October Update

Two new chips added during the month of October.

1. Las Vegas Hilton - older house chip.
2. Las Vegas Hilton - Spacequest Casino.



The LV Hilton will most likely be changing names sometime soon, as they are losing their affiliation with the Hilton brand. So, I'm trying to collect as many of the Hilton chips as I can while they are still floating around.

The Spacequest Casino chip has a hologram in the middle and I guess it sort of fits in with their Star Trek theme. Sounds like a place the Klingons would gamble.

September 2011 Update

Three new chips have been added -

1. Grand Casino - Hinckley, MN
My aunt and uncle picked this one up for me while they were (hopefully) traveling through Hinckley. I hope they didn't purposely go there... no offense to all my blog readers from Hinckley.



2. North Star Resort and Casino - Bowler, WI
My parents picked this one up on a trip designed to go to Bowler. I don't know either.


3. Menominee Casino Bingo Hall - Keshena, WI
Same trip for mom and dad. Beats me.



What do all three of these chips have in common? I couldn't find any of the cities they are located in on a map. In fact, I had never even heard of these places until I read their names on the chips.

August 2011 Update

Three new chips have been added -

1. Barbary Coast 2000 "The Millennium."
Nothing special about this chip, but I think it gives me every $5 chip the BC pumped out before its' untimely closing. The Leprechaun on one side is a nice touch.

2. Oneida Casino - Green Bay, WI
One of my aunts brought this back for me. One of the few non-red $5 chips I have seen. Maybe the guy who runs the Oneida is color-blind?



3. Gun Lake Casino - Wayland, MI
Situated between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, this is Michigan's newest casino. A buddy picked it up for me while he was there for a bachelor party. This one is red, so at least they got that going for them.

Hard Rock - Tampa, FL

This will be the first chip for frame #5. Yes, the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Tampa is my 253rd five dollar chip. It's also where Anna Nicole Smith died. I didn't know that when we were there. We stopped in one night after a spring training game and it was odd. No roulette or craps. Blackjack minimums were $50! And the tables were full. There was also some type of dance contest going on in front of one of their bar/restaurants. It was crazy. Mostly because I didn't win, but also just because it was going on. I'm not sure if it was a sponsored thing or an impromptu breakdown or what. So, we packed up quickly and hit Thee Doll House. Should have stayed at the casino, as bad as it was. But that's a story for a different blog.

Tropicana

The Tropicana. It smells like old people. Always has, probably always will. I don't like seeing the older "famous" casinos close down, but I'd make an exception for this place. Plus, that corner lot is dying for a new casino to tie in with MGM, NYNY and Excalibur.

Sahara

The Sahara. Sadly, the Sahara is closing May 2011. I've played thousands of dollar blackjack hands at the place. Never once rode the roller coaster or went down the water slide in front of it though. The Sahara had one of the strangest side bets I've ever seen at a casino. I think it's evolved over the years because there are a few different versions, but it either involved getting a blackjack or a pair of the same card (including suit) and if you made an extra $1 bet - you would either spin a wheel to win a prize or there was a pre-determined dollar amount you won. Either way, it was dumb. But most of the people playing there were dumb, so I guess it evens out. One of our first trips (Vegas '98) we ate the buffet for some strange reason. The was the year we willfully stayed at the Stardust, so we were obviously a group that wasn't strong with decision-making. But - despite all that, I'll miss the Sahara. The north end of the strip gets a little more lonely come May.

Caesars Palace

This logo looks like it would work better for Little Caesars Pizza not Caesars Palace. But Caesar didn't actually live there and the casino isn't beeper friendly (a bank of pay phones doesn't count) so who cares?

Del Webb's The Mint

The Mint. Opened in 1957 and later became part of Binion's Horseshoe. Hunter S. Thompson stayed there during his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas book. Also, I believe James McManus stayed there (after it sold to Binion's) and wrote about it in Positively Fifth Street. The have (or had) a rooftop pool - which would be cool to swim in if it wasn't 250 feet closer to the sun. I like to get sun burnt but come on people! You might as well sit inside a microwave!

