Bettie: Wynn Las Vegas Full Report

[Bettie]

Viktor and I hit the grand opening of Wynn Las Vegas last night/this morning. It was so crowded that, almost immediately after opening at 12:01, they had to do crowd control and only let people in as crowds left. At one point, Metro wouldn?t even let people cross LVB to be on Wynn property! We waited only 20 to 30 minutes before getting inside about 1am. Wynn Las Vegas can best be summed up as a more colorful Bellagio. While the gaming areas are, overall, tan, and the pits even more so, the outlying areas and walkways are brightly colored with large-print floral rugs in a simple pattern (reflected also in small areas on the walls) and beautiful mosaic tiles, again of bright flowers.

The pits are scattered throughout the gaming area and are, IMHO, ugly. The tables and chairs are a horrid yellow cream color and all felts are plain green with no designs at all. Each table has an individual, beige-colored lamp over it, suspended by what appears to be cream-colored antlers or other type of bone. They would look much better at the Silverton Lodge, and really don?t properly convey the casual elegance of Wynn LV.

There is a small version of the Bellagio?s conservatory in what appears to be the main entrance to the mall (between Dior and Chanel). It currently has beautiful flower spheres of different colors (each it?s own color) hanging from the trees, as well as ground-level flowers. Stunning. My favorite area, however, is the atrium for the Parasol Up / Parasol Down area. Parasol Up is a small lounge with food and music next to a light, airy, colorful atrium filled with, you guessed it, parasols. Giant parasols of various styles that move very slowly up and down at different speeds, all of which hover over a downstairs restaurant called Parasol Down.

The stores were closed, as were most of the restaurants, though the caf? was open and the nightclubs were hopping. From the outside, The Buffet (yes, that?s the name) is the most beautiful buffet in town, with simple chandeliers, large flower bouquets, and an exterior covered in periwinkle-colored hydrangeas. Prices are consistent with Bellagio, as dinner runs $27, I believe.

We checked out the sportsbook, very large and comfy with huge swivel chairs and individual tvs (flat-screen, I think). The poker room was especially attractive, decorated with oversize prints of antique playing cards and coats-of-arms, as well as a very pretty statue of a castle made of playing cards. I wanted to check it out closer, but didn?t want to pay the $200 buy-in to walk in the room.

There were a lot of other places closed or closed off at this point. A pretty little atrium (what I could see through the door, anyway) is nestled down a hallway on the way to more restaurants, and the restaurants that we could see are stunning, of course. The hallway ceilings were very neat, as they came out from the walls and then rolled back into themselves to hide recessed lighting.

I think that covers most everything, except for the games. My advice is to pay attention! There are several pits with H17, and only a couple with S17. Now, of course not every table will always be open, and the limits are bound to change, but what I saw is as follows: First off, every table offers surrender and every table is machine-shuffled, though some are automatic shufflers and some are continuous shufflers. Those machines are called the One2Six Flexible Shufflers, so they are equipped to deal out the fake single- and double-deck games, though they did not tonight. Most dealers put the cards in after every round, but I saw one guy put them in after a few rounds, letting the discard tray reach 1/2-deck before putting them in. No tables offered any side bets or anything other than standard rules, and all are equipped with RFID sensors. There were no MindPlay tables.

There were two single-deck games dealt face-up, blackjack pays 6:5, H17, $15 to $5,000. Same rules for the two double-deck tables. I didn?t bother to check pen because of the lousy payout on the blackjack. All other tables were 6-decks, and they cut off 1 3/4 deck. There were 3 tables of $10 to $5,000, with CSMs and H17. Now, here is where it?s time to pay attention. All the tables with $5,000 max bet were H17, and all with $10,000 max bet were S17. Mins were both $15 and $25, and the H17 tables were scattered with CSMs and machines shufflers, not based on mins. All $10,000 max bet tables, whether $15 or $25 min, were machine shuffled and then dealt from a shoe. I saw only one table with a higher min of $500, but it was at the request of the people playing there. I hope that you were able to follow all of that, and I?ll get the info into Trackjack as soon as I sort through my notes and get them cleared up.

For those who like to dabble in other games, there was a pit of ?carnival games,? 3-card poker, plenty of pai gow (both with cards and tiles), lots of roulette, a big 6 wheel, and casino war. A separate room housed a baccarat salon. I don?t recall any craps tables, but I must be mistaken. They have quite a few reel slots, compared to the video screens that are taking over, but that?s probably because video slots are generally cheaper penny and nickel things. There are some full-pay video poker machines, especially in the jacks-or-better and bonus poker family, but the slot club is very stingy. $3 in slots or $9 in video poker gets you 1 point. 500 points gets you $10 in cashback, and you can only get it in $10 increments. It goes directly onto your card, but I?m not sure if you have to play through it. They also have something called Bonus Bingo, similar in nature to the Stations? Jumbo Jackpot. Three times per hour, a machine is randomly picked to be awarded anywhere from $500 to $10,000. We?ll have more information as our reporters dig in and do some real scouting, compared to the random searching that we did.

