Slumming in las vegas trip report: Public buses, downtown, coupons and winning

[Rob.Singer]

Memory lane this and memory lane that. Downtown Vegas is such a waste of time, except for the brewery in Main St. Station. And even that isn't worth the risk of the social problems and diseases that permeate the downtown area. It's full of California flake liberals, drug addicts, and mid-west white trash tourists. If that doesn't turn you off, seeing Rosie O'Donnell nude and aggressive two inches from your face might seem like heaven on earth to you.

[Ozzy]

Memory lane this and memory lane that. Downtown Vegas is such a waste of time, except for the brewery in Main St. Station. And even that isn't worth the risk of the social problems and diseases that permeate the downtown area. It's full of California flake liberals, drug addicts, and mid-west white trash tourists. If that doesn't turn you off, seeing Rosie O'Donnell nude and aggressive two inches from your face might seem like heaven on earth to you.

Don't forget all the slugs and the armchair APS...WISE UP ROFLMAO

[dannyj]

FAB,

Nice report, I enjoyed that. We used to stay at the Golden Nugget back in the early 90's before the canopy was built. Lately we have been tempted to make it downtown but it never seems to be in the "cards".

[Alan Mendelson]

It was excellent. And it was available 24/7. By contrast, I saw a sign at the Fremont Casino offering a Prime Rib Special available only from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM. I did not try it there.

The gal I dated most recently is a chef at Fremont. I won't say more, in part because there is really nothing happening with her.

[Alan Mendelson]

Hi Alan:

I guess you could voluntarily withhold up to $1,000 on your IRS bill to get a refund and do the same for California to get a total of $100 free play. Since your new girl is a chef in Vegas she may be able to do the rebate every two weeks! But that would not be the "advantage play" considered by most and probably wouldn't be the best discussion to start in a new relationship.

The chef is also a poker player who works every damn promotion in town using whoever's card she can get her hands on. She would amaze some of the "compers" here about what she knows and does. We had a couple of real fun dates working the system. LOL

[Alan Mendelson]

I have to admit I have never played downtown and the ONLY time I was downtown was when I shot a video for a client -- the Plaza -- and that was several years ago. I am so tempted to try that zip line. I know that Jason won't do it. When we had to shoot Hoover Dam from a helicopter he wouldn't do it, so I took the camera and did the shoot myself. Of course, I've been in choppers throughout my career.

However, with that said... I am too afraid to climb a ladder.

[Dan Druff]

Regarding the pick-a-card freeplay promo at El Cortez, you weren't actually close to picking the $1000 or even $100. Likely it was weighted between the $10 and $20. Unlike a slot machine picking game where the reveal is what you could have picked, there wasn't a wager here so it was all marketing money and they can show you whatever they want, so why not show you the maximum tease.

This is correct, and it's an old trick on electronic "free" contests.

Some of them show what you "could have" won, making you feel like you just missed some big payout. It's all a lie. Whichever card you pick will reveal a minimal prize, and then the better prizes will be shown on the ones you don't pick.

Anyway, very interesting report, FAB!

The biggest surprise was that you found the $11 prime rib to be tasty. Those are almost always awful, so you really lucked out in getting a good one.

[Dan Druff]

In the summer of 01, I was single and in Vegas, mostly for a blackjack trip. I took a trip with a male friend, and I took him along to watch me count cards at The Plaza downtown.

It was a shoe game, the count went high, I slammed out a lot of big bets, and lost almost all of them. Was down $4k in that shoe alone. Decided to quit. I wasn't a high stakes poker player at the time (I had just started poker about 6 months earlier), so losing $4k was a big deal to me.

Given that the pit boss didn't see me as a counter, since my bets rose so quickly, I decided to ask for a comped meal at their best restaurant, given my loss and that I looked like a whale (at least by Plaza standards).

The guy gave us a pretty good comp for the place (called Center Stage, which had a glass ceiling where you could view the Fremont Street Experience light show), and we went up there.

I was still very frustrated about how terrible my luck was. At the dinner table, I was whining to my friend about all the $400 type bets I made which kept getting screwed. I wasn't doing this to show off to anyone, but I guess my voice was fairly loud and others could hear me.

I looked over and noticed a very pretty girl in her 20s sitting alone at a table for two. At first I thought her boyfriend was just in the bathroom or something, but after a long time passed, it was clear she was dining alone. I found it odd that such a pretty girl had to resort to eating alone in a nice restaurant, but I didn't think about it further. What I did notice was that she kept trying to make eye contact with me, and had the body language of being interested. She didn't do anything overt to get my attention, but it was clear that she had some kind of interest in me.

Of course, my mind immediately went to "gold digger", believing she was probably interested because I was talking loudly about shooting off a lot of $. Still, I figured, this girl was REALLY hot, and I didn't have to see her again if I got the gold digger vibe.

My greater concern was that she was a hooker. However, she did not look AT ALL like a hooker. Not the slightest bit trashy. Extremely pretty, but classy looking. Had a sweet looking face. If you saw her on the street, you would NEVER think hooker.

I was debating whether to approach her and start talking to her, but I was concerned that at some point she might bust out the awkward request for money, perhaps after I had already taken her back to my room.

I decided that, as tough as it was, I wasn't going to approach her.

She was done with her meal before I was. At one point, the waiter asked her, "Have I see you here before?" She told him that he hadn't, and that he must be confused. That wasn't a good sign, either.

When my friend left to go to the bathroom, she got up to leave, but walked VERY slowly by my table, giving me plenty of opportunity to stop her and strike up a conversation. I was very tempted to do so, but given my concern that she was a hooker, I let her keep walking.

