: gambling! Gambling requires no companions whatsoever. If you are feeling less social, find a gaming machine that strikes your fancy and settle in for a little quality alone time. If you feel like chatting up a stranger (or bartender,) you can sit at the bar and do your gambling. And, if you’d prefer to play with others, hit the craps table and high five people you’ve never met. In my experience, most of your fellow visitors are pretty friendly, particularly after a couple of cocktails. Whether you’re a high or low roller, you’ll have plenty of company with whom to share your good and bad luck!
Spin to Win
I have intentionally waited until the last day of gambling week to discuss slot machines, those dastardly one armed bandits who can turn dreams into nightmares or pennies into a small fortune. There isn’t a single gambling authority who will recommend that you invest any time or money in these devices and for good reason. For one, it is impossible to figure the odds against you. Most any other game in the casino is transparent enough that you know exactly what chances you have and the size of the house’s edge. Not here. There are broad estimates of what certain machines pay or what certain casinos pay over time but that tells you nothing about which machine to choose. It could be less than 90% of what you wager. That might not be so bad if you weren’t wagering so much and cycling through it so fast, but you are. And those big jackpots you are chasing only make it worse. The more money that a machine pays out for its biggest prizes, the more losing spins it is going to have. But I’m not telling you not to play. It is fun and exciting and the newer machines have a lot of fun bonus rounds and visuals. Just remember that you are going to pay for that entertainment value over time. And that is the biggest lesson to take from this week’s blog. Gambling is a form of entertainment and the money you spend in the casino should be a part of your entertainment budget, not your 401k. That way you’ll always be a winner!
Games to Play When You Just Can’t Win
Sometimes it isn’t about the odds or the probabilities. It’s just dumb luck or the opposite of that. Once in a while you just can’t win, but you still want to play something. You could always bet on a sporting event and then watch it, but that may not be the action you want and the nice cocktail lady probably won’t be bringing you a bunch of free drinks. So what to do? An old favorite is the game of Pai Gow poker. It is a table game that moves at a pretty leisurely pace and, in addition to offering decent odds, it frequently ends up with you pushing with the dealer. That happens close to 50% of the time and, when it does, you get your bet back. The rules aren’t difficult and you can’t actually mess up anyway as you must play your cards a certain way. So it is a “no brainer” with a small house edge and you tend to win or lose very slowly. Worth trying. A couple other time killers with terrible odds but drink service and a bit of fun are the ancient game of keno and something rather new called Fortune Cup. Keno lounges are getting hard to find but, if you do, you can normally wager a $1 a game. You don’t often win but you can get some nice hits from time to time and plenty of refreshments while you wait. Fortune Cup is an updated version of the old Sigma Derby game and is showing up all over Las Vegas. For a $1 (sometimes less) a “race,” you can watch plastic horses run for the roses or something. It is surprisingly entertaining after a few beverages and the money drain is low, even less if you catch a long shot now and then. So check it out. Tomorrow we wrap up gambling week and talk about the elephant in the room: slot machines.
Some Not-so-good Wagers
You might imagine, particularly after our discussion of some of the popular table games like blackjack, craps or baccarat, that all table games are a good choice. Sadly, that is not true. There are lots of not-so-great choices on the felt surface. We can start with roulette. The best bet in this game is a simple even money wager on black or red and, with a few exceptions, it has a house edge of over 5%. That’s because of the presence of the 0 and 00 on the wheel. You may occasionally find a wheel with only a single zero but that is normally on tables with high bet minimums. If you can afford it, that drops the advantage to just under 3%, which is not terrible but not great. There are also a number of other games that have popped up in recent years like Let It Ride, Caribbean Stud, Ultimate Texas Hold Em and even War. These games all range between about 3 and 5% on the most basic bets, but most people end up making side bets, which typically have even worse odds. Of course nothing is worse than that giant wheel you see at the front of most casinos, frequently “manned” by a lovely young lady. The house edge here is over 10%! Of course, if you really enjoy playing one of these games, don’t let me stop you. Gambling is, first and foremost, about entertainment. Just keep in mind that the cost of that entertainment may be pretty high. Tomorrow, a few games that you can usually play for a long time on just a little cash and why they might be right for you!
