Месяц: Февраль 2014

Win pull tabs all month at the Venetian and Palazzo. Grazie players who earn 1,000 points in a day can receive a pull tab with prizes, including a possible $1,000 cash prize. All tabs are winners of various prizes available. Players can earn up to five tabs per day.
Now through May 19 stop by the promotional kiosk or a Total Rewards Center at any Caesars property and swipe your Total Rewards card for a free daily game piece for the Wheel of Fortune Millionaire Maker Sweepstakes.
For every 25 additional Tier Credits players earn an additional game piece. Participants can also earn game pieces faster by playing on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine. Full details are available at any Total Rewards Center. It’s possible to earn up to 10 per day.
Tune in to watch Wheel of Fortune from May 13-24 to see if the puzzle on your game piece matches the Millionaire Maker puzzle in the show. The 20 lucky winners will each get $50,000 and will then have a chance in August for $1 million!
Hooters vasino hotel is hosting Fiat & Cash Giveaway drawings this month. Owl Rewards Club members get one free entry daily and can earn additional drawing tickets through slot play and table games. Double entries are awarded every Monday and Tuesday throughout the month.
Drawings are held every 20 minutes every Friday and Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. on Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. Players can win from $50 to $500 cash during the drawings. The grand prize Fiat drawing will be held Saturday, April 27 at 7 p.m. The new 2013 Fiat 500 is valued at $16,700.
Fiesta Henderson: Café Fiesta, a 24/7 around-the-clock stop, opened last month. The café/restaurant offers fresh food made from original recipes at unbeatable prices for the level of quality. Proving that commitment, a key philosophy of owner Station Casinos, no single item at Café Fiesta costs more than $9.99.
The menu offers breakfast items such as pancakes, French toast, eggs and omelets, breakfast specialties that include huevos rancheros, and lighter offerings with options like a side of fruit or cottage cheese for breakfast and grilled chicken sandwich with light cheese and avocado.
Lunch and dinner offerings include hearty starters with examples including the iconic shrimp cocktail and giant pork egg rolls, soups and salads, burgers, crafted sandwiches and entrées. Menu items vary from the indulgent to specially noted “healthier choice” items that are lower in calories and fat.
Santa Fe Station: Senior life isn’t all bad. There’s a $4 movie day special for seniors every Tuesday this month. Enjoy the latest movie releases 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ages 50 and up can pick up a voucher from the Rewards Center (one per person) and take it to the Century Theatres located inside the casino/resort for that day’s movie selection.
Until next week…here’s to good food, good luck and good gaming.

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The casino has an edge at every game we play. That house edge can be as high as 20% but as low as .05% for the casino. That’s a huge difference.
Generally, the more fun the game or certain bet is the bigger the house edge is. This is why I always tell people to keep their gaming simple when they want to play smart.
Casino games were created to keep a small advantage that would provide a nice stream of income as people played. The more people played the more money the casino would make. That’s fair. As corporations took over casinos they increased income with fluffy side bets and fun carnival-style games with a much greater advantage than the original casino games.
That’s their business and that’s fine with me. Sometimes it’s more fun to drop a few bucks at a table inside the casino and have a few drinks with friends than it is to just hang out the bar and do the same thing. There’s a chance someone will win and at least we’ll be entertained by the cards, dealers, TV’s, dancers and other people.
I’m kind of a nerd, so I look at the rules of the casino games online before visiting a casino. I don’t always use that information but I feel better knowing what I’m in for. It allows me to adjust my game play. It’s my choice as a customer whether or not to to spend my money when casinos don’t offer better odds for me.
Generally, if the rules are fair, I’ll make normal-size wagers. If the rules are tilted way too much toward the casino but I still want to play, I’ll simply reduce my wagers. There’s no reason to play $25 hands of 6:5 blackjack when the minimum is $10. The extra 3% may not be a lot on a $200 buy in for a $10 game but it’s twice as much out of my pocket with a $400 buy in.
Whatever the house edge, I know the correct moves to make so I’m not giving my money away. There is one game I won’t let the casino have the advantage on – video poker.
While table games, and even slot machines, are social games for me, video poker is a solo game. It’s difficult to hold a conversation while playing video poker properly. When employing proper strategy, or close to it, you have to pay attention to what’s happening in video poker more than any other game. Since I don’t play video poker with the restrictions of being social (ie. paying attention) I don’t like giving away any advantage.
At its most wild points, I don’t find video poker to be the most fun game in the casino. As you could guess, I keep it simple and look for the easiest game to play. Jacks or Better has the least variance of all video poker games, meaning it’s not very volatile. It also has the most simple strategy of all video poker games in part because the only great hand is a royal flush and that’s what you are playing to get.
There are no variable Four Of A Kind jackpots to distract like with some other video poker games. Knowing there’s one main prize in Jacks or Better makes it easier to focus on the correct strategy.
Casinos offer games that may be bad bets but fun, or more mundane but a smarter use of your dollar. We all want our money to last as long as it can but sometimes casino games are there for entertainment as much as the possibility to make money.

