Hit ‘em All Nevada – Day 13
Today is the entire Lake Tahoe area trek, so I wanted to get an early start. I finished yesterday’s report and went to Starbucks to get it sent out. While I was waiting for the pictures to load, there were two women next to me and one was interviewing another for some job. The girl being interviewed was dressed really well and laughed politely at just about anything the interviewer said. I know I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but I just couldn’t help myself. I only bring this up because it occurs to me that this is just another sign of our culture changing. Interviews are been held in Starbuck’s coffee shops and other business meetings. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this. With all the jokes about the ubiquity of Starbucks, the truth is, they’re serving a great service with the free Wi-Fi, the relaxing take-your-time atmosphere, and some darn good coffee to boot.
As I’m driving along US 395, I realize that I made a planning error. I planned this trip back in April and make all my reservations, especially in the far out-of-the-way places, a lesson I learn during last year’s trip. There are a few casinos in the area of Carson and Minton, so I made a reservation in Carson after my stay in Reno. However, I am now driving through Carson, which means I’ll be doubling back a little bit and coming back here tomorrow. I come across Casino Fandango. I’ve been in here before as well, and it still looks the same. It’s really pretty inside, if you like tacky-kitsch, and I made my first blackjack bet of the day—and lost.
The inside of Fantango--very lush--too bad it's all fake
My strategy today was to take Hwy 50 up to Lake Tahoe and Stateline, then swing back to Incline Village, over to Crystal Bay, and finally back to Reno. The drive up went smoothly and I eventually pulled into Harrahs. I’ve stayed here a few years ago, so I’m familiar with the layout. The first order of business was to swipe my card for the Race to Rewards promotion. Like Reno, there is a Kiosk set up just for this purpose, which makes me a little suspicious because in both Las Vegas and Laughlin there was no kiosk. They swiped my card at the Rewards booth. Being that I’m going to be going back to both those places during this trip, I might look for a kiosk and swipe it again, just to be sure. My blackjack bet was another loser.
For those of you who have not been here, Harrah’s and Harvey’s (also owned by Caesars) are connected by a tunnel that goes under the street. It’s convenient and there’s a Mexican restaurant down there that I understand becomes a party-spot at night. At Harvey’s I play blackjack, and once again, am dealt a blackjack, but I’m paid $12. What? I neglected to look on the table where I see that this (and every table) is a 6/5 game—a mistake I will not make again. Harvey’s still has a few single line machines that have full pay Bonus Poker. The 3/5 play games have all been downgraded, but they’ve left the single line games here alone. I slipped in a hundred to play (I play at the fifty cent level). I was not doing well at all until I was presented with a strategy play that I don’t always like to do, but have learned to do it anyway: I was dealt a 5/6/8 of spades along with one high card. Proper strategy is to dump the high card. I did that and THIS time the 7 and 9 of spades appeared for a straight flush. Once in a blue moon, it does work.
I walked across the street to the Horizon. This place has had its problems over the years and once you walk inside, you can see that those problems continue. I took a picture of the inside of this casino because with most casinos, you have to turn sideways to get in between all the machines, there are so many. Here, they could have constructed a bowling alley between the rows of machines. They did have a video blackjack machine here and once again, I won. One reader commented that she hadn’t seen these machines before and asked for a picture, so I’ve included one here.
Look at all the space between the machines...and even many of these machines were roped off
This is the video blackjack machines--the girls have been very nice to me
Across the street is the Montbleu Hotel and Casino. This was once a Caesars Hotel, but when Harrahs merged and bought Harvey’s, they had to sell Caesars because of monopoly problems. The place is large and had plenty of tables, but they also had four of the video blackjack machines. I played one and won again (6-0 on these now and I was tempted to play all of them at least once—but I didn’t). And I should mention because there’s a lot of people who love these, in the sportsbook, there are two of those mechanical horse race games that you feed quarters in and the horses race around the track and you bet on the first and second place horses. It’s a fun game and if I had more time, I’d have bought a roll of quarters to play.
It was now time to backtrack and head over to Incline Village and on the way was the Lakeside hotel and casino, a small but classy place. I played one hand of blackjack and won. As I grabbed my winnings, the dealer asked why I wasn’t going to double down. I smiled and said I knew better. He winked and said under his breath, “Smart man.”
The drive in Incline Village is a long, curved road with construction crews every few miles. They obviously have to do all their road work during the summer months. I managed to stop at take the obligatory picture of the Lake Tahoe. As you can see, the weather could not have been better on this day.
Gorgeous day on the lake today
Incline Village is the Beverly Hills of the Tahoe region. The houses here are majestic and many are gated off with security guard booths. I found the Hyatt Regency and pulled into the parking area. The casino is somewhat small, but there were plenty of upscale types playing the machines and at the tables. My blackjack bet was a loser. Needless to say, all the video poker schedules are abysmal.
