Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Be sure and find out how much time you have to claim your winnings. Some
places will give you 48 hours to an entire year; others want you to claim them before
the next game begins. Most casinos also offer video keno, which can often be found
on video poker machines that offer multiple games. The video version allows for
quicker play at smaller denominations and has a higher return than live keno.
While researching this section, I came across a wonderful website (www.big
empire.com/vegas/oldlady.html) that devotes a page strictly to “Old Lady Playing
Keno” jokes. I shrugged it off at first, thinking they'd be dumb—but then I
started reading them and had trouble controlling my laughter: Why do Old
Ladies Playing Keno in Las Vegas fix up their kids with each other?
Answers: A. To create a breed of super-keno babies. B. To get more birthday
numbers.
The site also offers some good cheapo advice, so even old ladies who play keno
may find something useful here.
POKER
If any game could ever take over the world, it's poker. Imagine if our leaders would
sit down to a nice game of Texas Hold 'em to determine outcomes, rather than
falling back on the old missile standby. It would take strategy, patience, a fair
amount of acting, and a shake of luck—or would that be manifest destiny?—to win.
But in the meantime, the game just rules television, casinos, private parties,
and has even infiltrated the celebrity world. Online poker games helped spike its
draw (pun intended) as did the hole-card camera, which suddenly turned the
game into a spectator sport.
Though its origins are questionable, tournament play became more popular
when the World Series of Poker (WSOP) began in Las Vegas in the 1970s and was
held Downtown at Binion's Horseshoe for 35 years, until the financially strug-
gling casino was forced to shut down. At that point, Harrah's purchased Binion's
and the WSOP, and moved the annual event to the Rio, where it continues to up
the ante with poker talent.
When it comes to Las Vegas poker, players are actually playing against one
another rather than the casino, so everyone stands a higher chance of winning. Of
course, the casino still takes its share (they're not providing a room and a dealer
free of charge) through what's called the rake, which is either a percentage of the
pot or a set fee paid for each game played.
Poker rooms are where the skilled prey upon the unskilled. Emotional people
who can't keep a straight face are their own worst nightmare and their competi-
tors' dream. Though in most areas of gambling the locals avoid the Strip, know-
ing they stand a better chance in locals' casinos, the rules shift when it comes to
poker. Here, they're after the fish, meaning people new to the game. That frat boy
in from Minnesota looking to scrounge up a few bucks at the tables? Consider
him battered and fried. Professional gamblers go for the poker rooms that draw
the least skilled, and that means the low- to mid-buy-ins at large Strip proper-
ties—particularly at the casinos that offer poker lessons. That way, they can get
'em when they're fresh. (And it doesn't hurt that some of the nicer poker rooms,
such as the one at the MGM Grand, feature tableside massage services.)
Let's move on to the game. Most of the large casinos have poker rooms (and
most of them are actually nonsmoking, believe it or not) and tournaments,
