From: mbuck@fibers (Michael D. Buck)
Newsgroups: rec.gambling
Subject: LV trip report 8/6-8/11
Date: 14 Aug 92 12:51:30 EDT
Summary: trip report SD,DD
Reply-To: twwells!fibers!mbuck@decwrl.dec.com
Organization: Allied Fibers, Petersburg VA

Hello all.

I've just pronounced myself recovered from jet lag from my recent
trip to LV (Aug 6-11).  Here is the requisite (and quickly thrown together)
trip report.

In case you don't feel like reading the whole thing, here is some summary
information:

(1) SD and DD games at Slots-a-Fun are now "double on 10 or 11 only".
(2) SD and DD games at Silver City are H17 and "double on 10 or 11 only".
(3) Two new SD tables available at LV Hilton.  Not exciting, however, since
    their usually great rules are not in effect.  D10, No DAS, No surrender.
    Also, both tables are set at $3 minimum bet, ensuring a full table of
    2 x 6 action.
(4) Rio single deck uses the "Shuffle Master" machines, and some dealers
    give routine 4(rounds) x 3(players).  Others "accidentally" preferentially 
    shuffle if many small cards are gone after 3 rounds.
(5) Strikers at Frontier very quiet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok. Here's the long version.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blackjack:

Before leaving for the trip, I had purchased the matchplay package from "Casino
Vacations" that had been mentioned in the June and July issues of Las Vegas
Advisor.  There were a lot of freebie coupons in it that I apparently could
have gotten free around LV, but the match play was as follows:

  $40 (8 x $5) at Palace Station
  $20 (4 x $5) at Bally's
  $40 (8 x $5) at Harrah's (was Holiday Casino)
  $40 (8 x $5) at Continental
  $40 (20 x $2) at King 8
  $40 (20 x $2) at Bourbon Street

Having paid $42 for the package, I figured I could expect 50% of the matchplay
returned, giving a net expected win of ($220/2 - $42) = $68.

Well, Bourbon Street didn't honor the coupon at all, saying that it had expired
the previous day (I didn't try to cash in this one 'til Sunday), and the King 8
provied me with 20 $3-for-$2 vouchers instead of the $20 $4-2 match chips I had
expected.  Other than that, all casinos gladly accepted the vouchers with no
problems.  Additionally, we collected just about every casino funbook we could
get, just to see what was in them, and we used lots of $2-for-$1, $3-for-$2,
and $7-for-$5 bonus play coupons.

I used the Hi-Low counting system, with a bet spread of 1-2, and occassionally
1-3.

After arriving in LV Thursday night, I started playing Friday morning.  I
didn't play a *lot* of BJ until Monday and Tuesday, since I was basically
acting as tour operator for my travelling companion.
---
Friday

We cashed in our vouchers at the King 8 after breakfast, and used our
$3-for-$2 coupons at Roulette.  Unfortunately, we were not awake enough to do
something smart like have one of us bet black, and the other bet red.  I bet
1-18, and she bet black.  Since we each had ten coupons to use, we played 10
spins of the wheel.  "0" and "00" each came up once during that time, helping
me to lose  $9, and she lost $11.  Stupid.

My first BJ was at the Excalibur's SD game.  It still has the (fairly) good
rules, of S17, and Double on 9, 10 or 11.  I played a meager session of 10 $2
units, and lost them promptly.  Also checked out the "Magic Motion Machine" in
the arcade section of the Excalibur.  Something like a less polished version of
Disney's "Star Tours", only replace the space theme with desert pick-up truck
racing.  For $2, it was fun.

Went to Bally's, and got our 4 $5 match coupons there.  Played all 4 of those
myself, and won only 1 hand at their single-deck "Shuffle Master" game,
resulting in a $10 loss.

Just for giggles, went to Vegas World late.  Couldn't find any reason to play.


Gambling total for the day: -$47.00
---
Saturday

Got my first "serious" BJ done, in the morning, at the Frontier.  Played for
two hours at $5 minimum.  SD, S17, DAS, DOA, 2 x 6.  Lost $57.50.  Lots of fun.

Ate lunch at the Sands, and moved on to Circus Circus to check out their SD
game.  Unfortunately, we found we couldn't move in Circus Circus due to the
crowd gridlock, so we left real quickly.

Most other places we visited were equally busy, and all the games I even
remotely wanted to play had full tables of 2 x 6 or 2 x 7, so I decided to
pass.  We spent the rest of the night being truly touristy, watching the
volcano at the Mirage, then seeing the new "Fountain of the Gods" at the
Forum Shops at Caesars, then spent the next hour trying to figure out how
to get out of Caesars Palace's Olympic Casino.

