We were originally scheduled for a trip to Las Vegas in March, 2020. We had booked it back in September 2019. The fares were high due to March Madness so I decided to use some Chase Ultimate Rewards points for the one-way fares out and use Southwest for the return fares. Due to COVID, we […]
Posts in category Advantage Play
Gambler’s Bonus Reminiscences – Part II of II
Last week I wrote about a juicy game that lasted for several years in 15-machine pubs in greater Las Vegas. If you read that article first, this one will make more sense. Near the end of the time when this game was available, the manager of one of these pubs asked if I could meet […]
Gambler’s Bonus Reminiscences – Part I of II
For a five-year period ending about a decade ago, I played a lot at certain 15-machine pubs in the southeastern section of the Las Vegas valley. Places such as Village Pub, Raye’s, Doc Holliday’s, and Franklin’s. Most of these places have changed owners and names since then. All have removed the game I played. My […]
Two Simple Applications of the Binomial Distrib...
A month or so ago I answered the Question of the Day for the Las Vegas Advisor and I answered it in terms of the Binomial Distribution. There were some comments posted after that QOD indicating that people wanted to know more about it. This is a lightly edited version of a 2012 article that […]
Two Sucker Bets
“S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E!” sixty people shouted as my wife Bonnie entered her sister’s house. Her 75th birthday party was off to a noisy beginning. I sighed in relief. We had pulled it off. All the invitations and such had been sent out and responses received with Bonnie having no clue. I had ordered a cake from BabyCakes, […]
Ethics Vs EV
Last week a story broke detailing a botched start time for a group of South Korean baseball games that were scheduled to begin after midnite. The main line services had the time right but one group of books got it wrong. It had the games starting much later, and as a result bettors, still up […]
In the Wild
In this ongoing series I’m going to share anecdotes and observations from the casinos, usually for entertainment purposes only. I’m limited in what I can share in real time, so I might expand the column to guest contributors or non-casino material in the future. If you leave a comment, please reference the post number. #2. […]
Are You Still Up to Snuff?
In Las Vegas, there was a 70-day break for the pandemic, assuming you played in the casinos on March 17 and returned on June 4. If you socially distanced before March 17, or didn’t rush back as soon as the casinos reopened, the break was longer. Certain casino venues elsewhere in the country opened earlier […]
Finding my Spot
When I was nine years old, I was an All-Star baseball player. It wasn’t part of the official Little League system. Our city parks in Gardena, a suburb of Los Angeles, had a minor league, from 8-10 years of age, a major league, from 10-12, and a pony league, from 12-14. At the start of […]
Coronavirus IV: Rats!
I am Charlie Brown to The Rat’s Lucy van Pelt. When The Rat guest-blogged that the re-opening of casinos could bring a uniquely juicy opportunity for APs, I was skeptical. I told Anthony Curtis, “So surveillance has a little more work, but that doesn’t turn a sweatshop into a candy store.” I made a verbose […]
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