Las Vegas trip observations

After my first all-blackjack only-blackjack trip (no national parks, no shows, just blackjack, blackjack, blackjack), this AP wannabe has learned the following, take it all for what it's worth:

1. There are no rules.

The Blackjack survey on this site is outdated. It would be outdated if it was current as of yesterday, since I guess the games can change as often as they want. Surrender was available where the survey said it wasn't, and not where the survey said it should be. 2-deck $10 games metastasized into $25 "high roller" games. No complaints to the WOV folks - the casinos can change the rules whenever they want.

2. Really. No rules.

Games varied from table to table in the same pit. A double-deck game at one table was 3-2, a double-deck game immediately next to that one was 6-5. Most casinos (a very subjective survey of only the places I played at) had at least three or four different sets of rules. Usually the only visible rules were what was painted in the felt (I missed the 6/5 lettering at one table until my first (and therefore ONLY blackjack at that table paid $6)).

3. Know the rules.

I was greatly unprepared for #1 and #2 above. The subtleties of basic strategy that vary based on the rules are a key to success. Before I return I now know that I need to be ready for the differences. To be successful, I think you need to react to the rules the way Belechick reacts to differing defenses in the middle of a game. You just never know.

4. They are all away games.

No home field advantage. I am used to a well-trodden path from the garage to the tables at the only place where I play on a regular basis, following a routine that's a lot like what I do at my day job. Coffee. Restroom. Cage. Not when playing out of town. Spent a lot of time wandering around and getting distracted by the sights and sounds around me that, while very similar to the atmosphere back home, were very distracting and time-wasting. Just getting my coffee the way I wanted it, not delivered in a 6-ounce cocktail glass, took time and attention away from the routine. Where is the cage... where is the men's room... where is the exit.

5. One and two-deck games are a waste of time, at least for the low-roller.

One of my main objectives was to play the best house-edge games I found in the survey - the one and two-deck games at El Cortez. What a disappointment. I could not get a one-on-one game anytime during the morning or afternoon, mid-week. As a result there was more time spent shuffling and making change than actual playtime. People came in and out CONSTANTLY. With five players at the table, you get two rounds, just two rounds, in a single deck game. You get to see maybe fifteen cards in a 52-card deck in the first round, and after the second round... time to shuffle, The game was so slow that not only did I know the count, I knew the cards that made it up. I tracked aces as well as deuces. Why not. What else was there to do?

The dealers were slow, without exception. A pitch game required, after the dealer made a hand, of turning over all of the non-displayed hands, arranging them into neat columns, adding them up, looking back at the dealer hand, deciding the outcome, pulling the cards into the discard tray, and then moving on to the next player's hand. Every single chip change required a floor approval - even changing one green chip into five red ones.

Two deck games were only marginally better, although other than at the El Cortez, all the two-deck dealers were more than willing to shuffle early, rather than let play continue up to, and past, the cut card. My impression was that they were counting along with me, or maybe it just seemed like, every time I arrived at the point where an advantage bet was called for - too bad - let's shuffle.


On balance, a worthwhile experience, from which I learned a lot. Next time, a more focused, targeted excursion, with much better preparation, both in how I play and what I expect.

... Welcome to Vegas.

Bring an open beer back to your room.Go to bed at 9, sleep in your clothes, wake up at three and use the flat beer as aftershave. Stumble downstairs at the EC.
You will have plenty of one on one action until mid morning.

Great re-cap of some of the less talked about things in Vegas racquet. Good advice.

Quote: billryan

Bring an open beer back to your room.Go to bed at 9, sleep in your clothes, wake up at three and use the flat beer as aftershave. Stumble downstairs at the EC.
You will have plenty of one on one action until mid morning.

This is also good advice...

Fleastiff don't gotta use no flat beer as aftershave.

As to reading the table layout... yes, but also that sign that can be hidden behind a cocktail glass or two about additional rules. And adjacent tables being markedly different, you bet!

Casinos have long had two roulette tables side by side..with at 2.5 percent difference between them.

BJ 6:5 will be "snuck in" if they can do it. Don't go by bet limits.

As an aside on the Seminoles in Florida: BJ ultra low limit bets means 6:5. BJ at higher bet and No Mid Shoe Entry ultra-enforced means 3:2, each are in separate pits. Separate signage. I like that.

Did you check out the Silverton? Sounds like you were at Hell Cortez.

I limited myself to $5-$10, no 6:5, and then in descending order based on the other options and their effect on house edge, Downtown only. The list: El Cortez, Plaza, The D, Golden Nugget, California, Main Street. Honestly, at this point, now that I'm back home, all those spots pretty much run together, except for Downtown Grand - 2 tables, with Surrender<!>, and The D, which had two or three $10 Freebet tables, and scantily clad dancers doing the dealing. El Cortez is in a class by itself.

I didn't consider a late-night excursion. That would've required an afternoon nap, and the trip being of such short duration, and with the jet lag, it never occurred to me. I was done in by 10:00 PM, and I didn't see any daytime, weekday lull as I see at home. I would've guessed it would've been just as busy at 2:00 AM as at 2:00 PM.

I might try this again, now that I have gone through the whole process once.

As an aside, the trip to and from the airport was like travelling from the airport in Calcutta. I booked a shuttle ride, round trip, for $18. McCarran to Downtown. I should've expected to get what I paid for. More than two hours, stops at nine, count-em, NINE hotels on the Strip, as well as Stratosphere before we arrived downtown, when I got out at the first stop and walked to my hotel. I always rent a car, but this time I figured I could walk anywhere I wanted to go once I got downtown. That part was true, and I saved what people told me would be a $50 taxi fare each way, but the only thing missing was a fat smelly woman travelling to market with a dozen live chickens. Won't do that again.

If you don't mind riding the bus, take the WAX express to downtown. $2.00 and a lot faster.

I recommend the CLS shuttle. It's a dollar more each way, but it goes directly downtown and more importantly picks you up on time.