Exploring More Local Casinos

 Las Vegas, NV

The Strat

Or El Straterino if you aren't into the whole brevity thing.  Today I walked across the street to The Strat to check it out and to try to walk out the backside and walk to Sliced Pizza to play some pinball.  Slice either has 1 pinball machine or a handful of machines depending on where you get your information so I thought I would go check it out. It's on the other side of an area that is known for gang related activity so I chose to try to pass through The Strat instead of wandering through neighborhoods.  

These ladies guard the entrance to The Arts District.  

Scoping out a possible breakfast spot.

The Sports Book at The Strat looked pretty good.  Maybe I will watch a hockey game there.

I was able to exit out the back of The Strat and walked down a street with a lot of normal activity going on.  I saw Stupak Park.  Bob Stupak was a gambler and casino owner.  He opened Bob Stupak's Vegas World where the Strat stands now.  Bob later proposed The Stratosphere and was a part of it's construction and opening.  The Stratosphere's completion required Bob to sell off about 80% of his ownership.

I arrived at Sliced Pizza and the doors were locked.  I saw a man standing in an alley looking like a greeter or host and asked him about it.  He said Sliced was closed for a few days for refurbishment.  I guess the Moose out front should have told me.

I decided to continue to explore the area so I found an optimized route back and through The Strat and checked out more of the casino.

A replica of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada sign is in The Strat

I walked to the 2nd level and saw, among other things, the saddest McDonald's.  If you want McDonald's and don't want to wait in line this is the place.

I missed taking this shot on Fat Tuesday by 1 day.

This makes The Strat look like the tallest tower in the world.  They don't show all of the towers that are taller than it.  Still it's pretty tall.

This area was totally dead.

No one, nothing!

At night we can hear people screaming as they jump from top of The Strat.  Donna and I have watched and said to ourselves and each other, no way.

I saw people suiting up to do the jump.  I thought they went to the top first but I guess not.  I also learned that every time we hear someone scream The Strat gets $139.  If we weren't going to do it before, we surely aren't going to do it now.

Wise Men Say Only Fools Rush In.

It costs $25 to go to the top of the strat.

Another empty space on the 2nd level.

The World of Concrete is still going strong.

After exploring The Strat I decided to walk out the front and check out some other casinos in the area.

I walked in and right out of The Aztec Inn Casino.  What a dive!

Next up, I checked out the newly renovated Sahara.  They pumped $200m into this property and it shows.  It appears Fontainebleau is making the surrounding properties step up their game.

The Casbar looked pretty cool and it has a happy hour.  The 2 for 1 beer might be a good option for 2 people.

They have a poker room that had no one in it at 3pm on a Wednesday.  I took this photo because the tournament is Crazy Pineapple, which we used to see in LA back in the early 2000s.  I haven't seen it spread since.  Later I checked and 4 people entered the tournament for $60 each.  That's $240 in entries and the guarantee was $500 meaning that this tournament had a $260 overlay meaning the casino has to make up that $260.  This would be considered a +EV tournament and I bet there are locals that milk this tournament daily.

The Sahara has an historic Vegas area too.

I thought this picture was awesome and it made me want a time machine.  To see Liberace hanging from a crane and then go see Don Rickles call people a hockey puck would make an epic blog post.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Roy Choi's Best Friend Restaurant, check it out.  We had great eats at Park MGM.