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?


Written by Andrew Ittner in misc on Thu 11 December 2003. Tags: commentary, entertainment