Jockey Club

The Jockey Club isn't a casino and never has been. It was supposed to be, hence they made chips. But it wasn't to be. Now, the Jockey Club is just a timeshare on the strip. I'm not even sure if the rooms are available like a hotel - or if it is strictly condo type arrangements. It's had a pretty prominent spot on the strip for years though, so even though the casino never made it, the chip is kind of cool.

Gold Spike

The Gold Spike casino opened in 1976, closed shortly thereafter and then reopened in 1983. It's apparently been totally redone on the inside and is quite nice for a downtown joint. It's been years since I've been downtown, so I'll have to take the interwebs word for it. I just like the logo on the chip.

MGM Grand Boxing

Three new chips from the MGM Grand Las Vegas for the collection.

1. New house chip. Nothing fancy. In fact, it's pretty tough to notice the difference. I thought I had the same chip for a second. But upon closer inspection there are two noticeable differences. The first is a small top hat/cane icon just above the "Las" in Las Vegas. The second is a thicker red circle around the white inlay. Way to change things up MGM.

2. DelaHoya-Hopkins. Quest for History - 9/18/04. The infamous "body shot" fight. Hopkins KO'ed The Golden Boy in the 9th round and did it very impressively. Oscar would fight just 4 times after this one, going 2-2 with losses to Mayweather and Pacquiao. Hopkins meanwhile has gone 6-3-1 since this fight, losing twice to Jermain Taylor (I attended the second one) and beating Winky Wright, Antonio Tarver, Kelly Pavlik and Roy Jones Jr. Of course, that Jones victory would have been more impressive 15 years ago. Back to the DelaHoya/Hopkins fight - it was in the 9th round that you could hear Hopkins' corner calling for a body shot. Seconds later, B-Hop crushed Oscar with a vicious left hook to the body, that dropped the former champ for good.

3. Mayweather-Mosley. Who R U Picking? - 5/1/10. Derby Day 2010. While we sat in the rain and cheered on Super Saver, Floyd beat the ever-living crap out of Shane Mosley. 119 on two cards and 118 on the third for Pretty Boy. Mosley did rock him once in the second, but Mayweather never went down, regained his composure and put on a clinic. Unfortunately, that's the last time we've seen Floyd in the ring, although he had reportedly been out hitting people in the Las Vegas area. Meanwhile, fresh off a draw against Sergio Mora, Mosley gets the guy everyone wants Mayweather to fight - Manny Pacquiao. Awesome.

Four new chips

Four new chips for the collection... all of them splendid.

1. New house chip for the Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas. Kind of a cool chip, the reverse has a white inlay. I don't believe I'm been to the Silver Nugget (it's no Golden Nugget), but if I'm in North LV, I might stop in. The chip inspires me.

2. New house chip for the Tropicana. You can dress up the Trop all you want, but that place will always smell like old people to me. Always.

3. Monte Carlo Jabbawockeez. Being my favorite casino, I get any chip the Carlo pumps up... but I did have to think about this one for a second. Some dance group or something? Just doesn't seem like they should have their own chip. But if the Carlo deems them worthy, I guess I can too. I just hope they don't burn the place down.

4. New house chip for Fitzgerald's in downtown. I have been to Fitzgerald's, probably a handful of times. And I can't remember a damn thing about the place. Fitzgerald's - at least I didn't get knifed there, I don't think.

Cosmopolitan

Got the new house and Grand Opening chips for the Cosmopolitan. Opened on December 15 of 2010. It sits between the Bellagio and the City Center. I expect it to suffer financial trouble very soon.

Jumer's and Four Winds

Work trips to Iowa are proving to be profitable for the chip collecting business. The first trip netted the Riverside Casino chip and the second nets Jumer's and Four Winds.

