Harrah's invited me on a trip to either Reno or Tahoe for the past weekend, and I decided to take them up on their offer and stay in Tahoe since I hadn't been there in seven years. The trip went smoothly, as they had gotten us tickets on Southwest Airlines and then had a bus take us from the Reno airport to Harrah's Tahoe. The trip from the airport was about 1.5 hours. I didn't recall that it was such a distance.

On the way to Tahoe we drove through the capital of Nevada, Carson City. I saw the State Senate building, the governor's mansion, and other sights. Well, I mean I saw them from the perspective of a bus driving by them. We didn't stop.

We arrived at Harrah's Tahoe and got checked in, and then looked for somewhere to eat. We ended up at the coffee shop at the Horizon casino-hotel. It appears that it's the only casino I've ever known that gives special privileges to advantage players. The coffee shop had a special priority seating line for APs (see pic).

While at the Horizon, I played a game that I thought was as extinct as the dinosaurs: full-pay single-deck blackjack. This was a single-deck game that paid the normal 3:2 on blackjacks rather than the short-pay version of 6:5 that's become prevalent at single deck games in Vegas and throughout the country. The Horizon game did have a double on 10- or 11-only rule but it was still a good game. I think if you tried to bet big you'd be watched pretty close, but it was nostalgic to putz around on the game for double-digit sized bets.

The two Harrah's casinos (Harrah's and Harvey's) are quite nice and offer numerous full pay 9/6 JoB machines at the $1 and higher denominaton. I also saw a number of 8/5 Bonus Poker progressives at the $1 level. The royals were at $4,700 when I was there. They become 100% pay at $5,500.

Both Harrah's casinos had Diamond lounges for Diamond and Seven Stars card holders. The Harvey's lounge is particularly nice because you take an outdoor glass elevator up to the top of the casino. It's one of those old-school elevators where an attendant has to get in and manually close the cage, and then turn a lever to operate it. At the Diamond lounge there is a fantastic view of the lake. Get there at sunset for one of the most beautiful sights you've ever seen.

I've often joked with people about the different games offered, like double bonus poker, double double bonus, bonus poker deluxe, double diamond, triple diamond, etc. Always seemed so funny to me how people make up these names. Well I had to stop and take a pic of a game I saw at Harrah's. It was a slot machine that was Double Triple Diamond Deluxe with Cheese. I'm sure it's quite likely we have the game in Vegas too, but this was the first time I'd seen it. Sounds like someone was having a little fun with the hackneyed machine-naming conventions.

On Saturday night I had a fantastic dinner at the 19 Kitchen~Bar (that's how they write their name... don't ask me) on the 19th floor of Harvey's. Its menu was eclectic with steak, seafood and some sushi offerings. I had a red and golden beet salad which was delicious. It had a pistachio-crusted cube of goat cheese which was melt-in-your-mouth good, as well as the most potently flavor-bursting olives ever. I also had their tuna tartare dish ,which they call "forks," because it comes with six individual cucumber-wrapped pieces of tartare on upstanding, full-sized forks. The presentation is impressive, the food is delicious, but I'd guess the dishwasher isn't a fan.

I did little gambling this trip other than my brief stint at the blackjack table. The other gambling I did was poker. I played a $120 buy-in tournament at the Montbleu. The Montbleu was formerly Caesars Tahoe, but when Harrah's bought the Caesars properties, they were forbidden from acquiring that one. The Columbia Sussex group, which owns the Tropicana properties as well as the Horizon casino in Tahoe, bought Caesars, and changed it's name and theme to Montbleu. The poker room was friendly and the skill level of the competition was well below par. I didn't cash in the tourney though.

I also played poker at Harvey's. Harvey's room is a bit nicer than Montbleu and if you're looking for higher-limit games, it looks like Harvey's is the place to be. Two important differences from Montbleu: the chairs were more comfortable and the tables had shuffling machines. I recommend checking Montbleu for a tourney if you're in town, since they offer three per day. But for cash game action, hit Harvey's. I ended up losing at Harvey's too when my pocket kings lost to pocket 5s.

My overall impression is that if you're interested in snow sports like skiing or snowboarding, or you like to golf, then Tahoe might just be your Nirvana. It's one of the most beautiful places to see and the quality of the outdoor experiences there is first rate. While gambling certainly generates a lot of money for that local economy, my guess is that most visitors are there to ski or golf first and gamble second, whereas in Vegas or Reno, I'd say gambling is the primary activity for most visitors.

On the last day, I hadn't had much sleep, so I took a snooze in the Diamond lounge at Harvey's waiting for our transportation back to the airport. Another weekend in the books.

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