Murph's Musings

My Latest Toy

2009-10-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

My parents were here for 5 nights. I plan to post a few pics and observations about their visit and my playing the Las Vegas tourist soon.

Until then, the pic is of my newest toy. It seems like I have wanted a vintage slot machine for as long as I can remember.

Well, I now have one.

I'll leave you with a parting shot of some of the view that my parents had from their studio suite at Palms Place.

RIP Bob Stupak

2009-09-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

From the Las Vegas Advisor:
September 25, 2009 Bob Stupak Dies: Entrepreneur, gambler, and self-styled
"Polish maverick" Bob Stupak died today at Desert Springs Hospital after a long
fight with leukemia. He was 67.

In my opinion, Bob Stupak was an "interesting" individual.

The only time I ever dealt to Stupak was at the Ultimate Bet Aruba event. Having said that, it was an extended engagement. He had entered a tournament that started in the early evening and he went deep. All the other dealers left to go do their thing. Sipu and I stayed to deal the final table. It was daylight when we finished. Several times throughout the night he and I stepped outside for a cigarette. On one of those smoke breaks he asked me how I got to Aruba. I wasn't sure if he meant how I landed the dealing gig or how I physically got to the island. I made an assumption that he meant physically. Well that left two options since you can't exactly drive to Aruba. I briefly considered whether he had arrived on a cruise ship but I couldn't figure out what he was driving at.

I said that I arrived on an airplane. (?)

He said that he was stranded on the island.

I said I could think of worse places to be stranded.

He paused for a few seconds and then thoughtfully said that he couldn't think of a worse place to be stranded.

No worse place than Aruba??

HUH?

What he was driving at was that the high humidity in Aruba was taking it's toll on his ability to catch his breath. He was nearly desperate to get off of the island but couldn't get an earlier flight.

If I remember correctly, he chopped first and second place money.

RIP Bob. You certainly led a full life.

Photo Dump

2009-08-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

The picture of the most profitable outing is the Wynn picture.
I have been going to the spa at Encore. On Tuesday before I headed upstairs to the spa I entered the free slot tournament and was assigned to the 1:00 PM session. The 11,320 score was good enough to win the session and $500 in free slot play. The session win also entitled me to play in the finals at 5:00PM. I came in second in the finals and that was good for another $750 in free slot play.
Logic told me that it would be best to run the $1250 through a poker machine with a "decent" pay table. At the Encore you aren't going to find any full pay machines......at least I couldn't find any there.
I started out playing a poker machine, but to me a single hand poker machine is BORING and too much like work. I then started bouncing around on penny and nickel machines betting the max. My good fortune continued and by the time I had run the $1250 through a variety of machines I was able to cash out around $1,430.
I went back to the Encore on Thursday hoping to play in the daily tournament again only to be told that you are only allowed to play in it once for the duration of the promotion.
Oh well, the one time was gooooood.
Perhaps the most satisfying thing from my point of view is that after I had played the freeplay through once, I cashed out and left the premises and didn't give any/all of it back (that day at least).

Calling Dr. Freud.

2009-08-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

After three days (I work nights) of insomnia I finally get to sleep at a decent hour only to be awakened by this dream:

I'd apparently quit my current job and returned to my previous one back on the East coast. Many of the employees at my previous workplace were familiar and even one person from three jobs ago worked at my last place of employment.

From the time I walked back into my previous place of employment I totally regretted it. I kept thinking WHY did I do this? Is it too late to undo this?

Every printer in every office was spewing paper with enough velocity to hit the ceiling.

There was a line on the floor that didn't exist when I last worked there. Everytime I stepped over it alarms went off and people would yell at me that I'd stepped into the bakery side of the business and that I couldn't do that.

What the hell?

Does anything really matter?

2009-08-02T18:58:00.000-07:00

In the interest of full disclosure, I have never cast a vote for a Democrat in my life. I'll admit to having come very close to pulling a lever with a D beside it once or twice (really only once) a long time (17ish years)ago.

I'll also publically claim Ronald Reagan, warts and all, as the most inspirational politician of my life time. During the Reagan years I was truly proud to be an American.

I can also state that in some respects and on some issues, my views settle somewhere left, way left, of the middle of the road. Most of those issues have to do with getting the government OUT of our daily lives which seem counterintuitive

Having said that, with each passing year I become more and more disgusted with politicians of all stripes. There really aren't vast differences between one and the next. There are planks of each platform, right and left, that I find to be full of termites and decay.

Some days I wonder why I bother to read the paper (yes, I still read the paper a few times a week. I'm aging and some habits die hard) or surf the 'net for the latest drivel flowing from the talking (or typing) heads. Hell-in-a-hand-basket comes to mind more often than not.

How is it, from a poker perspective, that the Democratic party is perceived as leading the fight for personal freedoms and the evil Republicans are perceived as the party that wants to keep you from your weekly home game? Something is quite wrong with that picture.

