I didn't realize that Needles, Cal. was so close: this could provide a reason to visit Laughlin again: to watch the flatbottom v-drive boats playing on the Colorado River.
As a former Donzi owner I enjoy a quick boat but have never been in a flatbottom v-drive: watching as opposed to owning seems the ideal solution.
see the kids at play:
What, Me Worry?
They're part of Landry's along with McCormick & Schmidt, Morton's, Rainforest Cafe, Claim Jumper, quite a few others. The Landry's Select card is a pretty good deal - one time $25 payment gets you $25 welcome certificate and $25 a year on your birthday plus $25 every time you spend $250. Bubba Gump's is the only one I actively search out, but the others I've tried haven't been very good also. I usually go to the one on the LV Strip at least once a trip even when I have comps to burn elsewhere, that's how much I like it. Yes it's mostly simple shrimp things but it's always good.Originally Posted by tableplay
Landry's is owned by the Fertita family. That may or may not keep you from going there depending how you feel about them. The Mortons chain was a long time classic family owned steakhouse here in Chicago (later expanding to other markets). When it was bought by Fertita, ALLEGEDLY they stopped using the finest steaks from a local supplier and switched to a basic Sysco product. Since they are worth billions, they are probably not bothered by my refusal to patronize.
I seem to recall Landry's owns the Golden Nuggets in Las Vegas and Laughlin. But I could be wrong.
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
There is much better blackjack in Wendover than Laughlin.Originally Posted by dannyj
I'm going to post an old trip report I made from about 3 years ago that mentions some comparisons of Laughlin to Wendover. This was originally posted on BJ21.
My Maiden Voyage to Laughlin with Comparisons to Wendover (long)
I have been to Wendover many times before. I also have posted on BJ21 many of my trip reports on Wendover. However, this fall saw my first ever trip to Laughlin and I wanted to share a few things as very little has been posted on BJ21 about Laughlin.
Both Laughlin and Wendover are similar in many ways. They both don’t have any commercial air service, but both are served by charter flight programs. They are both located not too far from large cities. Laughlin is located about 100 miles south of Las Vegas and Wendover is located about 120 miles west of Salt Lake City. The short drive from these small town airports to the casinos is just about a mile or two in both casino towns.
If you are located in the upper Midwest there are many flight cities to choose from for a charter flight to either Laughlin or Wendover. Sun Country flies to Laughlin and Allegiant (now Swiftair) flies to Wendover. Both these airlines have flight cities in both WI and MN with Sun Country having a few flights out of MI and even an occasional flight out of the U.P. of MI. I do like flying on Sun Country better than Allegiant, but if you fly out of the upper Midwest flight time is about a half hour longer if you fly to Laughlin instead of Wendover. Also the flight fare is slightly higher to fly to Laughlin, but it’s still a great bargain.
Okay, let’s get right to the Laughlin trip. On this trip I took the Riverside Casino flight charter and just like Wendover’s charter your hotel stay is included in the charter price. There were almost no comps included in the package you receive upon arrival which was handed out at the airport along with your hotel key. There was no notice it would be done this way and I actually got on the bus without my package. I had to ask someone where they got them. Fortunately, I was heads up in this situation and managed to go back and get my package before the bus left. The best comp I found in my package was a coupon for a half price buffet at the Riverside buffet. Wendover on the other hand has at least a couple of decent comps.
I did not like the Riverside casino. My room in the Riverside was good, but the casino itself seemed old, cluttered and dirty. The blackjack playing area seemed dark. The table games main area seemed to be tucked away in a corner and not in the center like most casinos. In fact every nook and cranny had some little shop tucked away in it.
These are the Laughlin casinos I played on this trip listed in order of largest win to smallest win or loss.
Tropicana - Net Win
Aquarius - Net Win
Edgewater - Net Win
Co Belle - Net Win
Harrah’s - Net Win
Nugget - Net Loss
Riverside - Net Loss
Total Laughlin blackjack win before expenses was $1,300. I managed to get 28 hours of playing time in with no back offs. My maiden voyage to Wendover many years ago yielded a blackjack win of $1,755 before expenses with only 22 hours of play.
Here are a few things that pissed me off on this trip.