I discussed this with my friend. He was on the fence whether she was a hooker or just a really hot gold digger.

After the trip, I was still concerned that perhaps I was needlessly paranoid about her being a hooker, and perhaps I blew a chance of having sex with a really hot chick who was legitimately into me.

I went onto a blackjack forum where I was a member, and posted this story. A member volunteered to go to Center Stage the following weekend, and see if he could find her again.

He went there, and found the identical situation. Girl 100% matching her description was sitting alone at Center Stage. Kept making eye contact with him. Seemed so familiar with the whole scene that she didn't look up once during the Fremont Street light show.

Verdict: 100% hooker.

I felt better.

[mickeycrimm]

I've eaten at the Center Stage several times. It was a place where you could get a good steak for a reasonable price. I think it's called Oscar's now. One of the scenes from the movie Casino was filmed in the Center Stage. In the screenshot below Ginger and Ace are walking into the Center Stage:

[Alan Mendelson]

when I did the video for the Plaza, we shot at what is now Oscar's when the place was being renovated.

[redietz]

Memory lane this and memory lane that. Downtown Vegas is such a waste of time, except for the brewery in Main St. Station. And even that isn't worth the risk of the social problems and diseases that permeate the downtown area. It's full of California flake liberals, drug addicts, and mid-west white trash tourists. If that doesn't turn you off, seeing Rosie O'Donnell nude and aggressive two inches from your face might seem like heaven on earth to you.

So Rob prefers Rose O'Donnell nude and passive two inches from his face? Rob, lay off the night driving -- your vision isn't what it used to be.

I've stayed at the Fremont, Four Queens, Plaza, and GN in the last couple of years. When the guys congregate downtown, we usually meet at the Main Street Station brewery -- nice place.

The downtown is safer than it's ever been. The only place I recommend avoiding is the Plaza parking garage. I think Rob has issues with (1) the fact we are old and spent time downtown back in the 80's and 90's when it wasn't safe, and (2) we're old and are therefore vulnerable and targets compared to when we were in our 20's and 30's.

Rob has issues with everyone from Asians to mid-west white trash to California liberals. He needs to join a club for former mid-level white-collar execs who can't do math. I think it's called the Republican Party.

[Rob.Singer]

And I'll bet you couldn't help yourself as you jumped up & down and threw a couple of rocks and bottles in one of your whacky, meaningless-to-the-rest-of-the-world libtard "protests" while you thought that up.

[redietz]

I'm not sure what a "libtard" is, Rob, but I don't know anyone who would categorize me as a "liberal" in the current sense. Except you. You must, of course, be right.

[FABismonte]

I forgot to mention this nugget of information. When I was at Casino Royale, I discovered that the Bubble Craps/Shoot to Win game had a minimum of $1 on the pass line and FIVE TIMES ODDS. So on a shooter, I would start with a $2 pass line bet, with $10 odds plus two comes, and work my way to $3 pass line and come bets with full odds then up to $4 pass line with full odds. There are places in Vegas where you can have ten times odds, Main Street Station has 20 times, and Cromwell advertises 100 times odds, but the minimum pass line bet constrains me from taking full odds. Casino Royale is an exception. Unlike a slot machine a pass line bet in craps can last a LONG time without a decision. So if you order drinks (albeit you will not get top shelf stuff) while playing a buck or two on the line -- and since free odds have no house advantage, I think you may have an "advantage play!" LOL.

FAB

[Alan Mendelson]

when I played at the M I recall they had 10X odds.

there have been surveys made about this: the typical craps player does 2X odds.

I once played with a high roller buddy at Casino Royale when they had 100X odds. He was a don't player. I watched him lose $20,000 in fifteen minutes betting the DP with 100X odds.

Higher odds don't make you a winner.

[quahaug]

Should have quit while he was ahead a thousand.

[FABismonte]

when I played at the M I recall they had 10X odds.

there have been surveys made about this: the typical craps player does 2X odds.

I once played with a high roller buddy at Casino Royale when they had 100X odds. He was a don't player. I watched him lose $20,000 in fifteen minutes betting the DP with 100X odds.

Higher odds don't make you a winner.

Makes you wonder why Casino Royale took out its 100 times odds opportunity. When you were watching your friend get crushed did you try to intervene or suggest he not fight the trend and get on the pass line instead?

At any rate, my major point was how low one could be on the CR Craps machine. Action of a $1 (or $2) passline bet with full odds will not keep the lights on.

[Alan Mendelson]

Betting odds of any kind will not make you an advantage player. You are still more likely to lose any bet with free odds.

No, I said nothing to my high rolling buddy. It was his money and he was a don't player. And he lost big.

I don't think he was ever ahead at that table, quahaug.

[Dan Druff]

Casinos don't like offering high odds because they will lose just as often as they'll win (bets have no edge for either casino or player), and they induce high variance for both the player and casino.

Casinos prefer a slow, steady win by bleeding the players to death via clearly -EV games.

They don't like variance, and they especially don't like variance if they have zero edge.

Alan, for every story of your friend shooting off $20k while making big odds bets, there are an equivalent number of stories of people winning big while placing such bets.

While 100x odds make the player almost even-money in craps, they can never quite get to even expectation, and there is huge variance to it. I would only recommend big odds bets if your gambling bankroll is deep enough to take them.

So if you're normally betting $500 per roll in craps, then by all means place a 100x odds bet at a $5 table. But if you're normally a $25 bettor, you are risking a world of hurt by placing that 100x odds bet at the $5 game.

[quahaug]

I don't think he was ever ahead at that table, quahaug. Exactly, and he quit when he hit his stop loss of twenty g's