The problem, as I see it, is that the vast majority of the population is closer to the middle than the politicians. The right and left have drifted so FAR right and left that they no longer understand the middle.

How is it that we, as a people, continue to send the same people back to Washington over and over again when polls show our displeasure with those same lawmakers? Do we "vote" one way with our ballot and then "vote" another way when participating in a poll?

Is this what was envisioned 230+ years ago?

http://buchanan.org/blog/pjb-socialist-america-sinking-1600

After half a century of fighting encroachments upon freedom in America, journalist Garet Garrett published “The People’s Pottage.” A year later, in 1954, he died. “The People’s Pottage” opens thus:
“There are those who still think they are holding the pass against a revolution that may be coming up the road. But they are gazing in the wrong direction. The revolution is behind them. It went by in the Night of Depression, singing songs to freedom.”
Garrett wrote of a revolution within the form. While outwardly America appeared the same, a revolution within had taken place that was now irreversible. One need only glance at where we were before the New Deal, where we are and where we are headed to see how far we are off the course the Founding Fathers set for our republic.
Taxes drove the American Revolution, for we were a taxaphobic, liberty-loving people. That government is best that governs least is an Americanism. When “Silent Cal” Coolidge went home in 1929, the U.S. government was spending 3 percent of gross domestic product.
And today? Obama’s first budget will consume 28 percent of the entire GDP; state and local governments another 15 percent. While there is some overlap, in 2009, government will consume 40 percent of GDP, approaching the peak of World War II.
The deficit for 2009 is $1.8 trillion, 13 percent of the whole economy. Obama is pushing a cap-and-trade bill to cut carbon emissions that will impose huge costs on energy production, spike consumer prices and drive production offshore to China, which is opting out of Kyoto II. The Chinese are not fools.
Obama plans to repeal the Bush tax cuts and take the income tax rate to near 40 percent. Combined state and local income tax rates can run to 10 percent. For the self-employed, payroll taxes add up to 15.2 percent on the first $106,800 for all wages of all workers. Medicare takes 2.9 percent of all wages above that. Then there are the state sales taxes that can run to 8 percent, property taxes, gas taxes, excise taxes, and “sin taxes” on booze, cigarettes and, soon, hot dogs and soft drinks.
Comes now national health insurance from Nancy Pelosi’s House. A surtax that runs to 5.4 percent of all earnings of the top 1 percent of Americans, who already pay 40 percent of all federal income taxes, has been sent to the Senate. Included also is an 8 percent tax on the entire payroll of small businesses that fail to provide health insurance for employees.
Other ideas on the table include taxing the health benefits that businesses provide their employees.
The D.C.-based Tax Foundation says New Yorkers could face a combined income tax rate of near 60 percent.
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson called George III a tyrant for having “erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”
What did George III do with his Stamp Act, Townshend Acts or tea tax to compare with what is being done to this generation of Americans by their own government?
While the hardest working and most productive are bled, a third of all wage-earners pay no U.S. income tax, and Obama plans to free almost half of all wage-earners of all income taxes. Yet, tens of millions get Medicaid, rent supplements, free education, food stamps, welfare and an annual check from Uncle Sam called an Earned Income Tax Credit, though they never paid a nickel in income taxes.
Oh, yes. Obama also promises everybody a college education.
Coming to America to feast on this cornucopia of freebies is the world. One million to 2 million immigrants, legal and illegal, arrive every year. They come with fewer skills and less education than Americans, and consume more tax dollars than they contribute by three to one.
Wise Latina women have more babies north of the border than they do in Mexico and twice as many here as American women.
As almost all immigrants are now Third World people of color, they qualify for ethnic preferences in hiring and promotions and admissions to college over the children of Americans
All of this would have astounded and appalled the Founding Fathers, who after all, created America — as they declared loud and clear in the Constitution — “for ourselves and our posterity.”
China saves, invests and grows at 8 percent. America, awash in debt, has a shrinking economy, a huge trade deficit, a gutted industrial base, an unemployment rate surging toward 10 percent and a money supply that’s swollen to double its size in a year. The 20th century may have been the American Century. The 21st shows another pattern.
“The United States is declining as a nation and a world power with mostly sighs and shrugs to mark this seismic event,” writes Les Gelb, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, in CFR’s Foreign Affairs magazine. “Astonishingly, some people do not appear to realize that the situation is all that serious.”
Even the establishment is starting to get the message.

Zombies

2009-07-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

I am continually frustrated by people who cannot think for themselves. If the "computer" tells them something, they accept it as gospel. Any attempt to analyze, or actually use a thought process is lost on them.

Case in point.

Last night I visited the Carl's Jr. at the corner of Spring Mtn. and Decatur. The sign in the window advertised two Western Bacon Cheeseburgers for $4. The sign also said that you could make it a combo for $2 more. Alrighty then.

The guy says $7.13.

