Visitreno

[lvbear584]

Herbst Gaming, which has spent the past year seeking a financial restructuring plan for its $847 million in debt, announced an agreement Tuesday with its bondholders in which the company will lose ownership of its 15 casinos in Nevada, Iowa and Missouri, but retain control of its Nevada slot routes.

http://www.lvrj.com/business/41077907.html

As I have previously growled, ...

http://www.thebeargrowls.com/?p=114

... the Herbst brothers were particularly rapacious in the manner in which they operated their dumpy little casinos. Their shameless preying on addicted, compulsive gamblers with the miserable table games in Primm was the worst of their worst. Though they had a monopoly on a location at which few would even bother to stop, except for addicts who couldn’t stand to wait another 45 minutes to get to Las Vegas to give away their money, the Herbsts permitted atrocities such as double deck blackjack paying only 6 to 5 to infest their casinos.

In Las Vegas, Terrible’s is a casino that truly lives down to its name. Management has repeatedly lied to patrons about various promotions, and the atmosphere in the casino is one of constant hostility towards patrons from the slugs employed there. Even after the sportsbook, long among the unfriendliest in town, was taken over by Lucky’s, some of the same inept, rude staff remained. The entire sportsbook staff should have been fired long ago, before the failing sportsbook was handed over to Lucky’s.

In Reno, the Herbsts continued a bizarre and player-unfriendly blackjack rule they should have done away with when purchasing the dump Sands Regency.

http://www.sweatthemoney.com/sands1.html

And they continued a culture there of hostility towards patrons. Even worse, in a casino surrounded by fleabag motels and populated largely by street people and gang-member types, they did little or nothing to clean up the place and make it safe for patrons.

In contrast, Herbst Gaming did make substantial improvements to the other low-end Reno-area property it purchased, the seedy Rail City in Sparks. However, the clientele of Rail City is not much better than Sands Regency’s. Somehow, the Herbsts weren’t able to figure out that the money wasted on improvements to Rail City would never be recovered by continuing to cater to the coin-playing fleas that make up Rail City’s patron base.

In retrospect, it looks like the Herbsts did just about everything wrong. Judging by the terrible mismanagement, it appears that they actually wanted their little casinos to fail, for whatever reasons. Well, fail they did. Good riddance to the Herbst-operated casinos. Let’s hope that decent, competent operators take over after the bankruptcy proceedings.

The Herbsts can go back to their gas stations and car washes, with which they do a good job. And they can continue to plunder and prey upon the addicted gamblers who play the slot machines in those places and others on their “slot routes.”

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Opinions and Commentary on the Gaming Industry: www.TheBearGrowls.com

[JD]

March 22, 2009

"LAS VEGAS — Herbst Gaming Inc. filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan today, saying the plan will result in the Las Vegas-based company losing ownership of its 15 casinos in Nevada, Iowa and Missouri, but retaining control of its Nevada slot machine routes."

"The family company owns the Sands Regency in Reno, Terrible’s Rail City Casino in Sparks, Terrible’s Gold Ranch Casino & RV Resort in Verdi and Terrible’s Casino Dayton east of Carson City and said it expects no adverse impact on its 5,400 employees, including 1,200 in Northern Nevada, through the process."

http://www.rgj.com/article/20090322/NEWS18/90322030&OAS_sitepage=news.rgj.com%2Fbreakingnews

[john]

The Sands is the only casino that has a paid advertisement on this site. I got a letter from Terrible's assuring me that they will make every effort to pay the bill, which I found very interesting. They already paid it and owe me nothing. However, donations are gratefully accepted.

[llkraus]

[remano]

Just saw that Terrible Herbst corporation filed BK today. It's the same plan talked about above - they lose their casinos but keep the slot routes.

[ErininSD]

LVbear, is their any casino that you do like??

Honestly you come to these sites and spew your hatred for the bad odd's etc..., but you're one in a million. Everyone here is not trying to eeeck out a living by gambling.

IMO anyone that takes up gambling for a living is a big loser. Why not go out and try to find a real job? You really want to sit on your fat ass all day playing cards or VP??? Oh, and don't forget that comp, you oh-so-deserve so you can gorge yourself in the buffet...LOL

[stan_allen]

Erin, are you sure there's no envy at work here??

LvBear's findings may not apply to what 90% of us "Dramblers" are up to, but it's part of what makes this board so great! We have info across the spectrum, from the penny-cheapskate (me), all the way up.

