Jackpot, Nevada trip report

[DayTripping]

Long story short: I'm on a cross country road trip that started in New Hampshire two months ago and will end sometime in Las Vegas. I was in Yellowstone and Grand Teton this week, and yesterday I drove from Jackson, Wyoming to Jackpot, Nevada on my way to Great Basin Nat'l Park.

On with the trip report...

Jackpot is a town of about 1000. Highway 93 goes right through the town so you have to actually stop, you can't just buzz through at 80 mph. There are about 5 hotel/casinos, with the only one of significant size being Cactus Pete's. CP's also owns the Horseshu (no idea why it is spelled that way) across the street, and this is where I got a very nice room at the rock bottom rate of $28.

After unloading my stuff I drove across the street to Cactus Pete's and found the poker room. There was only one game going, and it was 3-6 limit. The blinds are $1 and $2, and if you raise preflop it goes $5, then $8, then $12. Kinda weird. I put my name on the list and the guy told me they were also starting a list for 1-2 NL with a $40-$100 buy in. I was told that there sometimes get a 2-5 game with $300 cap buy in. Also, the next night they were having a $75 buy in MTT.

After putting my name on the list I wandered a bit. I kept checking back, but the list was not moving at all, and they weren't getting enough names to start a second game. When all was said and done I ended up waiting about 3 1/2 hours to get my seat! No joke. The result was me dropping abot $120 on video poker and another $25 on blackjack. Side note about blackjack... all the tables are single deck full pay and most have $5 minimum. Can't find that in Vegas.

Finally they started a second game of 3-6 with about 6 players. This lasted about a half hour before some guys left and we were down to 3 handed. It was me, and older guy, and a young drunk guy. We played this way for a few minutes before it broke and we got put on the list for the main game.

Finally I got seated at the main game. After a little while it became apparent to me that for some reason, literally half of the people at the table were not tipping the dealers, at all. There was also a drunk old irish guy who was asking the cocktail waitress for drinks with extra alcohol and not tipping her. I've never been at a table with so many tight asses, and one of the dealers was having trouble hiding his frustration. When somebody did tip him he would give an exagerrated "thank you", and when you pushed another dealer he would make a comment to her about how few tips she got. I guess he should have held his tongue, but still, it was pretty brutal.

Play was pretty average, but for whatever reason it was slow as hell. There was one young guy in hat and shades who would take 30 seconds sometimes to agonize over a $6 call. He was also openly colluding with his buddy next to him and a couple of players at the table bitched to the dealer about it. There was also an angle shooter sitting next to me who pulled $20 out of his pocket in the middle of the hand, and when the dealer asked him if he had the money out before the hand started he lied and said "yes." The great thing was this angle shooter lost the hand and it ended up costing him the $20 he illegally pulled out. That was the highlight of the night for me.

Play was nothing special. I've seen better, I've seen worse. I treaded water for most of the night and ended up leaving at 3:00 AM down about $15.

Right now I'm in Ely, Nevada staying at the historic Hotel Nevada. I signed up for a 1-5 spread game that starts at 7:00. That's all they offer tonight, but apparently tomorrow they have a pot limit game that I will have to check out. Will post a trip report for here if there is enough interest.