… go to Atlantic City. Casino operators are patting themselves on the back for raising awareness of breast cancer this month. If they really cared, they’d ban smoking on their gambling floors. After all, what says “careless risk” like dealers having carcinogens blown in their faces? Rather than ‘promote early awareness’ of breast cancer, why not stop it before it starts? But no, dead employees are part of ‘the cost of doing business’ for Big Gaming and the latter will pay lip service for fighting cancer, so long as no real and meaningful action has to be taken.
It was to be the best of times and it turned into the worst.
Who knew I’d be home a month after my August Vegas jaunt and be GRATEFUL I have only two upcoming surgeries?
I arrived on Wednesday evening August 21 for yet another Bobby Vegas “so many casinos so little time” special trip and what a trip I’d planned: two celebrity interviews lined up, two trips to The Pinky Ring, hangin’ with my new buds the Hooligans and Bobby Wilson, 30% off the new super-hot Disco Show at Linq, even a gambling tournament.
On my first night, I had a good dinner at Rainbow and chased 75X points on a positive breakeven $15k progressive at 2 a.m.
At 11 a.m. Thursday … BAM! I slammed into a kidney-stone wall.
Many of you, I’m sure, are aware that pain, especially excruciating unrelenting pain, tends to change things — perspective, priorities, relationships. Everything. And since I couldn’t pee, it kept getting worse.
Three trips to Urgent Care on Rancho at Charleston led to full CT scans, blood work, and catheters. Due to the bleeding, I wound up in the emergency room at UCM and 2½ days in the hospital. After I was discharged, which turned out to be a mistake, I rested for two days in my hotel room, flew home, had emergency surgery, and spent five weeks on a catheter. But you know what? I consider myself a winner — just to have survived this horror show with the odds stacked against me.
And here’s one for the ages. Arriving home at 11 p.m. after an absolutely horrific trip, I turn on my house radio and out wafts,
“Sometimes the lights all shining on me. Other times I can barely see. Lately it occurs to me What a long strange trip it’s been.”
As a fully qualified Deadhead (with 45 shows in my past), I called out, “HEY JERRY! Man, are you speaking to me from the Grateful beyond and is this some of the ol’ magical Dead synchronicity …or just chance?
It’s now five days later. I’m relatively pain free for the first time in 12 days. Okay, I am sore from the kidney-stone surgery, but that’s it.
Now, how do you know you’re a stone-cold Vegas scuffler? After all that, I still made sure I piled on enough action not to lose my vaunted max-discount casino status before the end-of-third-quarter casino review. Only then did I hobble home to North Carolina, catheter in tow.
Grateful for friends who showed up, Medicare and supplemental insurance, and my home.
And after I read the September LVA, all I could think about was when can I get back to Vegas?” The adventure continues.
The price of prime rib keeps going up, but good specials keep showing up, sometimes in places you wouldn’t expect.
Double Helix Wine & Whiskey Lounge
On Sundays and Mondays, Double Helix at Town Square has a prime rib special for $24.99. Though salad and rolls aren’t included, it comes with mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and—get this—a shot of bourbon. The prime rib is a good cut, served with a horseradish sauce (not straight). The vegetable was sauteed spinach on our visit. It looks a bit skimpy without a salad, but it’s a full meal and the quality is a notch above the typical casino special.
The Shot
What makes this one especially noteworthy is the accompanying shot of bourbon, a nice touch that we haven’t seen before. The brand is whatever’s being featured that month. For us, Old Forester Rye. It’s not a full shot, more of a flight tasting, but it works well with the dinner.
The Venue
Double Helix is something of a Vegas insider’s hang, a good place for sipping wine and whiskeys while sampling small plates. It’s also cigar-friendly. The restaurant is located in the middle of the Town Square complex, closer to the west side, so best to park in the back lot bordering the freeway.
The Verdict
We liked this special and rate it one of the better prime rib options in town. There were a couple hiccups—we had to ask for a steak knife and remind the waiter to bring the bourbon—but overall and considering the price, this is a good value that can fit well with a comedy night at Wiseguys, a Pop Stroke outing, or a shopping trip. The restaurant is open 11 am-10 pm Sundays and 3:30-11 pm Mondays.