Now, I know that the sales tax rate just went up in Nevada. The new 8.1% tax rate isn't as easy to calculate as the sales tax rate of 5% when I lived in Maryland. 5% was a piece of cake to calculate, but I don't think this has any bearing on what happened last night.

Deep breath.

I say to the guy, lets assume that the sales tax rate is 10%. It's NOT, but let's make this rather simple for you. IF the sales tax was 10% we could take the $6 charge for the food and make a simple calculation to determine that the tax would be 60¢ for a total of $6.60.

By this time another guy, who I assumed was the manager had joined the "discussion".

By what you are telling me, the sales tax would have to be near 20% to arrive at $7.13 (actually it would have to be 19% but at this point......nothing was getting through)

The "manager" guy says to me "Sorry, I'm not good at math."

Sigh.

You, sir, are not good at logic either.

And I won't give you a passing score at customer service!

I finally gave up, left the food on the counter and walked out without paying.

Yes, the computer was not programmed to make this transaction automatically. As I learned via a phone call to the on duty manager this morning, the operator had to manually deduct 60¢ to arrive at the advertised price.

I'll NOT be a customer of this restaurant again.

I've already barred myself from the McDonald's closest to my house for a similar incident. In that case, after I tired of "arguing" with the cashier I asked for the manager. She listened to my story, looked at the computerized total and said "That's the total the computer is telling me, that's what I have to charge you."

SIGH!

When did people stop being able to THINK!

This wide spread problem has vast political and social implications, at least in my mind.

If you didn't know it already, we're pretty much doomed to live with stupidity.

Donkeyote

2009-07-15T19:04:00.000-07:00

As I waited to push onto table 2 a few nights ago, I noticed that the 10 seat had a 3-4 inch plastic donkey that he was using for a card protector.

I asked him if the donkey had a name.

He said, "Just donkey, but you can name him if you want".

I said, ok, I name him Don Quixote.

He looked at me very strangely and asked who Donkey Otie was.

Sigh.......

Excalibur to remove automated tables, bring back live dealers.

2009-06-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

The 10 month "experiment" of automatic poker tables at Excalibur will come to an end soon.
This, in my opinion, is a good thing......

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/06/23/state/n111635D19.DTL

(06-23) 11:16 PDT Las Vegas, NV (AP) --
The Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas says it is removing touch-screen monitors from its poker room and will return to a traditional setup with live dealers.
Tablemaker PokerTek Inc. and hotel owner MGM Mirage said Tuesday that the tables would be removed July 5.
Players use the touch-screens to control action at the tables, with no chips, cards or dealers.
MGM Mirage officials say they found that players prefer live dealers to automatic tables.

Holiday Wishes

2008-12-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

There are many people that I should call today. Well, not just today, but on a regular basis. Alas, I'm horrible at keeping in touch.

Just because I don't keep in touch doesn't mean that I don't think about family and friends often.

Please accept this as my cheesy good wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

2009 has to be a better year.....right?

A Las Vegas Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T23:55:00.001-08:00

The Thanksgiving ham was on the table.

The turkey was behind it in the form of an old machine from the Castaways Casino.

Thanks to Ms. May and Mr. & Mrs. Wells for once again inviting me into your home to share the day with you.

I appreciate it.

Everything was GREAT....and I have 5 extra pounds to prove it!

Aurora Borealis in Las Vegas?

2008-11-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a rainy and dreary day is Las Vegas.

I spent the day at Drift Spa at Palms Place. I took advantage of a 50% off offer for employees/friends/family and got a massage. It's been a LONG time since I treated myself to a massage. Before the massage I spent an hour in the Palms Place fitness center. I regret not taking any pictures during my work out. You have view that stretches from downtown on your left to well beyond Mandalay Bay on your right. It's an incredible view that almost makes you forget that you have sweat dripping off of your nose.

When I returned home last night it was still dreary and drizzling rain. I took these pictures off of my balcony. If you look closely you can see the top of a portion of NYNY.

The green glow comes from the MGM Grand.

I'm off to a friend's home for Thanksgiving dinner.

I hope everyone takes a few minutes today, in spite of the econony/world outlook, to think about what we all have to be thankful for.

I'll be thinking about the family feast back east while enjoying a suitable substitute here in the desert.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Poker, Playmates and Me

2008-11-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

Gene, my old poker room manager and current special events coordinator at the Palms is out of town on a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. In his absence, I got to TRY to fill his shoes today by coordinating an invitational Poker and Playmates poker tournament.

In addition to Stacy Fuson (Miss February 1999) and Alison Waite (Miss May 2006) there were several dozen Baker's Babes dressed as naughty school girls. They carried rulers (the better to spank you with), played hop-scotch and went up and down and up and down and up and down on a seesaw.

Sometimes life in the desert is pretty damn good.

An explanation of sorts.

