#VegasHalloween 2021 -- day 2

My first full day in Las Vegas qualifies as atypical in several ways. 

Having a rental vehicle, I have easy access to places many tourists may never go. 

Having fallen asleep before midnight on Friday, I must have gotten a full eight hours of sleep. I set my alarm for sometime after 7 a.m., and didn't jump out of bed at the sound of the first, second or third alarm. Eventually I rolled out of bed and began getting ready for the day ahead. But my first destination of the day was sidetracked by breakfast. 

My life partner texted me. She and her sisters were coming to the Plaza for Breakfast at the celebrated Hash House A Go Go, which has more locations than I would have guessed in the Vegas area. Surprised by this, I invited myself to join the, especially given the fact I had a $25 meal voucher courtesy of the Plaza. 

After breakfast I placed a couple of wagers on the afternoon UFC main events. Yes, UFC had Saturday morning and afternoon fights, thanks to the card taking place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. My buddy is pretty good at handicapping the UFC, so I put a modest $30 down on two picks he gave me, which were the co-main events. I bet on one fight to go over 2.5 rounds, and the other to go under 4.5 rounds. 

Then it was off to the Broadacres Marketplace in North Las Vegas for flea market action. I had been there in June with my podcast producer, and I made my first visit on a Friday night in October 2020. I don't buy much at flea markets, garage sales or any other type of secondhand goods outlet, but I can spend long hours browsing at the right place. I spent more than two hours under the warm Nevada sun, and I will detail my experiences and observations about this giant flea market in a future post. And soon. I promise!

Who buys a mattress set at a flea market?
Somebody must, because there was more than one vendor selling them. 

I have no idea what a bunny sells for at the mall pet store, but $65 must be a bargain. 

Broadacres Marketplace has several food vendors, a stage with live music,
beer sales and a few carnival rides, as well as carnival games, for the kids. 

After my day at the flea market was complete, with one $10 purchase I won't discuss at this time, it was off to Jerry's Nugget. I wasn't hungry at this point, so I stopped at Jerry's Nugget on my way back to see what kind of low-roller action was available. Jerry's had $5 craps with 2X odds, some $5 blackjack, albeit with continuous shuffle machines and a $5 table game that was a lot like Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em, but seemed to be a bit different. I didn't take the time to learn how it was different. 

Jerry was offering hand-shuffled blackjack, but even Jerry wants $10/hand for the privilege these days. 

I opted for my conservative craps play. I don't make many exotic bets, I pretty much bet the pass line with an equal odds bet behind it. I don't make big money on a hot roll, but I don't drop huge money in short order. If we make points, I make a little money. If we crap out, I don't. 

I had a couple of decent rolls, making a few points, but nothing spectacular. There was a woman who joined the table and talked quite a bit. She was making multiple side bets before many rolls, and was basically telling the dealers who was supposed to be getting paid. She was a handful, to say the least. 

Jerry's Nugget offers a couple of those prop bets where you have to roll all the numbers. If every combo of 2-12 is rolled before the 7, on any come out roll, anyone betting at the start of the come out roll wins 175-1. If you bet on 2-6 or 8-12, you get like 34-1, or something close to that. So in 10 rolls, a $1 bet could win $175, but it's likely one of the 10 numbers won't be repeated, assuming the shooter doesn't crap out. 

This woman was betting a couple bucks on all three props each turn. After me, the dude before her began shooting. He had no dice technique, he just picked them up and tossed them. And it took a while for him to do it, but he eventually hit all 10 combos without crapping out. When he hit his final number, a 3, she erupted. She had $4 on the 175-1 bet, paying her $700. She had three bucks on the lower range of numbers, so that paid her just over $100. And she collected previously on the 8-12 spread, too. So she won over $900 on this guy's turn. Amazing. 

She had several bets on the table when she won the big payout. She immediately gave the shooter about $50 in chips. As she waited to get paid, she told the dealers all her bets on the table were theirs. As soon as she got paid, she walked away, leaving money on the table for the dealers to reap the benefits of. And the shooter continued his turn several more rolls before finally hitting a 7. 

How high maintenance was this woman? She was so slow in tossing out her side bets each turn, and disputing what the dealers and stickman were doing, that it sometimes took more than two minutes for the next roll to occur. The boxman had seen enough, declaring no more string betting, or the action would be declined. He was not having any more of it. 

And how did I do with my conservative, boring strategy? I finished the afternoon $15 ahead. The woman near me walked away with hundreds of dollars. I walked away with $15. But it was fun playing on a live table for low stakes. You don't find $5 tables anywhere tourists frequent. 

After Jerry's, I decided I had to see what the Silver Nugget was like. You pass it after Jerry's, on your way to the flea market. I decided Saturday was the day I'd see what it had to offer. 

There was a little kiddie fall festival/Halloween carnival in the parking lot next to Silver Nugget, or perhaps that was part of the Silver Nugget parking lot. It wasn't open, but people were getting ready for that evening. It looked cute, and lame for kids 10 and older. 

There were a few folks seemingly hanging out in the parking lot, which I found odd. I didn't park particularly close to the door, and that didn't matter, but it could have mattered. I noticed that the front parking area and entry to the casino looked rather messy, as if cleaning up the outside of the building wasn't a priority. The pile of Pringles on the ground near the front doors was a nice touch. 

I knew Silver Nugget was a mistake when I saw the signs taped up to the entrance doors: Masks available for $2. 

If this joint can't afford to give away masks to customers too lazy or careless to bring them, this place was not for me. 

