konceptum's Blog

Things have become too offensive for my tastes

Nearly a year ago, I wrote about my decline in interest in any gambling. Since that time, I've done some gambling, but nothing major. Usually for fun, and usually for small amounts, and usually just to try out some wacky betting strategy that I think up randomly and on the fly. My last trip to Las Vegas for the weekend resulted in me doing absolutely no gambling whatsoever.

When I first joined this forum, it was an incredible source of information. Debunking of various gambling "systems" and "strategies" and the mathematics of games and reviews of hotels and discussion of new games and trip reports. Man were trip reports fun to read, win or lose.

Lately, I've noticed something. But today, I noticed it fully and it consciously struck me. First, I spent a large amount of time blocking threads. You know the types of threads I mean, where nothing useful is actually discussed. Another person with a system who isn't really willing to look at the math presented to them. Another troller. Another wasted thread.

Then I spent a large amount of time reading through the Suspension thread about stuff that had nothing to do with actually suspensions, and instead about fallout of one particular suspension. It seems that the Wizard isn't allowed to have control of his own forum, and his decisions needs to be hashed about by everyone, even after he states that he isn't willing to change his mind. Perhaps the discussion would still be valid, but at the least it should have been moved to a separate thread.

But ultimately, my issue is that the forum has become too offensive. Not offensive to me, mind you. You can call me any name you like, and it won't bother me. Mainly because I don't take such things seriously. But offensive to everybody else. No matter what someone says, someone else is offended. This is the nature of the world, mind you, as we've become more and more thin-skinned. But on this forum, it's gotten to the point where it detracts from any useful and meaningful conversation about Vegas and gambling and math. I haven't yet seen Godwin's Law pop up in any of the forum threads, but I figure it's only a matter of time. And I guess, in an uncharacteristic spurt of future planning, I'm getting out before that happens.

To the Wizard, I can only say that I still enjoy the WOO site. I read the mathematical analysis of games that I don't even have any intention of playing. I just find it fascinating. I will admit that I miss the "Ask the Wizard" series.

To everyone else, I hope that you find whatever it is that you're looking for on this site. Information, happiness, a mate. They're all available! Well, maybe. More importantly, I hope that you all win, and win big!

-kon

Trip to Vegas, September 2012

This past weekend, I made a quick trip to Las Vegas. In truth, I didn't have much desire to actually go. However, my mom and her boyfriend were in Vegas for the week leading up to the weekend, and I had agreed to come to Vegas to take them out to dinner to celebrate her birthday.

I stayed at Arizona Charlie's on Decatur. I've stayed there before, and usually have no problems. The front desk people are very friendly. I was unhappy with my first room, as I didn't feel that the dead bolt properly worked. The door also appeared to have been clawed at with a crowbar, right at the dead bolt area. Because of how late I arrived at the hotel, when I went to the front desk to ask for another room, I was told they only had smoking rooms available. However, the desk clerk was able to find me a non-smoking handicap accessible room, and so I transferred to that room. Again, front desk staff was very friendly and nice and helpful.

Because of a long day working, how late I arrived at the hotel, and the long drive, I didn't do any gambling on Friday.

My mom had opted for a Saturday lunch as her birthday celebration. Her boyfriend had a special invite to some sort of dinner celebration at the Orleans, so that meal was already taken. My mom, being Korean, knows of a great Korean place that she likes, and we met there at noon to eat. I really do enjoy the food there. As I was leaving my hotel, housekeeping asked me if I needed anything, despite the fact that I had a "Do Not Disturb" sign on my door. Again, the housekeeping staff was very nice and friendly, and I appreciate them asking. After lunch with my mom, I headed back to AC-D. In truth, I was feeling tired, and only thinking about going back to bed. (I would later find out that I came down with an illness, probably on Friday, which steadily got worse throughout the trip.)