Probably the uglies building in an area surrounding by amazing houses
The next stop was at the far end of the lake called Crystal Bay. There are three small casinos here. One called the Biltmore Casino. It was nice little place but there was no one playing at the three open tables. I didn’t want the dealers to have to shuffle for just one hand so I played roulette—and lost.
A little less inspiring than its New York counterpart
Across the street at the Crystal Bay Casino, the casino floor is in the basement. This is also very small and there were a couple of blackjack tables, one with a couple of people playing. I played my ten dollar bet and my loss hurt this time. I had a 20 with the dealer showing a 5. She turned over an Ace then dealt herself another 5. Damn!
The final casino was another Nugget, this one owned by John Kelly (why not just called it “Kelly’s”?). This was the smallest of all of them and by far the most dingy. Their “restaurant” consisted of a taco stand outside the back of it. They didn’t have any tables but they did a video blackjack game. I knew it had to end eventually—my 17 lost to the dealer’s 18. This means that my long drive to Crystal Bay was a financial disappointment, 0-3.
Pretty outside, ugly inside
It was getting late and time to head back to Reno. A reader asked me to please take a picture of the Coast Guard station. I looked for it and even punched it in to Milly, but I couldn’t find it, my apologies. The drive back was by way of Hwy 431, which winds its way up to a peak of 9,250 feet. I can’t tell you how odd if feels to be driving on July 12 and have snow on both sides of you as you drive. The Sierra Mountains had 61 feet of snow this year and it appears this snow won’t even have melt away before next winter. The roads were dry and the drive was okay, though I felt bad for any passengers with motion sickness along this route.
After getting back to Reno, I had a couple of casinos left to take care of and parked the car at Harrahs and walked over to the Virginian, which unfortunately is now completely closed. Down the street a bit is the Siena Hotel and Casino. This is a place that caters to businesses and conventions, so it’s quite upscale. The video poker schedules are much like Harrahs—poor. I played roulette and back to my black—and won.
The inside of the Siena
The wind was blowing hard again and so I headed back to the hotel with a short stop at the Nugget to get a sandwich to my room for dinner and watch the All-Star game. Speaking of baseball, I am very disappointed with my timing here in Reno because I was really looking forward into catching another minor league game here with the Reno Aces, who play right across the street from Harrahs here—just another reason to come back to Reno one day soon.
View from my 17th floor looking over the District Freight House Ballpark, home of the Reno Aces
Trip Totals: Casinos visited: 129; Bets Balance +$118
More tomorrow
Today is the entire Lake Tahoe area trek, so I wanted to get an early start. I finished yesterday’s report and went to Starbucks to get it sent out. While I was waiting for the pictures to load, there were two women next to me and one was interviewing another for some job. The girl being interviewed was dressed really well and laughed politely at just about anything the interviewer said. I know I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but I just couldn’t help myself. I only bring this up because it occurs to me that this is just another sign of our culture changing. Interviews are been held in Starbuck’s coffee shops and other business meetings. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this. With all the jokes about the ubiquity of Starbucks, the truth is, they’re serving a great service with the free Wi-Fi, the relaxing take-your-time atmosphere, and some darn good coffee to boot.
As I’m driving along US 395, I realize that I made a planning error. I planned this trip back in April and make all my reservations, especially in the far out-of-the-way places, a lesson I learn during last year’s trip. There are a few casinos in the area of Carson and Minton, so I made a reservation in Carson after my stay in Reno. However, I am now driving through Carson, which means I’ll be doubling back a little bit and coming back here tomorrow. I come across Casino Fandango. I’ve been in here before as well, and it still looks the same. It’s really pretty inside, if you like tacky-kitsch, and I made my first blackjack bet of the day—and lost.
The inside of Fantango--very lush--too bad it's all fake
My strategy today was to take Hwy 50 up to Lake Tahoe and Stateline, then swing back to Incline Village, over to Crystal Bay, and finally back to Reno. The drive up went smoothly and I eventually pulled into Harrahs. I’ve stayed here a few years ago, so I’m familiar with the layout. The first order of business was to swipe my card for the Race to Rewards promotion. Like Reno, there is a Kiosk set up just for this purpose, which makes me a little suspicious because in both Las Vegas and Laughlin there was no kiosk. They swiped my card at the Rewards booth. Being that I’m going to be going back to both those places during this trip, I might look for a kiosk and swipe it again, just to be sure. My blackjack bet was another loser.
For those of you who have not been here, Harrah’s and Harvey’s (also owned by Caesars) are connected by a tunnel that goes under the street. It’s convenient and there’s a Mexican restaurant down there that I understand becomes a party-spot at night. At Harvey’s I play blackjack, and once again, am dealt a blackjack, but I’m paid $12. What? I neglected to look on the table where I see that this (and every table) is a 6/5 game—a mistake I will not make again. Harvey’s still has a few single line machines that have full pay Bonus Poker. The 3/5 play games have all been downgraded, but they’ve left the single line games here alone. I slipped in a hundred to play (I play at the fifty cent level). I was not doing well at all until I was presented with a strategy play that I don’t always like to do, but have learned to do it anyway: I was dealt a 5/6/8 of spades along with one high card. Proper strategy is to dump the high card. I did that and THIS time the 7 and 9 of spades appeared for a straight flush. Once in a blue moon, it does work.
