Landchark

So the wife and I went to las vegas last fall and i finally got around to writing up a bit of a poker trip report.

We saw a few shows (rat pack show again, of course), ate at some amazing restaurants, and I got in one awesome craps session where i was the only player at the table and i got on a very nice long roll and pocketed a nice pile of black and green chips.

anyways, this being a poker trip report, and not a overall vegas trip report, on to the poker…

i played all no limit, the poker hosts will always push you to limit.  i think they make more rake or something on limit.
but when i walked up to any room, the host always asked if i was looking for a seat at a 3/6 limit game.
i always said “no, i don’t play math, i like to drink.  put me on the no limit table” 

Bills Gambling Hall:

i had the most fun, and won the most, at bill’s gambling hall. they played a $1 no limit. only one blind of one dollar. plus they have cracked AA or KK jackpots during the day.

when you play there, make sure you bet on the pig races.  (they have, or at least did have, a slot machine next to the poker table that had a big screen with pig race bonus round that all the poker players would pick a pig and bet on).

 table was right next to the front door and only a $20 min buyin, so people would walk in, buy in for $20 or $40 and then play stupid, hopefully give it to me, then leave.  NEXT! 

drink service was very good there. most of the people were either kids who watched too much WSOP and thought they were awesome or beginners that thought they should try it out with that low of a buy in and only one $1 blind, with a couple of drunk locals thrown in. dealers were good too.

Golden Nugget:

played a lot at golden nugget – very nice, played 1/2 there. game didn’t play that cheap, tho. half the table bought in for $200-$300, and the other half the table had stacks of over $1000, one lady had at least $4k-$5k and the $300 buy-in stack next to me and i were figuring this dude at the other end of the table had at least $10k in front of him.  those people had big watches, too. i’m talking watches the size of connecticut. they were talking about playing in bellagio’s $10/$20 game so i don’t know exactly why they wanted to play a 1/2 game, but maybe they just were slumming or something.

limping and then a raise to $9+ with at least 2 or 3 callers was standard preflop. did 4-5 hour sessions starting at about 11pm for a few nights. got a breakfast comp for me and the wife after each one. i held my own against the regulars and decent players, but at least once per night i had some random schmuck utter what came to be my most hated phrase: “what the hell, it’s only money” and then proceed to call my huge bet and flip over a worse hand and then proceed to suck out. oh well, that’s poker. 

i must have looked like i played really tight at the nugget, cuz once i was one off the button and everyone limped for the $2 so i bumped it up to $25 hoping to steal or at least thin it out and steal with a c-bet on the flop. everyone folded around to one of the huge $1k+ stacks, a guy with a watch the size of connecticut, and he reraises me to $75 or something like that.  i think for a few seconds, and then say i fold, and the guy gets all big headed and flips a KQ and says to me “you can’t wait around for AA all day, buddy!” like he’s the king of bluffing or something. i look back and say “yeah, i know, i should play more hands” and i flip over a J4offsuit.  the look on his face was classic. 

oh, and golden nugget thinks that Hennessey is a normal brandy comp drink, so that was nice.

other places i played:

planet hollywood:

very nice poker room.  played 1/2 while waiting for the tourney and doubled my $200 buy-in after watching this guy buy 2 pots and then calling his all-in bluff.  most everyone there thought they were a lot better than they were. then i did the 1am tourney there, busted out in the middle. was pretty schnookered by that point.

fitz:

played one tourney, busted just before bubble. wasn’t too impressed with that joint.

binion’s:

played one tourney, busted in middle. was a cool 5 way allin with 4 people busting out, tho, so that was interesting.  i was shortstacked on the small blind and i had 4 people go all-in in front of me.  i had to call with my Jd 10d. heck i would have called with a 2 and a kleenex.  when the hands got flipped, there was a KK, AK, AA, and 99.  obviously, the 99 hit a 9 on the flop and won.  just like on the internet! a couple of diamonds came on the flop so i had a really good shot at quadding up and then making the money, but that third one just never came. oh, well. 

