Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Total Rewards Goes Beyond Casino Walls

Hi Vegas Fans,

Caesars Entertainment Corporation (CEC) has announced that its new program will offer Total Rewards points for customers who shop at selected retail venues. So, gambling is not the only game in town anymore when you want to earn points.

Pretty cool marketing campaign, methinks. I've been pretty hard on CEC at times, mostly because of their crummy gaming in comparison to their past and to the rest of Las Vegas. But, fair is fair. This is a great way that a major gaming corporation is figuring out that they need to do more to compete. They can't continue to just wait for people to walk through the casino door and offer them a buffet for every 3,000,000 points they earn on Wheel of Fortune slots.

So I hope it works out for them. I typically don't gamble at CEC properties. Will this promotion be big enough to draw me in and look at the expected value for a negative gaming experience? Probably not. But it's still a good idea.

Viva,
Mike

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Electric Daisy Carnival

Hi Vegas fans,

The 15th annual Electric Daisy Carnival kicked off last night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They expect 250,000 fans to cross through the gates. Now a guy like me is too old to attend this type of thing but not too old to talk about it. At least not yet.

For those of you unfamiliar, this event is a gigantic rave music festival extravaganza. There's more than just music. It's spectacle - light show, carnival rides, people dressed up in bizarre costumes, stilts, you name it. Quite a fantastic experience in both sight and sound.

As I won't be attending, I do have some questions about EDC:
  • With all that beer and food, are carnival rides really a good idea? I mean, how do you not get sick?
  • Suppose I wanted to shave to look my best Sunday morning after 3 days of sensory overload. Where can I plug in my razor?
  • What is the exact geographic coordinates of the event? My wife wanted to know so that she could be at the polar opposite end of the Earth. It's just not her thing.
All kidding aside, I hope the fans attend have a blast and above all are SAFE (ah... the old guy in me is rearing his ugly head...). Take some pictures of those people in rubber costumes with the white makeup and black lipstick and post them to the Simplifying Las Vegas Flickr site.

Viva,
Mike

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Blackjack Book

"What does the book say?"

You'll hear this question just about any time you play blackjack in Las Vegas. Players sometimes ask other players or the dealer what to do in certain situations. The funny thing is, even when people hear the correct play, they don't always do it.

Here's an example. Let's say you have 14 vs a dealer 10 card showing. The correct play is to hit. Let's say you get an ace. Now you're stuck with a crummy 15. So you ask the dealer - what is the correct move? Hit or stay? The dealer says to hit again. Keep hitting until you reach at least 17. But you're looking at your cards. You just hit 14 and you think that if you push your luck and hit again, you will certainly bust. You tell yourself "the book isn't always right." And while it's true that the odds are that you will bust, the odds are greater that you will lose if you don't hit and try to reach 17.

The good news is you don't have to memorize the right play or ask others what the book says. You can purchase a little cheat sheet card in any gift shop. The card is the book, essentially, because it shows you what to do in every situation. What the card won't tell you is how to find the right table. You need to make sure you are playing at at table that pays 3-2 on blackjack, not 6-5. There are other important rules that will either be in your favor or in the casino's favor, but I won't go into them here.

The important thing to remember is to have fun and follow "the book," which is really just making the right play based on odds. It's not tricky. It's not a gimmick. It's just numbers. And don't worry if anyone else at the table isn't following the book. In the long run, their play won't hurt you. You just have to focus on the money that is in front of you - yours.

I have lots more blackjack information about the book in my book. I hope you enjoy it!

Viva,
Mike

Saturday, June 11, 2011

World Series of Poker

Hi Vegas fans,

The 2011 WSOP events are in full swing at the Rio, although the main event doesn't start until July 7. Until then, it's a lot of smaller tournaments - there are 58 in all! - that keep poker-addicted fans busy. Everything from Omaha Hi-Lo to H.O.R.S.E. Yep, if you like poker, there are plenty of ways to get your game on.

The event has grown and changed so much in the 40+ years of its existence. In its first years, the WSOP was basically a couple of fold-up tables and a few dudes with names like Amarillo Slim and Puggy Pearson. The event was hosted by Benny Binion at his Horseshoe downtown. Like any good idea, the event grew and grew. Now, the WSOP is broadcast on ESPN and has over 70,000 entrants. Poker players still get nicknames, too, like The Poker Brat, The Mouth, and Unabomber.

Most of the top pros get their $10,000 entry fee paid for by sponsors. Although this year has been every interesting since three main poker sites (FullTilt, PokerStars and AbsolutePoker) that sponsor players were shut down on April 15 by the FBI on charges of fraud and laundering. Phil Ivey, one of the best poker players in the world, refused to play because he claims his sponsor, FullTilt, won't pay players their money due. FullTilt denies any wrong-doing and fired back that Ivey's intentions are self-serving. Ahh yes... I come for the poker but I stay for the drama.

Although I don't really play poker, I'm happy that it continues to thrive. Anything that keeps Vegas on its feet is a good thing. One of these days I'll sit down and really start learning about the game. I'm told the best way to learn is to play for free online at a site that has not been seized by the FBI. Well, I already sit in front of a computer a lot these days, so more of that right now that does not sound very appealing to me. But I'll get into it one of these days. To me, poker is lot like paintball or marriage. It's much more fun to play than to be a spectator, and you're probably going to get your butt kicked the first few times.

Viva,
Mike

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Updates to Simplifying Las Vegas Home Page

Hi Vegas fans,

For me, the first step to updating the website always starts with the Home page. The other day I was looking at the cool photos on the SLV Flickr group. I saw one that I really liked from Christine Holm, so I asked her if I could use it. She was more than happy to have it on the site, so now it's the feature photo. Be sure to check out Christine's other work on her Etsy store or her Facebook page.

I will be making some other modifications to the site soon. Revising the site is a lot of research but a ton of fun, and it always is a springboard to update my travel guide. I hope you enjoy the changes!
Viva,
Mike