Mini trip - South Lake Tahoe

My wife and I are on a 2 day trip to South Lake Tahoe near Stateline on our way to Portland to visit our family there.
We left Las Vegas by car on Wednesday morning. The drive was uneventful and pretty quick, about 7 hours total. I had never been to Carson City so it was quite exciting driving through the capital of Nevada.
We arrived at about 1:30PM and checked into Lakeside Inn and Casino. I read some good reviews about this hotel on Tripadvisor as well as Orbitz. We paid $59 per night. The room was cozy but very plain. Some nice wooden accents in the room and the entire property looks like one large lodge. It is made of wood and not much else, or wood siding anyway. There is a tiny two level casino on the property which includes 4 Blackjack tables ($5 to $500), one double zero wheel and one craps game. ($5 to $200). The Blackjack rules here are the best in town (which doesn't say much). BJ pays 3/2, double any two cards, DAS, hit soft 17. I have not played here yet.
On Wednesday afternoon my wife and I headed into South Lake Tahoe and parked at Harrah's. Their parking lot for self park is a NIGHTMARE. Anyway we walked though and headed over to Harvey's as we wanted to enjoy their bar on the 19th floor. When we got there the place was closed until the 20th for renovations.
We had our first playing sessions here. My wife stuck $10 into a Queen of the Wild II slot machine and was up $1.30 after 10 minutes of play. She also was two vodka tonics to the wind. None for me, I'm driving. We sat down at an 8 deck game. I wanted to teach my wife some blackjack so i wasn't overly concerned about the rules but it was my fault for not checking properly. 6/5 BJ, double only on 8,9,10,11, DAS, hit soft 17. I got up losing $25 and moved over to the craps table. The rules in both Harvey's and Harrah's are the same.....HORRIBLE. The craps game was slightly better. I had a $3 bet on the fire, line, place and hardways. There was an Indian/Asian mixed lady betting $400 on the line and $500 odds (10 times odds allowed at Harvey's). She would also place a $1,000 9 when the 5 was the point. She rolled for about 10 minutes and made 3 points. We were one short of collecting on the fire bet. After another 2 shooters including my wife and I we left winning back our $25. I collected my souvenir chip and headed out.
At Harrah's we had dinner at "American river cafe". We shared a Caesar's salad and fish and chips. We also had the gigantic onion rings. The food was only OK but because we are headed over to the local steak house tonight for $14 steak and lobster we wanted something a little different. Played $20 on Roulette in order to collect my $1 souvenir. Bet 2 splits on 12/15 and the 12 hit. There were my two chips as well as 3 chips of another lady's. The dealer made the cardinal sin of lifting up the bet and the dolly at the same time and was talking to the floor supervisor. When she realized what she had done she placed the bets ON THE NUMBER instead of the split. If I had been the only bet on the winner I would have corrected her but it was the other woman's bet that made me decide to bite my tongue. So instead of collecting $34 I collected $70. I spent all the money on the next spin and got nothing back. Lesson learned, always be honest :)

Gambling for the day: - $18.7

Woke up this morning to about 4 inches of snow. Had breakfast, the wife is finishing a work conference call then we are headed over to the California side for some sight seeing then back to the other two casinos we still need to do. Tomorrow morning early we head out......hopefully the roads will be clear even though we have snow chains.

More to follow.

Please tell me you walked to the Horizon and cant believe it is still in business.

Sounds like you have a fun time so far and color me envious.

Quote: Boz

Please tell me you walked to the Horizon and cant believe it is still in business.

Sounds like you have a fun time so far and color me envious.

Boz, that is on the to do list today. Will report back but to be honest, I'm surprised the harrah's properties are still doing business. The lady who rolled for 10 minutes had to watch the floor supervisor scrutinize the dice twice even though they never left the table and those BJ rules....OMG!!! :)

And they wonder why they lost so much business to the Indian Casinos in CA. Also if you like craft beer, there is Stateline Brewery right next to Harrahs in the basement of the next building. CA side.

Quote: Boz

And they wonder why they lost so much business to the Indian Casinos in CA. Also if you like craft beer, there is Stateline Brewery right next to Harrahs in the basement of the next building. CA side.

Thanks for the tip

Quote: Boz

And they wonder why they lost so much business to the Indian Casinos in CA.

Exactly. Cache Creek, an Indian casino 90 miles away from downtown San Francisco, has plastered billboards all over town advertising their generous 3:2 blackjack. And how does Harrah's Tahoe, (190 miles from San Francisco) respond to this aggressive new competition? With 6:5 blackjack.

These guys are digging their own grave.

