I saw a post on the board at Vegas Tripping over the weekend that they are now dealing 3 Card Poker with the cards face up at Mandalay Bay.

3 card poker is now dealt face up to all players at Mandalay Bay. The players hate it. The dealers hate. I cycled through two dealers and they both asked if we’d write a letter to complain. Apparently the decision was made to increase the number of hands dealt per hour.

At first glance I wasn’t bothered by this because I don’t really care much about the surprise, but after thinking about it…I do care about the surprise. Actually, I care more about the option to be surprised by the cards than I do the surprise.

Besides the fun of the game being altered the speed of the game is being altered in the houses favor, of course. Even though the odds in Three Card Poker aren’t very good, I play it every now and again because it’s a pretty brainless game and the pace it pretty relaxed.

I’m hoping this change is only being tested at Mandalay Bay and doesn’t spread across to other casinos. Adding pace to 3 Card Poker is only bad for the player and I’ll probably stop playing.

Busy week in Vegas fun for me checking out the final table of the World Series of Poker. As you can see there were a couple extra articles on Vegas Chatter from me this week. You can also get my take on what it was like to actually be at the event. Thankfully Denver Gambler and JMP were able to make it so that there weren’t many holes here. Thanks guys.

In other news, I’m currently struggling to lay out a drink.gamble.eat t-shirt. My design skills are limited as you can see from the design of the sites I have . Eventually, I’ll get it. I’m heading out shortly to catch the late games with a friend in from Chicago so let’s look at the week back.

AC2LV

• Extreme Couponing: NFL Edition
• Vegas Artifacts
• Reinventing ACH: Sports Betting Palace
• New Jersey Votes To Approve Sports Betting…Now What?
• There’s Nothing Palatial About Imperial Palace 
• ACH-Saved, Now What?

Jersey Boys

Going into my solo adventure to Las Vegas I thought that I would end up gambling a little more than I would if I was with friends.  I met that expectation.

Being with out anyone else to consider I found myself wandering to just about any slot machine that looked remotely entertaining.  That was both good and bad.

Munny was located on the edge of the walkway to the rooms at the Palazzo.  I put $20 in and left with $50.  This is a 5 reel penny slot. There were tons of line combinations, but all that really mattered were the bonuses.  The big bonus set free a lotto ping pong ball scene.  Each ball had a multiplier.  I got a couple of 10x balls and bingo!  I played this game a few times and ended up positive each time.

I played a lot of slots in all denominations with unspectacular results, but not awful results.  I played my new favorite Time Machine at Palazzo, a new version of Top Dollar at Wynn and many more.

By definition, slots include video poker.  I played a good amount of video poker too and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.  There were some nice wins like 25 straights playing multi-video poker at Planet Hollywood.

Unfortunately there was nothing better than 8/5 Jacks or Better anywhere I played.  I did pretty well on my last trip to Vegas playing 8/5 JoB…

..this trip to Vegas was the complete opposite.  It happens.  It’s time to move away from machines to the tables.

Let It Ride
My greatest session gambling was a win of a couple hundred dollars in Let It Ride.  I haven’t played Let It Ride in a while and didn’t have much of an idea what I was doing.  Maybe that’s the trick.

Sports Betting
The best gambling for me this trip was sports betting.  I won about 8 of 10 games.  I only wish there were more games that were that I felt strongly about.  I spent a good amount of time at Legasse Stadium and I can’t wait to get this TV setup in my house.  Someday…

Blackjack Switch and Blackjack
Wynn was a second home for me and I played slots, bet on games and played Blackjack Switch for the second time.  Being sober helped a lot as I almost doubled my money in about 15 minutes.  Not too shabby.

Blackjack is always the same for me.  Up and down, up and down.  I did have a great time playing blackjack at the Palazzo on my final night.  I went to a table to play alone, but that changed quickly as the table filled with a variety of fun people.  I doubled my money and even spotted comedian, Brad Garrett, across the way!

3 Card Poker
My worst gambling came playing 3 card poker.  I did not have a winning session or even a big hand.  My experience in 3CP was so bad I had to stop playing.

My downfall at 3 Card Poker began at Planet Hollywood where I fell prey to extremely hot dealers and plenty of vodka in the Pleasure Pit.  I wasn’t in the section with Go-Go Dancers.  That’s a bit too distracting.

