Smoke and tipping in Las Vegas
Just returned from a short vacation in Las Vegas. We stayed at the Stratosphere Tower, upgrading our room to a suite at check-in (which was a great deal - our suite was HUGE).
Some things I learned in Vegas:
- Don't buy transportation from the airport shuttle booth closest to the doors. They have a primo location, so they don't need to be nice to their customers. Ours wasn't.
- If the dealer doesn't make eye contact with you, or doesn't smile at you when they do, move on.
- Shuffling one deck of cards is much faster than shuffling six decks, even if the one deck is shuffled after every hand.
- Vegas is flat.
- My wife should play blackjack, I should play slots. Not the other way around.
- Given a choice, let the dealer bust.
- If you want to attract attention at slots, put five bucks into a nickel machine. It'll ring 100 times.
- Your frequent player card must stay in the machine to rack up points - not swiped.
- $17.60 in nickels is heavy. And dirty.
- There are lions in Vegas. Which explains several scenes from The Postman.
- Gambling is fun, when a table full of people commiserate and celebrate together, the dealer is attentive and gives good advice, and everyone is patient.
- Gambling is boring when you're breathing someone else's smoke and body odor, and trying to understand how the game is played.
- Always bet the max in slots.
And the best thing I learned in Vegas?
- Blowing my gambling stake on a nice dinner with my wife 833 feet above the Strip is more fun than gambling.