2008-09-14T00:28:00.000-07:00

The scans of the tokens, without much/if any explanation don't make much sense to the casual reader. I'd seen a listing on Las Vegas Craig's list for these tokens a week or so ago. I kept meaning to give the pawn shop a call to see if they still had them. When I finally did call them, they indeed had not sold. I have almost no experience with pawn shops with the exception that I have stopped in a bunch of them asking if they had any casino chips. One of my best finds happened in a pawn shop in Winchester, VA 7-8 years ago. Back then I picked up a hand full of chips to include a Silver Slipper $1, a Fremont 50¢ Arodie, two International $1 and an old slot machine token. For those chips I paid a grand sum of about $11. The "book" value on them was near $600. Finds like that are few and far between.

In any case, after a few phone calls I headed out for Bargain Pawn located in the lovely locale of North Las Vegas just a block or so North of Jerry's Nugget.

If you wonder where the homeless of Las Vegas hang out/live take a drive along LV Blvd. north of downtown Las Vegas. You'll marvel at the makeshift camps. Take a blanket, attach it to chain link fence at the top and drape it outwards to form half of a tent shape. These "structures" are prominent along the sidewalks in the area. I'll not make any judgements about what/how/why these people are there, but it's a mental picture to describe where the pawn shop is located.

My first visit was a dry run. Although Brantley was able to locate the binder containing the tokens, he wasn't able to price/haggle them. I left empty handed after leaving my phone number and asking to have someone with the ability to price the damn things give me a call. The next day I received a call and I once again headed North to the picturesque beauty of North Las Vegas.

The in-the-know employee took $95 off of the sticker price and even "paid" the taxes for me.

I'm a sucker for just about any type of casino collectible. Although I never really pursued slot tokens I had managed to accumulate quite a few. This purchase basically doubled my token collection and sent me on a mission to learn more about them.

A fellow collector directed me to this web site .

There is a wealth of information there and I spend quite a few hours cataloging my newly acquired gems. With few exceptions, slot tokens are not collected as widely as chips and the retail values of the tokens reflect the lesser demand. In any case, a large number of my new tokens are from 1965-1967 and the dates pick back up in 1979. These dates, apparently coincide with changes in the law that allowed tokens to be legally minted and the escapades of the Hunt Brothers. A large number of these tokens are in uncirculated condition. Most have a retail value of $4-$10 but there were about 3 that had significantly higher valuations.

If I didn't have enough to do keeping up with the new chip issues in Las Vegas, now I guess I'll set off in pursuit of older tokens to fill the many gaps in my token collection. The (sort of) good news is that almost NO casinos are still issuing slot tokens as the ticket-in-ticket-out technology has made actual tokens practically obsolete. At least when you collect something that is closed ended you have a prayer of acquiring a significant percentage of what is out there. As of now, chips are an open ended proposition. Who knows if that will be the case in 5-10 years. Will the dealer-less tables be commonplace then? Will CHIPS as a whole be obsolete? I'd like to think not, but technology (read greed) marches on.

page 2-11 tokens

2008-09-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

Slot tokens galore

2008-09-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

I recently purchased a large quantity of old slot tokens. The next few posts will simply be pictures of those tokens.

A good read and something to think about.....

2008-09-01T00:37:00.000-07:00

The following appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. I hope every bean-counter in every Nevada casino reads it and takes it to heart.

Here's the link to the story. http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/27714219.html I've copied and pasted it below so you don't need to follow the link........

Aug. 31, 2008 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal FROM OUR READERS: Interaction, winning give way to gadgets, losing Virtual technologies cater to the self-absorbed, who can already gamble in isolation anywhere By ALFRED RUNTE SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW-JOURNAL

