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Mad Professor's Mini-Table Craps Tour with the Vegas Ghost- Part VI (Read Part I , Part II, Part III or Part IV or Part V)
Ya gotta remember that craps tables werent
always the huge 16 or 18 player mother-f%#&ers that most casinos have now. In the early 60s they were still
mostly using the old-style one-dealer/eight-player tables.
As we headed into the driveway that led to the parking
structure, Mel (the Vegas Ghost) was opining about the various craps-table sizes all over
Vegasville.
He elaborated a little further on the subject.
Well, from 1931 to the mid-60s, craps was
the most popular casino game not including poker. Yep,
it was even more popular than blackjack up until about 1964 or 65. You take some of the downtown joints like Golden
Gate (the former Sal Sagev), or the Horseshoe (the original Boulder Club),
or the Pioneer Club (the original Apache Hotel), well each one of them had anywhere
from six to twenty craps tables. Keep in mind
that those were, and still are, tiny little casinos.
Yeah, thats right, even a small joint like the
Golden Gate had almost a dozen craps tables at one time.
They had maybe a couple of dozen slot machines in there when I first got to
town, and the rest of the place was filled with table games. Now theyve got more than 200 machines in
place of all of those craps-layouts, and just two 24-player monster tables.
Back in the 60s all of the small sawdust
operations still had a thriving craps operation, but the joints on the Strip were the
first ones that started to increase the number of slot machines, and decrease the number
of table games.
All of the casinos started using the more expensive
three dealers and box-man set-up in the early 60s. Before that, most tables
were either one-man or two-man operations. They
started making the tables bigger and bigger, but they installed less and less of them. Thats when the trend towards installing more
and more machines started. Pretty soon, most
of the big casinos on the Strip will have a 90:10 ratio in place of the current 80:20
machines-to-tables ratio. Thats
completely opposite to the ratio that was in place when I first got to Vegas.
Heres a picture of a typical old-style one-man,
eight-player table (courtesy of the UNLV Archive). Since
we are on a mini-table tour of Vegas, it shows that craps tables havent evolved that
much since the old days.
We made the slow elevator ride from
the parkade into our next mini-table destination:
Imperial Palace
Where Is It?
Located
on the Las Vegas Boulevard Strip between the Flamingo Hotel and Harrahs,
lies this 2700-room Oriental-themed resort. Casino
Royale with its low-buck $1 tables is just down the street, while the opulent grandeur of
The Venetians $10 tables is an equal distance in the other direction. It is directly
across from Caesars Palace and the Mirage Hotel, so you are never far from any level of
action that you may want to seek out. A
Personal Comment
Let me
start by saying that the IP is not one of my favorite casino haunts. It has a smoke-tinged sewage smell that is most
prevalent during spring and fall.
The fact
that this not-so-nice palace is built on top of a Las Vegas flood-plain, and that a major
aquifer suffering major subsidence problems flows underneath explains both the seasonal
parking garage flooding, as well as the musty backed-up sewer smell that permeates this
gaming establishment.
On the
other hand, I have made quite a bit of money at this particular Palace and continue to do
so to this very day. For that reason,
Im willing to overlook the sewer-smell with the prospect of overcoming it with the
smell of Precision-Shooting profit.
Listen,
not every casino can have the blown-glass Dale Chilully chandeliers of Bellagio, or great
big game dealers like Caesars, or the upscale, yet relaxed informality of The
Mirage. There will always be a need, and
indeed a desire, for low-end gaming resorts that have tons of low-cost amenities and
restaurants, and most importantly winnable games in their casino. The Imperial Palace is definitely one of those
places.
The Usual Suspects
Clientele
at the Imperial consists mostly of price-conscious package-tour charter travelers who want
a full-service gaming-resort without the higher price that that usually entails. They also have a loyal customer-base who visit
several times each year to enjoy the low-cost frenetic action.
The 75,000
square-foot casino is almost always full, and
Im not just talking about the busier weekends.