Though there were plenty of celebrities supposedly in attendance earlier in the day for the charity events, I saw just one (unless you count Mason Malmuth!), and that was country star Toby Keith, looking just exactly as he does in his ?How Do You Like Me Now?? video. I took plenty of pictures (not of Toby, but the property), and maybe I?ll put a few up if people are interested.

Thanks,
Bettie

[bfbagain]

Thanks to you both, and of course to you Bettie, as you were the one with the pen and paper. :-)

I'm speechless. 6:5BJ? For SD and DD? No hand shuffled shoes? 1 3/4D pen.? What was he thinking?

If I try to put the very best spin on this it would have to be that they are wary of being attacked, by those infamous and nefarious card counters, and other types of advantage players.
What's wierd about this is that they are attempting to attract high rollers. To steal them quite honestly from the other properties. Man, the management at MGM must be breathing a sigh of relief.

For a completely different reason, Harrahs management is also relieved, as their approach is to screw people anyways, so they're probably not feeling any competition.

What a waste.

To SteveW: What are you thinking?

cheers
bfb

[Bettie]

> There were 3 tables of $10 to
> $5,000, with CSMs and H17.

After reviewing my notes, the $10 tables were actually machine-shuffled and dealt from a shoe. There will be a lot of changes, of course, but just an FYI.

Bettie

[Fine Tuner]

[Victoria]

My only guess is that Wynn thinks because it is new and it is his, that having good games is not important. He may be right initially, but I would think if he wants to compete long term, in a town where you can cross the street and find another game, he will have to compete with MGM's games at least. The worst fear I have is these games working and MGM following Wynn. As far as those who hoped that Wynn would be an improvement, you have your answer.
Victoria

[Parker]

I think it is safe to say that Steve Wynn is not stupid. Anyone who has been around a while knows that a new casino opening presents certain unique opportunities as dealers, pit critters, etc., learn a new system.

Perhap's Wynn's plan is to get everyone comfortable with the system first, and then loosen up the games a bit.

Or maybe I'm just dreaming . . .

[bfbagain]

would do that, follow Wynn's gaming strategy that is. But, when it comes to casinos....who knows.

If you were MGM/Mirage, would you be happy about the poor games Wynn is offering as it makes your properties less likely to lose some high rollers, or happy because it will allow you to follow suit and offer the same poor games?

As of this moment, that seems to be the question.

cheers
bfb

[Bettie]

[Don Schlesinger]

You all know whose side I'm on, but when you write what you do, and then express amazement, it's really quite silly. There are 13 casinos in A.C., and, for 25 years, people have been writing that, "any day now, competition will force them to offer better games and better rules. One casino will step up, and then all the rest will be forced to follow." WRONG!!

Read my lips: The masses are asses. The 6:5 BJ tables will be filled, because 99.9% of the people in this world who play blackjack are lucky to be able to spell their names correctly on a good day.

As for the shoe games, what's wrong with them? Many offer DAS, s17, LS, and RSA. That's 0.26% off the top -- as good as it gets for a shoe. Oh, I see: The penetration sucks. Well, guess what? 99.9% of the a**holes who play the game don't even know what that means.

Ditto for the use of RFID chips. Until every player who plays the game wisens up and tells the bosses, "You can take your RFID chips and insert them high up your rectum before I'd ever play here," the whole situation is hopeless. You either educate the masses to revolt (a hopeless task), or you accept the fact that there is ZERO incentive for a casino to offer a game that will be attractive to a card counter.

Ditto for the CSMs.

Finally, the single argument that bad pen cuts into the casino's bottom line by slowing down its volume is offset by the automatic shufflers, which vastly increase the speed of the game. Once you argue that you could have both -- better pen AND automatic shufflers -- you're already getting a bit too complicated for the average casino executive to understand.

This is an eternal case of the blind leading the blind. It's hard to fathom who is the more pathetic group of brain-dead, double-digit-IQ, mental hernias: the people who play casino games, or those who manage them.

End of rant. :-)

Don

[bfbagain]

I agree. It's why I have been working hard at developing additional techniques.

Now, Kenny Uston wrote about, oh, 23 years ago about the future of blackjack, and guess what, it's still here. Then, as now, the prediction that blackjack would die was premature.

I have a pretty good feeling that 10-20 years from now, they'll be saying the same thing. It's kind of funny, but the more greedy that Vegas becomes, the more likely BJ will survive and prosper.

Now if you'll forgive me, I have some more patents to study. :-)

cheers
bfb

[Flyboy]

I admit, I was hoping Wynn, simpyl by virtue of reputation, would light a fire under the two corporate behemoths that now own the Strip. Instead, he validated everything they've done for the last three years...CSMs, H17, 6:5, stingy comp policies. Don't look for the Bean Counters at MGM or CZR to make the first move. The "new" Strip rules are all but institutionalized. Steve, my man, ya broke my heart!