During a stopover in Reno 25 years ago, my wife and I discovered Nevada-style gambling -- and absolutely loved it.
Just as suddenly, on a summer trip to Las Vegas and Laughlin, we admitted the thrill is gone. Since when did the gaming industry rob Nevada of its uniqueness, conspiring to remake its casinos into video arcades?
Most recently, the Excalibur in Las Vegas brags about replacing its live poker room with electronic poker tables. Again, what happened to the state that believed in character -- the state that made gambling real?
In the old days, even when the games were "electronic," at least the money they paid was real. Certainly, if the sound and feel of money were not important, why does every ticket machine go "clink! clink!"
Cutting labor costs would appear to be the hidden agenda, no matter the protests about sanitation and dirty hands. At the Tropicana Express in Laughlin, we were told that players actually prefer a televised dealer to someone live.
If so, Nevada is in serious trouble; a casino anywhere can give us that. Still, the more likely aim is to shrink the payout -- and the payroll -- while attracting new players content to lose. Note the number of casinos filled with younger players just pushing buttons to watch cartoons.
The challenge is convincing my generation -- people over 55 -- that virtual reality is the same as winning. Our generation, still with three-quarters of the nation's discretionary income, remains Nevada's largest and most loyal market. Forget all the nonsense about being diverted with light shows and theme parks. Our notion of being entertained is still to win -- and to hear it when others do.
When playing slots, we listen for the money hitting the pan. In the restaurant, we want to enjoy live keno with our meal. The fact that a slot machine can replace a keno runner is just another reminder that Nevada is replacing us.
For the record, our generation still likes people. To us, a casino without employees is a morgue. Every time the old machines ran out of money, you got to meet the staff. That keno runner did more than work for the casino. She was also an ambassador of good will.
This is also to explain why older players gravitate to progressive jackpots, especially when playing slots. Why play in a casino if it is not a community, each player driving up everyone's chances to win big?
Gradually, banks of progressive machines have been eliminated -- or diluted by offering multiple games. No longer do the people next to you have a stake in your play, or you a stake in theirs.
Truly, one gets the feeling that Nevada has been taken over by hyperactive teenagers with BlackBerrys stuck to their brains. The point again about inventing games that encourage players to be self-absorbed is that gambling in Nevada becomes irrelevant.
Indeed, if ever the industry should implode, too many mindless changes will be the reason. The whole point of returning to a casino in the first place is to find the community of players and workers -- and luck -- you left behind. Constantly changing the floor of the casino and reducing the staff defies every definition of luck and good business sense. Sure, we now get a player's card and an extra comp or two. But that prevents anyone from learning our names.
Those of us living outside Nevada also have to suffer the airlines and the rising price of gasoline. In the past, Nevada stayed competitive -- and kept us coming -- by offering what could not be had anywhere else.
Although the competition has increased, sending home more losers is no business plan. Nevada would still be better advised to preserve its uniqueness against change proposed for the sake of change.
Granted, some changes are inevitable, and no one can win every time. However, forfeiting character for virtual reality is not progressive change. It is the loss of that Nevada, the real Nevada, that now threatens to keep us -- and the nation -- at home.

Alfred Runte, an environmental historian specializing in the American West, lives in Seattle, where in 2005 he ran for mayor. His latest book is "Allies of the Earth: Railroads and the Soul of Preservation" (Truman State University Press).

How can you shut up and deal if you are a machine?

2008-08-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

There have been many rumors about the poker situation at the new Aliante Station. The gossip leaned heavily towards an entirely electronic room. Then there appeared ads announcing real-live poker dealer positions. That's one rumor (dealerless Aliante) that looks to be false.

Then comes this post on The Dealers Lounge from Psand:

On August 18 Excalibur will close its poker room, (employees may transfer to
other MGM-Mirage rooms if there are openings and they are "approved", the rest
will be laid off) I am told that many of these employees are day 1 employees
meaning they have been there since 1990.
On August 21st Excalibur will open a poker room featuring all electronic tables.

Isn't that just swell?

**888888888888888888**

08/08/08

Today is my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Testing 1 2 3 4

2008-03-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Surprise!

I'm still alive.

Beeeeeeeeeeep.

This is a test. This is only a test. If this had been a real life you would have been given specific instructions about where to go and what to do.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled boredom.

Chip Quest

2007-10-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

I've climbed out of the rut that I call life long enough to try to put a few words and pictures on this here bloggie thingie.

On Wednesday I headed out on a mission to pick up a few dozen chips (some for myself and some for some crazy guy in England). My journey began at Mandalay Bay. Crazy English Guy wanted 40 $1 chips and 5 $5 chips, preferably uncirculated. Buying chips directly from the casinos is sometimes an adventure and you never know if they will have received a new order recently. If they have, you may get chips that haven't been on the tables for years with rounded edges, gouges, ten layers of snot, spit and other unidentifiable gunk on them. Some casinos even recognize that there are daft people who collect those funny little clay-like disks and actually keep a box or two of uncirculated chips in the cage incase a certifiable person walks up and wants to buy a chip for their collection. Mandalay Bay isn't one of these places! I headed to the poker room and purchased four racks of $1 chips, a rack at a time and commenced to sorting them on a dead table. Speaking of dead tables, there were a lot of them there.

Grand total of poker games at Mandalay Bay(1:30 PM)........ONE.

My next stop was the Luxor. Crazy English Guy hadn't requested any chips from Luxor but I have been on a mission to pick up at least one of the $4 drop chips that they use in their poker room. I've tried at least 4 time to no avail. The fifth time was the charm. I know someone who knows someone and, well, I finally got the chip.

Grand total of poker games at Luxor......One at 2:15ish PM. Three at 3:30 PM.

Next stop MGM Grand. If you park in their parking lot be prepared for a loooong hike. Me? I always park at the Tropicana and walk over. Trust me, it's closer than the MGM garage. If you are really lucky, you can snag one of about 9 spots near the bus parking and avoid the Trop garage. Those parking spots were my little secret. Now you all know about them and I'll never get one again.