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Sometimes smart gaming happens before you even walk into a casino or place a wager.
I may be playing the casino games with a smaller house edge or a large one just to hang out with some friends. I always know the returns behind the game I’m playing. I adjust my wagers accordingly and always make sure to maximize my money and have that fun as long as possible.
A way to maximize bankroll in a casino is to know the rules of the players club at the casino where you’re playing. Players clubs don’t cost anything to join and offer freebies in return for tracking your gaming.
Some people have a problem with their game play being tracked but I don’t mind. I’m sure if someone wanted to they could put together my entire day by reading my tweets, text messages, Google searches and emails.
Players clubs used to flood mailboxes with direct mail but with email being such an important marketing tool nowadays the casinos have decided to flood email with offers instead of costly snail mail. I actually have an email address just for players clubs.
If you’re a high roller, players clubs probably don’t matter. You’ll most likely have a host who will take care of whatever you need. If you’re a low to medium roller some of the perks from being a part of a players club can go a long way to having a good time.
There have been week-long trips to a casino where I didn’t pay for my room, meals or drinks. I gamble and the casinos want the chance to take my money. Not everybody cares about getting freebies from the casino but I don’t wager enough not to care.
I’ve read that 10% of gamblers spend 90% of the money at the casino. I’m part of the 90% and I appreciate that a couple sports bets earn me a “comped” sandwich or large cup of coffee. These aren’t big gifts like the beautiful suites I’ve gotten but I enjoy them all the same. They get me through a day (or week) at a casino without dipping into my wallet.
Generally, slot machines offer the most rewards points because they have the worst returns. As the house edge of a game gets smaller for the casino, the less rewards points offered for a game.
Video poker has a very small house edge and you can play it quickly so casinos treat the game appropriately with low players club points. Every casino players club in every city offers points and credits differently so it’s smart to check the rules in advance of a trip.
Knowing correct strategy and the right bets to make in the casino are important to having fun and extending your bankroll, but understanding the ins and outs of how players clubs work can often supplement the good times. We all like good times at the casino.

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I received an e-mail this week from a loyal reader who was questioning some of the numbers from my recent column discussing the definition of payback, saying the amount of the buy-in was irrelevant.
The example I cited was discussing someone who sat down to play 100 hands of $5 blackjack. With a payback of 99.5%, a player can expect to lose $2.80. The point of the column was to discuss how this $2.80 will not change, no matter how much the player buys in for.
If he buys in for $20 or $100 he will still lose the same $2.80. All that changes is the percent of the player’s bankroll that he will lose. The $2.80 is a fixed amount.
My reader questioned this calculation. Not so much for its pure math, but because I ignored the situation where the player might lose his first four hands and be bankrupt. My reader is quite correct. The situation I described ignored the numerous circumstances in which the player will actually lose his entire buy-in before reaching 100 hands.
With a buy-in of only $20, this is fairly likely to occur. Roughly 1 in 16 times, he will lose the first four hands and be done right then and there. This doesn’t even include the times he may double or split in the first couple of hands and go broke before even four hands.
That said, this was not really the purpose behind my calculation. Since the point was to show how the expected loss rate does not change based on the buy-in, I could have just as easily used a $100 and $500 buy-in in my examples.
With a $100 buy-in, it is far less likely the player will go broke before 100 hands. However, my reader does bring up a very, very important point about the importance of being properly bankrolled for any game.
The amount will vary greatly from game to game, mostly dependent on the volatility of the game. Blackjack is a relatively low volatility game so $100 would be good enough most of the time.
The second part the reader questioned was my math regarding the anticipated loss while playing 1,000 hands of full-pay jacks or better video poker at max-coin quarters. I said it would be $6.25. My reader wished his expected loss was only $6.25 as that would make it cheap entertainment.
Well, I stand by this number. On a max-coin machine, the player will wager $1.25 per hand. Over 1,000 hands, he will wager $1,250. A full-pay jacks or better machine pays about 99.5%. Losing just 0.5% of his total wager brings us back to $6.25.
Of course, this is the long term average. Unlike blackjack, video poker has a much higher volatility. Blackjack is a lot like a coin toss. You win about half the hands. You lose about half the hands. Except for actual blackjacks, splits and double downs, all payouts are even money to the original wager.
There tends not to be huge swings in how you will do. After 1,000 hands, you’d probably be very close to the theoretical 99.5% for blackjack.
Video poker is quite different. You “win” about 45% of your hands, but an overwhelming majority of these are really pushes (High Pair). The rest of the payouts range from even money all the way up to 800-for-1 for a Royal Flush.
That Royal accounts for about 2% of the total payback. This means that until you hit the Royal, you’re only playing a 97.5% game, which means the loss rate over 1,000 hands would be closer to $20. Eventually, you will hit that Royal and for the 1,000 hands, you will have a significant win.
When you add up the total amount you wager and multiply it by 0.5% (the loss rate), the total amount you’ve lost should be very close to this number. At the same time, if you hit more Royals than “average” you’ll probably be up significantly. If you hit less than average, your loss rate is likely to be quite a bit more.
When we tie together the two thoughts my reader brought to me, we realize the importance of being properly bankrolled when playing video poker. Given the volatility of the game, it becomes even more important to make sure you are in the game until you get to one of the big hands. In jacks or better, this mostly means the Royal.
In double double bonus video poker, you have the luxury of a few of the Quad payouts and the Royal. I had an opportunity to experience this first hand twice this past week. I ventured out on two separate occasions to play video poker.
In one case, I was down about $40-$50 when I hit two solid hands and came all the way back and left even. In the other case, I hung around even most of the night. I was down about $5 when I was dealt 3 Aces on a five-play double double machine. Short of being dealt quads, this is about all you can hope for.
Now all you have to do is hit the Quads. On the fifth hand, I was dealt an Ace and a 3. Not only did I hit the 4 Aces, I hit the bonus 4 Aces. About five hands later, I left up with a nice victory. In the case of my first night, if I had brought only $40 with me, my bankroll would’ve been gone and I never would’ve made it to the big hands.
Also, if I weren’t using proper strategy, my losses up to that point would have been that much larger, and even a $60 or $80 bankroll might not have lasted as long as it needed to.
Proper strategy and proper bankrolling are keys to achieving the theoretical paybacks of a casino game. In turn, this is what can lead you to have only that much of an expected loss rate and get a cheap night of entertainment.