Jumer's is located in Rock Island, Illinois practically on the Illinois/Iowa border. It opened just about 18 months ago, so it's still brand spankin' new. In true Steve Wynn fashion, the casino is named after the owner. Well, I guess in near-Steve Wynn fashion. It's not called Wynn's. Other than that, it's a pretty standard casino. Sort of laid out like the Hard Casino in Vegas in that the floor is a big circle with all the gambling done in the middle and all the restaurants, cage and shops on the outside. No gambling, just made a quick pit stop to grab a chip.

The Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI (not to be confused with Old Buffalo) was a little tougher to get to. While Jumer's was located right off I-80 and can be seen from the highway, Four Winds requires a lengthy drive on what has to be the state's windingest driveway. It too is fairly new and is kind of a cross between Soaring Eagle and Firekeepers. Not as big as the Eagle and not as bright and flashy as Firekeeper's. And definitely not more convenient for me, unless I'm on my way to Iowa.

Riverside Casino and Golf Resort

A recent work trip brought me to the relatively new Riverside Casino and Golf Resort. It opened about 5 years ago and still looks brand new. The golf course looks very, very nice. I might have to bring my clubs with me next time.

I played $5 blackjack both nights I stayed there. The first went fine. I sat at first base with 5 kids from the University of Iowa. A couple of them knew how to play so they were keeping the other kids in line. Which was nice. No table shenanigans and I won a couple of hands. All is good.

The next night, I sat at first base with some older people. They sucked. I wish I had my notebook with me so I could write down all the horrible plays. One lady, playing in the middle, had unique "strategy." She based what she though the dealer's down card was based on the second card dealt to third base. If third base got a low card second, the dealer's down card was a 10. And vice-versa. I'm not shitting you. So, it didn't matter what she had, she hit/stayed based on what she thought the dealer had. And of course, it "worked" 1 out of 5 times. And the one time it worked, she made a big deal about her strategy "always" working. Idiot. The guy sitting to her left was also a dope. He had a weird mustache and had a confused look on his face... like he was counting cards, but they were going by too fast. Or he couldn't remember if an 8 counted as a zero or not. At least, I hope he was a failing card counter. No person should be staying on 14s and 16s against 8s and 9s. Yes, he did this. Multiple times.

Very rarely have I seen table play so bad and having such a negative effect on everyone's hands that I jump up and run like the building is on fire... but this was one of those nights. In 20-25 minutes, I saw so many bad plays, I snapped. I scooped up my chips, stood up and beat feet. I didn't even answer when the dealer asked if she could 'color me up.' I was not going to spend another second at that table, no matter what. That place must rake in the dough if that's their normal clientele.

MGM Grand - Detroit

Opening Day in Detroit was this past Friday. You might remember previous adventures of mine. This year was just as fun, although I'm still a little hazy on all of the details. Needless to say, the Tigers won, many beers were consumed, there were a handful of "whoops" and it was worth a million. Also, I got this chip from the MGM Grand Detroit. The casino was pretty full after the game and I thought I was pretty lucky to score a seat at a $15 table. Because I was operating with 20-25% alcohol in my bloodstream, I neglected to see the actual name of the game - "Double Exposure Blackjack." Oh boy. So, the dealer deals both of her cards face up. Cool, huh? You lose pushes. Not so cool. Three hands in, I get 21, the dealer gets 21 and she scoops my bet. I stand-up and yell something about stealing my money, before the pit boss comes over and tells me to learn the rules. Or something. Grrr. Not fun. I got wiped out in seconds. It was ugly. But I did get this new chip.
Now, I know what you are saying. You're saying "Hey, that looks just like the other house chip you have. Are you sure you didn't get a duplicate chip?" No, idiot. I didn't. Who do you think I am? Do you think I run a highly successful blog and can't even tell the difference between two chips? Of course not. Here they are side by side.

As you can see, the differences are very distinguishable. One has a second line under the MGM Grand in the middle. One's lion is a little bigger. The outer markings are different. Clearly two different chips. How did I know this whilst drunk enough to not even now what game I was playing? Ummm... lucky?

