Miners sipping whisky over bearded chins
By Robert Sweeney
Enjoyed media day at the new Reserve Casino Hotel recently where Chief Operating Officer Dean DiLullo hosted lunch in the new Ardore Tuscan Steakhouse & Wine Experience restaurant. Celani Vineyards in Napa Valley is supplying many great wines for the restaurant.
My rib eye steak was tender and succulent, almost as good as the blackjack I hit on my first hand of cards at the casino after lunch. I managed to scrape out $110 in blackjack profit after being up and down. Blackjack is such a strange game and the cards can run one way for a while for the dealer and than reverse for the player. The challenge is to know when to wager more and when to retreat. In the end, if you continue to wager the same amount the odds always favor the casino.
It’s a standard joke among gamblers that if the players won all the time we would own the casinos.
More and more, and poker has proven this point that gambling can be more than a hobby or an addiction, it can actually become a sport with very highly skilled players. Many of the poker players are highly skilled in math and hold major college degrees. Gambling is such a game of percentages and knowing what the odds are on every bet and hand of cards in poker or blackjack.
The odds really come into play for the folks who gamble a lot; most of us who play occasionally for recreation depend more on lady luck than on knowing all of the odds. We’re the players that drive the professionals crazy when we beat them making bets that defy the odds.
Reserve Casino Hotel, formerly Fortune Valley, is a tremendous investment in the former casino but as I see it an investment in Central City. This grand dame lady of a town deserves more attention, customers and respect. Central City is a grand place, steeped with history going back to early mining days before the Civil War. The Opera House opened in 1865, which was the year the Confederacy South surrendered to the Army of the North.
The Ardore restaurant, along with 118 rooms and four themed suites – many of which have been remodeled, including the Aspen Suite that will be completed this week – and $10 million worth of interior decorating, make Reserve Casino Hotel worth a major visit. Why spend hundreds of dollars and time to fly to Las Vegas when a great experience waits at the Reserve and the neighboring casinos here in Colorado? Make a weekend of touring Central City, go look at the inscription on the Masonic stone on the corner of the Opera House and go gaze at the old livery stable across the street. The historic courthouse stands guard over the town right up the street. This is a world-class atmosphere and ambience.
Reserve Casino Hotel is part of quite a renaissance in the City of Central, along with the expansion of Johnny Z’s, friendly folks at Famous Bonanza/Easy Street casinos and the convenient parking at the Century Casino. Walk downtown and visit Dostal Alley and stroll along the completed streetscape Main Street project. This is time to think about the miner’s playing cards with gold dust and hoisting some raw whisky to their bearded chins.
Gambling has been good for the three mountain towns of Cripple Creek, Central City and Black Hawk. The buildings have been restored, locals and tourists are having fun, the state is collecting more than $100 million a year in taxes and the losers are trying to become winners.
Deal the cards, let’s play!
Promotions heat up cold January nights
