I decided to try Casino Windsor/Harrah's/Casino Caesar's yesterday.
I have my Harrah's diamond card and am considering getting the full Diamond ( 10,000 tier points) this year.
Gas at the duty free shop was $2.99 / gallon yesterday. The place was crowded and it took a little while but paying less than $3.00 a gallon was more pleasurable than it should be.
On the down side, yesterday the actual exchange rate was $1 US = $1.06 CAN or $1 CAN = $0.94 US. At the bridge, they were giving $1.02 CAN or paying $0.91 US. That's a nice middle.
On the plus side, 3 liters of Absolute vodka, any flavor ( including 100 proof) was $36 US due to a 15% exchange rate promo if you use cash. Credit cards are no longer the way to go since a) they don't always give you a favorable exchange rate, b) they tack on a 3% foreign use fee. C'mon it's Canada.
Duty is supposed to be 10% but all 3 times I have done this, the guard waved me through. I guess he figured it's not worth the $3.60 for all the paperwork. A fifth in Michigan is about $19 and 3 litres is 4 fifths ( within .2 ounces) so the duty free rate is less than half the US rate.
On the minus side, it takes $11 CAN for one reward credit at the casino. Since it is $10 for one point at the US casinos, this makes the point requirement 5% - 10% higher, depending on what exchange rate you get.
There are many $1 Pick 'ems and some $2, $5 , $10 and $20 pick 'ems. I saw a couple 9/6 JOB at $2 and higher. The rest of the offerings are junk.
There is some confusion at the VIP lounge. My diamond card wasn't linked to their tracking system yet. The lady mentioned something about 50,000 reward credits ( base and tier) needed for club access but this is clearly not a Harrah's policy. Either way, it was nice to get an actual number needed for club access. One interesting feature of the Diamond lounge ( VIP lounge) is that when you check in, the host punches up your account and there is a monitor that is CLEARLY set up so you can see your account. What a nice feature. That way, if there is any dispute about play, comps, etc, you both have the same information so you can intelligently resolve the issue. Much, much better than hearing " That's what the computer says" and not being able to actually see your history.
Overall, the casino looks great, smoke free is nice ( even for a cigar smoker like me) and the border crossing was pretty painless.
I don't know if Casino Windsor will do the Diamond in a day once they get fully converted. Even if they do, the PE machines are pretty slow. I could 600 hands per hour MAX out of them. At that rate, it will take 11 hours of play to get 3,000 tier RCs in one day.
Now , a little bit on my session. My first $100 earned 22 points ( $245 coin in). My second earned 35 points ( $385 CI), my 3rd earned 38 ( $420 CI) and the 4th got 30 ( $330 CI). So I am now down $400 on $1380 CI or 71% return. I put my last $200 in, lost about $50 of that rather quickly and then make a pretty good comeback to only be down $75.
I take a break, grab a bite at the VIP lounge ( nothing special, it pales in comparison to Greektown) and return to the pick em machines. I end up earning 1003 base RC ( $11035 CI) end up plus $70 for the evening.
The first $400 I played, I had nothing above trips and the money goes in a hurry. I ended up positive but did not have a quad. I played 2207 hands. Still looking for that first pick em royal.
Out of my 2207 hands, I misplayed 4. 2 were minor ( double inside straight over a high card), 1 was moderate ( high card over an inside straight) and one was horrible ( high card over a 3 flush). All 4 of them were attention mistakes. I knew the right play but got lazy and didn't look enough before making my choice. On the last hand , I looked at the lady next to me fiddling with her slot club card and looked at my screen, hit the high card and before it appeared on the screen, I realized what I had done. Just to etch the error in my mind, the other 2 flush cards appeared. Now, I think I'm a pretty good player and I still make careless mistakes because my mind wanders. That is why I'm convinced casinos can offer much better pay tables than they do. They will still make money on attention errors, button errors and a few strategy errors.
Final assessment: Ok for what it is. If Harrah's mailers are good, it could be a worthwhile play. If you need gas and like booze, it could be profitable. BTW, pay in US at the border. Coming back it was $3.50 US and $4.00 CAN. With the current exchange rates, you save about 10% paying US. Every little bit helps.
I was going to check out Motor City but it was already late, so I will have to do that next time.
I haven't seen much response for the next vp free get together. I say let's make it June 28 at 6:30 at the 2nd floor bar. RSVP if you can attend.
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