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A good week for beer!
The Hard Rock Casino Hotel is running an October beer promotion every Thursday through Nov. 1. Earn your first 750 slot points and receive a 6-pack of Bud Light Platinum Beer or two Hard Rock logo glasses.
Earn additional 6-packs of beer or glassware for 500 slot points. Table players can get a 6-pack or glassware for the first 1,800 table points and more of those items for another 1,200 table points. There is a maximum of three redemptions per promotional day, based on availability, while supplies last.
No points are deducted. Print out a voucher from a kiosk after earning your points and take it to the Backstage Pass Rewards club booth for redemption.
Golden Nugget
The third annual Fall Beer Festival takes place Oct. 19-20. The first event during the two-day festival kicks off this Friday with the All American Craft Beer Tasting sponsored by Samuel Adams, from 7-10 p.m. in The Grand Events Center. Guests will have the opportunity to sample over 120 craft beer selections and enjoy chef-inspired appetizers while listening to live music and mingling with some of America’s hottest award-winning brew masters.
Additionally, each guest will receive a commemorative glass as a souvenir. Tickets to the event can be purchased individually for $50 (plus sales and entertainment taxes.) Rounding out the second day, guests can enjoy a traditional Oktoberfest Pool Party, sponsored by Paulaner, at The Tank, the property’s award-winning pool and shark aquarium, this Saturday from 3-9 p.m. Admission is free and beer enthusiasts can sample over 150 American crafts available for purchase while listening to a mix of both current and traditional German music.
Guests interested in both events can receive discounted food and beer tickets for Saturday’s Oktoberfest Pool Party with paid admission to Friday’s All American Craft Beer Tasting. The Paulaner Biergarten (beer garden), located directly outside the hotel on Fremont Street, will also have events running Thursday through Sunday.
The Biergarten, wrapped in white fencing, will feature two Paulaner draft beers on tap, Oktoberfest and Hefeweizen, sexy beer maidens and select food options. Paulaner has been the original Oktoberfest beer company since 1654, and has continued every year since as the host brewery of the Munich, Germany Oktoberfest.
For more information on the Fall Beer Festival, or to purchase tickets, call 866-946-5336.
South Point
Instructional video poker classes will be given by expert Bob Dancer every Tuesday through Nov. 20 in the Casino Showroom. There is a beginner’s class from noon – 1:30 p.m. and an intermediate session from 2-3 p.m. Both are free and open to everyone 21 and over. A complete schedule of games being taught can be found at www.bobdancer.com.
Texas Station
On Monday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., players who earn 300 points will receive a 6-pack of Pepsi or Diet Pepsi. Earn 700 points and get one more. Same deal on Oct. 29 for UV Grape Vodka. No points are deducted. Table players earning a score of 25 will get a gift. A second gift is available by amassing 25 more points.
Until next week…good luck and good gaming!

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Speedway Children’s Charities Ninth Annual “Cards for Kids” Poker Tournament will be held at the Stratosphere Hotel & Tower on Thursday, Oct. 25, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Stars from NHRA, Big O Tires, Nationals Racing Weekend and other local celebrities will be participating. Player registration begins at 6:30 p.m.
The No Limit Texas Hold’em Tournament will begin at 7:30 p.m. For a $250 per player buy-in, entrants receive 2,500 tournament chips, the chance to win a share of $5,000 plus hors d’ oeuvres provided by the Stratosphere. The top nine finishers will all receive cash and prizes. Limited seating is available. Registration is also available online at: scclasvegas.org.
Since 1999, the non-profit Las Vegas Chapter of Speedway Children’s Charities has distributed $1.7 million in funding to children’s organizations in the southern Nevada area surrounding the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Stratosphere’s poker room is open 24 hours, seven days a week. The newly relocated and remodelled room features eight tables on the casino floor. Players can enjoy cocktail service and tableside dining from the neighboring Roxy’s Diner menu. Free daily poker lessons are available, offering Daily No-Limit Poker Tournaments at 11 a.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. with the following rules:
• Tournament entry fee is $45 for 4,500 in chips
• One optional $20 add-on for additional 4,000 in chips
• Unlimited re-entry for first hour only
• 20 minute levels
• TDA rules apply
Texas Hold’em High Hand Jackpots include:
• Four-of-a-Kind paying $100
• Straight Flush paying $250
• Royal Flush paying $500
For more information, visit the poker room or call (702) 944-4950.