In any case the MGM is usually helpful with chip requests....unless you want one of their $3 poker room drop chips. They guard these like gold. Why? Who knows. The MGM is one of the casinos who keep boxes of uncirculated $1 chips for collectors. I grabbed a few stacks of those for the Crazy English Guy. Then I angled for a stack of the $3 chips. The poker room, as usual, wouldn't sell them, but the cage sold me a stack. Go figure.

NOTE TO CASINOS: The chips cost slightly more than $1 to buy from the manufacturer. If I pay $3 for one of them and walk out the door never to return for the purpose of cashing them in......YOU JUST MADE NEARLY $2 PROFIT. Figure it out people.

Grand total of poker games at the MGM at 4:00PM....Twelve.

My next chip stop was to be Bellagio, but wait! I have free slot play at Tuscany and it's (almost) right on the way. Three hours later (damn machines):

Grand total of poker games at Tuscany...One when I got there 4:15ish and one when I left after 7:00PM.

Next stop Bellagio. The only casino in town where you have to open your trunk for inspection in order to enter the parking garage. I've ALWAYS wanted to have someone hide in my trunk for the purposes of scaring the hell our of the attendant when he looks in my trunk. If you want to volunteer for trunk duty, please let me know. We'll also need someone to follow us into the garage and video the whole scene. I KNOW it's been done a few times but I think Halloween night would be a good time to do it again.

I hit the Bellagio poker room in search of uncirculated $10 and $20 chips. HA! The $20 chips are so worn that I don't even buy one. I got a few $10 that aren't in good shape but hopefully nice enough to please the Brit.

Grand total of poker games at Bellagio 7:30ish.........Twenty Four!!

The rest of the town might be dead, but Bellagio chuggs along (even tough 24 games isn't a "busy" night there).

The conservatory is in the Fall mode:

Yes, those are real apples.

Meanwhile, back at the Palms, a $200-400 mixed game broke out on table 10 on Friday. This is highly unusual for us. Unfortunately it played short-handed, mostly heads-up, and broke 30 minutes before I was to deal that table. Although most dealers would rather knaw off their own arm than deal to one of the players, I was looking forward to dealing it if for no other reason than we are all hold 'em all the time and I'd like to deal other games once in awhile.

I guess I should be careful what I wish for.....

Do they think we're all stupid?

2007-09-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

Does it ever matter if a photo is staged? If the activity pictured would never happen in the real world, does it make any difference? Is the general public so ignorant that they never notice? Are "fake" scenes indicitive of the sorry state of affairs in the world?

Case in point.

Can you spot the inconsistencies in this photo?

Breast size/shape aside, there are several issues with this photo which appeared in GamingToday.

There are no bets on the table.

The lid is on the box.

There is a deck spread on the table while another deck is being dealt.

I'm pretty sure the picture was taken inside the Mint and not the Playboy Club.

I don't know why this type of photo drives me crazy,but it does. You see this all the time. Poker advertisements showing players with 5 cards in their hand. Sure, 5 card draw IS a legitimate game but when was the last time you saw it played inside a casino and do you really think modern casinos are marketing to the 5 card draw crowd? There are pictures of crap tables with generic chips on them. Come on, people lets shoot for just a touch of authenticity.

The caption under the bunny picture in Gaming Today Vol 32 NO. 38 states:

DESPITE VARIOUS INDUCEMENTS Nevada poker rooms saw their first year-over-year decline in revenue in July in more than four years.

While I AM interested in this little tidbit, what does that have to do with a Playboy Bunny pretending to deal blackjack? You tell me as I have no idea.

The poker related portion of the article states:

The state's poker rooms are showing signs that the poker crazw has possible peaked as their rake-the amount withheld from poker pots-declined 6.1% to $15.8 million in July.

I can't argue that fact.

Poker Wars

2007-09-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

The Palms poker room is still without a new manager.

That doesn't mean that those with some sort of say in the matter haven't come out swinging.

As of last Wednesday we reduced our maximum rake to $3. $1 on $10, $1 on $20 and $1 on $30 (10%) in our limit games (and, I believe, in $1-2 and $1-3 no limit) and $1 on $20, $1 on $40 and $1 on $60 (5%) in our $2-5 blind no limit.

This comes shortly after Red Rock and Green Valley increased their max rake to $5 and then quickly brought it back to max $4. While those two rooms were at $5 the "joke" among our shared players was that they were overcoming the higher rake by not tipping the dealer. Not funny at all but I'm sure that is how some of the players reacted.

Some of the Harrah's properties have been at $5 for awhile now. I also have it from a reliable source that:

Bally's has been running their higher rake ($5 max) for a few weeks now.

This past Friday, Harrah's & Rio went to $5 max.
Chances are high that the Flamingo will do so at the end of this month.
That would leave Caesars as the only Harrah's property not at $5

The cold-hard-truth of the matter is that there are still way too many poker tables in this town.....