Gambling total for the day: -$63.00
---
Sunday

Went Downtown.

Played $1 min 6D at Four Queens, to help my companion get used to playing BJ.
Surprisingly, won $15.00.

Also played the truly strange and (almost) uncountable game at the Las Vegas
CLub.  6D, H17, LS, DAS, Double on 2 or 3 or 4 cards, automatic 6-card winners.
Won $10 at $2 minimum.  The goofy rules make this kind of fun to play, even if
you can't win in the long run.

Played 4D and 1D games at the El Cortez. It's true that DAS is gone here,
making this SD game not very special anymore, considering the pit heat, and the
downtown H17 rule. Lost $10 at the $1 min 4D game, and broke even at the SD
game.

Played a short session at the new SD game at the LV Hilton at $3 min.
Broke even.  2 x 6, with No DAS, No surrender, double on 10 or 11 only.
Frankly, their DD game is a lot better.  Both SD tables were $3 minimum,
making them the cheapest BJ in the Hilton, so the tables are always full.
Full SD tables plus not-so-great rules leads to little advantage.

After dinner, took my $40 match play to the Palace Station, and had some real
fun, as I basically back-counted and jumped into their DD games when the
count got good, for one or two hands with match play.  Actually caught one
dealer who would give me back my match play chip if I won the hand!  Anyway,
the combination of counting and good luck gave me a quick $65.00 win here.
BTW, their DD game is H17, DAS, RSA, with pretty good penetration.  Probably
one of the better DD games in town.

Went back to the Fronitier, determined to do better, and lost another $45 at
their $5 minimum SD tables.  Oh joy.

Around 2 AM, played the DD game at Barbary Coast for an hour, winning $15.00.
I noticed little/no heat, which refutes what another post had recently said
about many counters being barred from here.  Which is it?  Lots of pit heat,
or typically a good DD game?

Gambling total for the day: +$50.00
---
Monday

Played the match play chips at Continental, and won $24 at $5 minimum table.
They have that quirky rule here, where a dealers 10-up BJ is treated not as
a BJ, but as a drawn 21.  Helped me out one time. H17, DOA, No DAS.

Played the match play chips at Harrah's, and won $59.  They only appeared to
have 3 DD tables amidst the sea of shoes, and they were all $5 min.  S17,
DOA, No DAS.

Used some junky funbook coupons at Silver City and Slots-a-Fun to win $4.
Bith of these games used to be strip rules (S17, DOA), but not anymore:
Silver City:  H17, Double 10-11 only, No DAS (SD,DD)
Slots-a-Fun:  S17, Double 10-11 only, No DAS (DS,DD)

Went back to Circus Circus on a quieter day, and lost $40 at their SD game
over 2 hours.  S17, No DAS, DOA.  Not great penetration, however, as we never
got 3 rounds to 4 players, or 4 rounds to 3.

Checked in at the Golden Nugget, and broke even at their SD $5 min game over
an hour.  H17, DOA, No DAS, No Surrender.  They *do* allow DAS and Surrender on
their 3-deck auto-shufflers and on their 6-deck shoes, but not on SD or DD.

Went to the Mirage, and played their DD game for the first time, and won $158
at a $10 min table.  The only $5 min tables available were on 6D shoe games.
Anyway, I played head-on mostly, and occasionally with one other player.
The decks got dealt down farther than any other DD game I played while here.
No noticeable pit attention during my win, but then again I was only using a
1-2 spread.

Gambling total for the day: +$211.50
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday

Last day.

Won $20 at the Horseshoe SD game in 10 minutes. H17, DOA, No DAS, 2 x 6.

Thought long and hard about entering the Rio's BJ tournament, but decided
against, since I probably don't know what I need to to do well in a tournament
environment.  Watched one round of it, and it looked like a lot of fun. Their
tournament pays back 100% of the entries.  It was 3 rounds of 36 people each,
at $25 each, so there was $2700 in prize money available, of which $1500 went
to first place.  Prizes of some sort offered to top 6 finalists.

Feeling happy and ahead, I went to the LV Hilton and lost $175 at their $5 min
DD game.  Actually, I lost $100 in 5 minutes, then sat there for three more
hours figuring things had to get better. ...and, I suppose they did since I
didn't lose another $100.  Held at the $100 loss for about 2 hours, until
I started losing again, and after $175 down, I decided to leave. It was just
one of those sessions where the count goes high, and the other four players at
the table have either BJ or 20, while I get a nice nine-four combination.
Over and over.  Not particularly enjoyable.  S17, DOA, DAS, LS, 4 x 5 or 5 x 5.

So, for my last session, I went back to the Mirage, and after losing $300, I
got it all back plus $100 more in the quickest, fastest winning flurry I've yet
experienced in my brief BJ career.  I must have won $400 in $10 units in about
3 or 4 minutes, playing head-on with a high count.  Seemed like I won about 10
hands in a row with $20 and $30 bets out, plus doubling and splitting
opportunites.  I can see how this gets addictive. :-)

Gambling total for the day: -$65.80
Gambling total for the trip: +$80.00 

So, basically, it looks like I came out ahead only because I had so much
match play with me.  Without it, I would have come out even, or a little
behind.  I did feel like I had pretty bad luck (except at the Mirage), so
I'll try again another time.  Probably second week of December.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Accoomodations and food:

I stayed at the Stardust, Barbary Coast, and Golden Nugget hotels on this trip.

I arrived Thursday night at McCarran about 10:30 PM.  Checked into the
Stardust Motor Inn section around 11:15 PM.  Found no rooms available with
two twin beds.  We were asked if we'd be willing to wait until a room
could be cleaned for us.  We said "yes", and went downtown to check out the
infamous $2 late-night Steak dinner at the Horseshoe.  The salad, potato, and
steak were definitely not fantastic, but were certainly worth the price.
Good bargain.

So finally, we got into our room at the Stardust at about 2:30 AM.  The half of
the room next to the shower was completely immersed in water, unfortunately.
At this point, we were tired enough to ignore it and go to sleep in the two
twin beds we waited for.  The next morning, we called the front desk, and were
given an immediate transfer to another room without the swamp option.  I half
expected to have to wait in the hour-plus check-in line to get the new key, but
we were given immediate help.  I was happy.

So, anyway, the Stardust Motor Inn rooms themselves are very small, but clean.
They were completely adequate for me, since I spend a very minimal time in the
room during my trip.  Two double beds would have been preferable to two twins,
but I'm spoiled, and besides, there wasn't even enough room in the room for 
two queens (beds, that is.)

Friday morning, we ate the 99-cent breakfast at the King 8 Motel Casino on
Tropicana Avenue.  Hash browns, two eggs, toast, and choice of bacon or
sausage.  All good, especially at that rate.  (BTW, that 99-cent rate is
available 24 hours.)  Ate a semi-OK hot dog at Bally's at 5 PM, and went
to Palace Station (west of I-15 on Sahara Ave.) for their $4.95 pizza and
pitcher of beer special.  Discovered it was only available on Sun-Thurs nights,
so decided to have the pizza anyway.  It was *real* good.  If you like
crunchy thin-crust pizza, it is one of the best you'll have.

Saturday morning, we got up too late for beakfast, so we went to the Sands at
noon for their $3.95 Prime Rib.  Like the Horseshoe's steak dinner, it's not
astounding, but it's real good for the price.  Had another raunchy hot dog at
Silver City mid-afternoon, and had dinner at the "Lotus of Siam" Thai
restaurant at the "Commercial Center" on Sahara Ave, east of the Strip a couple
blocks.  I had some spicy chicken with hot peppers thang, and my companion had
some Pad Thai.  Both were real good, and about $6 per.  The place was real
quiet, too.  I recommend it, if you're looking for a break from the casinos.

Sunday morning, we did the $1.99 breakfast at the Frontier.  Nothing special,
like the King 8, but worth the money again.  Snacked on the infamous 99-cent
shrimp cocktail downtown at the Golden Gate.  It was, of course, great.
Went back to the Palace Station for dinner to have another Pizza.  This time,
being Sunday, the special was available, so not only was it good, it was cheap.

After three nights in the Stardust, my travelling companion went home, and I
moved on to the Barbary Coast.  Had a real nice room there, all decked out
in 1800's San Francisco style.  Lots of Fluted glass fixtures, and
antique-styled wallpaper, plus a canopied bed.  I *really* liked this room,
especially for the $33 rate I paid.

Monday morning, I was in a hurry, so I ate breakfast at the McDonald's under
the Barbary Coast casino.  Yes, I am suitably embarrassed, but, hell, my
travelling companion had gone home, so I didn't have anyone to impress but
myself. :-)

Then, I moved to the Golden Nugget for one last night.  For $39 (much lower
than the in-season rate), I got a room that was overall better than the one
at the Barbary Coast if a little less stylish.  

Tuesday, I had lunch at the All-American Bar and Grille at the Rio.  Nice big
Bacon Cheesebruger for about $5, plus a free beer from the Rio funbook.
________________________________________________________________________
Michael Buck                          |
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