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The Mohegan Sun Casino and Bally Technologies combined to set a Guinness Book World Record in two categories Monday.
The two gaming organizations combined for the records for the world’s largest slot tournament and most slot machines running the same game simultaneously.
The tournament was held throughout Mohegan Sun’s vast property and included the Casino of the Earth, Casino of the Sky and Casino of the Wind.
More than 3,000 guests participated to break the record for the largest slot machine tournament’ and over 1,600 helped to break the record for most slot machines running the same game simultaneously. Representatives from Guinness World Records were on-site to validate the new standard.
Bally Technologies and Mohegan Sun will be attempting to set a third record on May 11th for the most people playing a casino virtual racing game.

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Mother’s Day is always one of the busiest days at casinos in Las Vegas, especially in all of the restaurants. If you plan to take Mom out, plan ahead, call for a reservation if the restaurant offers them.
Try off peak times, early morning, mid-afternoon or later evening to shorten the wait time. Otherwise, the lines will be long! But Mom’s worth it!
All buffets will be “putting on the Ritz” to impress. Here are a few suggestions for the special day. Mother’s Day buffet dining at The Orleans, Gold Coast, Suncoast and Sam’s Town this Sunday will include regular options, plus the following holiday dishes all day.
These dishes include: Virginia glazed baked ham, roast leg of Colorado lamb, cracked pepper and rock salt roasted prime rib of beef, Coho salmon sides, southern fried chicken, grilled trout almandine and baked pork chops with sage.
Gold Coast and Sam’s Town Mother’s Day buffets are available for $12.99 ($15.99 non-member price); The Orleans and Suncoast are $14.99 ($17.99 non-member price). Get a club card – save some $$! Suncoast, Orleans, Gold Coast and Sam’s Town will have 15X points on all penny slots on Mother’s Day!
Golden Gate: In honor of National Shrimp Day, the downtown casino is rolling back the price of its famous shrimp cocktail to just 50 cents – the price it was in 1959 when the property introduced the “Original Shrimp Cocktail” to Las Vegas.
From 2-5 p.m. this Friday, guests can stop by Du-par’s Restaurant to enjoy the seafood snack at the special celebratory price. The resort’s founding partner, Italo Ghelfi, was inspired to bring the San Francisco staple to Sin City in the late 50s, starting a tradition spanning several decades and 40 million shrimp cocktails – that’s more than a billion individual shrimp!
The shrimp cocktail boasts a heap of ocean shrimp served in a classic “tulip” sundae glass, topped with a secret spicy cocktail sauce and garnished with a fresh lemon wedge.
Silverton: The special Mother’s Day buffet at Seasons will feature hand carved meats, rich and delicious sides and salads, and sugary desserts. Cost: $23.95 with a Rewards Club Card; $25.95 without a the card. Serving hours will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Rampart: The Buffet will offer a special Mother’s Day menu from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for $18.99 per person ($16.99 with a Resort Rewards card). Brunch specialties will be served from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., including Belgian waffles, omelets made to order, eggs benedict, corned beef hash and cheese blintzes. All other buffet stations will be available to diners all day.
LVH: Moms can stop by any of the restaurants and receive a complimentary entry into a special drawing for a chance to win a one night stay in a suite, dinner for two at TJ’s Steakhouse or a special room amenity. The drawing will take place at midnight outside of Tempo Lounge.
Ellis Island: An enjoyable Asian Surf & Turf Sauté dinner begins at 11 a.m. Dinner includes an appetizer, soup or salad, a refreshing Mimosa and a strawberry shortcake dessert all for only $12.99 per person.
El Cortez: Members of Club Cortez can treat Mom to a delicious and free steakhouse meal on May 12 at The Flame with the purchase of an adult entrée. Reservations are highly recommended!
South Point: Along with great dinner options for Mother’s Day (and new lower buffet prices) all day bargains include running 5X slot points and 2X video poker.
Until next week…good gaming and good luck! Happy Mother’s Day!

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