The shake-out may have started. The poker room at the Hilton is scheduled to cease operations on October 17th.

Rumor is that two other very large and high profile rooms are close to pulling the plug.

The next few months should be very interesting.

Alaska II

2007-08-13T23:27:00.000-07:00

I spent the last week aboard the Norwegian Pearl which is the newest ship in the Norwegian fleet. The itinerary was the same as it was last July. Seattle to Skagway to Juneau to Glacier Bay to Ketchikan to Victoria to Seattle. The major differences this year being that I booked a whale watching tour out of Juneau and this year I went as a floorman instead of a dealer.

I've been avoiding floor duty at my regular job for several reasons. I agreed to give it a try on this cruise for one very specific reason. My old boss asked me to do it because he was in need of "someone I can trust". Will I ever do it again? .......Maybe.

Sidetrack:

Speaking of my regular job, we've been without a poker room manager for several weeks. It needed to happen and hopefully the new manager (no word on who that will be) will be able to attach a rudder a ship that has been floating aimlessly for quite awhile now. The room is still painfully slow.

I heard today that Red Rock and Green Valley went back to a $4 max rake. I wouldn't mind if we went back to a $3 rake. My only reservation there is that the type of player who will follow the rake might not be the action type player who makes it fun and profitable to deal. There are many ideas and suggestions floating around but until we have a new leader it's all just speculation.

Speaking of rake, take a look at this!

This sign graced the lone poker table in the casino aboard the Norwegian Pearl. Can you imaging what would happen if a Las Vegas poker room (or any legitimate room for that matter)tried to rape poker players to the tune of $25 PER HAND? Thankfully I never saw a live game being spread on that table for the duration of the cruise. We were 10 yards down the hall raking 10% max $4. A veritable bargain.

Another bargain and an incredible overlay existed in the $150 buy-in no re-buy tournament we spread on the last full day of the cruise. We had a total of 24 players ($3,600) and the prize for 1st place was a $10,000 WPT Foxwoods seat. If you'd like a chance at something similar give Kathy Maura ( ClassicGamingCruises.com ) a call and tell her I sent you 877-736-8516 . There is only one cruise remaining in 2007 but there are at least 5 scheduled for 2008.

The Pearl is a beautiful ship. The food and staff/service, in my opinion, didn't live up to my expectations based on past cruises(this was my 4th cruise). I've come to expect flawless service. On this cruise it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great either. On the other hand, when I got into my own bed last night my sheets weren't turned down and there wasn't a mint on my pillow.....

I bought a new camera prior to this trip and I haven't quite figured it all out yet. The picture above is a "multi burst" and I guess there is a way for me to remove a single image from the series of 16 but I haven't mastered (or really even tried) that maneuver yet.

By law, boats are required to stay at least 300 feet from the whales as anything closer is considered harassment. At one point we were floating with the engine off at more than the required distance. Aparently no one told the whale that he needed to stay 300 feet away as he surfaced about 30 yards from the boat. It's not an experience that I'll soon forget.

Glacier Bay looks much the same as last year except the glaciers are receding. This glacier twists and turns for 21 miles but it's estimated that within a decade it won't be visible from the bay.

At 41 years I smoked my first Cuban. We purchased the cigars at an incredible Victorian tobacco shop in Victoria, BC. The shop had a lot of beveled, leaded glass as well as an electrolier unlike anything I have seen. Notice the gas jets on either side of the pillar. Unfortunately Health Canada has decided that you can't even light up in a tobacco store.......

For the record, all I brought back into the States was the empty cigar box.

Elton John - Ticking - Live in Sweden 2003

2007-07-12T11:06:00.001-07:00

I can't get the youtube video to load, so here is the link.........

http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=4nm7bpbR7RQ

"An extremely quiet child" they called you in your school report

"He's always taken interest in the subjects that he's taught"

So what was it that brought the squad car screaming up your drive

To notify your parents of the manner in which you died

At St. Patricks every Sunday, Father Fletcher heard your sins

"Oh, he's unconcerned with competition he never cares to win"

But blood stained a young hand that never held a gun

And his parents never thought of him as their troubled son

"Now you'll never get to Heaven" Mama said

Remember Mama said

Ticking, ticking

"Grow up straight and true blue

Run along to bed"

Hear it, hear it,

ticking, ticking

They had you holed up in a downtown bar screaming for a priest

Some gook said "His brain's just snapped" then someone called the police

You'd knifed a Negro waiter who had tried to calm you down

Oh you'd pulled a gun and told them all to lay still on the ground

Promising to hurt no one, providing they were still

A young man tried to make a break, with tear-filled eyes you killed

That gun butt felt so smooth and warm cradled in your palm

Oh your childhood cried out in your head "they mean to do you harm"

"Don't ever ride on the devil's knee" Mama said

Remember mama said

Ticking, ticking

"Pay your penance well, my child

Fear where angels tread

"Hear it, hear it,

ticking, ticking

Within an hour the news had reached the media machine

A male caucasian with a gun had gone berserk in Queens

The area had been sealed off, the kids sent home from school

Fourteen people lying dead in a bar they called the Kicking Mule

Oh they pleaded to your sanity for the sake of those inside

"Throw out your gun, walk out slow just keep your hands held high

"But they pumped you full of rifle shells as you stepped out the door

Oh you danced in death like a marionette on the vengeance of the law

"You've slept too long in silence"

Mama said

Remember Mama said

Ticking, ticking

"Crazy boy, you'll only wind up with strange notions in your head

"Hear it, hear it,

ticking, ticking

Alive and.........