Inside I found a casino with no table games, a weird layout of machines, as if they didn't have enough machines to fill the floor space, one bar with a few folks hanging around and yucking it up, a small sports book in the back corner and a side annex that had machines scattered in there, as well as an entrance to a restaurant that didn't appear to be open in the middle of the afternoon. I would later learn that there's a bowling alley and "event center" at Silver Nugget, but I didn't realize it at the time. It's in an enclosed area separate from the casino, allegedly.  

I tweeted about what a mistake it was to stop in after driving by the place a few times, and for some reason that tweet blew up, at least by my standards. It got a few retweets, and I think I know which retweet brought it to the masses, but I can't guarantee it. All I know is that I got a lot more action on that tweet than I do on anything else I tweet, and that lasted for more than 24 hours. Very unexpected. 

I had no idea this simple picture and a comment via Twitter would
garner more attention than anything else I shared during my weekend in Vegas. 

After wasting 15 minutes at Silver Nugget it was time to go back downtown, where I bopped around and won a few bucks at the Plaza, only to lose a few bucks low rolling at Circa. Those UFC bets I made? The fight I bet to go over 2.5 ended in less than 2.5, and the fight I bet to end in less than 4.5 went the full five rounds. So much for my expert. 

Oh yeah, I had a small ticket to redeem at Circa, and I took it to the cage. As I was waiting, some old dude was at the cage, off to the side, with two much younger women. I'm not sure exactly why, but the dude was rubbing one of the young women's butt quite vigorously for several seconds. He didn't care if anyone saw him, clearly. It wasn't the most bizarre thing you'll see in Vegas, not by a long shot, but that image is forever burned in my mind. 

I returned to the Plaza to clean up. Dinner was at 7 p.m., and we were going to Chicago Joe's. 

I know of it, and it was my suggestion we go. The bride-to-be wanted a group dinner on Saturday night, and we had 18 people there for the wedding. She decided a group dinner was a great idea about four days before Saturday night. And she really wanted Italian. A little online research reminded me that Chicago Joe's isn't miles away from Fremont Street, and I've read references to the quirky little building that looks like a house. People are mostly positive toward it, so I thought it was a reasonable option, assuming they could take a reservation for 18. Sucker bet!

And yet, against all odds, they said yes. We sat at five tables in the back of the building. It was a bit tight, but it worked. We couldn't move about easily, but it worked out well, and everyone seemed pleased with their meals. 

Our group waited outside the entrance to the quirky Italian restaurant known as Chicago Joe's prior to our dinner reservation. It's downtown, about a one-mile walk from Golden Nugget, so says Google.

Chicago Joe's is a modestly priced place that makes good Italian food. They serve beer and wine, but no alcohol, as best I could tell, and they've been in business since 1975. It's not a must-visit restaurant, but it's fun, delicious and a good value. I'd like to dine there again sometime. 

I will say this, I splurged on a shrimp and pasta meal, but didn't love the shrimp. It wasn't bad, but I think next time I'll skip spending extra on the shrimp and go with the big meatball or Italian sausage. 

Perhaps most amazing: We had one waiter for the entire party, for the entire evening. Drink orders, food orders, food distribution, drink refills and multiple checks and credit card charges: Darrin did it all. He was on the move from start to finish. He would make loud announcements occasionally to the entire group, and you'd think he was from Boston, not Chicago, but he got the job done efficiently, and paid attention to detail when it was necessary. It was borderline amazing. 

Not the best photo, but the only one I have that shows the interior of quirky Chicago Joe's.

Dinner ends and we return downtown. I hung out for a bit with my life partner and her sisters. We had a drink at a Golden Nugget bar. The ladies, after a day at the pool and plenty of drinking, were ready to call it a night. These aren't late night people, for the most part. I departed and hit Fremont, soaking in the Halloween atmosphere provided by many people in costume. 

I also toured many of the casinos, as if I expected to find something new or unexpected. I walked down to El Cortez, then worked my way back through a heavy crowd in the Fremont East district. I popped into the Fremont, California and Main Street Station and gawked at the crowds. I didn't gamble a dime, and was most tempted to play a nickel video poker progressive game at Main Street Station that had a nice payoff working on the royal flush for a 50-cent max play. But I skipped it. 

I didn't take Halloween photos on Saturday night, but there was a Day of the Dead group
that gathered in front of a fire truck parked in the middle of Fremont Street near El Cortez. 

My night was almost over. I went back to the Plaza, intended to buy a $3 Bud Light and retire to my room. But then I decided to sit down at the bar, order a cocktail and play 25-cent keno. My goal was to hit 4-for-4 and win a whopping $25 for my 25-cent play. I did that within the first $5. Wow, big winner!

The bartenders were rather prompt with the drinks, so I had a few and decided to lower my keno wager to 10 cents, simply to avoid losing my tiny profit swiftly. And thanks to my continued play, I hit 4-for-4 twice more, which amused me greatly. Each subsequent win paid me all of $10. Of course I should have stayed at a quarter a game, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to win big money either way. I had about six cocktails and won $30 while doing so. I felt like a king at the end of the night. 

It's amazing how a modest win can make for such a pleasant final hour of your day.

#VegasHalloween 2021 -- day 1

I am old and lazy, so I don't write as often, or as frequently as I would like, about my trips to Las Vegas. but I will chronicle a lot of details from my trip during the next few days. 

In 2011 I spent my first Halloween in Las Vegas. That was a solo trip. In 2021 I spent my 7th Halloween in Vegas. It's that much fun. 

This year's trip wasn't necessarily going to happen. My life partner and her sisters were traveling together to Vegas for their cousin's wedding. I was not obligated to go. I did not book a trip with them. The two sisters are married, with two children. Their families were not going, and I wasn't expected to go, but perhaps it was presumed I would go since I go at least once a year, and often more than once in a year. 