the steakhouse on top of binion’s is really good, too.

plaza:

played 2 of the $40 one table tourney’s.  came in second on the first one and won the second. worst players i found in vegas were at that place in that tourney. i overheard more than once, “that’s not what would happen on my playstation game”.  funny story: you can chop the prize once it is down to 3 people, and in the second one i played, it ended up with 2 of us left and i could tell this was his first time ever playing in a casino. he had me about 4 to 1 in chips, like 100k to 25k or something like that. and i offer to chop the pot 50/50 with him right then.  he’s like “no way, i’m totally going to win!” and his friend (who looked like he knew a bit more what he was doing and had busted out in like 7th or something) says to him, “dude, take it, or this guy’s going to crush you”. so, the guy refused my chop offer, i just said, “okay, don’t say i didn’t offer” and about 3 hands later i had evened out the chip stacks and he then proceeds to ask me if i want to chop. i said, “sorry, you had your chance” and then about 3 hands after that i won the entire thing, and the guy’s like, “whoa, i should have taken that chop”.  heh heh. that was awesome.

imperial palace:

eh, not so great. crappy room, really. drink service was slooooow and it seemed to take them forever to get me on a table in a mostly empty room.

i did hit a 4 A’s on the video poker there while waiting for a table, so that was good, but i still probably wouldn’t go back there anytime soon.

excalibur:

i was going to play at the excalibur, since i’ve heard that was the softest game in town, but they had all computer poker there, so i didn’t play that.  can stay home to play poker online if i want to play on a computer.

luxor:

played a little cash game there, 1/2. but the tables were mostly all full. and the wait list was really long. but the people playing looked like a lot of fun. lots of jager flowing. which is the best place to play   i finally got in one night, but i got put at a table of fuddy duddy old men for the first hour, then got moved to a fun table and proceeded to get hammered on free shots. one dude at the other end was buying your choice of patron or jager for anyone in a hand with him. i think i about broke even there, kind of a blur, so not sure. 

well, that’s it.  ended down for the trip, but had a load of fun and learned a lot, so it was a good time.

maybe, someday soon, i’ll get my rear in gear and post a overall vegas trip report.

Tags: , booze, craps, Hennessey, poker, vegas by chadd
2 Comments »

Well, i’ve built a table, so now it’s time to roll them dice.

But, you say “chadd, i’ve never played craps! i don’t want to look like a complete tool and get yelled at by the dealers and shunned by the rest of the people at the table and have my girlfriend leave me and my dog get run over by a train and my house burn down and my momma not get paroled!”

Fear not!

First of all, you are not living the perfect country & western song (see minute 3:05).

Second, I’m going to give you the basics of how to play casino craps right here, in 20 easy to follow steps.

