The three tables in Vegas

Europe is the middle class casual table. It's not that hard to be seated, and some free chips already come with that seat. You can play big, but your big wins are taxed at 65% and redistributed to the other players. If you get cleaned out, you get seconds. The bottom line is high, yet your upside is limited, if not capped. Good environment, diverse group of people, some talkative, others not really. People come with different levels of bankroll, yet still manage to play at the same table.

America is this table that you couldn't tell what kind of players play there. You have furniture polished so bright that it's giving off headaches. Neon lights under your seat, food being delivered to you on gold plates, but the food is a cheeseburger and a corn syrup soda. You might bump into some of the world's best at this table, at the same time you have some fish too. The game is much more competitive than Europe, you have people yelling, throwing things, making loud noises, all the while being confidently drunk or over-caffeinated. But many people from the whole casino still want to play at this table, and it's not because this America table has some odd smell that's so addictive. It's because you have no cap on your gains, and the house kindly provides you security services, in this case the legal system, that can almost certainly protect those gains. You can make the craziest moves here. All-in with off suit 49, strike the deal with the house to get back some of your lost chips, claim yourself as the house and organize another game, whatever you can do. If you win, people cheer.

That's why people want to come to play at this table. For that 1% of winning the lottery, the overall expectation is still high enough to justify the competition. The math is simply mathing. The American Dream will stay only a dream 99% of the time, but it's not an illusion.

Then we come to the China table, the one located at the opposite corner from the America table. If you know Vegas history, you'll probably get it when I say that it used to be in the Stardust, but now it's in the Cosmopolitan. The table changed so much and had so much turnover. To give context of what I referred to. The Stardust was one of the few "founding casinos" of the Las Vegas Strip, and was the only one that wasn't technically on the strip since it was north towards downtown. It was like the UN security council, with China as a founding member, but remained insignificant until much later. To keep the table running and players coming back, the house used a different strategy. Instead of the shining lights of the center Strip and high-roller lounges, the China table started out by offering $1 games to the working class.

For one dollar, you get a seat! You don't have chips, the house lends it to you in exchange for a cut in your future winnings. This of course doesn't sound like a normal poker game where the house wields so much less power than the one at the China table, but it's nonetheless a great experience for the common man. In other tables, he's the fish, lucky to stay on the table. Here, he can beat and rob the landlord without the house lifting a finger! What a great time for him, until he wins something for himself, now he's gotta either share it or get his crap beat out of him. The table's running and it's always full. But slowly and slowly, the rich players are gone, by choice and by force. The table is still running, but the house realized that something needed to be changed.

And here comes the great reform, the house moved the table to the Cosmo, center of the strip, next to the Bellagio. If you look down, you can see the famous fountain. Now the house wants to get some of the rich players and professionals back. So now it began to stress tradition, heritage, and all the stuff that was lost in the Stardust days. The new table went off for a good start, some fluctuations in traffic, some of your chips are still borrowed from the house, and the players still getting used to the new table, but people are surely coming back. And here comes now. The table is more competitive than ever, 8 people playing with 40 others watching. The house lets you keep some of your big wins but always can get that back. The decor has been upgraded so many times that it no longer smells cheap. Both the house and players getting more comfortable and confident. Yet the China table is still the only table where its best players brag about being able to play at some other table. The Stardust days have left a unseen but lasting mark, and who knows what happens from now on?