Spring has sprung. In Las Vegas that means bikinis and basketball in the form of Spring Break and March Madness. Pools begin to open with day-long pool parties and several NCAA conferences hold their season ending tournaments here. The opening weekend of "The Big Dance" brings sports bettors in droves, not unlike Super Bowl weekend. Throw in the booming convention and tradeshow business and that’s a lot of people. According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, more than 3.4 million people visited the city in March, 2013. That number is expected to be eclipsed this year according to multiple sources.

Most of the visitors to Las Vegas will be on and near the Strip. However, those looking for value, as well as many locals flock to off-Strip properties. In last month’s Blackjack Insider I wrote about two such properties on the Rancho Strip, Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho. This month we move further north up the Rancho Strip to Santa Fe Station.

Santa Fe Station is located at the intersection of U.S. Route 95 and Rancho North Drive in the northwest corner of the valley, about five miles northwest of Texas Station. As you may have guessed by its name, the property is owned by Station Casinos Inc., one of the eighteen owned and operated by the company in the greater Las Vegas metro area. Collectively, they have over 24,000 slot and video poker machines, table games, poker tables, and keno lounges on their casino floors; plus over 4,000 hotel rooms. They are one of the dominant companies in the Las Vegas locals’ marketplace.

Santa Fe Station is a solid "meat and potatoes" property that offers pretty much something for everyone by way of gambling, activities, and amenities. For starters, there’s a 200-room hotel with a pool. Pricing tends to be reasonable, but like other hotels in Las Vegas, rates can vary widely depending on availability and promotions. The casino is approximately 85,000 square-feet and features a good selection of video poker, slots, and table games. There’s also a large race and sports book area, a 14-table poker room, a bingo hall, and a keno lounge.

The casino floor plan can be a bit confusing if you haven’t visited the property a time or two. It’s kind of like T.S. Eliot joined forces with an impressionist painter. There are many pillars, short hallways, open areas, and right angles at Santa Fe; however, everything is well marked. Just read and follow the plentiful signs and you should have no trouble navigating the premises.

The table games area is centrally located on the casino floor. Depending where you park and enter the casino, this area might not be obvious, but it’s within view of the cashier’s cage. Santa Fe’s table games are divided into four pit areas. On a recent Saturday night visit, one pit normally housing six blackjack tables was missing. The tables had been removed and the area was taped off. No one seemed to have an explanation other than, "I don’t know what’s going on over there." I’ve visited this property many times and never seen that pit open, but I do hope the area is "re-seeded" with fresh and open blackjack tables in the near future. Another 12-table pit that included eight blackjack tables, a Super Fun 21 table, and two roulette wheels was also closed. The remaining open tables offered a few carnival game selections such as Three Card Poker, Emperor’s Challenge, and Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em; as well as nine blackjack games. Unfortunately, these included a pair of unplayable single-deck games offering 6:5 payouts on player blackjacks. The remainder consisted of six double-deck games and a six-deck shoe game. For the dice hurlers, there were also three craps tables.