When I go, I like to go for several days, and given I went for eight nights this summer, I would have been fine with skipping this Halloween. The cousin's wedding was on Sunday, and that necessitated a weekend trip. I often go from Sunday to Friday or Saturday. 

Long story short, when I got another three-night offer from the Plaza a couple of months ago, after the sisters booked their trip, I booked a three-night stay that overlapped the wedding weekend. Then I found a reasonable round-trip flight via Delta, using my points. Sounds like a cheap trip, eh? 

Indeed it was. And we like to rent a car, and opted for the convenience of having one, which the three sisters split amongst them. 

My job: To do the driving, and transport the sisters, as necessary. 

I arrived on Friday, Oct. 29, early in the afternoon. The sisters did not book their flights on Delta, so I traveled separate. I arrived about five hours before they did. 

I'll skip the detailed story about the rental car considerations and pursuits. I avoid renting from Budget, but that's who we used this time around. The sisters chose an intermediate SUV, and after 45-50 minutes of waiting in line to complete the paperwork, it was off to the parking ramp, where I had to wait about 15 minutes for my vehicle to show up. That's how short they are for rental vehicles these days. And of course I got a white vehicle. I never choose white. Alamo, and others, let you choose from a row of vehicles. Oh well, I'll live. 

Everybody wants to rent a car from Budget...until they do it.

For what it's worth, there weren't many people waiting at any other rental agency, but Budget had a long line waiting. Rates are higher than I've ever seen, and cars are in relative short supply, reportedly, but somehow Budget knows how to undercut the competition. 

I ended up with some Nissan, and it was a nice ride. 

From the airport it was check-in time at Plaza. I slept less than four hours on Thursday night, as I worked late into the night on a ton of stuff, and didn't have much time to sleep. I could have used a nap on Friday afternoon, but determined I wouldn't get much rest before having to go to the airport to pick up the sisters. Given I hadn't eaten breakfast, or a meal at the airport, I needed something to eat. I went downstairs to Pop Up Pizza. 

It was fine, but nothing exceptional. Given it was 4 p.m. Vegas time, or 6 p.m. back in Minnesota, and I hadn't eaten a meal, I had no complaints. (A fig bar on the way to the airport and a Delta in-flight cookie do not count as a meal.) 

I bummed around downtown for an hour, blowing $20 on low-roller stadium gambling at Circa before heading to the airport. 

Airport pickup was a success, and we had time to spare. We had dinner reservations at the celebrated Herbs and Rye on Sahara Avenue, west of the strip. Our reservation was for 8 p.m., so we were hoping to get in an hour early. 

We were within a mile of the place when one of the sisters got off the phone. She had multiple calls from a Vegas phone number, but no message. So she called to find out why. One call: Ignore it. Multiple calls: Something is not right. 

It turns out the sister's wallet fell out of her giant purse, which tipped on the floor of the plane. And somebody from the airline found it, so she was welcome to come retrieve it. Therefore we turned around and started heading back to the airport. 

As we were driving back toward the airport on Interstate 15, we suddenly heard a funny, puzzling sound. We had no idea what it was. I turned the radio off, and it stopped. We came to the determination that my life partner's cellphone was trying to sync up with the car stereo. 

Except it wasn't. Moments later that loud, unsettling sound began again. Did we have a flat tire? It didn't seem like it. The car was still smooth. Troubled, I exited near the car rental center, and pulled into the Boot Barn parking lot. (I went to that store with a friend many years ago.) I checked the tires, and all were fine. There was nothing in the wheel wells to suggest what the problem was. There was no sign of anything dragging under the bumpers, either. 

I got down on the ground and looked under the SUV. There's the problem. The front of the underbody panel was hanging loose. We hadn't hit anything, but the screws or whatever was holding it in place had come loose, lowering the front of the panel. The wind it was catching intermittently created that horrible sound. The panel wasn't dragging on the pavement, it was all airflow vibrating into the panel opening. 

With three sisters and their luggage in tow, our first objective became exchanging the rental vehicle. 

We were near the rental center, so that was easy enough to get to. I expected a delay getting a vehicle, and a lot of hassle. Were they going to try to stick me with a damage claim? I didn't hit anything. It was not due to my negligence. 

So we pull in to the return center, I quickly explain what happened, and with no hesitation the nice woman at the return center tells me they'll get me a new vehicle. She looks under the vehicle, sees the damage, says that's not safe, and 30 seconds later we're  hauling our luggage to the "Fastbreak" counter in the garage, where I had to fill out a short form detailing what happened to the vehicle. The counter employee offers us a choice of about three SUVs, and I simply asked for one that isn't white. He gave me a Chevy Blazer, which wasn't the best choice, it turned out. 

We quickly learned there was far less cargo room in the back of the Blazer than there was in the back of that Nissan we had. And I didn't like the feel of the vehicle as much. But we were out of there, with a different vehicle within 15 minutes, that was most important. 

Onto the airport, where the sister runs into the baggage claim area to retrieve her wallet. Within minutes we're back on the road, and it's just before 8 p.m.

We're not going to make it to Herbs and Rye by our reservation time, however, so my life partner calls and asks if we can still be seated. Herbs and Rye is playing hard ball, acting like they can't wait more than 10 minutes to seat us. But a little negotiating and pleading catastrophe seems to win us five minutes or so of favor, so we proceed. At this point it's 10 p.m. back home, none of us have had dinner, and the sisters are more than ready to go to any other restaurant in Vegas, but we set out, once again, for Sahara Avenue. 

We're again within that final mile of our destination. I'm in the left lane, as you need to make a U-turn to get to the restaurant. I'm prepared for that, but what I'm not prepared for is the moron to my immediate right, who I'm not watching. He decides to start moving over into the left lane, as he seems to have just figured out he needs to make a U-turn, as well. My girlfriend tells me to watch out, as if I can do anything at this point. I look to my right, and I can see the moron's rearview mirror within six inches of our vehicle. There's nothing I can do at this point. There's a median to my left, so I can't just move over if there's no traffic coming from the other direction. 