2007-07-12T10:28:00.001-07:00

well, well.

I'ts been awhile, but things are basically the same with me. Nothing much changes here.

I spent the latter part of June and the beginning of July in Maryland visiting family. On Saturday we had a reunion of sorts for about 40 people. Sunday was then devoted to a 6th birthday party for my nephew David.

Happy Birthday, buddy!

On Thursday David wanted to take me on a hike. We packed up a few sodas and a Kit Kat or two for him and headed down the old railroad tracks.

Not too far into our journey we came across drainage from an old and abandoned coal mine. Draining at this particular site has been called the worst acid mine drainage in Maryland.

For most of my childhood George's Creek was a questionable mix of raw sewage and mine drainage. I know that this sounds disgusting, but I can remember flushing the toilet and then running down to the "crick" to see what was flushed enter George's Creek. Around 1980 a sanitary sewage treatment plant was built and the good people of Washington, DC were spared from drinking our waste. (George's Creek flows to the Potomac and DC and other places down state pull their drinking water from the Potomac) Most of the mine drainage was also cleaned up and fish and even a few pair of bald eagles returned to the area. All this changed recently when for unknown reasons the McDonald mine began spewing this toxic mix at levels exceeding any in the past.

The state is currently adding limestone to the drainage in an effort to offset the acidity. No one is quite sure what else can be done. Hopes are that the recent surge was caused by the collapse of an old mine shaft and that the flow will eventually slow/stop naturally.

In any case, George's Creek had largely been restored and flowed with clean, clear water until the McDonald mine drainage began flowing in earnest. You can see in the picture below where clean water meets caustic.

For the next four miles, until George's Creek enters the Potomac River, the creek is DEAD. Nothing. No fish, no insects, no larvae under the rocks. Just a sulfer/rust colored path of yuck.

The coal mines in the area have left a toxic legacy.

To David's credit, he told me that he would build a dam just before the acid meets the creek "so the fish could live."

*****

The qualifying period for the River King free roll has ended. 164 players qualified from the Palms. 20-40 players will be coming from other parts of the country. 200 players and a prize pool of $1,020,000.

If I was one of those players I would be angling for a chop.

***

A friend sent a link to a video of Ticking by Elton John. I've been an EJ fan forever but for some reason this song had remained off of my radar. What a powerful song even if I DO own a handgun and don't believe that banning guns if the answer. Maybe if one of those 14 dead in the Kicking Mule had been packing........?

Hit a Royal, Deal a Royal. In that order

2007-05-31T01:09:00.000-07:00

Today100°/72°F
Fri100°/75°F
Sat100°/74°F
Sun101°/75°F
Las Vegas, NV
100°/72°F
Las Vegas, NV
100°/76°F
Yes, folks, it's that time of the year in Las Vegas. Don't even give me the "but it's a dry heat" bullshit. Actually, 100 IS tolerable. It's the 112-115 days that are simply brutal.
****
Been a long time, been a long time, been a long lonely, lonely, lonely time.

***

A lot of people had a fit over this marquee. If you look closely at the bottom you will see the word TRIP. This was a tongue-in-cheek advertisement for a promotion at the new Bistro Buffet inside the Palms. Take a pill, people.

***

On Tuesday I was fortunate enough to deal a diamond royal flush (with both hole cards playing this pays a jackpot in our room). When high hand jackpot is dealt the dealer must count down the deck and surveillence is notified. They view the hand and verify that there wasn't anything unusual about how the hand played out. This verification takes a minute or so. After they give the OK, we can push the pot but it still may take a little bit for the floor to prepare the payout. With a jackpot over $599 it takes a little longer because there is paperwork involved for the dear folks at the IRS. This jackpot happened to be for $860.

After pushing the pot in this instance and before the jackpot money was delivered, the winner pushed me a stack of blue chips from the pot while stating that he "wasn't done". This could mean anything but I was thinking SWEET. When the jackpot money was delivered he pushed me about $60 more in red and asked "Is that appropriate/is it enough". Are you effing kidding me? You were very generous. Come again, please.

Of course this is not a common occurrance and I believe I may have dealt 7-8 royals in 3.5 years. Sometimes you hit a sweet spot and the player makes your day.

Thank you, Sir!