Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Progressive Bingo
Station Casinos
(www.stationcasinos.com), a company that owns neighborhood
casinos located away from the Strip, offers a Jumbo Progressive Bingo game at
the beginning of each session. The game is linked to all seven Station properties,
and the minimum prize, if won in the posted amount of numbers called, is
$100,000. Other casinos have cash giveaways and other incentives, and jackpots
around town can range from the hundreds to well into the thousands; each casino
is different—-actually, each session at each casino could be different. This is not
your grandmother's simple Bingo game. For details on the different payouts go to
www.insidervlv.com/bingo.html.
Note that if a dealer does have blackjack, it's always revealed before players
play out their hands.
Tip:
Unless you know how to count cards (and you'd
better not get caught doing it in a Vegas casino), insurance is a sucker bet and
should be avoided.
8.
If there's no chance of the dealer having blackjack, the players play out their
hands, and then the dealer flips his remaining card over. Generally speaking,
a dealer
must hit
his hand if the total is less than 17 or if he's showing a “soft
17,” (meaning an ace and a 6), and
must stay
if he's got a “hard 17” or a total
above that. Players whose cards are higher than the dealer's win an amount
equal to their bet. Should the dealer bust, everyone still in the game wins.
Note that the above advice is just the tip of the iceberg. A good (and cheap!)
investment is to buy one of the small laminated basic strategy cards you'll find in
stores all over town. The casinos will let you consult it at the table, and it can save
you from making a costly mistake. Dealers also, in my experience, can be incredi-
bly helpful and even patient with slow (or intoxicated) players. They'll add up your
cards and even make suggestions as to what you should and shouldn't do. Blackjack
can often be a social game where you make new friends and have a great time.
Note:
Though some blackjack tables still play with one or two decks of cards
dealt by hand, most use six or eight dealt from a shoe to make it more difficult
to card count (a practice that is both extremely difficult and forbidden in Vegas
casinos). Though your odds of winning are usually better the fewer decks in play,
the casinos have largely watered down advantages by reducing the payouts on
these short decks, or forbidding players to enter games mid-deck.
CHEAP(ER) BLACKJACK
Despite the exorbitant minimums at large Strip properties, $5-and-under black-
jack isn't obsolete yet. You just have to know where to find it.
Single-deck blackjack for $5 and less can usually be found Downtown at El
Cortez, Four Queens, and at the Western.
Double-deck blackjack can usually be found at neighborhood casinos such as
Boulder Station, Palace Station, Santa Fe Station, Texas Station, and Wild West
Casino.
