Every year I cough up a short article summarizing the best plays in Las Vegas for visitors for the American Casino Guide. Being lazy (er, "efficient"), my first step is to look at last year's copy and edit as needed. Astonishingly little of any consequence has changed since last year - the Hilton went down the tubes, and Southcoast and Red Rock brought good inventories onto the scene. That's about it.
As I feel a little sheepish sending Steve essentially the same ol crapola, I'm looking to punch up the article a bit. So, I'm dumping the draft out here and asking for feedback. Keep in mind that this is written for an annual publication (it will need to hold up well into 2007), so triple-points on Fridays at XYZ casino is irrelevant. Also, it's written for novice visitors, so detailing an obscure positive game at an off-strip convenience store is not really helpful.
Here it is. Thanks in advance for any input.
···
_______________________________
The overall quality of Vegas video poker has declined significantly over the last few years. Once the undisputed Mecca of video poker enthusiasts, players are now generally better off visiting Reno, Laughlin, or even Biloxi.
Particularly hard-hit has been the strip itself. Former diamonds-in-the-neon mainstays like Barbary Coast, Frontier, Imperial Palace, New York-New York, Bally’s and Paris have all been transformed into mediocre plays. The Stardust is being imploded. However, due to the sheer magnitude of choices available, great plays for visitors still exist, even on the strip.
The premier play for quarter players on the strip is the New Frontier’s bank of full-pay (15/9/5, 100.7%+) deuces wild, with a progressive royal, located between their slot club and the change booth. These machines pay less cashback and comps than their other machines, and the “New” Frontier is aging a bit, but you can’t beat the location or the easy free room offers. The Stratosphere has a handful of 25c 10/7 Double Bonus (100.1%) and 15/8 loose deuces (100.0%) near the buffet, and also mails great room offers to low-rollers. The Riviera features easy comps and 25c 10/7 DB that pay 400 coins for the straight flush (100.5%) housed in six Bally’s Gamemakers located east of table games pit, just outside their high-roller area. The Tropicana still has four scattered, aging 25c 15/9/5 deuces wild (100.7%) machines, and excellent room offers. The best plays for low-rollers are downtown, especially at Main Street Station, with its good collection of quarter machines (especially the six upright multidenom machines in the valet entrance area against the wall that contain 15/9/5 deuces), their 4-of-a-kind promo, and endless free room offers.
Oddly, the four premier plays for dollar players are at the four premier properties of the entire strip. The Venetian has a handful of multigames with $1 9/6 (99.5%) jacks-or-better just outside their high roller area, and 8/5 bonus (99.2%) in dollar triple plays, but the main attractions here are the excellent free room offers to the most luxurious standard rooms on the strip. The Bellagio has plenty of $1 and up 9/6 jacks-or-better and again, surprisingly good room offers. Wynn Las Vegas has and excellent selection of 9/6 jacks-or-better as well as a bank of four machines located by the “Red 8” restaurant that include 10/7 double bonus (100.1%), and while comps are difficult, room offers are pretty good. But the king of the plays for the strip is Caesars. There is an abundance of 9/6 jacks-or-better, great room offers, and a comp-dollar account that is not affected by using the room offers (many casinos now hold used “free” room offers against you comp account). In addition to this fashionable foursome, the steadily improving Stratosphere now features $1 10/7 double-bonus (100.1%), located in the southeast corner of the casino, on the east wall.
Three of the newest off-strip casinos offer an odd combination of great low-roller plays and luxurious (but hard-to-comp) accommodations. Casino Montelago features multigames full of great 100%+ 25c games in a tranquil, isolated Mediterranean-like “Village” on Lake Las Vegas, 20 miles east of the strip. Green Valley Ranch has plenty of similar plays in their “Optimum Play” multigames and is only a few minutes from the strip. The Palms has some of the best games in town (especially their bank of 25c 15/9/5 deuces by the north door with a progressive for the royal flush) and is only a mile west of the strip. The only downside to these properties is the likelihood that you will wind up paying (and paying quite a bit) for your room, as free-room offers at all three properties are rare.
Other worthwhile plays for visitors include Tuscany (nice variety of 100%+ games), El Cortez, Four Queens, and Las Vegas Club (great low-roller VP and room offers, but housed in aging downtown properties), and Boulder Station, Sam’s Town, and Fiesta Henderson (strong low roller plays, albeit on the “Boulder Strip”). Two newcomers make a good first impression: Red Rock offers some good games in the banks with signs that say “optimum play”, and the Southcoast mails strong offers and has decent games.