Sam’s Town
The beautiful, new spacious poker room features 11 tables that spread:
• Texas Hold’em ($2-$4 limit, $3-$6 limit with a full kill, $1-$2 No Limit.)
• Seven Card Stud (1 to 5 limit starts at 7 a.m. daily.)
• Omaha Hi/Lo Split ($3-$6 with full kill.)
For daily Tournaments:
• Texas Hold’em-Daily at 10 a.m. $23 buy-in. Limit first hour. No Limit after.
• No Limit Hold’em Daily at 1:30 p.m., $30 buy-in, one $10 re-buy.
• No Limit Nightly-7 p.m. $55 buy-in (no re-buys).
• Deep Stack Tournament, $100 Buy-in, second and fourth Saturday of each month at 7 p.m.
• There are 24 tournaments offered weekly. Ask about other Omaha Hi/Lo and Crazy Pineapple tournaments.
Special promotions include:
• Uncapped Progressive Hold ‘em High Hands
• Seven Card Stud High Hands-Progressive amounts
• Omaha High Hand of the Day
• Aces Cracked $50-midnight until noon and 4 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Poker players earn $1.25 in food comps per hour. For more details call the Sam’s Town poker room direct at (702) 454-8092.
May the “nuts” be with you.

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Last week, I talked about the Global Gaming Expo and what I observed was going on in the slot machine segment of the industry. For those who missed it, essentially, the manufacturers are turning slot machines into what seems like video games.
While I certainly won’t suggest playing them due to their low paybacks, relative to the rest of the casino, I certainly tip my cap to them for a tremendous marketing coup.
One thing I did find strange is no attempts were made to transform video poker in the same manner as slots. On one hand, this solidifies my theory that video poker is NOT slots just because they share a similar form.
We cannot dismiss this lack of video game transformation on the notion it wasn’t thought of as the very same companies develop both video poker and slot machines.
My conclusion on this is that the manufacturers are very aware the video poker players don’t want video games. They want stronger paybacks with the added element of skill. Adding themes and bells and whistles will not improve a product that has produced as strongly as video poker has.
That leaves one more area of the casino up for discussion. What did I find in the table game arena? No real surprises. This is both good and bad for a variety of reasons.
First, I saw almost no new inventor/gaming companies. Sad to say, this is not a surprise anymore. From what I’ve heard, these booths cost a lot of money and it is not easy for a small company that is trying to invent games to come up with the type of cash needed to have a booth at these events.
I filled out a survey while at the show and gave my feedback in this area. If this is a show about the big boys, then all is fine. If they want the G2E to be an opportunity to let some of the unknowns have a chance to shine, then something needs to change.
One company (Score Gaming) I’ve seen at the show the last few years was noticeably absent. I have not had an opportunity to find out why.
I did note two or three new inventors who had small booths way down near the food and beverage section. I realize this is where many of the smaller booths are, but it would seem to make more sense to put these companies closer to where the big table game companies are. This will not only increase their exposure to casinos, but also increase their exposure to those big companies who may find their games of interest.
Of course, in past years, new inventors have frequently been a double edged sword, which brings me to the crux of my point. There is one thing virtually every game from the big companies (SHFL, Galaxy and DEQ) all had in common – the games revolved around poker or blackjack.
Many new inventors I speak to think casinos need some way to wager on a variety of popular games. Hence we’ve seen variants of backgammon and football on a casino table. To the best of my knowledge, none of these games have had any success.
Were they bad games? Well, not necessarily. Some of them were kind of fun to play. I’d love to sit around with friends or family and play them. The question that really needs to be asked is whether or not this is a game people are going to want to play for hours while wagering their hard earned cash?
If you look at all the proprietary games that have had any success, you have to conclude the answer would be NO. Look at the most successful titles in the industry – Let It Ride, Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Crazy 4 Poker, Four Card Poker and Spanish 21. These are all based on poker or blackjack.
If you’re out to invent a game, are you going to base it on poker and blackjack or start using a combination of dice, cards and flashing lights? I’m all for thinking out of the box, but at the end of the day you also have to give the customers what they want.
