As a public service, here is my report of conditions at Downtown Vegas casinos the weekend of July 19-20, relative to the low-rolling counter.
Horseshoe: Mostly single deck. Rule of 6 without exception. 4 at a table will get you 2 rounds. 3 at a table gets you 3. Anything less, and you get about half the deck. Drink service generally excellent. Comps were good ($10 per person at coffee shop for a $150 buy-in and four hours of play at $5 per hand). No heat for $5-25 split, even when going to two hands, although -- as always -- it helps if there's a high-roller at your table to attract the PC's attention. Surprisingly uncrowded for weekend, even on Saturday night.
El Cortez: Best penetration. Got 6 or 7 rounds in head-on single-deck game on $2 table. No heat unless you go to $25. Then it's "Checks play."
Golden Nugget: Mostly 6-deck shoe, with two-thirds penetration and surrender. Mediocre. The single-deck is the ripoff 6:5 payoff for Blackjack, and bad pen. The double-deck also is bad pen -- maybe slightly more than half the decks.
Golden Gate: Decent penetration in the 6-deck shoe, which also had double-on-splits. Penetration not impressive in single- and double-decks. The single-decker is worthwhile if the table's full and you can get two rounds, but sometimes you don't even get that.
Fremont and Four Queens: All I remember is there was not much to interest the counter.
Good cards
