Vegas casinos hate America

Haven't been to Tunica in nearly a decade. It was slow, even then. Good thing is that they had good, full pay table games. Horseshoe had some true characters hanging around the poker room ... and I mean that in a good way. What gets me is that the Grand/Harrahs closed when there (and are) other casinos that were much more dead.

Back 15-20 years ago, places like Wendover (due west of Salt Lake City) and Laughlin in Nevada had $2 blackjack and other table games. Single deck, at that. For someone just getting started in the news biz, that was about all I could afford.....

 

I cut my gambling teeth in Mississippi riverboat casinos, where they had $3 blackjack during the week and at least one $5 table at all times. It was quite a shock when I went to Atlantic City and couldn't find anything cheaper than a $15 table.

 

The Palace in Biloxi was like a dream. Smoke-free casino, $3 craps until 8 on weekdays, easy parking.

 

My informal review of Morongo Casino and Resort.

They have a whole section of two deck, $25 minimum blackjack tables. Old time Vegas rules apply, e.g, 3:2 blackjack, double anything, split any pair, double after splitting but of course only one card each after splitting aces. Dealer hits on soft 17.

They have six deck shoe tables with the same rules with a minimum of $15 to $25.

The have one single deck table with 6:5 blackjack.

I don't play other table games or slots, there are no craps. The video poker machines are multi-game and offer mediocre odds at best.

The hotel/casino staff is very well trained to be responsive without being fawning.

Unfortunately smoking is allowed.

 

I found the two deck blackjack tables to be the most entertaining because your first two cards were dealt down. This required you to pick up your cards (with one hand only) and signal the dealer if you wanted to hit or stay by stroking the felt or sliding your cards underneath your bet.

Contrarily, in the six deck shoe blackjack games, your cards were dealt face up and there was immediate pressure to make a decision without the tactile pleasure of touching the cards. Your decisions were made by hand gestures only. This led to less camaraderie between tablemates.

 

So at Morongo you can't play for less than $15 a hand??

 

I play simply for the enjoyment factor, not to think I'd actually win (regularly).

Favorite game of choice for enjoyment and greatest chance for breaking even? Pai Gow Poker. Try it and let me know.

 

Right. I am old enough to remember when you could play $1 minimum, one deck, full Vegas rules blackjack at the Circus Circus street casino along with all kinds of redonkulous food promotions. Of course the trick was to wait for the low cards to come out and then change your bet from$1 to $5 and split and double down like hell. On top of all that they would give you free alcohol (you need to tip of course), and the cocktail waitresses wore entertaining costumes.

The fun was the camaraderie at the tables between people, often of diverse backgrounds, who came together as" team us" vs. the dealer. Debates over proper play were lively. The most fun was with the dealers who went along with the gag and openly rooted for the players. The least fun was with the mean dealers who clearly didn't want to be there and criticised newbies.

 

Popular game for many. I am too old to learn new tricks. What do you like about it?

 

Played properly, I think the worst-case house edge for that is around 0.25% ... at $25 a hand and 30 hands an hour, your expected loss would be <$2 ... I'm going to Vegas next week and I might try to learn the strategy ... sounds like a fun, cheap game.

ON EDIT: Oops, I erred in reading my source. The worst-case house edge is around 2.5%, so in my hypothetical your per-hour cost would be around $19.