The No Brainers
So far, our best bets have all involved a bit of thinking on your part but a couple of the very best games in the casino require almost no skill at all and have returns as good or better than either video poker or blackjack. Those games are craps and baccarat. Your initial reaction might be that both of these games are a bit intimidating to a beginner and you wouldn’t be wrong. The craps table is usually the noisiest spot in the casino and all the wagers can seem a bit exotic but, for our purposes, you need only learn a few basics about how the game works and about how to make a simple pass line bet. Of course you can look online but my recommendation is to find a casino that offers a class on how to play. They are often offered on weekday mornings so ask around. That way you can see the game play out and not just have to imagine what it looks like. A simple pass line bet has a house advantage of only 1.4% and, if you also “take odds” on your bet, it can get significantly lower. As for baccarat, it is often thought of as a rich man’s game and, indeed, the full baccarat tables are usually in the high limit rooms and can have high minimum bets. If it is too high for you, look for a mini baccarat table as they will typically have minimums more in line with other table games. And, here’s the kicker. If you take the banker bet, the house edge is only 1.06%. And the game involves no thinking at all! So learn craps and/or baccarat if you want a game where you have a fighting chance to come out ahead without doing much work! Tomorrow we’ll talk about some games you might want to avoid and why.
Pretty Fair Bets
If you are looking to stretch your gambling dollars as far as possible, there are several things to consider. The one we are going to discuss tonight is the house advantage on the bets you place. You want that number to be as low as possible and there are several good options to consider. We briefly mentioned blackjack and video poker and those are generally pretty good games. That being said, many of the lower limit blackjack tables now only pay 6:5 on a blackjack instead of 3:2. The best blackjack games, with proper strategy can have a house edge of only about 0.5% but the 6:5 game can have more than a 2% edge and that number can rise to 4 or 5% if you don’t play basic strategy. It does take a little practice to learn basic strategy but it isn’t difficult and they even sell laminated strategy cards as a reference. Unless you play head to head on one of those blackjack machines, it is a social game and people do sometimes get upset if others don’t make the “right” play. Video Poker, on the other hand, is a marvelously antisocial game, just you against the machine. It isn’t hard to find a game with a 2 or 3% house edge and, in some cases, ones with less than a 1% house edge but, once again, that assumes you know proper strategy. Playing a simple game like Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker is the best way to start as the strategy is fairly simple. A quick search online will yield the basics. Games with large four of a kind bonuses, wild cards or other gimmicks are more difficult to learn but almost any video poker machine, even played badly, has a better return than most any slot machine. Still, these games do take a little skill. Tomorrow we look at two more pretty fair bets that require none at all.
Games of Skill
Most casino games involve little or no skill on the part of the player. Even where players are able to make choices as to the kind of bets they make, the odds remain stacked against them. Some bets have a lower house edge but they all favor the house. While there are rare instances where a video poker game may return over 100% with perfect play and some blackjack games can be beaten by card counters, neither is common. That being said, skilled gamblers may be able to consistently win at a couple of casino games. The first example is poker. Since players compete against each other, better players will win in the long run. The house does take a percentage of the pot, called a rake, which makes consistent winning more difficult but not impossible. In addition to poker, most places offer a race and sports book where you can wager on horse races and various sporting events. Again, the casino does have an advantage because they do not offer a true even money bet, requiring you to wager $11 to win $10, but a truly skilled handicapper can beat the house. These two games of skill, in addition to video poker and blackjack, require a great deal of skill and discipline, not qualities possessed by most somewhat inebriated Vegas visitors. Being a professional gambler is hard work and I don’t want to work that hard on vacation. Tomorrow, a few pretty good games that don’t require a lot of skill.
Vegas Tips and Tricks 