This is a non-stop perpetual-motion machine that hums along seven days a week
without any discernable dips in the action throughout the entire year. Its always either busy, incredibly busy, or
unfreakin believably busy.
Rooms & Food
The
rooms here arent all that great and are in need of upgrading, but they are cleaned
quite well, and are comfortable despite their relative age.
Food at
the Imperial Palace IS NOT a highlight.
While it will never make it onto Fodors Top Ten-Million
restaurant list, I havent seen too many patrons actually wheeled-out or carried out
of their restaurants on stretchers, so I guess they arent universally bad.
However, you should be aware that a number of people have
indicated that eating here usually results in child-birthing pain on the low end of the
discomfort-threshold, all the way up to uncontrollable gastrointestinal eruptions right in
the middle of the casino floor. As the
emperor at the OTHER palace across the street (Caesars Palace) might say, Vescor
praecaveo! (Eaters beware!).
Craps Conditions
They
currently have four long, LONG 20-player tables, plus one 6-seat Crapshoot table, which is
the one that we are going to be playing on today.
Keep in
mind that if you sit in the fourth seat from either end at the mini-table, then the
far wall is a mere ~32-inches from your release point. Compare that to a SR-1 distance of ~64-inches on
a short 12-foot table. Now you can see WHY I
love these sit-down tables and mini-tubs so much!
Bet-minimums
at all tables is usually set at $3, but they have been known to rise to the $5 level on
weekends.
The Odds
they offer are the Strip-standard 3x, 4x, and 5x variety, while their table-max is usually
set at $1000. If you require more
headroom for betting, youll probably be more comfortable at one of the
bigger gaming houses that cater a little more closely to your higher-rolling gaming needs. They are definitely not comfortable when there are
multiple black ($100) or purple ($500) chips in action.
On the
other hand, Ive never seen them sweat any moderate $300 to $1000 wins, even if you
do it consistently.
Ill
also add that their main craps tables are not only long, but are quite hard and bouncy. That is not to say that they are impossible to win
on. Quite the contrary, they are quite
surmountable with a properly calibrated throwing technique.
Their regular tables demand a classic 45-degree dice-launch and landing. However, you have to gauge the amount of roll-out that your toss has, and then retarget your landing area to compensate for it. Stated another way you throw the dice as stated above, then you reposition your landing area to suit your throw ON THAT TABLE. You can read more about that in my five-part article entitled Long Tables = Po$$ibilitie$.
The Mini-Table
They
have a six-player sit-down table that is usually open only on the weekends. During the summer months (June through September),
you can expect it to be open most every day from 1 pm until around 2 am. Most traditional crap-players scoff at its small dimensions and sissy-seats, and that it isn't a REAL craps-table. Well, to all of that I say, yeah, but it's REAL MONEY that I'm winning HERE, so go GAMBLE at a REAL table with YOUR money, while I happily rake in MY dough on this little beauty! Do I win every time I play on it? No, of course not, but my infrequent losses are easily outpaced by my frequent winning sessions. The secret of minimizing losses and maximizing wins isnt a secret at all its just common sense. Open or Closed? I generally try to confine most of my
IP-play to their mini-table.
I often
call the dice pit to find out if their small table is open.
If it is
I'm on my way
NOW! The
profit that you can comfortably take out of this place is quite a bit higher than most of
the other gaming-houses that have the smaller mini-tubs or Crapshooter tables.
Profit
Limits? Compared
to places like the Boardwalk, Wild Wild West and Nevada Palace, where we try to keep our
profit-rake at or below the $300 mark per session; you can be pretty much at ease with a
$500 to $800 win-threshold at the Imperial Palace every time that you play there. When I am
in town, Ill take in a couple of mini-table sessions here each weekend. With the amount of action that this casino gets,
they hardly pay any attention to a consistent $300 to $1000 winner.
Heat
What
Heat? Ive
never run into any discernable heat or pit pain from any dealers or table-game
supervisors, nor have I ever experienced any discomfort or undue attention from the
alpha-male pit-beasts.
