Reno Favorites

Favorite thing: When traveling to Reno I have a list of places to visit. The Downtown River Walk is a must. The Truckee River is wonderful. If I eat downtown I always get Reno's most renowned burger, The Awful Awful! Located in the hole in the wall Little Nugget Diner, it has the best greasy spoon foods. The Awful Awful burger is hands down the best burger I've ever had. Also I love the Nevada Museum of Art near downtown. I'm an artist and am very impressed with the artwork they house there.

Fondest memory: I crave the Awful Awful burger! I also love going to the amazing summer events in Reno. The Balloon Races, Hot August Nights, Artown etc. I love the activities and look forward to them every year when I visit.

2 more images

Favorite thing: Crossing the Sierra Nevada on I-80 they have rest areas on either side. This one is off of I-80 East side, which crosses Donner Summit (Euer Saddle) at 7,239 feet elevation.

Here is a link to know which rest stops are openREST AREAS

Favorite thing: Poker is a game of skill. In the casino environment, poker players play against each other and the house only takes a fee, or rake, out of each pot. Often this rake is 5 or 10 percent of each pot with a cap of some specified dollar amount placed on how much can be taken out of a single pot. The better players will defeat the less skilled over the long rung. But the casino will accumulate chips by skimming money from each pot. A skilled player must not only beat his or her fellow players, but must win enough to overcome the rake. At a table of equally skilled players, eventually all the money will be siphoned out of the game and no one will win. The casino does not care if you win or lose at poker, since they win a small amount from each pot played.

4 more images

Favorite thing: reno is host to various weekly festivals and when we were there, it was the Italian Festival that we saw. They close virginia street on sundays of the festival while on weekdays, it stays on the lot near the reno sign and the El Dorado Hotel. these kind of weekly festivals are calculated to be a come on and added atrraction to go to reno since the indian reservation casinos in california are hauling out a huge chunk of the regulars from the Bay Area and Central Valley areas of California. Time will tell if these festival can pull back the regulars.

Fondest memory: this italian festival is what else, magnifico, you can see the assortment of italian cuisine from all the regions of italy from north to south and they offer everything from pastas, antipasti, osso bucco, risotto, pizza, italian wines and a lot more that you will have your tummy bulging after engorging these wondrous italian delights hehehe. the prices are cheap too like buying a carbonara here cost only $ 8 and a slice of pizza at $ 3 but the servings are a little less than the usual.

4 more images

Favorite thing: you can enter casinos without stepping out the street outside in Circus Circus to Silver Legacy Casino and El Dorado Casino. Lots of stuff going inside the walkway like slot machines, shops, restaurants, souvenir shops, bars, pubs, amusement centers and other stuffs that would induce you to gamble or spend more. it really entices the visual senses but I'm not falling for it hehehe, I may be a gambler but im not impulsive.

Fondest memory: the walkways are a convenient walk to hop in between these casinos and especially if the weather is cold outside but also it will induce you to gamble more or to buy more stuff and even to drink more since the alcoholic drinks here are free and you just give an $ 1 to 2 tip to the waitresses or bar hops near slot machines. it is about a 1/2 mile long walk and the exit is at virginia street near the Famous Reno Sign.

Favorite thing: In Reno, Nevada, most of the casinos are concentrated in downtown. They are close enough together that it is easy to walk between the casinos. The scale of downtown is similar to downtown Las Vegas, where the clubs are in close proximity and of a smaller scale. This differs vastly from the Strip in Las Vegas, where you practically need to drive to the club next door since they are so large and usually quite a bit distant from each other.

There are many advantages to being able to walk to the various casinos. First, with all the free alcohol, if you do indulge there is no need to drive. Second, there are no hassles over parking. Third, and to me most importantly, if you don’t like the games in a club you can just walk to another.

Sometimes your “luck” may change, the casino might become too crowded, or you might just want a change of pace or scenery. When these things happen, it is nice to be able to wander off to find greener felt at another casino. In a short visit to Reno, you can easily visit many of the downtown clubs.

The downtown clubs that are within walking distance of each other include: Cal-Neva, Circus Circus, Eldorado, Fitzgerald's, Harrah's, Sands, Siena, and Silver Legacy.

So bring a good pair of walking shoes and be ready to stroll around downtown.

Favorite thing: Blackjack can be beaten by skilled card counters. Counting cards requires hours of practice to develop one's skills. Unfortunately the game of blackjack has deteriorated over the years to a point where many of the games offered in casinos are so unfavorable that they can not be beaten by the even best players. Winning at blackjack involves knowing the basic strategy for when to hit, stand, double, split pairs, and how to handle all the various options. It also takes an ability to use one or more numerical systems to track whether the next hand dealt favors the player or the house. Also, one must know how to alter the playing strategy to account for the composition of remaining cards. In addition, one must have a bankroll large enough to weather normal expected fluctuations.

One must be able to use these techniques in a casino environment without being distracted and most importantly without being kicked out. The casinos are very paranoid about card counters. But their fears are for the most part unwarranted. Only an extremely small fraction of blackjack players have the skill, bankroll, and mental discipline to win a worthwhile sum of money at the game.

Fondest memory: For the few who have mastered what it takes to win at blackjack, they must also learn how to play without being detected. Few casino personnel actually know how to use a winning blackjack system, but they do have certain things they look for to aid them in catching card counters. Card counting is perfectly LEGAL, but in Nevada the casinos are allowed to kick anyone out who they suspect can win. Many people are kicked out by mistake due to casinos' over paranoia of winners. There are still current reports of people being "back-roomed" by casinos and subjected to being held against their will and interrogated, being extensively and invasively searched, and even being beaten. If police are called in to such situations, they will not typically act against the over zealous casino employees as gaming revenue is too important to the politicos who run the state.

Favorite thing: Winning at progressive video poker involves only playing machines after the progressive jackpot exceeds the "break-even point." And then playing quickly and hopefully catch a royal flush to win the pot before someone else claims the prize. All the while, one must play according to a strategy that has been perfected to yield the maximum return from the various possible combinations of potential draws.