Gambling Map (to minimize house edges)

I'm mapping out my general gambling map for my upcoming trip in a few weeks. I'm trying to see if I'm missing something blatantly obvious here as far as a place to give a shot. I try to lower the house edge as much as possible with the exception of craps. I prefer to play craps at the nicer places even if I'm not getting 10x odds. I don't mind paying an extra $10-15 in house edge per hour to play at Aria/Bellagio/CP/etc with 3/4/5x odds. I only play pass/don't pass with odds, come/don't come with odds, place 6/8 or buy 4/10. I don't play field bets (so 3x 2 or 12 don't matter to me), center bets, fire bets, All/Tall/Small.

Casinos: Only on-strip, Boyd casinos downtown or Orleans/Gold Coast/Rio off-strip. Nowhere else. My primary focus is MLife but I'm ok with play at Boyd, TI or TR. Here's a basic summary of what I play:

Blackjack: Up to $25 tables. If I'm having a bad trip, I'll scale it back to $10 or $15
Craps: Up to $10 tables. I only play $15 if I'm on the latter end of a good trip. If I'm having a bad trip, I'll scale it back to $5 tables at a place with 10x odds.
Video Poker: Almost solely JOB $.25 full coin, $1 full coin, or $.25 full coin x3 lines. Only full pay machines. I plan to maybe play a bit of BP or DW this trip but I'm not sure I will.
3CP/Let it Ride/UTH: Barely play, if at all. If I do it'll be downtown or off-strip for $5 most likely.
Free Bet BJ: I want to play it this trip but only at 3:2.

I'll be staying at Aria the first 48 hours. Here's my basic plan of where I plan to go (this is the part I'm trying to make sure I'm not missing anything!):

Blackjack: 6-deck or DD 3:2 $25 or less at Bellagio or MGM. If the limits for those games goes up to $50 then I'll either play at TI or Bally's. Might give ElCo a play but I'm not really a fan of the décor/smell/etc
Craps: Primarily at Aria/Bellagio. If their tables raise to $15 I either won't play or I'll check out MGM/NYNY. If I'm going off-strip to play $5 with 10x odds I'm looking at MSS (due to it also being where I'll be playing bartop VP)
Video Poker: Gold Coast or TI. I don't think there's any $.25 3-play or 5-play at the places I'd consider going (I think it's only at SP and Palms?). If I go downtown, I'll be playing bartop at MSS.
3CP/Let it Ride/UTH: see above, downtown or off-strip for $5 if I play at all
Free Bet BJ: No clue. Where do they have this 3:2?

 

You might have to play in the daytime to get $10 craps at Bellagio or Aria. I've never played at Bellagio, and I haven't been at Aria in a couple of years but they used to go to $15 by early evening frequently. All depends on how busy, of course.

 

I'm sure you're right on Aria. Last time I was at Bellagio in mid-2015 at night it seemed like they still had some $10 tables going on weekdays. I'm not sure if that changed, as I didn't check them out on my trip in January.

 

Blackjack best bet on the Strip is either up at TI or in TR properties. Bally's/Flamingo basically always have 3:2 for less than $25 a hand. I think P Ho has a decent 3:2 party pit game IIRC

Craps you can play pretty much anywhere although I agree with Chuck that Aria is often $15 at night (it was when I was there on a Sunday night in March)

Flamingo had $5 UTH during the day when I was there last in December

Cromwell has some full pay 0.25 video poker. Go look at vpfree2 for more.

I thought free bet wasn't 3:2 anywhere on the Strip. I think you can find 3:2 downtown. Try searching the forum - this has been discussed before.

 

Thanks Rumor. Wasn't aware of the Cromwell .25 9/6 JOB VP. $50 per point but that's ok, I'm not chasing comps anyway. I'd rather get $50 per point there than to get points at MSS or TI anyway.

Hadn't noticed the party pit table at PH, either. That definitely sounds like a winner. I had planned to play some NLH there anyway, so that's perfect. Sadly it looks like their 8-deck game is a bit better than their DD game.