Like I
said earlier, this place is always rocking, and they consider the sit-down game a place
for small fry and therefore the Table Game Supervisors do not give it any
discernable attention. A Tip about Tips
The
dealers respond well to tips, and I would urge you to do it early in your play, and to put
their bets on wagers that have a decent chance of coming in.
While
they might appreciate the thought when you put a buck on the 12-Midnight; if
its not one of your higher-echelon Signature Numbers, then you arent putting
any money in their pocket. Its
better to put a buck or two on the Pass-Line for them.
While it doesnt have as high of a payout, it has a much better
chance of helping your cause and their cause as well.
Why Toke
the Dealers? You may
tip because you appreciate the great service and the friendly banter of a good dealer, and
that is a strong enough reason to put a dollar out there on the layout. However
there is a better, more compelling reason to part with your hard-earned money. Toking (tipping) allows the Precision-Shooter to
have a greater latitude in maximizing his dice de-randomizing abilities.
For
example:
v
A dealer
will be more lenient in your throwing motion. He
might step back or lean out of the way so that you have more freedom of movement with your
arm-swing.
v
A dealer
may have a more relaxed attitude about your consistently hitting the backwall with the
dice.
v
If there is
a rule about no dice-setting, the dealers may be more accommodating in bending
that rule. Game Speed Granted the speed of play on a single-dealer table is somewhat slower than a regular-sized table, but there is also a more relaxed, community feel about the game. While the dealer has to serve six players, they generally staff the table with some of their strongest-skilled staff so that the game proceeds at a decent, but unhurried pace. You still get about 75-rolls per hour on the Imperial Palace mini-table, compared to about 90-rolls on the normal ones. That speed and the smaller number of players pretty much guarantees that the dice will come back to you once every 20-minutes or so. That is less than half the time it takes on a usual-sized table. I sometimes feel a little sheepish about my winnings on the mini-table. I almost always stash a number of $25 chips that flow my way. I sometimes have my girlfriend cash some of them out for me. I also hang onto the big ones to re-use as a buy-in at subsequent sessions. Just Because its Small Doesnt Mean its Easy Yes, the Crapshoot table is small,
but that does not mean that making a profit is a cakewalk.
Your Precision-Shooting skills still have to be up to par, AND you have to
control your betting as well or BETTER than your shooting.
In addition, you
may have to readjust your throw-trajectory. The
shorter distances actually disturbs some people and they overestimate the small amount of
energy that it takes to propel the dice without causing undue pop and
scatter.
Dice-shooting requires constant
readjustment, and the small dimensions of the 6-player sit-down Crapshoot table requires
nothing less. Remember that depending on where you are seated, the backwall can be as
close as 28-inches away from your dice-release point. Even if there is another Precision-Shooter at the table, I don't load-up on them unless they have qualified themselves as being WORTHY of my money. That's not egotistical, it's just good money-management. Playing on a mini-table doesnt automatically mean that you are going to be making a pile of money. Its just as easy to lose a bundle on the small tables as it is on the bigger ones. I, myself have lost money on these tables, especially when I lose discipline if things arent going my way. Losing discipline = losing money in the craps
world. Its easy to fool yourself into thinking that with such a short throwing distance, that ITS GOT TO BE EASY. Let me tell you here and now, IT IS NOT EASY. Dont let your guard down. Dont delude yourself, and especially dont pile on the money until you are SURE that your Precision-Shooting efforts are working. Then, and ONLY then should you raise the sperm-count on your bets and increase your wagers accordingly. Preparation meets Opportunity I had called ahead to make sure that their mini-table would be open. Mel and I timed our arrival to coincide with a shift-change that would bring about a fresh set of dealers and the opening of our particular mini-table. When we arrived the table-bank of chips hadnt yet been unlocked or counted down, so we knew we had a few minutes to wait for the dice to be unleashed from their foil wrapping. It also meant that we could get the coveted (by Precision-Shooters) positions at the 4th and 5th chair (counting from the left) at the table. These two positions give the best angle to the side-wall/back-wall corner of the table. It is into this spot that the dice are most easily lofted and more importantly, most easily controlled in their outcome. Pre-Game Banter As we awaited for the start of action, I asked Mel about any IP stories. Well, did you know that the
Venetian was the SECOND casino in Vegas with canals and gondolas. The Flamingo Capri (the origin of the Imperial
Palace built by Bill Capri) this was the first.