Thankfully the moron wakes up in time to realize he's going to hit my black SUV, and moves back into his lane, probably terrified by the fact he nearly took us both out on Sahara Avenue. (I never saw if the driver was male or female, I just assume the moron was a male. I'm sexist.)

I didn't have time to freak out, as I only caught the last glimpse of the near-collision. But the moron was still trying to get over to the left, and had slowed down, of course, after nearly killing all of us, or so it appeared in my rearview mirror. This, of course, wreaks havoc for the cars behind us. I'm surprised the moron didn't cause a crash involving those drivers. 

It appeared the moron did get behind me, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was trying to get to Herbs and Rye, as well. But that didn't appear to be the case, as best I could tell. I was largely focused on my driving. 

So we finally get into the restaurant, the stress on my heart at this point is about to kill me, and we sit down in this rather dark restaurant to eat. Good luck reading the menu! 

Herbs and Rye is well known because it offers half-price steaks during its happy hours, which run like 5-8 p.m. and midnight to 3 p.m.

It's a dinner only restaurant, and not open on Sundays. It's quite the unique business model in Sin City. 

I don't know for how long, but they have been running their happy hour pricing all night in recent weeks, and that included our Friday night visit. All the steaks are half price. And a few of the pasta dishes are, too. And a couple of appetizers, I believe. If you want a rail drink, that's half price, as well. 

Two of us had half-price steaks. I had the New York strip for $24.50. Yep, it's a $49 steak, allegedly. 

My life partner had the ribeye, which I think was menu-priced at $59. 

My steak had too much fat in it, and it was hard to see where the fat was when you're cutting it in the dark. I had a sample of the ribeye, and it was better than mine. The steaks are naked. Like any steakhouse, if you want anything for the steak, that's an extra charge. I like mushrooms with my steak, but I don't need them. And if your steak is any good, it shouldn't need sauces or anything extra. 

We split a few sides for the table, and they're not huge, yet cost about $10 each. But they were pretty good, and we had enough to go with our entrees, so I have no complaints. 

We tried their fancy cocktails, as well. I had the "weekend at the Waldorf," a rum drink I thought I would love. I did not. It wasn't bad, but I didn't love it. It was $14 or so, and not really worth it. 

The restaurant is nice, and it was well staffed. It's not a fancy steakhouse at Bellagio, but it's a nice enough place. Some folks were far more casual than I was. 

I will try it again, and I will try a different steak. I don't do steakhouse dinners in Vegas often, and if I get a better steak than the strip steak I had, I could see myself going there once per trip in the years to come. 

Sorry, no pictures of the food. It was dark in there, and I'm not a food blogger. I'll take food pics, but it's not a priority every time I eat a meal.  

We were all tired after dinner. None of us had any interest in a wild night on Fremont Street, so I dropped the women off at Golden Nugget, where they were staying, along with the wedding party, and I parked at Plaza. We noticed there was a fire in a lot along Main Street, a block or two off of Fremont Street. The fire department was on the scene, and we couldn't see it clearly, but we're certain it was a Dumpster fire. Yes, a literal Dumpster fire. Seemed appropriate for how chaotic our night had turned out. 

There would be no big Friday night for me. Seems lame, I know, but I worked my ass off on Thursday night, not going to bed until 4 a.m., I needed rest to make it through the weekend. I got a $3 bottle of Bud Light and retreated to my room shortly after 10 p.m.

I spent an hour watching TV and playing games on my cellphone, but I was asleep before midnight, and I have no regrets. 

Up next: My unorthodox Saturday, the tweet that resonated with a lot of people and a visit to a quirky, longtime Vegas restaurant. 

One obligatory photo of Fremont Street, as I first exited the Plaza on Friday afternoon, Oct. 29. 

The loss of Tuscany table games is a sign of the new normal

It has been a long, long time since I've taken the time to post an instant reaction to something happening in Las Vegas, but this one piggybacks on my observations and conclusions made during my trip last month. 

The fine folks at Vital Vegas, (it's one guy,) wrote about the loss of table games at another Sin City casino. In this case, the often forgotten Tuscany Casino dumped its modest collection of table games, I learned today. 

Shocked I am not. 

As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I could find $5 blackjack downtown and at plenty of off-strip casinos just a few years ago. Two decades earlier, $5 blackjack was the standard, with some  casinos offering $3 minimums or gimmicky $1 tables to attract low rollers. Times change, and $5 doesn't go as far as it use to, but two years ago it wasn't that hard to find $5 minimums on table games if you were willing to play off the strip. 

Given the fact we all presumably earn more per year, due to inflation if nothing else, than we did 20 years ago, and the fact that there are plenty of $10 or $15 players to be had at craps and blackjack tables up and down Fremont Street, what incentive does Main Street Station have to offer a $5 blackjack table when it reopens? In the summer of 2018 I ended up killing an hour on an August Friday night, and I most certainly played $5 blackjack. 

Table games are labor intensive. I don't have any inside knowledge about the economics of a blackjack pit, but it doesn't take a math major to know that the house will win more over time if the table minimums are $15 rather than $5. 

Casinos had higher minimums for their table games during the pandemic simply because they had fewer seats available at a blackjack table. If you're capped at three seats to a table due to social distancing requirements, you're going to want to increase the minimum for the seats you have, as long as  you can still put asses in those seats. 

Once the capacity restrictions were lifted, plenty of people made it a priority to return to Vegas. And it didn't take $5 tables to put asses in the seats. So we have a new normal.