When I got back to the hotel, I did stop and play some Craps. I only played the Don't side, $5 on the DP or DC, with $30 in odds. I only had one issue. When the point was 4,5,9, or 10, I always layed the $30 in odds. However, when the point was 6 or 8, while I allowed the $5 to move to the point, I didn't lay the $30. However, at one point, the shooter made his original point. Since I now had a naked no-6 and no-8, I set down two stacks of $30 each, and told the dealer I wanted to lay both odds on my 6 and 8. The dealer grabbed my chips, and stacked them, but it didn't look quite right. I didn't have time to make a comment, as the shooter threw the dice and rolled a 7. The dealer proceeded to pay me $5 each on the no-6 and no-8, taking them down, and pushing them over to me. My $60 in lay odds were still on the felt, in the 'place bet' section'. (This is the part that confused me prior to the dice throw. Because they were placed so close to my no-6 and no-8, I thought they were just placed weird by the dealer.) When I pointed out that I should have gotten paid on my lay odds, the dealer told me that he thought I had said that I wanted to place the 6 and 8. I had said that I wanted to lay the 6 and 8. I know this is probably bad terminology on my part. Further, the dealer was Asian, and I suspect that he may have misunderstood what I had said. However, I also felt like my betting style had been previous established, as I had been at the table for at least 5 or 6 throwers, always making the exact same bet, $5 DP or DC, with $30 in lay odds. Anyway, the dealer went ahead and paid me, and I was careful to make sure he, and the other dealers, understood my bets.

I didn't play for very long. In truth, there were only about 5 or 6 players, and the table was cold, so they split fairly quickly. I was there maybe 45 minutes, and won about $100. I cashed out, thought about playing blackjack, but was not happy with what I saw, so I went up to the room and took a nap.

I came back down later that evening, and made a decision that I didn't want to travel to another casino. Again, I was starting to feel unwell, and while it hadn't fully it hit me, it was apparently enough to make me feel blah. I played some more craps, but lost my $200 buy-in. I think played some blackjack, but only because the dealer was very nice looking. Unfortunately, it turned out she was from somewhere in Europe, with a thick enough accent that precluded any kind of decent conversation. It didn't take very long before I lost my $100 buy-in, and decided to call it quits. Went back to the room, watched some tv, read through a couple of books, and went to sleep.

Got up Sunday morning at 10am feeling very bogged down. I checked out, and started home, but ended up stopping at Boulder Station to get something to eat. As I walked in, I went over to a blackjack table, and decided to play. I was practicing my counting, but discovered that the count never got to anything worthwhile during the, oh, about half an hour or so in which I played. I did get some decent cards, however, and, playing $5 a hand, ended up cashing out a $25 winner. I then went to the cafe and had breakfast. I think the service here was pretty good. I was happy with the food I ate, a waffle and some eggs and bacon. I had asked for the eggs to be scrambled with cheese. The eggs were indeed scrambled, and then a slice of cheese placed on top. That was disappointing. Normally, when I order that, the cheese is scrambled in with the eggs. I had ordered strawberries with my waffle, and I felt these tasted really good, and the waffle ended up being delicious.

After eating, I played craps. (When I had first arrived to BS, there was nobody at the craps table, hence my sitting at blackjack. Now, it was half full.) I again played the Don't, and ended up winning $100. I cashed out and went home.

Summary:
AC-D is definitely a local's casino. The rooms are adequate, I guess would be the best way to describe it. My usual theory on Las Vegas is that I don't need a fancy room as I don't end up spending a lot of time in the room anyway. As long as it has a bed and a shower, I'm happy. However, on this particular trip, I found that I spent an inordinate amount of time in the room, and thus wasn't happy with the 'quality' of the room. However, again, as a place to just sleep for a couple of hours and get cleaned up, it's just fine. Front desk and housekeeping staff are friendly. The casino itself leaves a lot to be desired for someone like me. What I mean by that, is that I do generally look at gambling as a method of having fun. I like to sit at friendly tables, have playful banter with other players, enjoy myself, and lose whatever money I end up losing. At a locals casino, this is harder to find. There's less people here from out of town looking to have fun, and more people from the neighborhood who think they have a system of making a ton of money. This is my opinion, of course. Thus, you don't see a blackjack table with a rowdy group of people drinking it up, hooting and hollering and having a great time. You see a half full table, with chain smokers, and nobody wants to converse. The craps table is probably even worse, because anybody at the craps table has a system that they've developed over the years, and always wins for them, except for those times that it doesn't.