Quote: reno

Exactly. Cache Creek, an Indian casino 90 miles away from downtown San Francisco, has plastered billboards all over town advertising their generous 3:2 blackjack. And how does Harrah's Tahoe, (190 miles from San Francisco) respond to this aggressive new competition? With 6:5 blackjack.

These guys are digging their own grave.

I was shocked to the core last night when they told me about 6:5 BJ. I thought to myself. Here is another gaming town on life support with only a few scattered holiday makers around and they strangle them too?

Also the people now coming here are young Californians who don't have too much disposable income to start with.......

The mind boggles.

Are you going to gamble in Oregon at all? Just curious.

Quote: AcesAndEights

Are you going to gamble in Oregon at all? Just curious.

Not sure if there will be time. Spirit mountain and chinook winds are options but we may be too busy with family.

On our way to the other two casinos now......almost bought an $8250 Dr. Seuss painting.....almost :)

Spirit mountain has 2 multi bank 9/6 progs. Worth stopping by to check. Usually goes up to $1500 or so

Yeah, you were between a rock and a hard place on the other lady's money for the Roulette error. I tend to make the same decision; if it's only my bet, I call the error, if it's a joint bet, wait and see. Card God Karma's a bitch. Found you, unfortunately, but I kind of think you meant it to by not walking away or betting minimum. Your burnt offering will be returned in spades yet, says my Magic 8 Ball. :)

Thanks Babs,

Ok so we visited the last two casinos today, being Horizons and Montbleu. First up was Horizons. The place was a ghost town (as Boz mentioned). There were about 500 machines with 6 people playing. (I counted them). The valet was closed but there were about 10 people in the bar area. The casino was depressing and I just felt badly for the employees......no idea how they were able to remain employed and open.

Montbleu was nicer (read newer) with a few more players. There was 2 BJ tables open, 3/2 Blackjack, double only after 8,9,10 and 11, split Aces once only and DAS. I lost $75 on a shoe game. I went pretty deep with a great TC (sitting on the first two spots). I started off with a $10 bet and then went to two spots at $60. There was one other player at the table who was oscillating between 1 and 2 spots. When we won on one box each he would immediately open another and consequently lose. I bet my TC and saw all the high cards come out, unfortunately always with a low 2nd card. Dealer drew 2 x 20's and one BJ. Tough variance.

We went back to Lakeside Inn and had the Steak and Lobster for $14-89. The lobster was ok and the steak was ok. I'm now kind of used to Old homestead so yeah, there is that :) We had a nice Pinot Noir, La Creme, was very good. Went to the casino after and played some craps for 2 rolls. Both other players was on the dont's and I was betting the line. Didn't end well for me. Went to Roulette and with a $25 buy in left with $140.

We are leaving early tomorrow morning.

The trip ended down about $125 in total for the gambling aspect. My wife did well playing slots.

This town is cute and with a decent snow base and more time the skiing would be fabulous. The casinos are depressing with horrible rules. The only time the staff were friendly was at the Lakeside Inn Casino.

Perhaps a longer time on the north rim might be in order next time!

Quote: Tomspur

double only after 8,9,10 and 11,

I never understand why casinos limit the doubling rules. How many times do you see people actually following BS for soft doubles? I tend to see 2 types of people: clueless who never double a soft hand, and those who have probably seen BS once or twice or once saw someone win a big soft double. The second tend to double almost any soft hand against any dealer "bust card" (2-6 or maybe 3-6). Not to mention people who double hard 12, WTF man?

Anyway, just another incidence of casinos shooting themselves in the foot. I'm pretty sure that if all casinos offered surrender, they would make more on the players abusing it than the players playing it correctly. Okay, rant over.

Quote:

This town is cute and with a decent snow base and more time the skiing would be fabulous. The casinos are depressing with horrible rules. The only time the staff were friendly was at the Lakeside Inn Casino.

Perhaps a longer time on the north rim might be in order next time!

Tahoe hasn't had a good snow season in several years. We went last March (it is actually where I tore my ACL, so fuck that place!) and it was all icy groomers. No bueno.

Tahoe hasn't had a good snow season in several years. We went last March (it is actually where I tore my ACL, so fuck that place!) and it was all icy groomers. No bueno.

I'm going to agree with you, however I may want to try the north shore once before I completely close the book.

We do have a lot of skiing around us in the desert including Utah, Tahoe and obviously Mt. Charleston :)

You can also do some skiing and casinos in New Mexico!

Quote: DeMango

You can also do some skiing and casinos in New Mexico!

I did not know that :).

Thanks

Although Albuquerque has a great selection of craps games, Taos, 125 miles north, is rated as one of the top 20 places to ski in North America. Personally I prefer to walk a few blocks from Harvey's and jump the Heavenly Gondola!