ajc1970

Exceptions are on the 3rd page, here: https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov/wp-c...k-Guidance.pdf

I thought cutoff was 9th birthday, but it's actually 10th birthday.

As far as I could tell, Venetian/Palazzo and the airport are the only places in Las Vegas where my kids are required to mask. We drove to Vegas to avoid muzzling them at the airports & on planes. There was no way to avoid the Venetian/Palazzo fiasco because their website doesn't mention it, IHG's website didn't and doesn't mention it, and I found no internet reports/reviews about it (I did search -- it was an important factor to us).

Visconti

The Excalibur and several other strip casinos should have $5 BJ, but they may be the constant auto shuffle ones, as you've observed. While I'm from the school of thought that a gambler should fight even to shave off a fraction of any house edge, if the odds aren't that big of a deal, then playing with an auto-shuffler is an option just to have some fun. At least, you have a dealer, some interaction with fellow gamblers and free drinks, which I find preferable to the machine BJs.

Off the top of my head, the auto-shuffle machines add around 2 or 3% to the house edge?

bocastephen

I didn't see any games under $15 on the strip casinos I was in, including Wynn, Aria or Bellagio - most of the tables were $100 or better, and there was a staggering number of unused tables. Even before the virus, I noticed a transition at many of the larger casinos away from gambling and towards food/dining and hotel amenities. Just fewer and fewer people are playing and I am not sure why the casinos won't open more tables at lower limits to get additional gambling revenue vs 25% of the $100 tables with active games and the dealers just standing around at the remaining 75%.

For the gamblers out there, I know the digital BJ games are "rigged" - ie, their odds are set similar to slot machines vs actual random chance, but for the automated craps tables with large dice that bounce in a bubble, are these true games of chance similar to a live table, or does the system use magnets or other trickery to influence the outcome of the roll?

Jaimito Cartero

I didn’t see any $5. Might have been one $10, but the sign looked like it had been scribbled over. Mostly $15, that I could see.

sbrower

I believe you are seriously wrong about what you claim to "know." My understanding is that slot machines and digital BJ are still based on random chance. The way they "control" the odds is not by changing the random number generators but by changing either the payoffs or the actual numbers on the reels (electronic though they be). That is, if a slot machine is 5 reels of 100 items each, with only 1 "big win" item per reel (and you need all 5 to line up for the big win), when you change it to 101 items per reel you decrease the odds of winning, but that doesn't mean that the 101 items are not appearing on a totally random basis.

mtofell

I'm not sure about BJ and the card machines but did find research that indicates the card machines at Pai Gow change the odds and favor the house. Basically, the machine it tied to the number generator that dictates which cards the dealer gets. With BJ I'm not sure if/how the cards could be tweaked to favor the house since the machine doesn't know where they are going.

The question about the bouncing dice in the automatic craps game is a good one. The skeptic in me thinks EVERYTHING in Vegas is tweaked a bit to favor the house more than normal. Although, tweaking dice to roll seven (best for the house, right?) would be tough since opposing sides = 7. I had an experience with loaded dice on a backgammon board but the goal was just to get higher numbers out of a set, presumably by weighting the opposite corner of 4/5/6.

bocastephen

I don't think I am wrong about slots. Both slots and other digital games are subject to state mandated and posted payout ratios, so every machine must, over a specific measurable period time, return 'x'% of its coin-in back to players, and the only way to assure that is happening accurately is through the computers that are controlling the game. In fact, I read evidence that the computer has rendered a decision on your spin as soon as the button is pressed or handle is pulled - what you see spinning in front of you is pure entertainment to eventually display the outcome of the computer's decision. The only randomness I can think of are the bonus games where you tap the screen to uncover a prize or bonus spin multiplier - I believe those are preset when the bonus starts so the result is truly a chance based on which tiles you tap vs tapping a tile and having the computer display a result that it instantly decided for you.

Zorak

We're getting OT from the subject of Vegas specifically in the COVID era, but...

I believe you're correct about slots, but I believe you are wrong about video blackjack and any video game using cards, dice, etc. at least for casinos that fall under the jurisdiction of the NGC (underlining here, perhaps unnecessarily, to highlight the obvious, that the rules and regs can differ elsewhere)

https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdo...cumentid=16894

as for pre-determination:

I believe this paragraph to be correct also, as far as slot machines, although as you mention, when a game has a bonus element the bonus result is not determined until the player initiates the bonus (e.g. spin the wheel in WOF, etc.)

in particular:

https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdo...ocumentid=2919

Now, there do exist machines in other locales that appear to be Vegas-style gambling machines but are actually just fancy frontend displays for what is essentially a bingo game on the backend. If you are playing one of these machines, then the game truly is "fixed" to the point that (I have heard) if the computer has predetermined that you should get a winning hand like two pair and you deliberately throw away the two pair then (I am told, I've never played one) a genie comes out and restores your winning hand. This is even more wildly out of scope for this thread/forum and those interested can Google class 1 vs. class 2 vs. class 3 gaming.