I walked across the street to the Horizon. This place has had its problems over the years and once you walk inside, you can see that those problems continue. I took a picture of the inside of this casino because with most casinos, you have to turn sideways to get in between all the machines, there are so many. Here, they could have constructed a bowling alley between the rows of machines. They did have a video blackjack machine here and once again, I won. One reader commented that she hadn’t seen these machines before and asked for a picture, so I’ve included one here.
Look at all the space between the machines...and even many of these machines were roped off
This is the video blackjack machines--the girls have been very nice to me
Across the street is the Montbleu Hotel and Casino. This was once a Caesars Hotel, but when Harrahs merged and bought Harvey’s, they had to sell Caesars because of monopoly problems. The place is large and had plenty of tables, but they also had four of the video blackjack machines. I played one and won again (6-0 on these now and I was tempted to play all of them at least once—but I didn’t). And I should mention because there’s a lot of people who love these, in the sportsbook, there are two of those mechanical horse race games that you feed quarters in and the horses race around the track and you bet on the first and second place horses. It’s a fun game and if I had more time, I’d have bought a roll of quarters to play.
It was now time to backtrack and head over to Incline Village and on the way was the Lakeside hotel and casino, a small but classy place. I played one hand of blackjack and won. As I grabbed my winnings, the dealer asked why I wasn’t going to double down. I smiled and said I knew better. He winked and said under his breath, “Smart man.”
The drive in Incline Village is a long, curved road with construction crews every few miles. They obviously have to do all their road work during the summer months. I managed to stop at take the obligatory picture of the Lake Tahoe. As you can see, the weather could not have been better on this day.
Gorgeous day on the lake today
Incline Village is the Beverly Hills of the Tahoe region. The houses here are majestic and many are gated off with security guard booths. I found the Hyatt Regency and pulled into the parking area. The casino is somewhat small, but there were plenty of upscale types playing the machines and at the tables. My blackjack bet was a loser. Needless to say, all the video poker schedules are abysmal.
Probably the uglies building in an area surrounding by amazing houses
The next stop was at the far end of the lake called Crystal Bay. There are three small casinos here. One called the Biltmore Casino. It was nice little place but there was no one playing at the three open tables. I didn’t want the dealers to have to shuffle for just one hand so I played roulette—and lost.
A little less inspiring than its New York counterpart
Across the street at the Crystal Bay Casino, the casino floor is in the basement. This is also very small and there were a couple of blackjack tables, one with a couple of people playing. I played my ten dollar bet and my loss hurt this time. I had a 20 with the dealer showing a 5. She turned over an Ace then dealt herself another 5. Damn!
The final casino was another Nugget, this one owned by John Kelly (why not just called it “Kelly’s”?). This was the smallest of all of them and by far the most dingy. Their “restaurant” consisted of a taco stand outside the back of it. They didn’t have any tables but they did a video blackjack game. I knew it had to end eventually—my 17 lost to the dealer’s 18. This means that my long drive to Crystal Bay was a financial disappointment, 0-3.
Pretty outside, ugly inside
It was getting late and time to head back to Reno. A reader asked me to please take a picture of the Coast Guard station. I looked for it and even punched it in to Milly, but I couldn’t find it, my apologies. The drive back was by way of Hwy 431, which winds its way up to a peak of 9,250 feet. I can’t tell you how odd if feels to be driving on July 12 and have snow on both sides of you as you drive. The Sierra Mountains had 61 feet of snow this year and it appears this snow won’t even have melt away before next winter. The roads were dry and the drive was okay, though I felt bad for any passengers with motion sickness along this route.
After getting back to Reno, I had a couple of casinos left to take care of and parked the car at Harrahs and walked over to the Virginian, which unfortunately is now completely closed. Down the street a bit is the Siena Hotel and Casino. This is a place that caters to businesses and conventions, so it’s quite upscale. The video poker schedules are much like Harrahs—poor. I played roulette and back to my black—and won.
The inside of the Siena
The wind was blowing hard again and so I headed back to the hotel with a short stop at the Nugget to get a sandwich to my room for dinner and watch the All-Star game. Speaking of baseball, I am very disappointed with my timing here in Reno because I was really looking forward into catching another minor league game here with the Reno Aces, who play right across the street from Harrahs here—just another reason to come back to Reno one day soon.
View from my 17th floor looking over the District Freight House Ballpark, home of the Reno Aces
Trip Totals: Casinos visited: 129; Bets Balance +$118
More tomorrow