BS is also a local's casino. It's a bit nicer and bigger, so it doesn't seem so cramped, but it's still has the same type of atmosphere: nobody really there to "have fun", just people there to beat the casino.

Resolution:
For many weeks prior to this trip, I've noticed a big decline in my interest in gambling. For those who don't know my history, I started with playing poker. After becoming a decent player at ring games, I started entering tournaments. After winning a few tournaments, I went back to ring games. I then discovered a love of Omaha, but it was difficult to find it spread anywhere. Over time, I lost my interest in playing poker. My passion had moved on to Let It Ride, and then Three Card Poker, but that faded over time as well. I started doing numerical analyses of the games, and was saddened to find how bad they were. Around this time, on my searching through the internet, I discovered the WOO site, as well as WOV. This was a GOD SEND. All the information you could possibly want, all so easily accessible. This ramped up my interest in gambling, and made me discover a love of craps. Because craps isn't available here in Arizona, I slowly went toward blackjack, learning how to play properly and enjoy the game. This was all fun for me, and I enjoyed reading the forum entries about gambling and people's trips and lots of other stuff, as it was all informative and interesting. But, things have changed. As I said, I've felt it for a while, and this trip was the proof of it. Yes, I was getting ill. But that had never stopped me in the past from getting to the casino floor and doing the gambling. At one point, while playing craps at AC-D, I actually thought to myself that I wanted to go to the room and finish reading the book I had brought with me. That's right, I wanted to read rather than play craps. If that's not a sign, I don't know what is.

About a month ago, I was thinking about taking a trip. I was going to go to Vegas, as I usually do on my weekend trips. A friend commented that I could go to California, the beach, and the drive time would be about the same. I opted to go to California. For the past however many years, there's no way I would have chosen California over Vegas.

The point being that my interest in gambling has waned. I didn't recognize the signs, perhaps because I didn't believe it could be true. But definitely, I don't feel the need/want to gamble anymore, not even as a way to kill time on the weekend. It's a sad, sad thing.

Trip to Vegas, January, 2012

Last weekend, I made an impromptu trip to Las Vegas, mainly to get out of the house, enjoy some vacation time before getting back to the grind. Overall, I had a great time. I was able to get a free room at the Orleans, and a buddy of mine decided to join me at the last minute. The deal at the Orleans also came with $50 in food credit, and I have a strong suspicion that the promise of a free room and some free food is what enticed my friend to join me.

We drove up on Thursday afternoon, and after parking in the Orleans garage, I immediately found a dime on the ground. At this point, I spent some time in deep consideration, since I was up $0.10, and that should count for a winning trip. In the end, emotions overran logic, and we proceeded to check in.

After check-in, we drove to New York New York. I may have mentioned in previous blog entries that I enjoy the Gonzales y Gonzales restaurant there, and of course I wanted to eat there again. Food was great. We played a bit there, but with no luck, so we moved on to the Excalibur. I was able to sit down at a full Pai Gow Poker table and have a blast! Everyone was having a great time, joking, hooting, hollering, making fun of each other, laughing, etc, etc. Best fun I had all weekend.

The next day, we drove out to Cold Creek to feed the wild horses, then over to Mount Charleston to freeze in the snow, chase a wild ass up a mountain, photograph some deer, and just kill some time. Friday night was a trip downtown to Fremont Street, including a ride down the zip line. That was a lot of fun. Maybe a bit overpriced at $20, but was still enjoyable. A bit of a rush, but with no real fear of injury. The rest of the evening was spent playing some $2-$4 limit hold-em poker at Binions.

Saturday was check-out, and a drive to Laughlin to blow some last minute money before coming home. We ended up at Riverside and then Golden Nugget, and by the time we arrived home, it was 5am on Sunday.

I lost a reasonable amount of money, but had incredible fun in doing so. I had great conversations with people at all points in time, and was just amazed at how people can open up to complete strangers. A real exciting study of "stranger on a train" phenomenon.