At the Riverside casino I only played their single deck game which is 3:2. As I have posted before I’m not very good at single deck, but what they do at the Riverside can really piss you off. If you jump your bet 3 times they will shuffle up on you. I was aware of this from a post made by LVBear and always tried to make my bet less than 3 times the previous bet. However, on one occasion I was playing heads up and the dealer pulled about a 7 card bust with all little cards on the first hand. I had a great opportunity and was very careful not to raise my bet more than 3 times but the dealer still shuffled up. This dealer was doing this quite often to me and I finally asked how much can I bet without a shuffle up. The dealer said he couldn’t discuss it and to talk to the pit boss. Oh sure. This dealer had the gall to pay part of one of my winning bets in dollar tokens. This pissed me off big time. Also at the Riverside they have a side bet only at the beginning of each shuffle. The dealer goes through a little chant describing it not just once, but every time he shuffles. It drives one crazy. Oh, by the way. I witnessed a player using the jump your bet 3 times rule in reverse. If he didn’t like what he saw he would jump his bet and they would shuffle. I witnessed it at least a couple of times.
Another thing that pissed me off was the free buffet I was suppose to get at Harrah’s. They said with a new card I could get a couple of free buffets after earning 50 points or one after something like 30 points. I played blackjack for several hours and they finally said I enough points for a buffet. I was as hungry as hell and when I went to get my slip for a free buffet they mentioned I had a card from another property from about ten years ago. At the time, I don’t think the property was even a Harrah’s property. No free buffet. I left hungry.
Speaking of food, I ate at several different places in Laughlin. The first night I stopped at “In and Out Burger.” The food was real cheap and fast, but I sure don’t rate it the number one restaurant in Laughlin as listed by Trip Adviser. I thought their fries had a bad taste to them. The worst food was definitely the Riverside buffet. The only reason I ate there was because I had a half price buffet coupon and enough comps to pay for the other half. Of the places I played rated I think Riverside gave the best dollar value comps. I did eat a buffet at the Tropicana and think this was the best place of anyplace I ate. I did see a guy who looked like LVBear there, but not as heavy. This guy was with his wife.
I played rated for several hours at Aquarius and when I asked how much I had in comps they said a number that was less than 40 cents. Then the player card lady said if you use it on food its double. I figured I might as well use it when I went to eat at their restaurant as there was a good chance I won’t ever be going back soon. When I tried to use the little bit I had I was told it had to be at least a dollar before you could use it. It was another piss off.
Another piss off was getting caught in a flash flood. One night it was raining very hard and after it stopped, I set off for a walk to the casinos on the southern end of casino drive. I got as far as the Edgewater only to come to a huge water puddle that was covering the sidewalk and road. I crossed to the other side where the sidewalk wasn’t completely under water only to find the water flowing down Edgewater Drive so fast and deep I could not get across. I had to head back and ended up wasting about 40 minutes.
Another interesting thing happened at Tropicana. I was playing heads up at the time and some how a conversation started with the dealer about blackjack. Out of the blue this dealer mentioned that the Tropicana was “sweaty.” Then the dealer added “real sweaty. “ I asked if this was the sweatiest place in town and the dealer answered that the Edgewater and Colorado Belle were probably worse. I did get a couple of shuffle ups at the Colorado Belle. I asked what the hell is going on. It was the only place besides the Riverside where this happened.
Overall my expenses were quite low for this trip. They only came to $107 excluding the cost of the charter and that is pretty good for not having any comp balance built up. This includes $25 for the airport parking fee and $15 for the Laughlin water taxi which was for a day pass. It would have been better for me if I only paid for each time I used it. I did not use any bus at all. I walked everywhere except for my one trip to Harrah’s which was really a waste. In the Harrah’s main pit they had a 6:5 single deck and a 6:5 six deck and only one normal 2 deck game which was full must of the time I played there. I didn’t check out the non smoking pit as they said there was no double deck there. Harrah’s on their double deck game burns 20 cards off the bottom and one card off the top.
One note before I end this long post. The best way to get around Laughlin is probably walking. There are not any shuttle buses like Wendover has and the buses drop off at the main drag. You still have to walk to the casino. I didn’t use any buses at all. You basically have two walking choices. You can take the River Walk which is a sidewalk along the river or walk out to the main drag and walk there. If the Tropicana is a planned stop you are probably better off walking on the main drag. You can walk faster on the main drag as most folks take the river walk. I found the river walk kind of congested at times. You cannot walk through the casino parking lots which is a shame since each casino has their property fenced or walled off. Just one more piss off. Harrah’s is probably too far to walk to as it is a mile down the road from the Golden Nugget. I used the river taxi which I enjoyed for Harrah’s but a taxi would also work fine. There are a lot of taxis that hang out at the Golden Nugget and most are Lucky Cab.
Last edited by Midwest Player; 10-09-2018 at 12:31 PM.
