I spent the better part of Sunday at Binion's, in the downtown area. Got there from the North side after passing by the liquor store my GPS recommended to me - Atomic Liquor Store on Fremont St... those of you who know the area will understand that I did NOT stop there to buy some cheap in-room-loosening-up booze. 
Holy ****, I thought my upbringing in a poor hood would prepare me for whatever I would be encountering here. No. Cops are on every corner arguing with groups of very, uh, tense people and hobos are jaywalking while throwing random insults in the wind. Mommy!
Right past the Fremont East gate though, everything gets a lot better. Smaller, quaint casinos everywhere, with old school signs that must've been colorful 50 years ago. There's a certain Latin flavor which, apart from the omnipresence of palm trees and red Martian mountains, gives me a first concrete sign that I'm somewhat close to Mexico.
Whereas the South part of the strip looks dated, the downtown area looks timeless. I'm loving it already.
Now Binion's is like stepping into a bunch of time warps. The staff is wearing tie-dye t-shirts. Cocktail waitresses my Mom's age are calling me "sweetheart". There's a truck stop atmosphere and everyone is chatty and loud. The place feels 100 times more genuine than the MGM/Mirage properties where everyone is trying hard to be/stay young and hip.
I turn $40 into $1100 at Double Double Bonus, switching from 25c to $1 denomination after hitting 3 quick quads. It's 2:15pm and the next baseball games only start at 5pm. I figure I'll wait until 4, check Pinny and bet whatever's off at Binion's with part of my VP winnings. Getting back to my machine, I start playing quicker and quicker until I get into a trance of sorts - I'm sure it happens to every VP player. I only stop to take phone pics of hands I'm not sure I got right (which it turns out I did). Around 3:45, the machine refuses to deal a new hand. I tap the button again. Oh noes, busto. I feed another $60 into the machine, which last about 2 minutes at the $1 level. I'm down $100.
I wanna make my first brick & mortar bet anyway, so I walk over to the sportsbook and sit at the back so I can check lines without drawing attention. There is one unassuming grey-haired guy behind the counter and he seems bored out of his mind. There’s no way he cares about me checking my phone. There are photocopies of Cal Neva schedule sheets on the tables - they were faxed to Binion's the previous day. "Odds are subject to change", it says at the bottom of each page.
Dodgers and Mariners are +126 and +159 at Pinny while Binion's has +130 and +160. With one hour to go before gametime, I like my chances of playing a +EV 2-teamer. I end up getting +130 and +163 (+505) while Pinny closes at +122 and +164 (+486). My expert guesstimation skills tell me that this isn't a positive expectation bet. Oh whatever... I'm on vacation.
(My first Vegas bet. Emotional stuff.)
I head over to the Binion’s club counter and ask one tie-dye girl what I can get for what I played today. She runs the card and gives me a shocked look:
-You played all that today?
-It took 2 hours.
-Good grief! You were certainly serious about it!
She tells me that my play gets me “everything”. Excellent! “Do you prefer the beach towel or the lava lamp?” Wait, what?
(Free Binion's stuff - Carrot Top room key added for effect.)
Will add to this thread later, gotta check out of this dump ASAP.
Holy ****, I thought my upbringing in a poor hood would prepare me for whatever I would be encountering here. No. Cops are on every corner arguing with groups of very, uh, tense people and hobos are jaywalking while throwing random insults in the wind. Mommy!Right past the Fremont East gate though, everything gets a lot better. Smaller, quaint casinos everywhere, with old school signs that must've been colorful 50 years ago. There's a certain Latin flavor which, apart from the omnipresence of palm trees and red Martian mountains, gives me a first concrete sign that I'm somewhat close to Mexico.
Whereas the South part of the strip looks dated, the downtown area looks timeless. I'm loving it already.
Now Binion's is like stepping into a bunch of time warps. The staff is wearing tie-dye t-shirts. Cocktail waitresses my Mom's age are calling me "sweetheart". There's a truck stop atmosphere and everyone is chatty and loud. The place feels 100 times more genuine than the MGM/Mirage properties where everyone is trying hard to be/stay young and hip.
I turn $40 into $1100 at Double Double Bonus, switching from 25c to $1 denomination after hitting 3 quick quads. It's 2:15pm and the next baseball games only start at 5pm. I figure I'll wait until 4, check Pinny and bet whatever's off at Binion's with part of my VP winnings. Getting back to my machine, I start playing quicker and quicker until I get into a trance of sorts - I'm sure it happens to every VP player. I only stop to take phone pics of hands I'm not sure I got right (which it turns out I did). Around 3:45, the machine refuses to deal a new hand. I tap the button again. Oh noes, busto.
I feed another $60 into the machine, which last about 2 minutes at the $1 level. I'm down $100. I wanna make my first brick & mortar bet anyway, so I walk over to the sportsbook and sit at the back so I can check lines without drawing attention. There is one unassuming grey-haired guy behind the counter and he seems bored out of his mind. There’s no way he cares about me checking my phone. There are photocopies of Cal Neva schedule sheets on the tables - they were faxed to Binion's the previous day. "Odds are subject to change", it says at the bottom of each page.
Dodgers and Mariners are +126 and +159 at Pinny while Binion's has +130 and +160. With one hour to go before gametime, I like my chances of playing a +EV 2-teamer. I end up getting +130 and +163 (+505) while Pinny closes at +122 and +164 (+486). My expert guesstimation skills tell me that this isn't a positive expectation bet. Oh whatever... I'm on vacation.(My first Vegas bet. Emotional stuff.)
I head over to the Binion’s club counter and ask one tie-dye girl what I can get for what I played today. She runs the card and gives me a shocked look:
-You played all that today?
-It took 2 hours.
-Good grief! You were certainly serious about it!
She tells me that my play gets me “everything”. Excellent! “Do you prefer the beach towel or the lava lamp?” Wait, what?
(Free Binion's stuff - Carrot Top room key added for effect.)
Will add to this thread later, gotta check out of this dump ASAP.
excellent write up.
