Mini Trip Report � Feb 2003
I�m on vacation, headed through Chicago. Some visits to casinos:
Empress III, Hammond, which is no longer the Empress III, but seems to have been acquired by the Horseshoe. The pictures are all different, the buffet has been remodeled, and the giant statue of Poseidon (?) rising from the sea is gone. I always thought that statue was kind of a nice touch, somewhat inspiring, especially in contrast to the throngs of somewhat unposeidon-like clientele. Penetration is now 4/6 at best instead of the old 5/6, and that�s that. The Showboat, which isn�t the Showboat anymore but simply another Harrah�s, has slightly better games but not by much. I�m on a limited time frame and leave without too much looking around. Down the road Trump isn�t so good either. Penetration is also down in the 4/6 range and not too many tables are open, and there are many shuffle machines. Strangely, it�s not nearly so crowded here as the Horseshoe; in my memory the situation is always reversed. Whatever happened to all the great games in Chicago? The Majestic Star is my only hope.
Formerly you had to wait an hour and a half to transfer from the Trump to the Majestic Star, but now that the boats don�t cruise anymore you can just walk right over. Last time I was here the games were ok but the floor was incredibly quick to take note of large (like one to eight) spreads. Apparently there�s been some sort of purge, because now the floor is like babes in the woods. Penetration varied greatly, from about 4.5/6 all the way to 5.5/6, and I spread 25 to 500 without any appreciable heat at all. They didn�t even ask me for my player�s card � I had to flag the pit myself to get rated! Not a huge amount of tables though (only six � eight $25 tables), and the games were a little slow. No heads up chances. All the other tables have been replaced by the incomprehensible mini baccarat.
This was the last I would gamble for this trip. Originally I had big plans to win huge amounts of money in foreign countries, but these plans came to nothing. I visited the big casino in downtown Vienna, Austria, but every table had continuous shuffle machines. For what it�s worth the casino is otherwise quite nice, crowded, lots of roulette, no cover charge, jacket required (but you can borrow one if you leave a deposit). There were also several casinos I walked through in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, but unfortunately visited during the day, and they were empty. It�s a pain in the ass to get in to these places as you always have to show your passport, get your picture taken, and leave everything else you have (which can be a lot when you�re a tourist is the dead of winter) at the coat check. No continuous shuffle machines apparent, no customers, penetration unknown. I wasn�t able to come back in the evening.
Oh well. I�ve got to get to Vegas before it's too late.
PS Everything's been moved to Green Chip??