The gambling itself was fairly rudimentary. Slow losses at Pai Gow Poker, faster losses at craps, and a lot of breaking even at limit hold-em. The only interesting thing that happened was at the Riverside in Laughlin on Saturday. I started out playing some craps, but was always on the wrong end of things. If I was betting Pass, there was a lot of PSO, and when I finally switched to Don't, I missed the streak that did finally occur. By the time I switched again, the seven out happened. I left craps a broken and sad individual. Went searching for my buddy, but couldn't find him, so I stopped at the roulette table to blow the last $31 I was willing to gamble. I bet 3 numbers, $1 each: 3, 7, 12. On the second spin, a 12 hit. More money to throw at the roulette wheel. 4 spins later, the 3 hits. Somewhere in the next span of spins, there's a point where 8 red numbers have been spun in a row. The guy next to me says it's due for a black, and proceeds to bet $10 on black, and promptly loses. Now's there's 9 red numbers in a row, and I say to the guy that NOW it's due for black, and bet $20 on black. He didn't trust in it, but the next spin was black, and I won again. (He wasn't too happy with that one.) A few spins after that, the 3 hits again. By the time I leave the roulette wheel, I have $120, which is what I used to gamble with at the Golden Nugget. It was just odd to me that I would lose so badly at craps, and then somehow, against the odds, win at roulette, a game I not only detest, but one with such a high house edge.

During the time I was at roulette, I was using my phone to text my friend trying to figure out what slot machine he was pouring his money into. I was also texting with some friends back home. It seemed like every time I stepped away from the table, sent a quick text, and then came back, one of the numbers I had bet on won. I kept wondering if some casino flunky was going to decide that I was somehow manipulating events with my cell phone. That would have been a fun conversation.

So, overall for the trip, as I said, lost money, had a great time, and now annoyed that I probably won't get to go again for another half a year. Duty calls.

Trip to Vegas, Thursday, June 30, 2011, Day 4

Woke up earlier this morning that I had originally intended. Apparently a couple staying in a room fairly close to mine decided to have a loud argument. Oh well, I would have to get up in an hour or so anyway, so I might as well. By the time I finished showering and dressing, security had been called by someone, and was dealing with the situation.

I went down to the cafe and ordered ham and eggs with toast. It was still early so that they only had a limited menu, but the ham was pretty good. By my calculation, including this breakfast, I used about $35 worth of my $75 in free food. As I was leaving the casino later, I saw what might have been a homeless person. It occurred to me at that time that I should have gotten the unused food in a to-go container, took it outside, and gave it to someone who wanted to eat. I should have done that for each one of my meals. In fact, I probably should have ordered extra food at each of my meals and did that. I could have then used up the entire $75 allocation of food. Oh well. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Surprisingly, despite how early it was on a Thursday, the craps table had some action. Since I was up early anyway, I decided to play a bit. Managed to win $90 in about an hour. Not a bad way to leave Las Vegas.

My drive to LA, and my drive to Phoenix, was uneventful. To the person that mentioned it, I do know about those casinos along the way to Phoenix, but I decided that I did not want to stop. I think I've mentioned before that the only game I really enjoy is craps, and playing any craps without real dice just doesn't do it for me.

I did make one stop outside LA. It was at a Bed Bath and Beyond in order to buy a comforter and duvet cover. :)

Trip to Vegas, Wednesday, June 29, 2011, Day 3

I managed to sleep in, and then I just putzed around the hotel room. I mainly surfed the internet, read a book, played some game on my Nintendo DS, and even took a nap. By the time I actually left the hotel room, it was after 2:30p.

I thought at first that I would get something to eat, as I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon's pork carnitas. But, lately my appetite has shrunk somewhat, which has helped with losing weight. I've also tried to get into the habit of eating only when I actually feel hunger, instead of at various times throughout the day because that's what you're supposed to do.

So, with food not quite at the front of my mind, I stopped at the craps table. During this past couple of days, I sort of perfected my own personal craps strategy. I go for two don't bets, normally one DP and DC, and laying double odds. However, I only layed odds on a 4,5,9, or 10. if the DP or DC was a 6 or 8, I still left the original bet there, I just didn't lay odds, and the 6 or 8 didn't count toward my two don't bets with layed odds. Once those two don't bets were established, if one of them was not the 10, then I bet on the hard-10.