I’ve known for years that Triple Play reduces the variance of video poker. And Five Play, Ten Play, Fifty Play, and Hundred Play even more so. When most of us had the software Video Poker for Winners, the variance for Triple Play and Five Play and Ten Play were listed. So, this information was readily available. Unfortunately, that software doesn’t work on modern machines, and it’s not going to be updated. So most of us no longer have access to this source of information.
Saying dollar Ten Play has a lower variance than the single-line version of the same game is simply not correct. The Ten Play version, at $50 per play, has a considerably higher variance than the single-line version at $5 per play. But variance-per-coin-bet is a different story. Dollar Ten Play and $10 single play both require $50 to play. Between these two games, the Ten Play version has a much lower variance.
I’ve had some theories as to why this is true, but my major certainty on this matter came from looking at the software, which I trusted, rather than understanding the actual math itself.
Recently, however, I attended a lecture by Dr. Stewart N. Ethier, Professor Emeritus at the department of mathematics at the University of Utah, which addressed this subject. Although Ethier’s presentation was far more mathematical than I can usefully present to a general audience, I understand his point well enough so I can simplify it for my readers. If you wish to see the original paper, which he released simultaneously with the lecture, you may view it at //arxiv.org/abs/2409.03607.
The key way of looking at it that Ethier presented is one that seems obvious once it’s pointed out, but I, for one, never noticed it. The variance of a video poker hand is the sum of two components; namely the variance of the deal and the variance of the draw, which I will refer to as var (total) = var (deal) + var (draw).
So far, so good, Captain Obvious. What does this buy us?
What it buys us is that the variance of the draw is MUCH larger than the variance of the deal. For example, the variance of 9/6 Jacks or Better is about 19.5, but this is the sum of the variance of the deal (about 2) and the variance of the draw (about 17.5). One of the major components of the variance is the frequency of hitting the royal flush, which is about 1/40,000 for the draw versus 1/650,000 for the deal.
The variance for Triple Play is the variance of the deal, plus the variance of the draw, divided by 3. For Five Play we divide by 5. For Hundred Play we divide by 100. Notice we’re dividing the larger of the components of the variance.
Although Ethier provides quite a few decimal places in his paper (which you can look at if you wish), these are the variance numbers for 9/6 Jacks or Better
Single Line – 19.5
Triple Play – 7.82
Five Play – 5.48
Ten Play – 3.72
Fifty Play – 2.32
Hundred Play – 2.15
The primary reason for preferring lower variance is the preservation of bankroll. That is, playing multi-line versions of the same game reduces your risk of ruin — i.e., your chance of going broke. It’s frequently not possible to have a choice between multi-line games and single-line games with the same pay schedule. But when it is possible, the safer play is to go with the multi-line game.
“Safer” isn’t everyone’s choice. Higher variance can be called “more fun,” and a number of players gamble for fun. I gamble for longevity and profit, and bankroll preservation is a primary concern.
Dateline: AUGUSTA, Georgia. The brunt of Hurricane Helene fell upon this city and disabled S&G HQ. As a consequence, we are without power through next Sunday and this is being written from the office of Mrs. S&G. Since our reactions to the federal, state and civic non-response to Helene are well-nigh unprintable, we shall skip to the heart of the matter …
[Editor’s Note: This is a guest review from friend of LVA George Antanakos.]
The closing of Chinglish out at Charleston and Rampart did away with the best dumplings and dipping sauce in the city and sent me on a hunt for dim sum outside of Chinatown.
Enter Lucky House Seafood Restaurant. Located on Durango just south of Flamingo, it opened early this year and as soon as I walked in, I knew it was authentic: Several gorgeous golden-brown roasted ducks hang near the entrance. Also, it’s a great sign when I’m one of the only non-Asians in the place and it was busy on a random Wednesday at 2 p.m., not exactly prime time.
We ordered up the dim sum and tried a couple of other dishes. We found the truffle and regular siu mai ($6 and $7, respectively) above average, but couldn’t tell the difference, so the regular is the play. The true dim sum stars at Lucky House are the shrimp; the har gow and shrimp-and-chive dumplings were sublime.
