Chicagoland casino trip, day 1

I recently completed a weekend gambling trip in the Chicago area. I flew into O'hare at about midnight on friday, and flew out at 8am monday. I visited 11 different casinos in 4 states during my trek. My reviews will be somewhat abbreviated due to the fact that I did not stay at any of the casinos. I also play a fairly narrow range of games (BJ, PGP, TCP), so details about the others may be kind of dodgy. Here are my notes, with approximate time of visit:

Potawatomi Bingo Casino, Milwaukee, WI (3am friday night): The casino is separated from the parking garage by an in-use alley. The alley is also on the vallet service circuit. It was unusually difficult to get across and into the casino. Upon arriving in the casino, I was blown away by the smoke. I was under the impression that Milwaukee had a smoking ban. The casino is right in town, so I was expecting it to be smoke free. I was so overwhelmed, I did not stay very long. While I was there, I joined the Fire Keepers club. The line was short and Wendy's style. I received a $5 match play coupon for joining. The coupon was good on a future visit, but I doubt I'll go back.

It was late evening on friday when I was at the casino, and it was still quite busy. Also, the table limits were still quite high by WI standards (BJ was $15-$50 on the floor, $10 craps, $20 PGP, $10 TCP). I settled into a PGP game with fortune side bet. I noticed that the table did not have $.25 chips or quarters. It has been my experience that the commission is rounded down when that is the case, so I bet $105 to win $100. I won. I received $99.50. I complained and was greeted with a surly "it's basic math. do you round .5 up or down? UP or down?" to which I replied "well, if I'm counting from 0-9 I round it up, but here we're counting from 1-10 so I think it should go down...just like at every other casino in WI..." (aside: including the other Potawatomi owned properties). I lost the argument. The dealer had just rotated on and she was not nice at all. Also, they play with the unfavorable houserules where a straight/flush is played with A-face even if 2 pair are present. So I colored up after about 20 minutes. I was up $200 (to $700) and the dealer tried to exchange for 6 blacks. I was pretty burned out from the flight and drive, so I retired for the night.

Stoplights in milwaukee are not smart lights. I'm used to major cities having radar or pressure sensors so that lights turn green faster in the absense of traffic. That was NOT the case here. I hit every light red and I was the only person on the road.

(please see related post about the horrid condition of my hotel room)

Quote: rdw4potus

Stoplights in milwaukee are not smart lights. I'm used to major cities having radar or pressure sensors so that lights turn green faster in the absense of traffic. That was NOT the case here. I hit every light red and I was the only person on the road.

found your original, I still think you should blog. You could copy and paste and include these.

re smart lights, some cities have safety nazis who like the idea of everyone stopping all the time. I give you Alexandria VA.

PS: some of your abbreviations I get, some not.

Quote: odiousgambit

found your original, I still think you should blog. You could copy and paste and include these.

PS: some of your abbreviations I get, some not.

I just consolidated the 3 posts into one blog entry. I also expanded the first use of each abbreviation, which should eliminate the confusion there.

The Potawatomi parking garage in Milwaukee has a walkway/bridge from the 4th level to the casino/bingo hall - very easy access, you must have missed it. The smoking ban in WI starts on 07/01/2010. However, casinos are exempt, so they will be some of few public buildings in the state where smoking will still be allowed. I agree that the smoke inside is overwhelming, and it will only get worse in July :>(

If you like to play bingo, you'll love Potawatomi. It's how the place started, and bingo still is king there. (I can buy in at bingo for about $40, get 200 comp points, and play for a 4 hour session. I lose at a rate of $10/hour.) Once I followed a woman who bought in for $600 on her Discover card. I noted where she sat and kept an eye on her throughout the session; she never won. The table games are an afterthought, and that's why you find the awful and stingy rules. Where did you find the PGP side bet? Was it in the Solstice club (high rollers) room? The regular PGP tables on the floor don't offer it.

Potawatomi the only casino in about a 75 mile radius of downtown Milwaukee, and they spend (bribe) a lot to the gov't to keep it that way. That way they can keep the tight slots, bad VP pay schedules, and crummy table game rules going.

Your posts about the other Chicagoland casinos are great! Thanks!

Quote: ddloml

The Potawatomi parking garage in Milwaukee has a walkway/bridge from the 4th level to the casino/bingo hall - very easy access, you must have missed it. The smoking ban in WI starts on 07/01/2010. However, casinos are exempt, so they will be some of few public buildings in the state where smoking will still be allowed. I agree that the smoke inside is overwhelming, and it will only get worse in July :>(

Where did you find the PGP side bet? Was it in the Solstice club (high rollers) room? The regular PGP tables on the floor don't offer it.

I parked on level 1 of the garage. Someone was pulling out as I was driving in, so I jumped on the seemingly nice spot. I'm embarassed to say that I didn't look up to see the skyway from the upper level of the garage.

I may also be wrong about the fortune side bet. I almost never bet it, but I could have sworn it was there. Looking back, that detail was NOT in my trip notes, so I may be misremembering that tidbit. I looked for the high limit room, hoping it would be less smoky. It wasn't, so I played on the floor. Drink service was quite frequent, which was much appreciated. It's a bad sign when you need to chug soda to get the taste of someone else's smoke out of your mouth...

WOW, finally a few fellow players that go to or have gone to my casino here in town. Ken

"I hit every light red and I was the only person on the road." >>> I have talked to MANY out of towners visiting my city. Its always the same complaint and I agree. The stop lights here SUCK! You go one block, RED. Go another two blocks, RED. Go another one block, RED.

Ken