In the end, my hope for next year’s show is I’ll see more new inventors who will be showing additional games that use more creative ways to wager on poker variations. That would also be my advice to aspiring table game inventors.

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This past weekend, I had a conversation with a guest at my home about whether or not the machines are rigged. For those who read my column, you know my take on this. I firmly believe that no casino game is rigged.
I’m sure there are oddball instances where someone has tried, but on the whole, the games play exactly as advertised. My guest told me he once asked a friend who ran a casino (I believe on a cruise ship) the same question and he also answered that the games are not rigged. But I could see he was skeptical.
That led me to ask him a question. “What is your definition of rigged?” His response was the player couldn’t win.
This began a conversation about overall game design, both table and machine. Yes, virtually every casino game has a house edge (certain variations of video poker being the lone exception). They are built specifically this way. I think I would know as I’ve helped build countless games for the table games half of the casino. I’ve never built one yet that has a player advantage.
Some games have relatively small house advantages such as video poker, blackjack and Ultimate Texas Hold’em. Some have slightly larger house advantages, such as many other variations of video poker, Let It Ride and Three Card Poker. Some games have absolutely huge house advantages, such as Keno, numerous sidebets, many of the craps proposition bets and, of course, slot machines.
None of these house advantages are accidental. By my definition, none of these are rigged. The closest to rigged, in my opinion, are slot machines because they are allowed to create near-misses on purpose and what you see is not what you get. But, in my mind, a rigged machine would make sure that a jackpot is never hit and that the machine could be purposefully set to run hot or cold on the command of the casino.
This is not what happens. The slot machines are very specifically programmed for a certain overall payback. To obtain this, all of the possible final outcomes are assigned a probability of occurring and a Random Number Generator decides which will show up when the player pulls the handle (or nowadays, presses the button). So long as the outcome is determined by the Random Number Generator in accordance with the approved specifications of the machine, to me it is not a rigged machine.
Further, we know that people do hit jackpots on slot machines. I can’t really explain why it seems to always be someone who has been playing for five minutes instead of five hours, but I’m guessing that really isn’t the case. It just seems like it because those are the stories we remember the most.
If it seems most people are losing and we attempt to explain this by saying the machine is rigged, then we are ignoring the obvious mathematical fact. The longer one plays a negative game (one with a house advantage), the more likely the player is going to wind up losing. The more he plays, the more likely his overall play will result in a real payback that approximates the theoretical playback.
With an average payback of about 93% for slots, it won’t take long for him to wind up on the losing side of things, even if he is playing hotter than the machine is programmed for.
For the games with higher paybacks, regrettably, the same is still true. The only difference is that while he is “hot,” he may be on the winning side of things.
This is the advantage to playing games with higher paybacks. That, and as you approach that theoretical payback you will still wind up having lost far less money than by playing games with lower paybacks.
That said, you have to remember, most games that give you better paybacks require you to learn the right strategy. Any deviation from the right strategy can only mean a decrease in the payback over the long haul.
So, you can choose to play Blackjack Switch with its 99.5% payback, but if you don’t know when to switch hands and you don’t know when to hit/stick (which is vastly different than regular blackjack), then you may be playing a game only 95% based on how you are playing it.
Slot machines completely remove this element of skill from play. The bad news is that the average payback is 93%. The good news is that no matter how “bad” you play, the payback will still average 93%.
The fact that games have a house advantage does not mean they are rigged. No casino has ever claimed their games are all “even” where the player has as much chance of winning as he does losing. The fact that they offer games at 99.5-plus% and throw in some cash back is as good as we can do.
If, however, you believe the games are in some way rigged and either do not play the way they are supposed to, or that the casino can at will order a machine to pay or not pay to a particular player, I would ask you one simple question, “Why would you play at all if you think the games are rigged in this manner?”

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It’s hard to believe the holiday season is already creeping up on us.
Caesars Total Rewards 2012 Great Gift Wrap Up event begins in two weeks. This fun shopping event is now entering its seventh consecutive year. An entire year’s worth of play at participating Las Vegas casinos puts you in a position to give or get some great gifts.