Obviously smaller operators with less traffic don't have the luxury of simply raising the table minimums and expecting people to fill those seats. 

The Orleans wasn't offering $5 blackjack on a Thursday night last month. If you're a local or a low roller who doesn't want to play at the higher minimums, you go elsewhere. But elsewhere is quickly becoming extinct, it seems. 

During last month's trip, I made it a point to visit a handful of odd joints I don't normally visit. My friend/podcast producer was with me, and he has never seen the locals casinos, so we made that part of our experience. 

I knew Joker's Wild had removed its table games. That made sense. They are a locals joint that doesn't attract big spenders, so the low roller blackjack tables and the famous $1 minimum craps game weren't going to make meaningful money. Instead of simply closing the tables during the pandemic, they were pulled. As of mid-June, they hadn't been restored. 

I wound up inside Casino Royale during my trip, a place I don't visit very often these days. I remember playing Spanish 21 there one night many years ago, when I was still staying and playing on the strip. I had a great time on a Sunday night, and the pit was busy. Not to my surprise, there are no tables at Casino Royale, at least not as of mid-June. Casino Royale is known as one of the last bastions of low rolling on the strip, so perhaps its days of live table games are over. 

I had never been inside the sketchy Wild Wild West, despite driving by it many times on my way to The Orleans. Having hyped its sketchiness to my friend, we were compelled to visit on a steamy Sunday afternoon. It was rather empty, not to my surprise, and there were no longer table games to be found. That wasn't a shock, either. 

There are still tables to be found at smaller casinos. On our Friday afternoon trek down the Boulder Highway we stopped at Skyline Casino. The tables were there, but they weren't open, not to my surprise. I suspect you can get $5 action there. And we went all the way down to Club Fortune Casino, which I had never been to. Again, they had tables, but they weren't open on a Friday afternoon. I'm guessing they still offer $5 action. But these aren't destinations typical tourists will ever see. 

And yes, you can still play $5 blackjack. We had lunch on Saturday at Jerry's Nugget. (More on that another day.) We stayed to play blackjack, as $5 tables were the norm. So was $5 craps. It's a Saturday in Vegas, at a very locals casino, and there were a bunch of people playing low minimum blackjack, roulette and craps. The craps table was pretty full, and offering a $5 minimum. Jerry's Nugget knows how to draw the locals, and was doing so. 

We also played a few hands of $3 blackjack prior to lunch at Jerry's Nugget. Real deal blackjack at none other than Poker Palace. This name may not ring a bell to tourists, but it's a small, no frills dump a few miles from downtown. We had been at the big flea market that morning, and after four hours of flea market scouring, we stopped at Poker Palace for a beverage. Turns out they were just getting ready to open their tables, so we sat down for 10 minutes on a Saturday, around the noon hour, to play at Poker Palace. The cards at the table looked like an old deck kept behind the bar at a small town Minnesota bar. And the joint had hardwood flooring. It was so, so weird, but dammit, we played $3 blackjack in Vegas, and somewhere I have one of the Poker Palace silver dollars from the table to prove it. 

I mistakenly thought we were at Bellagio.

I've always known that Tuscany has table games, but I've never been there to see it for myself. The casino is still there, but with no tables, I'm not likely to stop in any time soon. 

Tuscany isn't as convenient as Ellis Island when it comes to accessing the property from the strip, but it would seem that now, more than ever, the Tuscany tables should have been doing brisk business, offering $5 games not far from the strip. Perhaps it was just far enough that people wouldn't walk over to it, but it isn't that much further away than Ellis Island is, and Ellis Island is doing just fine offering lower minimum table action.

The loss of table games at low roller joints like Joker's Wild, Wild Wild West and Tuscany suggest to me that the days of $5 tables are mostly history. Sure, they could return, and sure, The Orleans could start offering them again after the pent-up demand for burning through cash in Vegas subsides. 

But I think the absence of tables at Tuscany is another sign that the days of the $5 tables are about over, even for the locals joints. Stadium gambling, bubble craps and other machines are the new normal for low rollers. On the heels of the pandemic, video gambling that requires less labor is helping usher out the $5 craps and blackjack era. Tuscany is another nail in that coffin. 

And so it ended

I spent 8 nights in Vegas, and it all went by in a hurry. It always does. 

Let's start with a recount of my final night in Vegas.

Most of my time was split with two friends. Thomas, my podcast producer, was there first. Dave, my college friend, came second. Their stays in Vegas overlapped one night. 

Dave took a red-eye flight home on Thursday, and I wasn't leaving until Friday afternoon, so I was on my own for the final night. After dropping Dave off at the airport, I drove straight to The Orleans, a place I have stayed many times.

Normally I'd park in the ramp, head in and hit the tables when visiting The Orleans. Instead I parked in the front corner lot, far from the door. There weren't many cars in the area. I was closer to Tropicana Avenue than I was to the front doors of The Orleans. 

I stood there looking at everything from a distance for at least five minutes, wondering if it was my last time at The Orleans. My future in Vegas had been on my mind periodically during this trip, as I noted in my previous blog entry.

It's the roadside sign for The Orleans, the casino I have stayed at multiple times over the past decade.
I have found myself sitting in a quiet corner of its parking lot for a few minutes the past few trips, contemplating life as I know it. 

I took a picture of the giant Orleans sign out front and finally headed inside to try my luck at cards.  

I spent a couple of hours playing Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em. I didn't win money. I lost about $65 during my time on the table. It was a mostly forgettable night of cards, save for two things. 

A dude, probably younger than me, but hard to tell for sure, ended up right next to me. This dude was wearing a track suit, and had an East Coast accent. He referenced being from Boston at one point. And he also mentioned something about being comped at the casino, suggesting he was not a Vegas transplant. 