Not exactly the most exciting of ways to play the game, nor necessarily the most mathematically correct, but I enjoyed it, and my fluctuations were not very high. Oh, I would switch the pass line w/ come bets side if I was the roller. This allowed me to bet the pass line for $1 as a bet for the dealers. In past visits to Las Vegas, I would always notice people getting upset that I, or anybody else, was betting the don't side. I remember specific things such as rollers on the other side of the table actually trying to know your chips over as they rolled the dice. Or usually just snide or rude comments under their breath. While I know I should just take such things in stride as chips are being pushed to me, it's still a bit hard to strike up interesting conversation with people at the craps table when they are being angry at you. However, on this trip, I noticed that I never had any problems. Nobody said anything mean. In fact, it seemed like nobody even cared. Perhaps craps players are coming around to the fact that one kind of betting is just the same as any other kind of betting. Maybe.

Anyway, my first stop at the craps table resulted in a moderate amount of time playing, and a loss of around $60. I then went over the Baccarat table. I don't know if this is mini-bacarrat, or ez-bacarrat, or whatever, but it has a $5 minimum, so it's cheap to play. I actually played for $10 bets, just flat betting on the banker each time. I managed to win $50.

After this, I stopped at the cafe to eat. For some reason, I was craving pancakes, and it's always nice to find a place that serves breakfast 24 hours a day. I had some blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon. The bacon was actually very good, and I was a bit surprised. It's not uncommon to find blah bacon at a cafe. The pancakes, however, were not all that tremendous, although the blueberry syrup they gave me was tasty.

From here, I decided to walk over to Fremont street. In some ways, I wasn't much in the mood for gambling, but I couldn't really think of much else to do. It was late afternoon. Fortunately, it was a windy day and there wasn't much heat. I stopped in at Binion's, played craps, and managed to win $30. I then walked over to the Golden Nugget, played craps, and managed to win $50.

Outside on Fremont street, there was some dance/trance music being played, and a couple of little kids that were out dancing to it. It made for an amusing diversion for about 10 minutes. I walked up toward the Plaza, but it appeared that the Plaza was closed, so I went over to Main Street Station. The craps table there was dead, so I crossed over to the California. I played craps at the California and managed to lose $100.

After this, I went back over to Binion's, and ventured into their poker room. There was a $2-$4 limit game going, so I decided to sit in. I didn't think I would be there for long, but I somehow managed to kill 3 hours sitting there. I ended up winning $4. (That's not a typo.)

It was after 10p when I walked out of Binion's onto Fremont street, and here was the Fremont street that I always found so fascinating. Let's see, what did I see:
1. The guy making artwork with spray paint.
2. The two guys dressed up like transformers.
3. The guy playing a guitar for tips.
4. The guy dressed up as ..... well, he was half naked. I'm not sure what he was supposed to be, but the women liked it.
5. The large breasted woman who had on small pasties dressed up as ..... well, I'm not sure what she was supposed to be, but the men liked it.
6. The really bad 80's cover band, with the little-too-excited female lead singer who thought she was a lot better than she really was.

And that was just in my short span of walking time. Truly, this is the Fremont street that I love to just hang out on and watch. People watching can be lots of fun on the Strip, but for me, it's always Fremont Street that gives me the best stories.

But, I just wasn't in the mood for people watching.

Back to the Elco, where I stopped at the cafe. Unfortunately, after 10:30p, the cafe no longer serves its full menu, but has a stinted menu with very meager selections on it. I opted for the fruit plate, which came with cottage cheese, and was actually pretty nice. The pineapple was sweet, the melons were juicy.

After eating, I started playing craps again, and managed to win $40. I then sat down at the bacarrat table. I really only did so because there were 4 guys sitting at the table. I was interested in just watching them, and seeing how they bet, when they bet, and why they bet. I didn't learn anything. But in my time sitting there, flat betting $10 each time on the banker, I managed to win $45.

Thus ends my trip to Las Vegas. I need to get up fairly early in the morning tomorrow in order to drive to Los Angeles for a business meeting, and then I will be driving back to Phoenix from there, so tomorrow will end up being a really long day on the road. That makes it highly doubtful that there will be any gambling done tomorrow.