April 18 - A 3 hour trip to North Strip

Travel on Friday was hastily rearranged and so I ended up with a 3&frac12; hour layover in <i style="font-weight: bold; color: #888; border-bottom: dotted red 2px;">Las Vegas[/i]. Good for me!

I hope to go out there for a real trip with a buddy in the Fall. The buddy is budget minded. Fine with me, but I only know some of the cheaper venues by name and reputation, not first hand looks. I decided to use this time to take a peek at the North Strip.

No line for cabs at 8 AM on Friday. Went to Sahara and checked my bags. I was going to go off on a rant here about the lack of lockers in the airport now, but you know what, for $2 I was generous with the Sahara bell desk and that's probably cheaper than a locker. Probably did me a favor.

Sahara looked nicer than I thought. Speed the ride looks like fun, though it was not running in the morning. As advertised, there were low limit tables. I was tempted by $3 craps with 5X odds, but decided to hold off. Coffee shop crowded, so I walked up the street to checkout The STRAT .

The Stratosphere recon mission worked out poorly. I should have hit the joint later. The Top of the World opened at 10AM and I was early. Plus, I forgot to check out their sports book. I might have stayed for some dice and hit these things later, but the $2 craps table with 5X odds was empty of players. I don't need the action that badly.

Next I walked down the Strip.

Slots of Fun was packed for 9AM. Cheap BJ table full of players.

Next door to the Westward Ho. People who go there seem loyal, and I know the rates are cheap, so I wanted to check it out. The pool I saw looked like a standard motel watering hole, but the hot tub was a bonus, and I think this would work fine. Nickel Nick's coffee was worth about 5&cent; so no real bargain there. Muffin was decent for 50&cent;.

The $1 craps table with 2X odds that I played for a while. Fun table, helpful if not overly enthusiastic dealers. Hey, it's 9AM at the Ho, what can you expect? I saw someone walk by with a &frac14;lb Megadog while I played. It looked unappetizing, and a player at the table told me he tried one and just couldn't finish it.

Cocktail service was great, though. I had 4 (weak) Bloody Marys in short amount of time. Tipping $1-$2 probably helped.

Went next door to Stardust. Sports book is gorgeous, lots of TVs. lots of chairs, lots of windows. Nothing else especially noteworthy in the casino.

I busted outside and while waiting to cross LV Blvd made conversation with a guy who turns out to be from my new hometown of Baltimore. he was there on aweek long trip, "not crying home to Mom". I wished him continued luck. Gotta love friendly folk.

Riviera looked fine inside, but sports book really small.

Outside I made conversation with a pedicab driver. I asked how much to the Sahara, as it looked like rain might threaten. He said he can't go to Sahara, they consider pedicabs a nuisance, and said he had a petition I could sign if I disagreed with that. So I did. He also sai d no fare, tip only.

"What would insult you?" I asked

"A dollar would insult me."

"OK, I'm not going to insult you. Let's go."

Back to Sahara by pedicab. We beat the rain, laughed our asses off talking, and I gave him $6 for the pedaling.

Sports book at Sahara was small, too. I never did hit their tables. Check in line looked very long. Got my bags and headed back to the airport.


Verdict on the North Strip:
Not bad. I think we could make a good weekend out of playing cheap table games, hitting Stardust Sports book (that's a must, the others look unimpressive), Sahara virtual racing, and thrill rides at Sahara and Strat. Good scout trip.

With a good run among the shooters at the Ho, in total, I had 4 drinks, breakfast, an hour of craps, transportation and bag storage for a net cost of twenty-soemthing bucks. Not bad for a three hour scouting trip!

 

Nice report. We will be staying at the Riviera May 22-26. Have stayed at the Ho before, but been many years, and usually don't spend to much time on the North End. The drinks and cheap tables sound like my kind of place. We will have to be sure to stop at the Stardust Sportsbook for some NHL action (come on Wild!!!!). Thanks for the information.

 

If you do, Gecko, please post a write-up. Like I said this was just a scouting trip, and your experience there will help me make an informed choice for the frugal trip.

 

Your scouting trip was right down my alley. Northside craps and Stardust sports book and I'm in my element. Actually, Sahara should have $1 crap tables, unless they've gone up for the spring.
If you going to be there this summer, the Riviera has many weeks of $25 room rates, or atleast that what the mailing I just received informed me of.