 

We were there May 4-11 and there were $10 craps tables at Aria all the time including the weekends and at night. Bellagio was higher, $10 during the day but $15 or sometimes even $25 at night on weekends but sometimes you would find a $10. Contrast that to when we went in Feb during Big Game weekend and it was $15 min almost everywhere on the strip and some $25 min. So it will depend on when you go. Sound like that other poster went during March madness.

 

MSS offers 20x odds on craps. This is good to know if you are on a hot table, you can play up to 20x odds.

 

Aria had $10 Craps most of the time when I visited in December and April.

I doubt you will be able to find $25 DD at MGM or Bellagio anymore, sadly.

 

Great posts, thanks guys.

So I can play craps with 20x odds if I'm at MSS for bartop poker.

I'm OK with $25 6-deck at MGM or Bellagio if it's weekday during the day. If it gets higher at night I can migrate to the party pit at PH or play at TI/ElCo. I think I'd rather play party pit at PH at .60ish% HE than to play at Bally's for slightly lower. That eliminates Bally's for me I think.

I can also play craps at the Cromwell if I'm there for JOB VP, so that's good, too.

I don't think I have any reason to go to Gold Coast in that case, unless I'm looking for some Ping Pang Pong which I doubt. Most of my meals are already comp'd with RC or free from MyVegas.

Sounds like my trip will be limited to: Aria, Bellagio, MGM, NYNY, PH, CP, Cromwell, TI, MSS and maybe ElCo. Sounds reasonable for quite a bit of play over 2 days. I'll probably hit all of those except ElCo unless I'm really getting slammed.

If I want to play Free Bet BJ I'll have to find it at MSS or just somewhere random downtown just for shits. I'm not making it a point to go too far out of my way for it.

 

Last time I was Downtown, the D and Golden Gate had $10-15 Free Bet tables (depending on the time).

 

Was not March madness or Spring Break. I was in Aria on March 5th.

 

I played $25 DD on a weekday afternoon at Mirage in March. Could try there.

Table was on the floor in front of high limit.

 

Didn't see it called out here but I believe Cromwell has 100x odds on craps at the moment.

 

Yes, Cromwell has 100X odds on craps.
Sounds like you're not thrilled with the thought of playing at Bally's. But, Bally's has one of the best deals on blackjack. In what they call the high-limit area, during the week and sometimes on weekends if they're not too busy, they offer the following rules at $25. (Sometimes will go up to $50 on the weekends)

6-deck shoe, 3-2 BJ, double after split, re-split Aces, surrender & dealer STANDS on soft 17.
Double deck pitch, same ruels as 6-deck except you can't double down after split.

I don't know any other casino that offers Blackjack where the dealer stands on a soft 17 for less than $100 a hand.

 

Edit: Upon reflection, I realized you're correct, iskion1. With Bally's having a good BJ game and Cromwell having good VP, I really have no reason to at all to go to TI. I want to build some CET comps, I don't really want to build TI comps. By playing at Bally's to supplement my Bellagio/MGM/Planet Hollywood Party Pit games I think I have my bases covered. If I'm getting slammed I'll just head downtown and spend time at MSS and ElCo.

You actually helped me realize that I can condense the trip even more. Looks like I'll be at Bellagio/Aria/MGM/CP/PH/Bally's and if I'm having a losing trip I'll scale back my budget a bit and head to MSS and ElCo.

If I'm really itching to play Free Bet I'll have to find it downtown.

Thanks again guys, great info here. I knew it was a good idea to ask some opinions so I can fine-tune my plan!

 

They may have changed since I was there in December, but I believe the party pit BJ tables at Planet Hollywood are 6:5 blackjack. All their 3:2 BJ is in the non-party pit row closer to the center bar. Those tables are usually either $15 or $25, with the typical CET rules.

You can still see the party pit, but it's not as up close and personal.

 

The PH party pit was 3:2, $25 min when I was there for big game weekend in February.

 

Gold Coast has $10 DD 3:2 blackjack and some full pay JOB, so worth considering still as just a short ride from centre strip.

 

When I was at the Cromwell in march the craps table went from $10 min to $25 min just like that (it was around 2am Saturday morning). They cleared the table with that switch.

 

That is a very good game for $25... if you're a flat-bettor or play a positive-progression, it would be hard to find a better game than that.