His distinct look is not what I will remember most. It wasn't his incessant table talk that I will remember most. It was his cash that I will remember most. 

I don't walk the tables at Bellagio, Wynn or other swanky casinos. I suspect I'd see a lot of cash on some of those tables if I did. I see people with hundreds of dollars in chips sit down at Orleans tables periodically, but I don't recall having ever noticed anyone with $5,000 in chips seated anywhere on the floor. I'm sure I have, but it doesn't fascinate me enough to remember it happening.

Mr. Track Suit didn't have a huge stack of chips in his possession as he sat down, but he had a fistful of black chips. It looked like $1,200 or $1,300. That's a lot for a $5 Ultimate Texas Hold 'Em table, but not obscene. And he played $25 hands every time, talking up a storm and trying to decide whether or not to bet his 9 high pocket card following the river. Seriously, the guy talked a lot. Given I talk a lot, that's saying something. 

The thing that struck me as odd about his presence was the cash he was carrying around. I'm sure a lot of people are carrying more cash than I would guess. But Mr. Track Suit had a strap of $100 bills tucked into one of his pockets. I didn't gawk at it, but he pulled it out on two different occasions, looked at it briefly, and somewhat discretely, then put it back wherever he had it tucked. 

I suppose it could have been a single $100 bill on top of a stack of $1 bills, but I doubt it. I'm guessing they were all $100 bills, and it sure looked like $10,000 to me. Perhaps there was a little less in it, given he had more than $1,000 in chips on the table.

I'm sure most longtime gamblers have seen big stacks of cash flashed somewhere, but I don't recall ever seeing it, and I never would have bet on the place where it happened being The Orleans. 

I was lucky that night. As I said, I lost about $65. Hardly a disastrous night. But I was set to drop $170. No big deal, given I was up for the week. But I took home an extra $100 thanks to an error. 

Dealers make mistakes. It happens. I had noticed earlier in the evening, after the hand was done, that I was shorted $10 on a full house payout. I knew it didn't seem quite right at the time of the payout, but I wasn't sharp enough to catch why as I studied the payout.

Cards were scooped up, I pulled chips back, here comes the next hand. Then it hit me. I was paid even money on my "blind" bet, when I should have been paid 3:1. It seemed a little late to call for a check of the payouts, so I accepted it as a dealer error that went against me. Sometimes the dealer errs in the player's favor. That has happened plenty of times. So this one went against me. It likely wasn't the first time, but in this case, I realized it after the fact. 

So as the night goes on, my luck swings back and forth. I'm never ahead at the table, and as midnight passes, I'm down on my luck again. I need to check out of my room at 10 a.m. Friday anyway, and I'm betting with my last chips. There would not be another buy in. 

The dealer made an improbable queen-high straight, killing the table. Me, too, I think. I'm pretty sure that despite the king in my pocket cards, I don't have a straight. She looked at it for a moment, and I realized she was trying to analyze it. I almost told her I didn't have it, as I am certain I didn't. Then she paid my hand and cleared my cards. 

Nobody said anything, not even Mr. Track Suit. We all sat there in silence for a second, then I lamented how the dealer's 9 in her pocket killed everyone else at the table. Onto the next hand, I'm still in the game.

I certainly didn't try to mislead the dealer, or suggest I had a winning hand, as Mr. Track Suit liked doing periodically. I'm 99% certain, based upon the cards I was seeing past midnight, that I didn't win. The silence at the table certainly suggested to me that I didn't, otherwise the other players would have commented about my nice hand. 

Was I wrong for not sharing my doubt about having a winning hand? Perhaps. You could argue it was unethical. If I'd had a straight, and she scooped my chips, I'd be quick to point that out, of course. 

On the other hand, I am confident a dealer mistake earlier that evening cost me $10. It's not an even mistake, I came out ahead, but until that point, I was shorted $10 by the house for more than an hour. 

I'm not losing sleep over this. 

I played a bit longer. I played the next hand, and put a $1 tip on the "trips" bet for the dealer. Given the gift it appeared I had just received, I figured I could offer a modest tip for the dealer. And on the very next hand I hit a full house. A nice little win for me, and a $9 tip for the dealer. 

I tipped a buck on the "trips" bet again during the next hand, but my luck had run out. After another modest win and a loss, I was ready to call it a night. I colored up for $100 that I shouldn't have had and made my way to the door. 

It was time to go back to my room at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Desert Club Resort. That's the name that shows up on Google, anyway. 

It's a timeshare joint on Koval Lane, behind the High Roller wheel at the Linq, and next to the MSG Sphere that's under construction. It's a decent place, and like many non-casino hotels, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Dave owns timeshares. Yes, more than one. He bought them on the cheap from disgruntled owners, and seems to like the perks and benefits he gets as a result. We paid for five nights at the Desert Club, we weren't using his "owned" week, or whatever he has. It was $200 for five nights, just a short walk down the street from Ellis Island. 

I spent five nights at the Desert Club Resort on Koval Lane. From the north boundary of the property you can get a good look at the fantastic MSG Sphere. A concert venue behind the strip? Why not, it works for T-Mobile Arena, although access to MSG Sphere won't be as slick. 

I returned to the Desert Club to begin packing and preparing for my Friday departure. I didn't have a ton of packing to do, but I did run a load of laundry before going to bed. Having a washer and dryer in your vacation unit is nice. 

Perhaps I'll elaborate on the pros and cons of the Desert Club in the future. 

My Friday morning was highly uneventful. I played a little pinball before returning my rental vehicle and heading to the airport, wondering when, or if, I'll have an appetite to do it all again. 