Visconti

In Las Vegas, Video poker has a random number generator that’s constantly shuffling a 52-card deck in each of the 5 card slots that will stop the moment a person presses the “spin” button. Then, when cards are selected to be held, the RNG will take away those cards reducing the deck accordingly and begin shuffling continuously again until the “spin” button is pressed where it will once again stop.

However, in other States this may not be true. Outside of Nevada, the outcomes may be predetermined the moment the “spin” button is pressed and the card appearing may not be random; in other words, while the outcome may be assured after spin button, the cards appearing may be planned in a way to make it appear as if one were close to a Royal Flush, or a variety of winning hands with large payouts, e.g., 3 Aces or Deuces whenever a 3 of kind payout is triggered. This is illegal in the State of Nevada and strictly prohibited by State law.

I’m not very familiar with slot machines though, and no idea how Nevada governs this aspect of gaming. Video poker is the only slot-type game in Nevada where one can be assured the game is 1) completely random and 100% mimics an actual 52 card deck, and 2) the true odds are always transparent.

bocastephen

Thank you - good to know about video poker in Nevada, I might start reading up on strategies and try those games when I go back.

OK, now back to the misery and chaos of coronavirus

Visconti

This and many other reasons why I'm only comfortable gambling more the C notes at a time only when in Nevada and LV specifically.

Should be there next week and will report how things are progressing along. And, hopefully, will have a report on the Wynn buffet.

bocastephen

I was at the Wynn Buffet last week - I need to look for the Wynn thread to update my review, but suffice to say it was not as good as I remembered from a couple months ago after it re-opened. Part of the problem is we probably went for dinner too late, reserving 645PM and being seated at 715PM when we should have booked 5PM or so like I did before when the buffet is not as busy. If you've seen the Mickey Chen youtube videos, he always seems to be in the buffets when they are half empty, maybe around 430-5P before the dinner rush when perhaps fresher fare is put out.

I was expecting a more "festive" holiday meal experience similar to what Wynn had back under his leadership, but now it's nothing more than a "festive" price increase with the same menu. I am still not sure what the difference is between "dinner" and "gourmet dinner". I had some dark meat turkey expecting it to be moist and flavorful, and it was literally - I kid you not - like the turkey served in the Christmas Vacation movie, complete with crunching as I gnawed through it.

Coronavirus related, I did not see any bad behavior from a hygiene standpoint, almost everyone had masks at the buffet, used clean plates, no fingers, etc. but I did see unsupervised children at the pizza station so I avoided those items.

I avoided the Bacchanal buffet due to the bad reviews online, but my friends went there right before our trip and raved about it, including the snow crab and unlimited lobster - so we're probably going to give it a shot next time especially after watching Mickey Chen's Bacchanal review video.

It seems the trick is avoiding a large breakfast and plan for the buffet dinner around 430-5PM before it gets crowded.

Visconti

The suggestion for an earlier time slot is helpful. My plan is generally to fast going into a buffet and just load up on the good stuff--prime rib and prime seafood. I do recall many have suggested to save room for dessert and I suspect Wynn probably excels here more than, say, the Bellagio. It's been a while since I've been to the Bacchanal too and really should make an effort to dine there before they too will begin regressing.

Compared to years ago, the Bellagio buffet is so underwhelming these days; if not comped, not sure I'd actually pay hard earned $$ for it.

tai4de2

This week (between Christmas and New Years) I'm at Cosmo. The line at the buffet from about 11am-1pm has been the longest I've ever seen it. I overheard some people seated near me remark that they'd waited nearly 3 hours. (I used the VIP line due to Identity status and waited less than a half hour.)

Covid has not stopped families from coming here and eating buffet when the li'l ones are out of school, that's for sure!

My observations at Wicked Spoon this week match others' at other buffets, that the crowd was pretty well behaved. (I did see someone bring a dog into the dining room, which is a pet peeve of mine -- but that's a separate issue unrelated to covid.)

SAT Lawyer

if you have a rental car, get off the Strip. You’ll do yourself a favor by escaping mostly 6:5 blackjack in the process.

My most reliable place for blackjack that pays 3:2 with multiple $5 tables is Cannery Casino in North Las Vegas. {It also has the added bonus of being a stone’s throw away from Tokyo Cafe, which is a fabulous hole-in-the-wall cheap and quick eats restaurant that is worth the drive in its own right; the fried rice and chicken teriyaki there are mouthwatering. But I digress.}

Swanky? Certainly not. But if it’s cheap blackjack you want, that’s one place you’ll find it. The last few times I have been there, Cannery featured at least one double-deck, dealt face-down, $5 table along with multiple larger deck $5 tables.

If North Las Vegas is too far to roam, South Point Casino also has $5 blackjack, although you may have to be patient to get a seat at a $5 table. The ambiance at South Point is nicer than Cannery too. Those are my go-to places for blackjack in Vegas currently, and, like you, I am very much a $5 table aficionado.