Anyone who can endure a full day's worth of pro-style action deserves a buffet, wouldn't you say??

[lvbear584]

[JD]

We are now making book on the results of the no holds barred smackdown.

Gee...I kinda hate to take sides so I'll be like a bookie and hope to set a line that attracts the exact same amount of action from both sides... dibs on the vig.

By all accounts, Erin does look better than Bear and is apt to be a local favorite. So the early line is Bear -3. The over/under is not yet available.

I find the Bear's no nonsense approach refreshing since I'm one of those ploppies that's tring to maximize free drinks, rooms, shows and meals without losing my fat ass...WHICH INCLUDES MY FAT WALLET! My guess is the LAST thing Bear wants when tryin to stick it to the casinos is free drinks. I'll make a side bet he drinks water with a twist to make it LOOK like he's drinking!

Still, he has an insight most of the rest of us have been lacking...that is how to even the playing field to ALMOST level when playing for REAL against any casino. I'd like to thank the Bear for his link to the "Back OFF" and how a few determined players have been screwed...and screwed back when they've been wronged big time.

It's my goal in life to be told after a good run on the bank, "... we no longer wish your action in this casino, Mr. JD. Please pick up your chips and don't come back." I wonder if they give you a T Shirt that says, " I whupped Ascuagga's butt, and all I got was this lousy T Shirt... and $ 20,000 of his money !!" ?

Unlikely to happen since I always get chicken when my chips start racking up. Come to think of it, I get also get chicken when they start going down too fast as well. Which is why most of us rarely come in contact with maximum table limits.

The table max bet is far more important to Bear than to most of us...but I hope to someday be told, " ... sorry, the casino can't risk betting against you, JD...you're just too good... AND YOU DON'T TAKE ENOUGH OF THOSE FREE J.D. ROCKS TO MAKE YOUR PLAY ERRATIC!!"

Ok, now who wants some action?

J.D., the ploppie bookie

[stoneman]

Man, I love it all!!
I love the city, the fun, the anticipation.

I love this board even though I don't post much. I do read it often.

Thanks, LV Bear, your comments are well appreciated. Keep posting.

Heck, I even love BOTH you and Erin. Keep the hot (and pertinent -- or even NOT pertinent) comments coming.

Back to the dam...... I am the Stone Man.

[joeschmeaux]

As a wanna be advantage player (I don't have the time, discipline, or bankroll), I appreciate lvbear's posts. I have a love/hate relationship with casinos, so I like to hear the dirt. I even visit The Bear Growls from time to time.

Erin, you surprise me with this post! If this was on the LVA FFA, you wouldn't bat an eye. I guess you can't ignore people here, so if you don't like lvbear's posts, just don't click on them.

JD, Erin's pic is hot, but it's not a pic of him -- yes, according to him, ErininSD is a guy! http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=17&threadid=291340&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE= (scroll down to 3/23 at 10:39 pm) So you might wanna adjust your line accordingly!


_________________
Everyone knows it's unlucky to be superstitious!

[remano]

"As a wanna be advantage player (I don't have the time, discipline, or bankroll), ...."

I second that remark. I tried counting and actually got to the point where I could keep count, make true count conversions and carry on a little table talk, but didn't make playing adjustments based on the count. Then it occurred to me that most of the books I read said something like IF you kept an accurate count, and IF you could get away with raising your bets up to 4X the basic bet in a good count, and IF you played perfect basic strategy, and IF you could find a table with favorable conditions (rules, speed of play, number of other players), THEN in the long run you could expect to profit by about one bet per hour. For a cheapskate player like me, that works out to probably less than minimum wage. For that amount of work I can get paid better at my regular job. I'm not saying it doesn't work for LVBear and others, just not for me. OTOH, if you follow the history of some of the most famous BJ authors it turns out they left the casinos and got jobs as stock brokers, university professors etc., or made more money selling their books and doing seminars than actually playing.

[stan_allen]

The trick, of course, is finding a balance that's appropriate for the individual - I, too, have too small a bankroll to make much use of the additional considerations, but I at least like to know which casinos are making the effort to have decent rules, and not ripping off players (e.g., Sands/Terrible's) so I can plan my money-losing accordingly.

Counting takes effort; as long as one is playing proper strategy, you're covered on that, and you can enjoy the free drinks, and have a good time, which is the goal for most of us sheep coming to Reno.

But I'd recommend reading LVBear's blog - highly entertaining, and informative, too.

[ErininSD]

[ErininSD]