A Las Vegas obituary

I went to see the Las Vegas Aviators on June 14. That's a minor league baseball team, which plays in a fancy new ballpark near Red Rock Casino in Summerlin. The visiting Reno Aces defeated the Aviators 21-16 that night. Yes, it was a baseball game. 

I don't know what major media organizations do nowadays, but there was a time when they wrote early obituaries. 

Before the internet and TMZ made our world a better place, your major news sources had obituaries ready to go, in case word broke that a major celebrity or public figure died with little advance warning. Some form of that practice probably remains in place. When former president Jimmy Carter dies, you'll see information pouring out in rapid succession, Perhaps some of that will be the result of news aggregation, but I suspect there will be a few base pieces that were put together long ago in anticipation of the day.

What does this have to do with Vegas? 

It's too early to say my Vegas career is dead, but I really had to wonder when I left town this time. 

I just spent a week in Vegas. I had a good time, and enjoyed a lot of the things I did. 

At the same time, the things I enjoyed didn't seem to warm my heart quite the same way. 

I have been traveling to Vegas for 24 years. A lot changes during any 24-year period. And like all those who bemoan how Vegas was better when the mob ran the casinos, I'm starting to think Vegas was more enjoyable for me back in my glory days, too. I just can't thank the mob for that. 

I stayed on the strip almost every time I visited Vegas during those early years. I was young, and didn't have a ton of money, but that didn't seem to prevent me from enjoying the Vegas strip. I could play all the $5 blackjack I wanted, and there were plenty of cheap places to eat and drink. I was far less discerning back then, and had an iron gut, so that helped the cause. 

For the past 10-12 years I have been staying either downtown or off the strip. The Orleans has been a frequent destination when staying off-strip. There was no single reason I gravitated away from the strip, but there were a few contributing factors. 

I don't think my off-strip exploration had anything to do with higher minimums on the strip for table games. That became a factor in cementing my departure, but there were still $5 games to be had circa 2009, when I started making my move off the strip, as I recall. 

I think my disenchantment with the strip was driven primarily by two things: Low rollers were finding fewer options on the strip and the casinos became dull. 

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're playing blackjack in Egypt, New York, Paris or under a circus tent, it's the game that matters. But I, like many, found the less colorful casino decor and abandoned themes to be less entertaining than their predecessors. 

Take away low roller gambling, make the casinos less fascinating and keep increasing prices of everything else in and around your casino... suddenly downtown Las Vegas looks far more appealing. 

Downtown became my savior, despite its lack of entertainment alternatives. There was no observation tower, fake volcano or sky parade to entertain the masses, but downtown casinos still valued those folks who don't need to burn through a C-note in 10 minutes to feel as if they're entertained. 

The days of the cheap table games, and cheap yard drinks, at Slots-A-Fun are long gone. (As are those 99-cent half-pound hot dogs I stopped eating in 2000.) And the $5 Spanish 21 tables up and down the strip are a dim memory. But I found a lot of replacements for those days, and I found them everywhere but on the strip. And that was fine. 

Two years ago my alternate-universe Vegas, the one that contrasted greatly from 1997 Vegas, was still a lot of fun. Vegas 2019 is gone, too, and what I'm left with has me wondering if there's a lot of Vegas in my future. 

I blame some of it on the pandemic. The pandemic forced casinos to raise their table game minimums, due to the limited capacity at each table under social distancing guidelines. Now that tables are full, the minimums are not going down. There's no shortage of players willing to drop their cash at a $15 minimum blackjack table, so why would a casino offer $5 tables? 

Sure, there are still 25-cent video poker machines and machines offering nickel-based wagering, but for those who like the table games, you'd better be happy with stadium gaming or a fully computerized experience. Some of that was coming, regardless of the table minimums. Automation and technology have long reduced labor costs for casinos, and such corners will be cut as often as possible. 

So is it simply the fact I can't spend an evening playing $5 blackjack at The Orleans that has me soured on Vegas? No. 

I never found that an evening spent listening to free cover bands on Fremont Street, elbow to elbow with drunk strangers, was an important part of my life. I'll listen to a little music, sure, but dancing around like I'm having the greatest night of my life as Zowie Bowie pretends to rap "O.P.P." is beyond preposterous. And the light show up above Fremont Street is pretty impressive, but after a couple of trips downtown, it's not all that fascinating.

And my disinterest in downtown is not just at night. On a recent Sunday afternoon they had a "dancing DJ" or whatever it is they're selling, cranking out the tunes for those walking by. I didn't have to shout in order for my friend to hear me, but I didn't need a dance party at that time of day, either. 

Couple that with the buskers and homeless clogging up Fremont street, between kiosks selling crap I want no part of, and Fremont Street is a big disappointment to me. And nothing pisses me off more than the "circle jerks" whose dance crew, bucket drumming or audience-participation spectacle creates a choke point on Fremont. Yeah, it's the pedestrians that create the circle, not the performers, but their spectacles aren't cut out for the performance circles that were intended for showgirls, creepy KISS dudes and Star Wars rejects.

Fremont Street has lost me, too. 

I can find plenty of favorite places and activities to visit in Vegas that still make it a great city to visit. And it's still a low-cost city, if you want it to be. But after nearly 25 years, I have walked away from Vegas wondering why I'll be in a hurry to go back. 

So I'm not saying I'm done with Vegas. But it really feels like my Vegas days are numbered. And I'm not interested in going back right now. That tells me a lot. 

Some people really don't like the Pinball Hall of Fame's new home on the Las Vegas Strip, I learned on June 18. 

Enjoy the thrills of Vegas when you can't be in Vegas!

The short of it: Del, the creator of videos at NeonVacation, and me, the writer of blogs here, are creating an online group aimed at providing a little fun, with a little Vegas flavor, for anyone who wants to join us. 

