Vegas casinos hate America

Well, it depends. I was told I was perfect coming in, because I have schlub nailed. Others were told means of not looking like degenerate gamblers by you know, dressing a little better, smoking less, like that.

 

Meant 3/2. Sorry.

 

No they do not. Been pushed back in two casinos in my life. El Cortez and a reservation in the Midwest. Both times I was pretty loose with my bet spreads while counting.

 

Sadly, I don't think that would be possible in Las Vegas anymore.

 

That is awesome.
I bet that you doublechecked to make sure you hit all the "held" buttons.

 

Fortunately, it automatically held all five and went into jackpot mode...

 

We went to the casino buffet today for a co-worker's farewell lunch, and I didn't have much to do afterward so I hung around to play some afternoon blackjack. First time I've played in a couple of years and I did OK. Nickel-and-diming it at $5 and $10 a hand, I won $20 over the course of about 40 minutes. I hit a double down and a blackjack within the first three hands, so I mostly treaded water the rest of the time.

The fascinating part, though, was watching the other people. It was a $5 blackjack table with a three-card poker side game. Your two cards and the dealer's up card form a poker hand.
The poker payouts are decent (9 to 1 for most hands, up to 270-1 for some form of a royal flush), but it's easy to get killed on it. I don't fool with it at all. The other people at the table, though, were playing it more than they were the blackjack. Betting $5 on the blackjack and another $10 on the poker hand, and then complaining about bad cards while the dealer was stuck in a long string of showing 3, 4, 5 and 6. I think I went 10 or 15 hands before I had one where I actually had to hit to make something of it.
The guy to my right burned through about $300 in the time I was sitting there and didn't appear to be betting big. Just getting killed by throwing away $10 every hand on that poker game. After a while, one of them noticed I wasn't playing my poker hand and it was like they'd spotted a $100 bill on the sidewalk. She and the guy to my right wanted to play the poker game on my hand. Right-hand guy played four or five times and hit once that I recall. He didn't offer a finder's fee, which is a bit of bad form.

There were six of us at the table, and it was like a dumpster dive into degenerate central.
I'm pretty sure three were burning through monthly checks of one kind or another. One woman was talking about having to sleep under a bridge tonight, and I don't think she was joking. There was a good-natured Russian guy at the far end who seemed to be doing OK, but first base to his right was a man who seemed to be dying a slow death and looked ready to thump some skulls if somebody hit a 16 against a 6.
It was a fun time travel trip back to the old days, but 40 minutes of it was plenty.

 

Hollywood casino has cheap rooms and low limits but is depressing as hell and had ice cold tables when I went down before Christmas. In fact, all the remaining joints except Gold Strike give off a vibe that they're maybe one bad quarter away from folding shop.

Good news is the interstate link to I-55 is open. And if you can make it down to the actual town of Tunica, the Blue and White Cafe serves a righteous all-day breakfast.

 

Had a similar experience a few weeks ago when people were betting at $5 hand blackjack but knocking down $25 a hand on the side bets.

The only BJ gimmick I do enjoy is "free bet blackjack". The house pays for your double or your split. Here is the giveback: a dealer 22 pushes all bets. Still an advantage for the house but there is one element that can wildly swing it for the player.

Say you bet $25 and get a pair of 7s against a 4. Split them. First hand is a 10 - double that. Second hand is an 11 - double that.

If you beat the dealer, you win $100. If you lose, you're only out $25. That's pretty substantial.

It's a fun game to play for 40-50 hands as the "dealer 22 push" will grind the player down in the long run of 500 hands.