Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

December 7, 2012

Seven Out

Posted by Hunter

I'm hanging up my dice. Putting away my stick. Calling it quits. No roll.

What does this mean? Is the site going down? What about Vegas Mate? Oh, and when is the Android version coming out?

Be calm my children... This decree only applies to the blog. Two Way Hard Three is dead.

Vegas Mate lives. The Vegas Gang podcast lives. RateVegas.com lives (sorta)... but the blog is dead.

Honestly, it's been on life support for some time. If not for Dr. Dave's posts and my occasional screed, it would have gone dark a year ago when Jeff died.

Yeah, I could have just kept it running indefinitely and never written this post but that just didn't feel right. This thing was birthed intentionally and it deserves to die with some dignity, not just fade into nothingness. There's a lot of good content buried in these topic pages: some great editorial and amazing comments.

It makes me sad to kill off the blog but it is time. My heart hasn't been in it for awhile and given the slow-down of construction in the city, it has less of a purpose to live on.

I put it off at least partially because I've sometimes felt that my identity was wrapped up in this blog. We broke stories and poked the bear. It was fun. It got me into un-opened casinos, onto designer led tours, into CEO interviews and it introduced me to countless readers and contributors, many of whom I consider friends. It was a massive success.

Thank you all for reading, commenting and participating. I can't say how much I appreciate it. Thanks for your recent Trippies nomination. I've been lucky enough to be a nominee and a winner in those awards and it's a ton of fun.

The name 'Two Way Hard Three' came from a friend of mine learning to play craps who called out a non-sensical bet during his first session at a real table. We toasted him (after laughing at him, of course). I hope you'll join me in toasting Two Way, one last time.

Practical Stuff:

- The archives will remain up for the foreseeable future. I have no plans to take them down.
- All posts will close for new comments at the end of this month.
- I'm going to remove all of the advertising so it will be a slimmed down version of what is here now.
- New Vegas Gang episodes will be announced at vegasgangpodcast.com. If you already subscribe, no need to change anything - you should be all set.
- Vegas Mate updates and information will appear at vegasmate.com and on Twitter @vegasmate.
- Don't expect any significant RateVegas.com updates anytime soon - the site is powered by the same CMS that runs Vegas Mate so the content remains up to date but when it comes to new features, my heart is in the app, not the Web site. The @ratevegas Twitter account will continue, re-tweeting interesting casino news.
- You can reach me personally both on Twitter @hunter and at ruthlessidealism.com.
- There's a 3.7.1 update for VM in the review queue now [ed: it's out and in the App Store], a big set of plans for 4.0 and I've started tinkering with a new Vegas-related app idea.

Notable Posts:

Here are a few notable posts, either because they sparked some discussion or just because I like them. You can also look back and see how intense some of the comment threads used to be.

- Wynn Dealers Suit Dismissed
- DeRuyter Butler Interview
- 119 Comments!
- Le Reve Damaged
- I'm Vegas Homeless
- Dick Whitman Doesn't Know What He Wants

What are your favorite posts? Feel free to put links in the comments...

Also, any questions? This is the best place to do it.


Categories: RateVegas.com


Comments

Read archived comments (8 so far)
December 8, 2012 5:18 AM Posted by Dr.Dave

Thanks for everything. Both as a reader and a contributor, this blog has been a lot of fun. And thanks to all of the commentors for making this a place for robust discussion of Las Vegas.

December 8, 2012 5:53 PM Posted by detroit1051

Listening to Vegas Gang #85 now. I agree that Twitter has contributed to your decision. I'm part of the problem. Twitter has dumbed me down because of 140 character limit. Makes me lazy. I'm randomly reading TWHT archived topics again. Fun.

Thoroughly agree with @chuckmonster on Las Vegas Hilton. What a great property at one time. My fav in the late 80s.

December 9, 2012 12:47 AM Posted by worldpool

thank you for this blog that you made it turn thing around for me going miss this part of our website and going miss the great info you put on here bye

December 9, 2012 9:55 AM Posted by TIavEN

Thanks for all that you've done with the blog. It's been a pleasure reading TWHT over the years. Can't wait to see the new VegasMate update in the future!

December 10, 2012 8:21 PM Posted by Chris Hall

Sad to learn of the demise of one of my favorite websites. While I may be in the minority, I hate to see everything I love migrate to social media where thorough discussion is limited to 150 characters and everything is temporary. Hunter, I hope you chose to leave this blog up as an archive in some form for the long term. The history contained within is unbelievable. Imagine if we had a blog like this from when they were building the Sands, Stardust, and Sahara! The contents of that blog would be in the UNLV special archives! I look forward to one day being able to take my kids and grandkids to Encore, Cosmo, Aria, and Palazzo when they're grown...and tell them that I was one of the first people through the doors at Aria, or that I consumed the very first rum and coke served to the general public at Chandelier. I'll be able to go right to the blog posts and show them the construction process, and all the speculation and discussion surrounding each one of these wonderful places. I still love going back a few years and reading the archives on this site...seeing what has changed, and what we thought would change. I love reading the comments of a highly intelligent and informed community of people that are as passionate about my favorite city as I am. This blog is a treasure, and I hope it remains in archive form for us history nerds. Thank you Admiral for creating this wonderful community and all the time, sweat, blood, and tears that have come along with it. We look forward to whatever is next.

December 10, 2012 11:29 PM Posted by mungroo

Hunter:

I have read this blog for several years now and I always enjoyed its specific take on Vegas. Jeff Simpson's passing was very sad and I can understand how it would have impacted on your enthusiasm and willingness to continue. You should be proud of what you accomplished with the blog.

Thanks to you and Dr. Dave for your many stimulating posts and ideas. Best wishes with all the other projects you are pursuing.

December 11, 2012 7:43 PM Posted by Paul Shanahan

Chris Hall and others have made some very good comments about your blog. Lots and lots of good information over the years and also the people who make comments here have made a great contribution to this blog. With not much construction on the Strip any more (Project Linq and maybe Sahara) it must have been hard to keep this going. Who knows, maybe there will be some more casino projects in the near future.

Your blog did an excellent job of talking about and discussing in depth five brand new casinos in Las Vegas which costs over $19 billion dollars to build since 2005 and in my lifetime (I am 46 years old) Las Vegas will never see that again. Here we go:

Wynn $2.7 billion dollars
Palazzo $1.9 billion dollars
Encore $2.3 billion dollars
City Center $8.5 billion dollars
Cosmopolitan $3.9 billion dollars

Unfortunately the recession started around September of 2008 and projects of this cost and size don't make economic sense any more but you have to give these casino operators credit for taking a chance to try and build the best (and most expensive) casinos in the world.

Great job Hunter. Good luck.

December 11, 2012 7:55 PM Posted by NYC2010

Thank you for having this site. I've been a very avid reader and have commented a couple times over the past years. I found your site through another Vegas blog that has since gone dark as well. It was my connection back to the city after leaving in 2007. I am proud to say I use to work for Wynn, was there when the whole thing happened to La Reve and used to speak to him and others every Saturday morning. Thanks for the memories.