I had a great time playing at the Pleasure Pit.  The music, other players  and dealers were all fun.  Drink service, to no surprise, was very quick.

I’ve had a pretty good year and a half run gambling.  I may have gotten a little reckless gambling alone, but I gamble to have fun and I succeeded at that.  Moving forward I have to get back to smart gambling.

Before I leave the area I want to share a list of articles that I find interesting.  I’m also posting them in case I’d like to read them completely while I’m away.

• It looks as if the racino at Aqueduct raceway in New York is dead.
• New Las Vegas luxury – premium bathrooms!
• Atlantic City’s newest excuse for losing money – “It snowed.”
• New way to play 3 card poker – Ultimate 3 Card Poker.  First glance tells me to stay away.
• Sad news.  Hard Rock Las Vegas president commits suicide.

My man Manny Pacquiao is fighting this weekend against Josh Clottey.  While this isn’t the fight most people really want to see this could be a real battle for Manny.  Clottey won’t fall easily.  I hope I can find a bar showing the fight tomorrow night.  If Manny wins it should set up a good fight in December with Sugar Shane or Floyd.

Keep up on fight news with ESPN Boxing.  There usually isn’t a lot of content, but the content is quick and easy to read.  Enjoy 5 Good Minutes with Freddie Roach.

The major news this week was Harrah’s takeover of Planet Hollywood.  There seems to be lots of hate towards Harrah’s from everything I read and hear in podcasts.  I like whoever treats me best.  Harrah’s treats me ok.  Not great and not awful.  I’ll give this time to unfold before making judgement.  I’ll be able to experience the change, first hand, at Planet Hollywood when I visit Las Vegas in April.

I, finally, caught up on most of my December trip to Las Vegas.  See the gambling fun below.

• Roundup from East To West
• Planet Harrahswood Commence!
• MGM Looking To Improve Players Club
• Las Vegas Gambling – Everything Else
• Gambling In Las Vegas – Video Poker
• Gambling in Las Vegas – Slots
• Maybe Atlantic City Will Expand
• Daytona 500 Odds

I didn’t just play slots and video poker when I was in Las Vegas in December.  I played 3 card poker, 4 card poker, blackjack, blackjack switch and of course, bet on sports.  Unfortunately phones and cameras are shunned at the tables and sportsbook so there aren’t any pictures.

I didn’t only gamble at the Palazzo. I played a little at Wynn, Encore, Bellagio and Palms.  The people I was traveling with were blackjack players so most of my time at the tables was spent playing blackjack.

3 Card Poker
I only played at Palazzo and only played a couple of times.  If the table isn’t full I like to play multiple hands.  Palazzo didn’t allow me to do that.  I went at it with just one hand both times I played.  I lost everything I put in both times I played and lost it quickly.  I’d like to blame this loss on the rules at Palazzo.  I’ve had no problem playing two hands in Atlantic City.  Thumbs down to Palazzo.

One point to note; there was only one 3 card poker table open all weekend and it was rarely full.

4 Card Poker
I put a couple hundred bucks up while killing time at Bellagio.  I’ve only played this game once before and wasn’t too familiar with the rules.  Thankfully, I happened upon a table of very nice people.  The game was a slow bleed until my friends found me.  I wanted to play the hand blind, but was told not to.  I didn’t want to look at the cards, so I showed them to someone else at the table and ended up with a straight or a flush.  Whatever it was I won all of my money back + $5!  WOOOHOOO!

I probably won’t play this game again.  Most of the non-blackjack card games at Bellagio were packed.  This was the only table that had players that also had room for me.  There were a couple empty tables.  I don’t like playing these kind of games alone.

Blackjack Switch
This was the game I was most looking forward to trying out.  I wrote about it when I first heard about it last year.  Blackjack Switch it a newer table game where you are dealt two hands of blackjack and can switch cards dealt.  I learned two things about this game after playing at Wynn after a great steak dinner at SW.

First, I had a little too much wine with my steak and probably wasn’t in condition to experiment with a new game.  I lost my initial buy in of $200.  I was too confused to play the game properly.  I lost patience fairly quickly.  As a result I lost my money, but I had a good time losing it.  The game was fun and kind of slow.

The second thing I learned about Blackjack Switch came the following night when talking to a pit boss at Encore.  More people walk away winners at Blackjack Switch.  In fact I was one of the few losers they met that played the game.  Oh well, there will be a next time.  In fact, I just got an idea on when that next time will be!

