Vega Lamentations

I'm not a Vegas old-timer--my first trip there was less than eleven years ago--but I've noticed a real decline in Downtown Vegas that seems to have had little to do with increased competition from legalized casino gambling in other parts of the country. For the low-roller, Downtown Vegas used to be a real hoot and a holler, and the start of the decline, curiously enough, seems to have coincided with the advent of the Fremont Street Experience--the very thing that was supposed to revitalize the area. In practice, I think the lightshow became just one more thing the casinos had to write off, as many gawkers never went in the casinos, and thus the notion of giving value to the customer kind of flew out the window.

Binion's Horseshoe once provided the sort of cheap thrills that can hardly be had anymore: abundant $2.00 single-deck blackjack (and none of this �6:5 payouts on blackjacks� crap), free photos with a million dollars, a $2.99 late-night New York Strip special, easy comps for the coffee shop, and craps with 100x odds and table minimums that sometimes went down as low as $.25. Even the Golden Nugget, another place I used to love, once had two $1.00 single-deck games that stayed open 18 hours a day. (Of course, you can still find $1.00-$2.00 blackjack and $1.00 craps, but somehow the Gold Spike, the El Cortez, and the Western just don't hold any charm for me.)

Objectively, the absence of perceived value in Vegas is a good thing for me insofar as it has nearly killed my desire to go back. (I've studied elementary card-counting systems, but have never really been able to implement them fully; therefore, I'm only one small step up from your typical basic-strategy player.) However, I will always have fond memories of Vegas in the mid-1990s, and I will wish with teary eyes that I could turn back the clock to when Vegas represented pure, unadulterated excitement to me and I couldn't wait to return. I�m certain I�m not alone.

In 1974, when I first started playing bj, games were worse than now in a lot of places in Vegas. In some casinos, dealers were not allowed to talk to the players. Games were tight; casinos knew about counting, and because it was new, thought it was going to kill the game. Shoe and DD games were everywhere, and the SD games were watched by ex-pro boxers. For an AP, vegas was safer on the streets than in the casinos. Players were regularly roughed up. Now, the streets of vegas are among the least-safe of any major city, but inside the casinos players are rarely beaten up, and when they are, it can make the news..A.C. casinos changed a lot of things in vegas. Competition from AC caused some softening of the games in vegas, and eventually, casino mgt realized they were going to make money from bj even if counters played it. Dealers were finally allowed to be friendly with the customers in Vegas, but not until AC opened. I still have an unwarranted negative feeling about Stardust just because of the very unfriendly treatment I got there in the '70's. PV

I'm with you, gazela. I too mourn the Vegas of the '90s, and particularly the Horseshoe. I too am a perfect basic strategy, non-counting player, and used to love the pure single deck game at the Horseshoe. In an earlier posting I railed against Harrah's for what they've done to the Horseshoe. Perhaps the cycle will turn again and once again some good single deck games will emerge, but for now, everybody should boycott the Horseshoe in particular, and any 6:5 game anywhere. Its so infuriating to see gullible, clueless people happily playing that horrible game.

While I agree 100% about boycotting 6:5 games, I'm really not sure that boycotting the (once beloved) Horseshoe is the answer. It seems to me that the folks at the Harrah's corporation wanted the Horseshoe solely for the WSOP and care little for the once-routine players there. A more effective strategy would be to boycott the Rio (except, of course, the great steak that they serve at The All-American Grill) and Harrah's.

On a relatively unrelated note, while playing DD at the Horseshoe a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to the guy sitting next to me who kept remarking that Steve Wynn's newest property would attract all of the people who played the Horseshoe before it was run into the ground. Something to hope for, I suppose.