In the picture
below, you can see the main lagoon with one of the canals that heads towards the back of
the property, while another leads into the main-entrance valet area, and the third canal
dead-ends near the pool.
Yep,
there was a big lake-lagoon with canals, bridges and walkways through an ornate terraced
garden. You could catch a boat ride at the
front near valet parking and the gondolier would paddle you around for a while. They didnt charge for it, but a nice tip
always showed gratitude for the boatmans effort.
Of course, it was a diversion for the girls, the wives and
girlfriends of the male table-game players. If
the girls were happily engaged in other activities, then the guys would stay and play at
the tables that much longer. You gotta
remember that back in 63 the whole subservient housewife/girlfriend thing was the
rule rather than the exception.
Mel, the
Vegas Ghost continued, I remember sitting in the Captain's Cabin Cocktail Lounge
with Ralph Engelstad in 72 the day he closed the deal to buy the property and he
talked about how he was going to renovate and expand it into the Imperial Palace. He told me of his plans to do the whole
Asian-theme. Although I didnt accept
his job offer that day, we became and remained good friends over the next two
decades.
The Nazi Connection Ya know, added
Mel, A lot of people give Englestad a lot of grief because he had some unusual
revisionist views of World War II, but Ill tell you one thing: after September 11th,
2001 the Imperial Palace was the ONLY Strip casino that didnt have ANY layoffs. That says a lot about Ralph and how he values his
employees. Park Place (Ballys, Paris,
Caesars, Flamingo, etc.) and MGM-Mirage (Golden Nugget, Treasure Island, Bellagio, etc.)
laid-off 12,000 workers each, and Mandalay (Luxor, Excalibur C-2, NYNY, etc.) laid-off
10,000 people. Ralph promised his employees
that there would be no layoffs no matter how bad business got, and he kept his word.
The Vegas Ghost was
in mid-tirade, so I didnt interrupt him. Forget all of that damn nazi
stuff!
He
apologized publicly for housing a Nazi memorabilia display as part of the Imperial Palace
Car Collection, and for throwing a couple of themed parties on Hitlers birthday. Listen, that was done in incredibly bad taste and
I told him so, in no uncertain terms. The
fact is, a lot of my family was wiped out by Hitler during the war, but at no time during
the twenty years that Ive known Ralph has my background or religion interfered with
our friendship. Our Mini-Table Play
Making money was the objective of our visit to the Imperial
Palace. Mel and I had the table completely to
ourselves for a grand total of two-and-a-half minutes.
With a $3 limit and four empty chairs, the table was an irresistible magnet
that filled with players immediately.
I would like to tell you how we had a great session and won a
ton of dough, but it just didnt happen. The
dice were not tumbling at all in our favor. Instead,
in five trips around the table neither Mel nor I was able to squeeze out any profit. There were a few hands where we were close to
getting into the profit-zone, but we never managed to cross that threshold
during that first session.
I changed target-areas, I changed throw-trajectory, I changed
dice-sets and slightly altered my grip. I
changed the amount of throwing-force, and I even changed seating positions with one of my
table-mates in a non-comical version of musical-chairs.
None of those changes brought about any consistency, and it certainly
didnt bring about any profit for either of us.
Yes, I was disappointed that my own Precision-Shooting failed to
deliver cash into my hands. On the other
hand, I managed to keep my losses under the $150 mark.
Mel was a little more adventurous and his bankroll paid a hefty price for
the thrill of the chase. He dropped about
$470 as he started betting on our other table-mates despite the fact that their shooting
was even more dismal than ours.
