Chicago Sun-Times: The tiger has gone extinct in city's gambling evolution, but other

Ever bucked the tiger? Ever played faro? Ever HEARD of faro? mm mIf you were playing games of chance at the founding of Las Vegas a century ago, you would have. Along with poker, it was the game of choice -- and of chance -- in the Old West in the 19th century. It was still popular enough in 1905 to command a tiger's share of space in saloons such as the Double O and the Red Onion, along with Las Vegas' first hotel, the spanking new Golden Gate, when it opened in 1906.

That's a tiger's share -- not a lion's share. Tiger images adorned the ace of spades painted on the tables, and to play the game was to buck the tiger. It was a card game in which the dealer turned up cards, with alternate cards designated winners or losers. Players would bet on which card denominations would come up winners.

On Fremont Street in Las Vegas' downtown area, the Golden Gate still stands, even if faro doesn't. The hotel and casino have been remodeled, but part of the original structure remains, the home of the shrimp cocktail -- a bargain at 99 cents nowadays -- that the Golden Gate introduced to Las Vegas in 1959.

Dozens of casinos have come and gone from this desertscape. Grand old names have made way for modern mega-resorts, as the Castaways has been replaced by the Mirage, the Sands by the Venetian, the Dunes by Bellagio and the Desert Inn by the soon-to-open Wynn Las Vegas. Poker, a prime game at Golden Gate in the early days, is still around and enjoying a resurgence. But no one bucks the tiger anymore.

By the time Bugsy Siegel jump-started the Strip with the opening of the Flamingo in 1946, a game of a different stripe ruled the green felt jungle. Poker and roulette were part of the mix, and so was blackjack. But the big money crossed the table at craps.

Why craps? Partly because it was popular in illegal casinos in New Orleans, Cleveland, parts of Texas and, yes, Chicago, the places that were supplying operators to the Strip. And partly because it was a favorite of veterans returning from World War II. It was easy to carry around a pair of dice and take a little chance anywhere from behind the barracks to in the foxholes. Veterans were ready to play when they returned from duty.

Slot machines were around, too. The first three-reel slot, the Liberty Bell, had been invented by Charles Fey in San Francisco in 1898. On up into the 1960s, slots were mechanical, clockwork in nature, accepting only one-coin wagers. They were a sidelight. The real gambling was done, and the real profits were made, on the tables.

The late 1950s brought a new game, baccarat, introduced at the Stardust shortly after it opened in 1958. Now casinos had the big four games -- craps, blackjack, roulette and baccarat -- that would dominate for the next couple of decades. There was more, with poker rooms and sports betting, "Big Six" wheels of fortune and new games that would come and go, but those four were what it took to have a full-service casino.

Blackjack became the top game in town, relegating craps to No. 2, after the publication of Edward O. Thorp's Beat the Dealer. Thorp outlined the first workable card counting system by which players could actually get a mathematical edge. Word spread that blackjack was a beatable game, and it rose in popularity -- even though most players couldn't beat it, and still can't. The game itself evolved, with the old single-deck game making way for new multiple-deck "shoes," holding up to eight decks that are shuffled together. All the better for making the game tougher to count.

In the late 1960s, Bally Gaming introduced the "Money Honey" slot machine, the first with a coin hopper that could circulate more coins than the coin tubes in older slots. That made possible machines that accepted more than one-coin bets, and made possible larger jackpots. Computerized slots followed, bringing bigger jackpots, louder bells and whistles, even animation and special effects. All the better to cater to new players as Las Vegas reached out to the mainstream and became America's adult playground. Easy to play, and with no intimidation by experienced players impatient with newbies -- a problem in table games -- slot machines have become the dominant casino game, accounting for roughly 70 percent of Las Vegas' gaming revenue.

Blackjack and craps are still the most popular table games, but there are fewer tables per casino than there once were. Some of the space is being taken over by poker-based games such as Caribbean Stud and Three Card Poker, games easier to learn but with higher house advantages than blackjack. And poker itself, especially Texas Hold 'Em, is enjoying a new wave of popularity thanks to televised events such as the World Series of Poker, World Poker Tour and Celebrity Poker Challenge. Casinos that once were closing poker rooms now are reopening and expanding, with Bellagio even going so far as to cut into its profitable slot floor to add poker space.

But faro? That part of Las Vegas history remains just history. No one tugs that tiger by the tail anymore.

Visit John Grochowski on the Web at www.casinoanswer man.com.