the flooring at the western casino-hotel...the last of the sawdust joints on fremont street. i don't include the post/beam construction, now with carpet as floor covering, the pioneer club, as the venue no longer has a gaming license.

i remember one session at the pioneer single deck game... in the mid-late 60's i think. after about 10 minutes of my play, the pitstiff had the hispanic female dealer shuffle after each hand. the usual back up approach to the table..."uno mano".

since the table was the "high roller"/$5 table, immediately adjacent to the front/fremont street door, and since i have this naturally cussed streak, i sat there for an hour. it was amusing each time some customer would join the game, even pleasant couples; after a few rounds, the player(s) would grill the stolid dealer as to why she kept shuffling up. of course, the dealer was prohibited from answering. those were the days of "dummy up and deal". after an hour, i was (no doubt via some fortune), up $15, while the joint took in almost zero from the ploppies churning in/out of the game. of course, those players quickly hit the bricks since they likely assumed all tables in that joint were similarly dealt.

those were the days with the "surveillance" (often ex-grifters) would eyeball the game with binoculars from the catwalk.

since the pioneer closed, the imperial palace, and even later, the boardwalk, took over as the runt of the litter/barfet in l.v. i can still taste that pioneer barfet, and they closed most of 20 years ago.