Texas Station is one of many locals casinos under the Station Casinos umbrella. It is located in North Las Vegas in an area referred to by locals as the Rancho Strip. This row of casinos includes Texas Station, Wildfire, Fiesta and Santa Fe Station. All four are Station Casinos properties.
Texas Station is on the southeast corner of West Lake Mead and North Rancho Drive. It is across Lake Mead from Fiesta and across Rancho from Wildfire. The area is on the unsafe side. While walking between the casinos is safe, players should be aware of surroundings and not wander beyond the casinos.
The property opened on July 12, 1995. It has the minimum 201 rooms required to operate a full service casino. Texas Station spreads 91,000 square feet of casino space. Most of this room is used for video poker and slots. Texas Station has a disproportionately small table games pit for its size. The pit area gets smaller and smaller as the years go by.
Texas Station Tables and Games
There are 14 blackjack tables at Texas Station. All dealers hit soft 17. There is no high limit salon at Texas Station. In fact, the max bet is just $500. That is typical of casinos on the Rancho Strip.
There are three types of blackjack games at Texas Station. One is a double deck where double down before and after splitting is permitted. The bet limits are $5 to $500. Blackjack pays 3-2. The house edge is 0.4%. There are eight of these tables.
The six-deck shoes also permit double down before and after splitting. The bet limits are $5 to $500. The house edge is 0.63%. Blackjack pays 3-2. There are four shoe games at Texas Station.
There are two single deck blackjack tables at Texas Station. These also have $5 to $500 limits. Players may double down on any two cards and after splitting. Blackjack pays 6-5. The house edge is 1.35%.
Boarding Pass for Frequent Blackjack Players
Texas Station uses the Boarding Pass players club. This is used by all Station Casinos properties. Blackjack players do not get much in the way of comps. Players will get a free bet once per week that is equal to the average bet. The Boarding Pass kiosk prints a ticket as a free bet. The voucher is exchanged for a chip if it wins so its value is slightly less than half of its face.
It is difficult to get food comps from blackjack action. Comps are earned at about $.25 per hour for every $5 average bet. It takes green chip action to get a host. Players that do not give action for 90 days lose all comps stored in the system.
Boarding Pass is designed for slots and video poker players. Players receive 0.3% cash back or comp from play on machines. This action also generates free slot play each week and buffet coupons.
What’s Different?
Texas Station is a plain vanilla locals casino. It has $5 blackjack that permits double down before and after splitting at both pitch and shoe games. The single deck permits double down after splitting. That would be a great rule if blackjack did not pay 6-5. It at least makes a bad game a little better than a standard 6-5 single deck blackjack game.
Comps are average at best. There is nothing to get excited about at Texas Station. On the other hand, the double deck and shoe games are perfectly acceptable.
The Inside View
If you live in North Las Vegas, Texas Station is probably the best place to play blackjack. The low limit games offer respectable rules. Green chip players can eat at Austin’s Steakhouse and the oyster bar on a regular basis. Red chip players will enjoy free buffets.
For best results, we recommend mixing in some video poker at Texas Station. There are about 20 machines where all games return more than 100%. These games only pay 0.075% in cash back and no comps. They also do not generate free play or mailers. There are dozens of 99.5% to 99.8% machines pay full points of 0.3% cash back and also generate point multiplier days and mailers. These are good games to choose on multiplier days.
Craps is another good option to mix up play. Odds are 10 times at Texas Station craps.