I told him that the table obviously wasnt working for us,
and suggested a quick departure. Instead, Mel
wanted to stay and play a little longer in hopes that things would turn around. I raised my eyebrow and shrugged my shoulder in a
semi-humorous well-its-your-money-so-spend-it-any-way-you-want
dismissive sort of way.
I headed for the: Imperial Palace Car Collection
As some
of you know, I am an avid car collector, and I never tire of checking out what is
currently available in the market. Every
vehicle in this museum is available for purchase. Even
if I didnt have the money to pursue my passion, I would still enjoy the display of
antique, classic and special-interest vehicles that span 100 years of automotive history.
Cars are definitely one of my passions and if you want to read
about that particular affliction I would kindly invite you to read my
Wine, Women, Song
and Craps article.
Meanwhile
back at the Mini-Table
When I
returned to the table, Mel had less than a dozen chips left in his rack, and they were not
of a color that would make a player proud. I
didnt NEED to ask how the table had been, but I asked anyway.
Mel said
that he had switched to the darkside soon after I left, but that immediately
brought about a rash of Come-Out winners followed by Point-then-winner hands. As soon as he transitioned back to the
shooters-side of the equation, he said that the dice sensed his decision with the most
hellish of ironies with an immediate 7-Out.
I asked
Mel if he was just about finished with that table. He
replied that he was going to give it one more try. There
werent any open chairs at the table, and the dice were still two shooters away from
Mels spot.
I noticed
one of the huge tables was quickly losing players at a rapid rate and I sensed a
profit-opportunity. I walked around to it and
bought-in. There were four players left at a
table that only minutes before on my way by, was just about full. The four remaining players had fewer chips left in
their rail than Mel did in his.
I
immediately laid the 4-to-lose for $50. Two
rolls later, the 7 showed up like all of the Pass-Line players seemed to expect. I wondered to myself why they were all on the Pass
Line if the table was SO cold, as I collected my $24 in net profit. The next two players had hands that were only
longer than the first guys hand by a roll or two. Each
one of my No-4 wins chipped away at my previous loss.
The dice
came to me at the SR-4/5 position near the hook of the table. I used the Long-Ranger grip and delivery but the
dice wobbled like a pair of wonky front wheels on a damaged shopping cart.
I
couldnt get comfortable with the corner of the padded table restricting my full
throwing motion, so I moved to the straight-out position at SR-7. I managed to make two Point-winners with a decent
handful of Inside Numbers in the interim. That
clawed me back to my original buy-in, plus a handy $37 profit.
Now $37
doesnt usually get me excited, and this one didnt either, but it made me
satisfyingly happy. Even though my mini-table
shooting had been pure C-R-A-P, I didnt let it get to me. Instead, I took a break and returned with a
winning attitude.
I
didnt let my previous loss poison my thoughts, not did I dwell on the negatives of
losing a hundred-and-a-half. I saw a
trend-opportunity on a cold table, and I bet into it.
It paid off, but when betting against random-rollers it just as well could have
gone the other way. My own shooting provided
the last bit of impetus to put me over the top in terms of making a profit, albeit a
modest one.
I glanced
over to the mini-table just in time to see Mel departing his chair, and I met up with him
on the way to the cashiers cage. Mel
cashed-out nearly $800 down.
I
didnt say a word about discipline or loss-limits.
The last thing that a player wants to hear after a major loss is to hear SOMEONE
ELSE tell them what they did wrong. THAT
message should come from yourself. I let Mel
walk in silence as we headed for the car, as I was pretty sure that that particular
discipline and loss-limit soundtrack was playing loudly in his head.
Post-Script
Since I
made this Mini-Table Tour with Mel a while back, Imperial Palace owner Ralph Engelstad has
passed away. The future of the IP is open to
debate and speculation. Being located in a
prime mid-Strip spot makes it an obvious redevelopment target for some major
operators
so stayed tuned on that front.
In our
upcoming Part Seven of this series, well visit another
Mini-Table venue where more profitable shooting will hopefully return. Good Luck & Good Skill at the
tables
and in Life. Sincerely, The Mad Professor
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