1. Walk up to the table and find an empty spot.
2. Set your drink on the bottom drink rail. All casino craps tables, and most home tables should have them. you never set your drink on the top chip rail. that’s for chips. pretty simple, the names give the purpose of the rails away.
3. Look for the big “puck” on the table. it looks like this:
4. if the puck is white and says “on”, just wait. if it is black and says “off”, put your money down on the table. never hand your money to the dealer, they can’t take it from your hand. just put it on the table, in the marked up part, and they will cash it into chips for you.
5. take your chips and put them in the top chip rail. not to be confused with the lower drink rail, see step 2.
6. put down your bet in front of you, on the pass line area.
7. if it is your turn to roll the dice, they will give you a bunch of them to choose from (probably 5 or so). pick two. they’ll take the rest back and then when you are ready, toss them down to the other end of the table.
8. some points about handling and throwing the dice:
   • never bring the dice back over the railing, you’ll get yelled at by the dealers
   • always use only one hand to hold the dice
   • blowing on dice is fine, having your hottie girlfriend blow on them is even better
   • always make sure you hit the wall of the table opposite you. you don’t want to look like a wimp or something
   • keep the dice on the table. don’t whip them off into the stratosphere, you’ll look like a dork.
   • don’t roll them into a bunch of piles of chips that are on the table
   • don’t throw them so hard they bounce from the back wall to the the front and back again.
   • optimum throw: lob them about chin high so they land just short of the back wall and then bounce against the back wall and come back at you a couple bounces and stop.
   • show some control with your dice throw, you’ll impress your hottie girlfriend
9. ok, you threw the dice like a pro, and in the process you didn’t spill a drop of the martini that you are holding in your other hand. very smooth.
10. if you rolled a 2, 3, or a 12, you lose your ‘pass line’ bet, and the whole thing starts over, but you don’t have to pass the dice, you get to roll again
11. if you rolled a 7 or 11, you automatically win your ‘pass line’ bet and the dealer will put your winnings down by your original bet, then you can scoop up your winnings, and you’ll get to put another bet on the pass line and roll again
12. if you roll anything else, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10, then that becomes the “point” and the dealer will take the puck and move it to that number and flip it so the puck is white and says “on” to mark what the point is.
13. now’s when you can play your ‘odds’ bet. this is an extra bet that you put behind your original pass bet. this is the best bet in the casino since it is paid off at the actual odds of rolling the number, with no casino cut.
14. how much can you bet on your odds bet? it is posted on a little sign on the wall of the inside of the table next to the minimum bet amount, and usually says 4x or 5x or 10x or something. that means you can bet that much times your original pass line bet. so if you bet $5 on the pass line and it says ‘5x odds’, then you can bet $25 on your odds bet. i’m not going to get into all the odds of what point pays what payout, just know that this is the best bet in the casino, and you want to bet as much on your odds bet as your bankroll can afford or you are allowed at this table.
15. now, let’s recap where we are: you have a bet on the pass line, an odds bet backing it up, a martini in one hand, and a girl on your side, and you just rolled a ‘point number’.
16. now you roll again. it boils down to this: if you hit your ‘point number’ before you hit a 7, you win your pass line bet and the odds bet behind it. if you hit a 7 first, you lose both your bets. no other numbers matter, if you roll anything but your point number or a 7, you just keep getting the dice back and you continue to roll.
17. if you hit the point number, everyone will cheer, you’ll stand back, finish your martini and flag down the cocktail waitress while the dealer pays you out by stacking chips next to your bets.
18. scoop up your bets and order your next martini (remember to tip).
19. no matter if you hit your point or not, the dealers will then flip the puck back to the black off position and move it to the side. then, if you hit your point, you’ll get to keep the dice, otherwise, the dealers will pass them to the next guy.
20. start over at step 6.

Yes, there’s a ton of other bets that you can make at a craps table, and you’ll see people throwing money all over the place. But this is the basics, and will get you into the fun. If you can follow those steps, you will look like you know what you are doing, and you will be playing the highest player advantage strategy.

Have fun and see you at the tables!

Tags: , casino fun, craps, dice, martini by chadd
5 Comments »

It is finished. At least, as finished as it is going to be since it still needs chip rails made and attached.

Where did I leave off. In our last episode, we left our hero with a craps table with no trim, no inside finishing done, things not painted and only one rail padded. A dire predicament indeed.

I made the second padded rail and painted all the exposed wood (see part 8 on the making of the rail). Then moved it down to the K2 lounge (basement) to put it into use.

It sat like that as I worked on various other projects until I found out I was going to be filmed for a new HGTV show called “Man Land”. That lit the fire under my butt to get this thing finished.

So here’s what I did:

Added some side trim pieces to cover the staples in the upholstered outside of the tub. Just some simple pine trim half round, painted gloss black, and attached with finishing nails.