The tables in this area at Wynn were pretty crowded for a Thursday night.  There was an entire pit area that was empty, so I guess they did a good job shuffling people to one area.

Sports Betting
I ended up at Legasse Stadium every day of this trip.  Unfortunately, I didn’t record all of my bets, but I did ended up on the plus side at sports betting.  I split my action between the NBA and NFL.  I may have lost one NBA game and a couple NFL parlays.  You can see my review of in game betting at the Palazzo here.

One resource I found shortly before my December trip is covers.com.  I like to use trends to help with my knowledge of NBA and NFL.  Covers.com color codes and simply lays out game and total trends.  It’s an easy read on an iPhone too.

Blackjack
I played a lot of blackjack on this trip because that’s what the others on the trip played.  The best time I had at the blackjack table was at Encore.  It was one of those runs that keep people gambling.  Read full details at Wynn and Encore Win Me Over.

I only played blackjack at Palazzo once and I went from up $700 to losing $300.  This was my first gambling session of the trip and it lasted about an hour.  It was a wild ride.  Kenny Rogers said it right..have to know when to walk away, know when to run!

We made a stop at Palms after a quick stink at Bellagio and it was a quick stop.  I turned $200 into $500 in about 20 minutes.  I don’t even remember the game.  A friend of a friend happened by and introduced his girlfriend.  Chit chat began and I just kept pressing winning bets.  Palms rules.

The best thing about my blackjack play is that none of the games I played were 6/5 payouts.

Overall, the tables didn’t treat me too poorly.  Bad runs in 3 card poker and Switch were made up for with wins at video poker, sports betting and blackjack.  I’ll take an even trip to Vegas every time!

There were lots of posts on ECG.  Some news and some reports back from my trip to Harrahs Resort in Atlantic City.  I’ll get right to the week that was!

• Trump Tricky With Video Poker
• Best of Vegas: Peepshow
• A Statistical Look at Professional Poker
• October at Harrahs: 3 Card Poker
• NBA Season Starts Tonight
• Roundup From All Over
• Borgata Water Club Closing?
• Royal Flush and Bobby Flay Steak
• Week 8 NFL Picks
• Seriously, A Dealer Can’t Recognize A 15 Year Old?

This trip to Atlantic City had a similar feeling to some of my recent trips when it came to gambling.  I wanted to relax and didn’t want to think too much so I stayed away from blackjack and craps when I was at the tables.  I played plenty of 3 card poker at both Harrah’s and the Borgata.

There are differences in the payouts with both casinos.  Borgata pays out 100-1 for a mini royal flush on the pair plus bet as opposed to 50-1 at Harrah’s.  A mini-royal in 3 card poker is Ace-King-Queen of the same suit.  In the past this didn’t matter much to me, but this trip was different…

If I sit down at a table that isn’t full I’ll often play two hands at the table minimum in order to keep cards away from the dealer.  I’m not sure that this makes any mathematic sense, but it’s treated me well in the past.  My strategy is different than others.  I don’t just play any Queen I get.  When I look at my cards, I’ll usually only play Queen – Ten.

On this trip I played a lot of hands blind.  On one of those blind hands I got a mini-royal flush!  I was surprised and stoked!  Too bad I was only playing the table minimum at the time and too bad I wasn’t playing at Borgata.  It was 50-1 on a $10 bet as opposed to 100-1 on the same $10 bet.

I’m never one to take a winning hand for granted and this was no different.  Hooray!

This happened on my second session of the trip and was a the first of many great hands in 3 card poker.  I got a couple of straight flushes (40-1), one three of a kind (30-1) and plenty of straights and flushes.  Between the Borgata and Harrah’s I probably only had three losing sessions all weekend.

I was on a great streak at the 3 card poker tables and my favorite session was one where I walked away even.  On Saturday night at Borgata I sat down at a packed table and proceeded to blow through my allotment for the session playing just one hand.  After sitting out a couple hands I got back to the action and changed position as the dealer knocked most everyone out.

I went to third base and decided to play two hands while buying back in.  Up and down the Grey Goose and Soda’s went as did my chips until I hit a straight flush and came all the way back and then some!  After playing blind for about an hour the table went on a cold streak.  I decided to call it a day when I got back down to even.