Good to know. I've never been to a Morton's and now I know to avoid. I am not that big on expensive steakhouses. I mostly go to the seafood places - Landry's once, McCormick & Schmidt, Bubba Gumps, once to some dinosaur restaurant at Disney I took my kids to, and Rainforest Cafe if I have a birthday reward to burn and no better option. Every place I've tried has been decent (if overpriced in the case of the gimmicky dinosaur/rainforest places), except Mitchell's Fish Market which was kind of bad.Originally Posted by regnis
Yes there's some Golden Nugget places the card is good at but I haven't used at any. IIRC on one Vegas trip I had planned to go to Claim Jumper at the Golden Nugget for a meal but ended up doing something else.Originally Posted by mickeycrimm
Landry's is solely owned by Tilman Fertitta of Houston, Texas.Originally Posted by regnis
He is a 3rd cousin of the Las Vegas Fertittas.
Landry's owns the Golden Nugget Casinos, including locations in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Ah, the Fertitta clan: ahem.
http://global-mma.forumotion.com/t85...-not-just-ties
Dunno if it's true or not, don't much care so long as the casinos are run well.
What, Me Worry?
There is a 2 Hour boat ride each way from Laughlin to Havasu down the Colorado. Nice ride that shows some Indian writings on the cliff walls down the river. Other than the original London Bridge, not much to see in Havasu other than a few good breweries including Mudshark. But it wastes a few hours and does go past the Avi Indian casino.
Any chance you made it out there Mick? Wiz did a write up on it a few years ago including being able to count there.
I didn't make it to Avi. Maybe next time if I have my car with me.Originally Posted by The Boz
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
I could tell you things, and tried to, but it says you cant get PMsOriginally Posted by MisterV
And can forget this great moment in Laughlin history
Lesson for everyone, avoid River Run week.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Run_Riot
Yes, I tried the Claim Jumper once, and it was just OK. I haven't tried the others but I saw a Rainforest Cafe.Originally Posted by pkspinsThey're part of Landry's along with McCormick & Schmidt, Morton's, Rainforest Cafe, Claim Jumper, quite a few others. The Landry's Select card is a pretty good deal - one time $25 payment gets you $25 welcome certificate and $25 a year on your birthday plus $25 every time you spend $250. Bubba Gump's is the only one I actively search out, but the others I've tried haven't been very good also. I usually go to the one on the LV Strip at least once a trip even when I have comps to burn elsewhere, that's how much I like it. Yes it's mostly simple shrimp things but it's always good.Originally Posted by tableplay
The River Run that year, 2002, coincided with the Pioneer installing the Double Time system (also a player tracking system). It was originally scheduled to start installation on April 1st. But it kept getting delayed. Hustlers were interested in it because it was made by the same company that put in the Lucky Coin Bonus System in Mandalay Bay when they opened in 1998. I think the company was called Anchor Gaming but not sure now.Originally Posted by The Boz
The River Run is the watershed event in Laughlin every year. It's always in the last week of April. By then the weather is getting hot and the snowbirders with the RV's have cleared out. Then in come the bikers. After that Laughlin goes into the summer slowdown as the weather is just to hot for many to handle.
I had gotten back into Laughlin by the 1st of April because I caught a news snippet in Gaming Today about the double time system going into the Pioneer. Other hustlers had the same idea as me so there was a bunch of us waiting around for it to be installed. The days kept rolling by with no movement by the Pioneer on the installation. The River Run was getting close and the room rates shoot skyhigh for that weekend. That is, if you can find an available room. I couldn't. So I was hoping they wouldn't start putting the system in until after the River Run. But dammit to hell they started putting it in on the Tuesday before the River Run weekend.
As a matter of fact, that 9/7 DB five way meter progressive I described earlier in this thread was in the first batch of machines they installed the system. New card readers went on the machines. When you played a hand the border of the card reader turned green and stayed that way for about ten seconds then it would turn back red. You had to play a hand at least every ten seconds to keep the machine qualified for the double time.
They hung a sign on the bank that said any pays between 25 and 50 coins would pay double during double time. That meant the straight, flush and full house would pay double. And that would put the game at about 130% during double time. The first thing we figured out was you only had to bet one coin to keep the machine qualified.
The double times were coming about every four minutes. The card reader would start flashing "DOUBLE TIME." You had one minute of double time and could get out about 20 hands. That made each double time worth about $7.50. So it was about a $90 an hour play with the downside between slim and none.