Once you’ve selected the gifts they can be delivered directly to your home or a gift recipient’s home. Any Total Rewards member who has played and earned points at any of the participating properties (all Las Vegas Caesars properties) from Jan. 1, 2012 through 6 p.m. on Dec. 3 can participate in the shopping event.
Throughout the promotion period, all Total Rewards members who play at any of the participating properties earn bonus “Gift Points” on top of their Reward Credits. You earn about 1 Gift Point for every 1 Reward Credit at participating casinos.
These Gift Points can then be redeemed in Las Vegas for gifts during two separate week-long promotion shopping events in November and December. You must attend an event in person to claim the merchandise.
Here are this year’s event dates, times and locations:
Nov. 8-12, Flamingo Las Vegas 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Nov. 29-Dec. 3, Caesars Palace 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The 2012 Great Gift Wrap Up has all the latest, hottest items that are sure to be on everyone’s holiday wish list. New this year: Gifts shipped to Canada will not require additional gift points. All gifts will be the same point value whether you ship to a U.S. or Canadian address. Some restrictions apply to certain gifts. Check www.greatgiftwrapup.com for updates, including an online catalog.
Wynn/Encore
The popular Strip resort is hosting Lucky 8 Daily Drawings and a Luxury Car Giveaway. Guests earn points for entries by playing any table game or slot. The Grand Prize will be a luxury car valued at $250,000 or $250,000 cash.
There is a daily Grand Prize of $5,000 in free slot play credit or promotional chips. Second place daily wins $1,000 in free slot play credit or promotional chips. Drawing entries may be earned through Nov. 30. Daily drawings begin at 6 p.m. at the Encore Red Card desk. Visit the Red Card booth at either property for complete details.
Suncoast
Earn 300 points any Monday through Thursday in October at the Summerlin resort and receive a free St. Tropez breakfast/lunch buffet. Earn an additional 600 points for a free dinner buffet or a $10 food credit for Café Siena.
Correction: Virtual NASCAR Racing takes place this month at South Point Casino from Monday through Thursday (not Sunday as previously listed.) Times remain the same at: 3:30, 4:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Earn 50 points to compete in the race and win a share of $400,000 in free play while sitting at your favorite machine.

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Looking for a job in the poker business? In August 2012, Michael Gaughan’s popular resort made history, becoming the first casino to be licensed to operate a real-money poker website in the United States. Gaughan is now hiring individuals to assist in the development and operation of SouthPointPoker.com, scheduled to launch this fall.
“We are recruiting the very best talent to join our new online gaming company,” said Gaughan, owner of the Hotel/Casino & Spa. “South Point Poker has allowed us to not only create jobs in Las Vegas but provide new and exciting career opportunities for Nevada’s economy.”
This will be the first real-money poker website to launch in the USA, and those hired will have the opportunity to work with a team developing some of the world’s top online gaming technology. In addition they are developing and managing all software internally without third-party assistance. Individuals selected will have the opportunity to shape the future with a team that is leading online gaming regulations for the entire country.
Among the positions for hire are software developers, poker investigators, graphic artists, bloggers and customer service supervisors.
“Our marketing, customer service and compliance departments offer new job opportunities to set the tone for the future of online, real-money poker,” said CEO Lawrence Vaughan. “With the constant advancements of technology, the South Point Poker team will have the opportunity to challenge their creativity on a daily basis and develop an evolving product to fully satisfy the emerging online poker community.”
Candidates should go online at www.southpointpoker.com.
Eastside Cannery
One reason poker players enjoy the Eastside resort is for its unlimited comps for poker players ($1 per hour with no cut-off: 24 hours play = $24 comps.)
Some rooms limit the number of hours or total comp dollars allowed per month. Players can enjoy their favorite games played in a smoke free environment with a professional and courteous staff. There are daily No-Limit Hold’em tournaments at 7 p.m. for a $25 buy-in and High Hand Bonuses are paid daily.
October promotions include Aces Cracked from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and/or 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Players can collect $100 for same color aces or $50 for mixed. Football Squares runs throughout the season. Players can earn squares beginning every Tuesday at 8 a.m. for the following Monday Night Football game. Make an ace high flush or four of a kind or better to earn a square. See the payouts for squares posted in the poker room.

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