The Weather's Great at Lake Tahoe

Sure, the weather is still great at Lake Tahoe, but the water's cold, so I always try to avoid it for as long as possible.

On the other hand, the casinos are always great, and right now rates are down for rooms and meals, so take advantage of your last chance before you need a coat and gloves as you walk around the casinos at Lake Tahoe.

If you didn't know it, several of the Lake Tahoe casinos still offer great hand-pitch 21 games. That's right, good old blackjack from a single deck!

Playing single-deck blackjack can offer more than a 1/2 percent advantage to the player over the same rules with a six-deck shoe. That's a nice bonus, especially if you play a lot of 21 - or you like to count cards and whoop the casino at their own game.

Of course you can still do that at Lake Tahoe even after the snow flies, and you can get your fill of skiing while you are there, too.

On the other hand, my favorite thing about single-deck blackjack is the deck gets shuffled so often that if the cards run bad a little, they are likely to turn for the better in just a few minutes. Six-deck shoes don't offer that comfort!