Then we got to figuring on what was creating the double times. The progressive bank was part of about 30 machines that were linked together. Since we weren't creating much action between the double times we figured it was the ploppies on the other machines that were driving the action. Once so much action was created it triggered the double time. This was confirmed that night when the action on the other machines slowed down. The frequency of the double times slowed down with it. So we stuck to the busy times.
Then it gets on to Thursday and I can't get a room for Thursday, Friday or Saturday. I took the bus up to Las Vegas, checked into the Golden Gate and played 10-20 holdem at the Horseshoe through Saturday night. I had the TV on Sunday morning and had just showered, was shaving and planning on taking the bus back down to Laughlin. But dammit, the TV station starting blasting about the biker shootout and all roads in and out of Laughlin were closed. I went back to the Horseshoe poker room. It was Wednesday before I got back down to Laughlin. By then the double time system had been installed on other sections of machines. It took them a couple of weeks to get the systems tweaked down where the hustlers didn't make so much money.
That was my last gig in Laughlin as I went north and got involved in the advantage play scene in northern Nevada which was good for about five years. From there, in 2007, I found the Montana plays. I stuck with Montana for ten years before I started snooping around outside the state. The few hustlers that have worked Montana don't think it's good here anymore but I know different. I'm glad they think that way. But I've cut back on the time I work it here. It's currently very good out of state too.
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
This is a blogspot I found when in Laughlin. The interesting item I found in it was the resort fee's in Laughlin.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...VrOUUejaGv6-oN
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
After the meal at Bumbleberry I cabbed it back to my room at Harrah's for a nap. I woke up late that night and took a cab to Aquarius. Luckily the slot club booth was still open. I went looking for the optimum play bank, screenshot below. It's located close to the buffet. All single line quarter games. Ten machines in the bank. Here are the games available:
10/7 Double Bonus 100.1725%
9/6/90 Jacks or Better 99.9962%
10/6/40 Double Double Bonus Poker 99.9577%
Joker Wild Two Pair 99.9205%
Triple Bonus Poker Plus 99.8730%
Not So Ugly Deuces 99.7283%
8/5/35 Bonus Poker 99.6613%
Bonus Poker Deluxe 99.6417%
Definitely the best quarter video poker on the River.
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
I also found this game for those that like to take a walk on the wild side. 10/6/40 Double Double Bonus with the meters running at .15%. That puts the game at 100.2577%.
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
First, I forgot to mention that there are 50 cent and $1 9/6 Jacks scattered around the Aquarius.
2nd, I also forgot to calculate the wager it takes to progress through the card levels. This is important information as it affects how much action you have to run for the card benefits. You start out with the blue card, then progress through orange, green, and the top card is red. Their advertising says most people make it to orange on the first day.
With the blue card it takes:
$8 in action to get 1 point on the optimum bank.
$5 in action to get 1 point on the 9/6 Jacks.
$4 in action to get 1 point on the 10/6/40 DDB progressive.
$2 in action to get 1 point on games lower than 99.44%.
This is information I've taken off of vpFREE2. You have options with what you can do with the points:
600 points = $1 cash
500 points = $1 freeplay
300 points = $1 comps
In addition vpFREE2 says they send bounceback freeplay and room offers through the mail.
When you reach the orange card level you get a 2X multiplier on the points. So it takes half the action to get the cashback/freeplay/comp. When you reach the green card level you get a 3X multiplier on the points, red card level 4X multplier on the points. So there are benefits to advancing through the card levels.
Any card level gets 10% off at their owned restaurants. Orange or higher gets 25% off their buffet. They also have fast food with Panda Express, Subway and McDonald's. McDonald's is open 24 hours. But you can't use comp or get a discount off them. One thing I've noticed at the fast food places in Laughlin is the meals are a buck or two higher than regular places.
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
At the Aquarius I chose to run 10K in action on the quarter Ugly Ducks Spin Poker, 98.81%. At $11.25 per deal it wouldn't take me long to run the action and it's a relatively low variance game. But I had another reason for playing it. I wanted to create a sucker's profile and see what they send me in the mail. This is an old AP trick that has worked well in the past when you are a new sign up. The theoretical loss is just $120 on 10K in action. Sometimes, the freeplay through the mail can well out run that. However, this trick has been worn out over the years and a lot of casinos are hip to it. We'll see what happens.
Druff, let us know when you receive redietz’ credit score.
Mickey, please keep us posted on the results of this experiment, if you would. I'm going to follow your lead and put in some play at Aquarius in December. I'll probably just play NSUD or the 9/6, unless you'd recommend otherwise.Originally Posted by mickeycrimm
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