We're not casino operators, and we're not getting into the casino business, but for those who want to have a little of that Vegas action in their lives when they can't be in Sin City, splashing chips across the roulette felt, we have created the Las Vegas Fun and Games group. 

If you want to contribute $3 or $5 to the pot for a game of chance, you might win enough for two of those expensive drinks at that fancy new Circa casino in downtown Las Vegas. Or 25 bottles of the latest $3 beer offered at the Fremont and California casinos. 

Is that all you need to know? Join us here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lvfunandgames

The long of it: Late last summer I was invited to join a "raffle club." A longtime friend was running a group, via Facebook, where you could "donate" a few bucks to a game of chance. The games varied a bit, as did the payout structure. Sometimes the winner received cash, sometimes the winner received a prize. Sometimes the winner had a variety of prizes to choose from. Good times, for sure. 

Turns out, there are plenty of raffle groups out there. I was invited to join a few others. They all differ a bit. But at the end of the day, the purpose was the same...gambling. No matter the terminology used, it was low-stakes gambling. And many of us enjoy a little of that in our lives. It's part of the reason many of us go to Vegas. 

My first thought wasn't, "How do I start my own group." But as the months progressed, I noticed there was something missing from these groups: Games of chance based upon sporting events. When it comes to sports, many of us will drop a few bucks on the outcome of the game we're going to watch, just to make the game a little more exciting, especially if we don't have a rooting interest in the outcome. 

One of the things I noticed about the groups is that the people running them put a bunch of time and effort into doing so, from setting up the games to collecting electronic payments and running the games via live videos. And it culminates with disseminating the prize(s) to the winner(s). It's not labor intensive, but it takes time and attention to do it well. Most group operators take a cut of the prize pool, and people don't seem to mind that, myself included. 

So my question was, "How can I make a group that's different than the others I have been a part of?" One that players will participate in and appreciate? A little brainstorming and a few discussions later, the Las Vegas Fun and Games group was born.

I needed somebody to help me get a new group going. To what extent, I wasn't sure, but I couldn't do it all on my own. I knew I wanted a Vegas themed group, so I reached out to a guy whose Vegas videos I've been watching for a while, a guy who has been dedicating greater time to his video content in the past year.  

That's how Del and I started the ball rolling. We hope it rolls for more than a week. 

What makes our group different? There will be a variety of games of chance, some linked to sporting events, others based upon games run through free gaming websites. All we need is a bunch of entries and a free online prize wheel. With that we can hold a "raffle."

But it's a Vegas group, so we'll try to find ways to have a little casino-style fun in determining some of our winners. 

The prizes awarded through prize wheels or other games of chance will be done via live videos posted to our group. You do not need to watch live to win a prize, but the video will be there for you to review if you're not watching live. 

And one of the important aspects of our group: The prize pool goes to the players. If there are 10 entries at $10 each, the prize pool will go back to the players. There may be $5 or $10 withheld from the prize pool, and that $5 or $10 will go toward bonus prizes or future games for members. Participation will have an added benefit down the road, without a doubt. 

Bottom line: If people want to have fun and are willing to play, we won't collect a commission for our effort. 

So, why should you trust us? As content creators, we are out there sharing our love of Vegas, and hoping you enjoy what we produce. We're not in the business of alienating consumers of our content. If you don't know of us, perhaps you were invited by a friend who does, somebody who knows that we, too, work for a living and are trying to bring a little entertainment to the world, through our love of Vegas. We're not going to jeopardize that trust after uniting a group of Vegas lovers for low-stakes fun and games.  

And when the outcome is not linked to a sporting event that we have no control over, we'll make it a point to have an observer join us for the live videos of the game being played. When the video goes live, group members get a notice, so anyone who is available is free to watch the action as it happens. 

All you need to do to participate is have an online payment account, such as Venmo, join our group and register for a game when it is announced. You need to be able to pay in U.S. dollars, and if we end up with non-cash prizes, you'll need to live in the United States to receive them.

With all that, let me close by saying that we hope you're interested enough to join us for fun and games. 

-- Mike

A visit to the Magical Forest

In December 2018 I visited the Magical Forest, a Christmas-themed Las Vegas wonderland. 

I have lots of photos and tidbits from past Vegas trips that have never made it to my blog. I intended to write about my visit to a fabulous Christmas attraction, but I never did. 

For the past week I have been watching YouTube videos by Jacob the Carpetbagger. I've been following his travels via YouTube for about five years. He has been in Vegas for the past week, sharing daily videos and gathering content for additional videos when he returns home. He was invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of Magical Forest, which reminded me that I have yet to share my simple cellphone photos from my visit. 

Magical Forest is a seasonal attraction that needs no explanation. Take a look at my photos and video below and you'll have a pretty good idea. It's a fundraising event for Opportunity Village, an organization that provides vocational training, community employment and other services for adults with disabilities in the Las Vegas area. Its mission is close to my heart, so I was extra happy to visit in 2018. 

It turns out they do a Halloween version of their forest, as well. I did not know this. You can put that on my to-do list during my next October visit to Vegas, whatever year that might be.  

Here's Jacob's recent video of his Magical Forest tour: 

And here, from 2018, is a collection of photos I took during my visit to the forest. I didn't take pictures of the amusement rides. There's a small collection of them within the property, including a cool carousel that is featured in Jacob's video.  

You can ride a train through the forest. I managed to avoid getting a picture of it.

The giant slide Jacob attempted to navigate can be seen in the background.

My photo isn't the best, but this is a tree sponsored by Penn and Teller. Notice the rabbit/top hat on top.

And finally, here's a video I took, showing the musical light show discussed in Jacob's video: