Casino Royale - How are the Dealers

The wizard's review.

Gambler, why the need to slum it? With a buy-in at between 10-25 as you say on another post and average bets of $25 to $50 you should be able to score RFB at most of the hotels on the strip, especially in these times. If you're an odds pusher consider the 6 and 8 to push your average bet up. And remember that you can PUT the 6 and 8 ($5 with $55 odds pays $71 instead of $70 with the place $60).

The craps tub where the $3 / $5 bet and 100x offered is a very large table with old felt. The dealers are somewhat crabby and it just doesn't have a great ambiance.

If I had to actually pay for a room, and based on the good review above, then I might want to try out the CR with a rate under $100 whereas Harrahs on one side will be about $125 and Venetian on the other side will run about $275, these being mid May prices I just looked up.

If you have access to a car (or don't mind taking the bus), you could try your high-odds play at Main Street Station downtown (20x odds), Eastside Cannery on Boulder (100x) or Rampart in Summerlin (100x). I haven't played at Main Street but their casino is very nicely decorated like a Victorian train station. They have a micro-brewery with comped beers. I have played at Eastside Cannery and it is a very nice, well lit casino whose only downside is that it is a bit generic. The dealers are great there. Rampart is a ultra-luxe resort and you may get some nice comps for your action there. They have golf, a super hotel and a great selection of restaurants.

Of course, if you are looking to not stray away from the strip, none of these would work for you.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and advice regarding the Casino Royale. It sounds like the place is getting run down and the dealers are getting burned out.

As most of you know, I bring a bankroll of about $25K to $50K whenever I travel to Las Vegas. I tend to play craps with a $25 or $50 pass line, full odds at 3x, 4x, 5x, and I am always coming with full odds. And with this action, I tend to get fairly nice comps from upper-mid level casinos like the Mandalay Bay and Green Valley Ranch. I have not stayed at the Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn, Encore, etc. so I am not sure how I would be taken care of there.

It was suggested in a different topic that I can try to further lower my theoretical loss by playing at a casino that offers 10x, 20x or 100x odds. Playing $5 pass lines with $100 odds (20x odds) is almost like my average bet at a $25 pass lines with and average of $100 odds (3x, 4x, 5x odds). And if I calculate that I play about 40 hours in a trip, at 50 different shooters an hour, I would save about $2,256 worth of theoretical loss.

Check my math:

$20 difference * 4 bets out average * 50 shooters * 40 hours * 0.141 house edge = $2,256 theoretical loss

I could then take this $2,256 and spend it any way I want. Nice hotel suite, nice dinners, shows, etc in Vegas and no real useable comps from my main casino. Let's face it, even with the renovation at the Casino Royale hotel, I don't think I would stay there and I doubt I can eat that many meals at their Denny's.

It may be too much trouble for me, but I thought it is worth the exercise. Having nice and friendly dealers is extremely important for me, since I like to spend 8 to 10 hours per day at the table. Also I like to play somewhere that's clean and I am not worried about getting robbed or mugged by the guy standing next to me. If this is too much to ask for at the Casino Royale or Main Street Station, I will continue to stay at the Mandalay Bay or Green Valley Ranch and may try the higher end casinos during the recession to see what kinds of comps they give me. Or wait until I have more money to play with per session.

Still, your thoughts and advice is very welcome.

I definitely agree with and heartily endorse your premise. You will probably not get comped well enough to cover that $2,256 in extra loss at a high-end casino like Venetian or Encore. (I could be wrong about that, though. What do I know about high-rolling :) ?) Pardon me if you answered this already, but do you get full RFBL at Mandalay Bay and Green Valley? If so, those might be the best places for you, since you obviously are a strip-type person and like that kind of atmosphere. You might get enough comps there to fade the difference in -E.V.

If you are feeling adventurous, why not give Main Street/Eastside Cannery/Rampart a shot? I can 99.97% guarantee you you won't get robbed or mugged by the guy playing next to you. The only difference is they aren't as "high-class" as the places you play at now (except maybe for Rampart). I'm afraid I, like the other people on this thread, can't give a hearty recommendation to Casino Royale for the reasons mentioned above.

Yes, I am RFB for 2 at the Green Valley Ranch, and when I stay at the Mandalay Bay, my wife attends an annual conference so her company pays for our room. However, our Mandalay Bay's host is creative enough to bump us up to a very nice suite during our stay and everything else is taken care of.

Quote: DeMango

If I had to actually pay for a room, and based on the good review above, then I might want to try out the CR with a rate under $100 whereas Harrahs on one side will be about $125 and Venetian on the other side will run about $275, these being mid May prices I just looked up.

I don't know about the Venetian, but all Harrah's properties offer lower rates to members of their player card program. I've a gold card, the lowest level, and I do get better rates booking with them online. I booked Rio for an average $55 per night.

I know MGM has nothing like this. But for the past few weeks they've been offering a one-time 25% discounts at some of theri properties, if you sign up for their email newsletter.

I was just there last week. It is a fun place. Small, fast action. Craps is the only good game there. Stay downtown for better compas. Unless you are betting big, the comps will be low on th strip.

One more thing. The dealers are nice and helpful, but it does get extremly crowded for extended periods of time, elbow to elbow. Because they have $3 craps with max odds, I like to do crazy things at the craps table at CR. You can experiment and have some fun with long shots. Watch the booze, it really flows at the CR and will catch up with you. I prefer staying at the large hotels. After you have been to Vegas a few times they will start sending you "real" comp offer without resort fees hidden. The hookers are fun at the CR. I have been approached several times by young women(I am 50) who "need help making bets" or need "$1 to complete their bet". It is fun since my wife is usual over at the slots and nothing will happen. I enjoy the CR. Be sure to bet for at least a couple hours at the big, different(owned) hotels. Ask the minimum to get rated so your comps will accumulate.

Quote: gambler

As most of you know, I bring a bankroll of about $25K to $50K whenever I travel to Las Vegas. I tend to play craps with a $25 or $50 pass line, full odds at 3x, 4x, 5x, and I am always coming with full odds. And with this action, I tend to get fairly nice comps from upper-mid level casinos like the Mandalay Bay and Green Valley Ranch. I have not stayed at the Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn, Encore, etc. so I am not sure how I would be taken care of there.

It was suggested in a different topic that I can try to further lower my theoretical loss by playing at a casino that offers 10x, 20x or 100x odds. Playing $5 pass lines with $100 odds (20x odds) is almost like my average bet at a $25 pass lines with and average of $100 odds (3x, 4x, 5x odds). And if I calculate that I play about 40 hours in a trip, at 50 different shooters an hour, I would save about $2,256 worth of theoretical loss.

Check my math:

$20 difference * 4 bets out average * 50 shooters * 40 hours * 0.141 house edge = $2,256 theoretical loss

Whoa! 50 shooters/hour? The average hand is 8.52 rolls, so that would be about 425 rolls/hour, over 7 rolls/minute. No way!

Let's compare:

$25 w/3, 4, 5X odds, average bet is $94.45
$50 w/3, 4 5X odds, average bet is $188.90
$5 w/20X odds, average bet is only $71.66, only about 75% of the $25 level
$5 w/30X odds, average bet is $105.

If you play for 40 hours at 120 rolls/hour, that's 4800 rolls, at 3.375/decision, that's 1422 passline decisions. When you are "always coming", the average number of come-bet resolutions is 2.44 times the passline resolutions, so let's call it 4900 total decisions. At a $20 difference, that's a savings of about $1386 (20 * 4900 * .01414); compared to a $50 line bet, that's 45 * 4900 * .01414 ~ $3118.

Just for fun, I ran a calculation on 4900 $5 passline bet with 30X odds. This is not exactly the same as pass with 2.44 comes, but similar. The ev is -$346.46 with a standard deviation of $10,779. The +- 1 SD figures are +$10,433 and -$11126, +- 2 SD are +$21,212 and -$21,905. The probability of breaking even or better is .487.
Cheers,
Alan Shank