> You all know whose side I'm on, but when you
> write what you do, and then express
> amazement, it's really quite silly. There
> are 13 casinos in A.C., and, for 25 years,
> people have been writing that, "any day
> now, competition will force them to offer
> better games and better rules. One casino
> will step up, and then all the rest will be
> forced to follow." WRONG!! Read my
> lips: The masses are asses. The 6:5 BJ
> tables will be filled, because 99.9% of the
> people in this world who play blackjack are
> lucky to be able to spell their names
> correctly on a good day.

> As for the shoe games, what's wrong with
> them? Many offer DAS, s17, LS, and RSA.
> That's 0.26% off the top -- as good as it
> gets for a shoe. Oh, I see: The penetration
> sucks. Well, guess what? 99.9% of the
> a**holes who play the game don't even know
> what that means.

> Ditto for the use of RFID chips. Until every
> player who plays the game wisens up and
> tells the bosses, "You can take your
> RFID chips and insert them high up your
> rectum before I'd ever play here," the
> whole situation is hopeless. You either
> educate the masses to revolt (a hopeless
> task), or you accept the fact that there is
> ZERO incentive for a casino to offer a game
> that will be attractive to a card counter.

> Ditto for the CSMs.

> Finally, the single argument that bad pen
> cuts into the casino's bottom line by
> slowing down its volume is offset by the
> automatic shufflers, which vastly increase
> the speed of the game. Once you argue that
> you could have both -- better pen AND
> automatic shufflers -- you're already
> getting a bit too complicated for the
> average casino executive to understand.

> This is an eternal case of the blind leading
> the blind. It's hard to fathom who is the
> more pathetic group of brain-dead,
> double-digit-IQ, mental hernias: the people
> who play casino games, or those who manage
> them.

> End of rant. :-)

> Don

[Brick]

Well Don,it's a good thing Binion's dont follow your logic and brought back traditional blackjack. Let's face it,no matter how stupid you think all the ploppies are, I certainly dont see them waiting in line to play 6/5,which, in my opnion, is nothing but a carnival game that happens to trap a few chumps as they pass by.

I remember the days when CSMs first came out. The trolls and shills were touting all over the internet about how great they was and the end was near. It's well over a decade later,which is definitely enough time to get to the so-called long run and casinos have found these machines to not be so beneficial after all.

The day 6/5 and CSMs are catering to happy high rollers is the day blackjack will die,in the mean-time,dont hold your breath. So Wynn pitches out some stupid games which will catch a few small time chumps. I say, Big Freaking Deal.

Long live traditional blackjack,
Brick

> You all know whose side I'm on, but when you
> write what you do, and then express
> amazement, it's really quite silly. There
> are 13 casinos in A.C., and, for 25 years,
> people have been writing that, "any day
> now, competition will force them to offer
> better games and better rules. One casino
> will step up, and then all the rest will be
> forced to follow." WRONG!! Read my
> lips: The masses are asses. The 6:5 BJ
> tables will be filled, because 99.9% of the
> people in this world who play blackjack are
> lucky to be able to spell their names
> correctly on a good day.

> As for the shoe games, what's wrong with
> them? Many offer DAS, s17, LS, and RSA.
> That's 0.26% off the top -- as good as it
> gets for a shoe. Oh, I see: The penetration
> sucks. Well, guess what? 99.9% of the
> a**holes who play the game don't even know
> what that means.

> Ditto for the use of RFID chips. Until every
> player who plays the game wisens up and
> tells the bosses, "You can take your
> RFID chips and insert them high up your
> rectum before I'd ever play here," the
> whole situation is hopeless. You either
> educate the masses to revolt (a hopeless
> task), or you accept the fact that there is
> ZERO incentive for a casino to offer a game
> that will be attractive to a card counter.

> Ditto for the CSMs.

> Finally, the single argument that bad pen
> cuts into the casino's bottom line by
> slowing down its volume is offset by the
> automatic shufflers, which vastly increase
> the speed of the game. Once you argue that
> you could have both -- better pen AND
> automatic shufflers -- you're already
> getting a bit too complicated for the
> average casino executive to understand.

> This is an eternal case of the blind leading
> the blind. It's hard to fathom who is the
> more pathetic group of brain-dead,
> double-digit-IQ, mental hernias: the people
> who play casino games, or those who manage
> them.

> End of rant. :-)

> Don

[Parker]

> I agree. It's why I have been working hard
> at developing additional techniques.

> Now, Kenny Uston wrote about, oh, 23 years
> ago about the future of blackjack, and guess
> what, it's still here. Then, as now, the
> prediction that blackjack would die was
> premature.

> I have a pretty good feeling that 10-20
> years from now, they'll be saying the same
> thing. It's kind of funny, but the more
> greedy that Vegas becomes, the more likely
> BJ will survive and prosper.

> Now if you'll forgive me, I have some more
> patents to study. :-)

Agreed. The main thing we have on our side is casino greed. They want everyone's money, not just stupid/ignorant players' money.

I firmly believe that if you build a better mousetrap the ultimate end result will be . . . smarter mice.