Maxim

Way before their was a Maxim Magazine, there was a Maxim Casino, just off the strip. I can't even remember if the old building is still standing, but I think it was sort of behind the Flamingo/IP. It stood decaying (or still stands decaying) for a long, long time. But I'm pretty sure it closed long before I could have gone there. And I'm too lazy to look up any facts.



Update!!

Blog reader Matthew H. (wait, that's too descriptive, let's go with M. Hoppe) has alerted me to the fact that the Maxim is still standing and still open... but as the Western Causarina. Which I have been to and have their house chip. It's kind of across from Bally's. Well, across from the Bally's Employment Center which is behind Bally's.

Aria

Got the new Aria chip as well. It's the casino in the new City Center. More importantly, it's where the famous people like to hang out.

Flamingo

Bought two new Flamingo chips online. One is an alternate house chip featuring flamingos on it. The other is one of their 60th anniversary chips.

The Pub

What a perfect name for a casino. Too bad it's closed and I'll never get to go.

Casino Monte Lago

Here's what I know about Casino Monte Lago. It celebrated its' first anniversary in May 2004. It's located in Henderson. It's no longer open. The first two facts I gleaned from the chips themselves. The last from Casino Death Watch. Because I like buying up chips from casinos that are no longer open, buying these two was a no-brainer.

Aruba, again

Because I had collected 14 chips while I was actually in Aruba and because my chip frames hold chips in rows of 9, I thought it was a good idea to procure 4 more Aruban chips from eBay, in order to give me 2 complete rows of Aruba chips. Mission Accomplished. But not in the George W. Bush way, I actually accomplished the mission. They are; the Seaport Casino, The Palm Casino, the Aruba Palm Beach Casino, and the Aruba Caribbean Casino. None were still open when I was there. In fact, I didn't even see old, bombed-out closed buildings that could have been them. But here they are anyway.

Aruba, Part 7

My final Aruba update... the last night we were there we stopped at the Alhambra Casino which was just a short walk from the resort. They offered $3 blackjack from 6pm to 7pm, although that went to almost 8. The $3 tables in Aruba attract some unconventional players, to say the least. To start, there were two kids in the middle of the table who did such things as;

-stay on 12 against a 20
-not hit an 8
-try to double a 13 against a 19

All in all, they were definitely not a fan of basic strategy. Later, some drunk dude with a beard sat in the middle. He proceeded to not hit a 14 against a 20. Two hands later, I had an 11 against the dealer's ace and took a hit. He told me I should have doubled. I wanted to pull out a gun and shoot him in the mouth for even attempting to tell another player how to play... especially after not hitting a 14. But such is life. I didn't take any chips from the table because earlier in the stay I got them from the cage. Since they don't offer blackjack until 6pm and I walked in at 11am to collect them, this was a slight problem. I had to tell the cashier I was leaving that day, and before 6pm, so she could call a supervisor over to unlock the super secret chip room. She did hip me to not just the house chip, but also a 25th anniversary chip that features Rerun on it. If anyone knows the true identity of who this is... let me know. I'm dying to find out. And if it is Rerun... I'd kill for a Jimmy Walker chip.

Aruba, Part 6

The very first night in Aruba, I got the house chip to the Crystal Casino at the Renaissance Resort downtown. This resort has a mall attached, too... and they actually boat people from the inside of the mall to a private beach. Pretty cool. The second-to-last day in Aruba, we played there and I actually found they had two older chips in play, so I was able to collect those... and experience my most profitable table stay. So I kind of like the place.

Aruba, Part 5

On the night of my birthday, I played at the Casablanca Casino at the Westin. I came out exactly even. Which is kind of a waste, I guess.

Aruba, Part 4

Next I played at the Riu Palace. This was easily the nicest, fanciest, newest resort on the island. And what did they name their casino? Cool Casino. Seriously. It was pretty fricking cool though. Nice plasma TVs all over the pits (tuned to soccer of course). Didn't have much luck at blackjack here, but at least I didn't spill any beer.