After my previous experiences, I gave up on the idea of having a curved mirror and just cut a cheap ($2.50 on sale) full length mirror to fit. Glued it in place, done and done. I surrounded the mirror with the self stick vinyl tile I used on the other side of the inside of the tub. Looks pretty slick. In these photos, the flash really reflects off the white edges of the tile, but in person, you can hardly see the edges after i went over them with a black Sharpie.

The biggest dilemma was how to trim the curved top of the sides of the tub. I debated using everything from rubber door seal to vacuum cleaner hose, but nothing seemed to work. Either it didn’t fit right or it didn’t look right. Ended up slapping on some more of that self stick vinyl tile and it actually turned out pretty good. Gives it a good finish and shows off the curve nicely.

All in all, it was a fun project. Took way too long, but that’s how it goes. I’m happy with the result, even without the chip rail. Plus it’s been a lot of fun to play on.

Now if I could just find the perfect betting system…

Tags: , build, craps, craps table by chadd
34 Comments »

So i finally got it (mostly) done. (Is a project like this ever really “done”?)

The basement casino is open for business.

Breif history:

When we moved into the house, there was nothing down there. Just a big open box with the concrete foundation walls on all sides. Staircase coming down in the middle, furnace & water heater on one side, laundry washer & dryer on the other.

This last spring, I, with the help of my dear ol’ pop, put up drywall walls to create some rooms. Walled off a furnace room, and also a laundry room.

These photos were taken Sept 25, 2006.

I posted those, so you can see what has happened in a very short time span, considering it’s only been one mere mortal working on it.

So, without any further ado, chadd’s new basement casino:

Welcome to the k2 Lounge!

Bar

New Bottle shelves (added Nov 22 2006)

Beer Tap (added july 2007)

Blackjack table

Craps

Poker

Entertainment center

Home Theater PC (added march 2008)

Jukebox (added april 2008) [update: now with backlit display art]

 

Random shots

There’s still a lot to do. Need more art on the walls, need to add kegerator behind the bar [update: wall beer tap added], add a sink behind the bar, add a couple bookshelves, trim out the drywall, start/finish the downstairs bathroom in the laundry room. Should keep me occupied for a while.

In the meantime, it’s done enough to be usable, my own little piece of Vegas in my basement. And, after the first party we had down there last week, I think it will work out well. But, i think i might have to initiate taking a rake from the poker table, or else i’m going to have to send back that volcano for the front yard and the flamingos for the back.

Tags: , basement bar, blackjack, craps, home casino, home theater, htpc, jukebox, k2 lounge, pinball, poker by chadd
22 Comments »

I cut out the pieces that would make up the padded rails out of 3/4″ CDX (leftover scraps), and screwed them together. When screwing the lip onto the main padded rail piece, I had the main rail laying down inside to make sure it would all fit together when i put it on.

After getting it assembled, I made a trip to JoAnn fabrics to pick up foam and vinyl. If you ever have a question about fabric or upholstering, just ask those ladies that work there. They answered all my questions and were a great help in choosing the right materials. I couldn’t believe how excited they were to “help this nice young man with his project”. According to one lady, it is more fun to help the men that come in since they are doing the fun projects like poker tables, boat upholstering, bar rails, etc. In reality, I think she was just hitting on me.
Ended up getting 3 yards of Black Dakota Vinyl, and one sheet of 1″ HD foam. The only HD foam they had came in pieces about 24″ wide, so I ended up having to piece it together to cover the whole rail.

Got the vinyl stretched on, stapled, and trimmed on one side and then ran out of staples, so I still have one side to go.

Since I couldn’t do the other rail, I thought I would tackle cutting the mirror to fit for the inside stickman wall. Let’s just say that cutting a mirror is a bit more difficult than scoring and snapping a piece of drywall. I ended up breaking three mirrors before I gave that up for the night. I’m hoping that I can find a mirror that will fit if I just keep an eye out. If not, I’ll be taking a mirror down to the local glass shop to have them cut it. Three broken mirrors of bad luck is enough for me.

go to part 9 – the finale

Tags: , craps, craps table by chadd
8 Comments »