We also ordered the “roasted pork” entrée, which is actually pork belly. If you like juicy fatty belly with perfectly crispy skin, this is the dish for you. The kung pao chicken was the big surprise. It’s usually a disappointment, even in Chinatown, but at Lucky House, I tried unsuccessfully to recall another kung pao that even came close. I’m not easily impressed, but this is a must-eat version.
The bill came to $78.03 with tax, but not tip.
All in all, Lucky House is an excellent option and a hidden gem, especially if you don’t want to fade the traffic and parking issues in Chinatown.
Cosmopolitan –The Wicked Spoon: Daily Brunch is now 8 a.m.-2 p.m. instead of 8 a.m.-3 p.m. for $47 on weekdays and $54 on weekends.
Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: This week’s buffet schedule is: Weekend Brunch is Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. for $24.95. Weekend Dinner is Friday, 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. for $27.
Palms – A.Y.C.E. Buffet: Released their upcoming themed nights and holiday events: 9th Island Night – Saturday, September 28, 2024 Latin Night – Saturday, October 26, 2024 Halloween – Thursday, October 31, 2024 Veteran’s Day – Monday, November 11, 2024 Thanksgiving – Thursday, November 28, 2024 National Finals Rodeo (NFR) – December 5-14, 2024 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – Tuesday, December 24 and Wednesday, December 25, 2024 New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day – Tuesday, December 31, 2024 and Wednesday, January 1, 2025
As you may have noticed, there hasn’t been any S&G so far this week. That’s because an assignment for Orlando Magazine has taken us to Virginia for four days. We haven’t seen a lick of gambling but have viewed much else. Our base of operations momentarily is Lexington, “the Valhalla of the South.” They have long memories down here, although it’s become a pretty liberal place by now. But tradition dies hard at Virginia Military Institute, where “rats” are encouraged to rat out other rats, lest they be “boned” by “dykes.” (Yes, that’s all standard-issue VMI lingo.)
Anime is a style of animation that originated in Japan and has become popular worldwide. “One Piece” is a long-running (1997) anime and manga (graphic-novel) series, one of the most popular in Japan. It chronicles the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat pirate crew as they search for the ultimate treasure known as One Piece. It combines elements of action, adventure, comedy, drama, and fantasy in various formats, including a TV series, movies, and video games.
posters along the waiting-line wall
“One Piece” opened its first U.S. fast-food cafe in Las Vegas in mid-May. It’s located in Chinatown at 5600 Spring Mountain Rd. (north side just west of Lindell). The U.S. fan base is huge, if the lines out the door, along the storefront, and around the corner were any indication. We finally got near the place after two months.
Even then, we waited in 112-degree heat with a dozen other people to get in the door, where the line continues. It took 35 minutes from the back of the line to the counter, then another five for the food.
It’s a two-store restaurant, with six four-tops in the front room; the 24 seats can accommodate the number of people waiting in line inside. In the second room are three high tables to stand at and 14 seats in two big booths.
Mostly, the second room is devoted to a wall-length “One Piece” mural and a half-wall selfie station. In all, around 38 can sit, 12 can stand. Everyone else, say “sayonara.”
The menu is fries ($5), beef skewers and pepper and egg friend rice ($10 each), tuna casserole, seafood fried rice, and beef curry ($16), burger and fries ($18), and the Mighty Meats platter ($30), along with a half-dozen desserts ($5.50-$25).
We ordered the beef skewers, a matcha mochi cookie (matcha is green-tea powder, mochi glutinous rice dough pounded into different shapes), and a yuzu (Asian lemon) lemonade ($6). It was … edible. The bill came to $23.30 with tax.
For that price, we could’ve gotten bigger, better, cheaper food at any of 10 other places within walking distance in Chinatown.
The food is more of an afterthought to the ambience, murals, and gathering of fans and, of course, the merchandise: T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, beanies, caps, plush dolls, keychains, lanyards, stickers, pins, jigsaw puzzle, all in the expensive range ($12 for a pin to $80 for a hoodie). Both the merch and food were flying out the door.
If you’re a fan of the show or culture or have kids in tow who are, this is the only place in the country to get a vicarious experience of “One Piece.” Or if you really want to see what all the fuss is about, check it out. Otherwise, it’s a pass.