The moral of that story is that sometimes breaking even can be a major win!  Overall, I ended up a bit in my 3 card poker play.  This was good, but the real excitement came from a game that isn’t often too exciting.  Up next…video poker..

As I detailed last week Pennsylvania’s budget woes had the state moving closer to allowing casinos to have table games to join their bevy of slot machines.  Last night the proposed budget was agreed upon by the Gov. Ed Rendell and others.

The agreement calls for the first expansion of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania since slot casinos were legalized in 2004. Leaders agreed to work to get approval for legislation legalizing table games such as poker and roulette at the casinos, but they didn’t reveal whether agreement has been reached on key details such as the state tax rate on table games.

I hate politics, but I’m happy to have another regional gambling option.  This will put me in the middle of PA, CT and NJ gambling options.  I don’t consider slot houses to be real casinos because I enjoy the option of playing blackjack, craps, 3 card poker, etc.  This will make me consider Pennsylvania casinos and, if nothing else, explore my options.

The effect on Atlantic City could be very negative and very major.  Short term this could be very bad for Atlantic City by decreasing traffic and revenue.  However, long term, this could be very good for the market.  I firmly believe that competition is good for business and good for consumers.

If the Atlantic City casinos were smart they would have been preparing for this and have a course of actions prepared.  Unfortunately for them I haven’t seen much in the past few years to make me think they have been.  I’m just hoping for better options to enjoy myself – no matter where it takes me.

I finally made it to The Ridge at Bally’s on my last trip to Atlantic City.  I haven’t heard too much about it, but what I read (and wrote) had me curious.

The Location – The Ridge is located where the old “gateway” games were between the Bally’s Casino and Claridge Casino.  A wall was built to separate The Ridge (and the music) from the machines outside and it does a good job.  More on that later.  Also of note is that the rest of the Claridge casino has been closed and there is a large banner covering up where the Total Rewards desk used to operate.

The Casino – The Ridge is made up of about 24 blackjack table games, a couple roulette and craps tables and a small run of  low limit slot machines.  Table limits are the same low $10 limits that the gateway games used to be.  Dealers dressed and acted very relaxed.  They wore a kind of bowling shirt and were doling out fist pounds for almost every blackjack.

Decor - The decor is blue and gray based with a modern feel to it.  Dealers were dressed in blue bowling type shirts.  Very loose and comfortable looking.

Vibe - The vibe I got was somewhere between a wedding and normal pop music bar.  One night there was just pretty loud new pop music.  After going to the Bikini Bar, I think they just used the same mix that the DJ plays.  When I went on Saturday it felt like dance time at a wedding.  In between the table area is a dance floor.  The DJ was playing a lot of wedding songs inclulding “Jump Around” by House of Pain and a couple of line dances.  A lot of people danced, even a security guard on a segway.

There was a “hype man” for the DJ trying to get people involved with the party vibe The Ridge was going for.  Special occurances got a bang on the gong which sat in the middle of the casino.

Cocktail Waitress - I don’t remember exactly what they were wearing, but the dress was different than the rest of Bally’s.  Drinks flew fast and furious since there are so few tables to serve.  Two waitresses covered the whole area and did a good job of never letting me go more than a few minutes between a nice cold Corona.  Drinks came so quickly, that I needed to throw some water in the mix.

(unfortunately, those aren’t my chips)

Overall - I had a great time at The Ridge.  In my two sessions I played low limit blackjack and 3 card poker and ended up about even, but probably up a little.

I hate weddings and I’m surprised that I enjoyed my time at The Ridge on Saturday night.  The awful “hype man” and bad music turned me off.  The people that participated were having a blast and in turn that positive vibe really along with the drinks that were flying fast and furious helped me have a good time.

The Ridge has a much more positive feeling than Bally’s and Wild Wild West, which can give the feeling of gambling to gamble – not gambling to have fun.  The other positive is that it didn’t feel very smokey like the rest of Bally’s.  The only complaint I heard was from a couple older women who thought the music was too loud.  While the music was very loud, I don’t think many people cared they just wanted to have fun.

I hope this gives a good picture.  There was so much mystery for my first trip to The Ridge.  It’s a fun little party type section at Bally’s casino.  I think they did a good job mixing the feel to make young and old feel comfortable.  I’d play here again, but only if I was staying at Bally’s or Caesars.  I don’t think it’s worth a special trip.

One word of warning:  Because the limits are low, expect novice play at the blackjack tables.