Spent last weekend in Northern Wisconsin for the Nationals
Sheepshead Tournament. The fall colors driving up from the
Milwaukee area were absolutely stunning. Decided to spend one night
in Lac du Flambeau at Lake of the Torches before heading on to
Ashland the next day. LOT (Lake of the Torches) is the only
Wisconsin casino worth visiting, IMO. It is on a lake on the
reservation and is simply beautiful. The staff is friendly overall
and I have always been treated well there. Although I used to visit
three or four times a year for many years, I had not been there in
the last five. The entire hotel has been remodeled and is very
nice. We were given a standard room with a lake view. The room was
average in size, but everything inside appeared new - which is a
real treat. The only downfall was the pathetic flow of water in the
shower.
This casino has loads of shortpay vp (standard WI Indian fare), but
has a few "treats" not found elsewhere in the state. My search was
not exhaustive, but I will share what I did find:
1) At least six $ JB. These are the old coin droppers; while they do
have bill acceptors, several were out of order so needed to be hand-
fed. Many coins fell through... needing to be fed over and over -
does this bring back memories or what? I was not in any hurry...
and found some nostalgia in the process. Remember how filthy your
hands got from this? My TP (traveling partner) was happy to take
care of the coins everytime I got a "spitter" so as to save my
nails : )
I found out that two of these machines were slated for removal the
next day - to be replaced with....?
2) There is a new non-smoking casino area with TITO that had $ BP.
If JB had not been available, I would have played these.
3) This casino has games I have not seen or rarely seen anywhere.
A) DW with this pay schedule: 125, 80, 65, 20, 15, 10, 10, 5. Is
this Ugly Ducks?
B) Shockwave with this schedule: 100 (sf), 25, 10, 7, 5, 3, 1, 1.
C) Lucky Deal; any dealt straight or better pays double: 50 (sf),
80, 40, 25, 11, 7, 5, 3, 1, 1. Is there a way to figure the
EV on this game? TP played this and had dealt 4s for $400!
There is no difference between vp and slots in point accumulation;
$10CI = 1 point. Points can be redeemed for gifts; there is no CB.
4000 points can be used for one night in the hotel ($40,000 CI for a
room is steep, IMO). There is a convention center that has
entertainment frequently, often country music-types. Deer Hunting
weekend is the Chippendales for a reasonable $15. Win = $1055.
Spent the next two nights at the Bad River Hotel and Casino in
Odanah (Ashland County). This place is a sewer. The "best" plays
in the house (vp-wise) were two very old 7/5 BP 25c machines. The
most popular play was a progessive rack of 25c DB 9/6 machines that
were so old there were no bill acceptors. If someone hit 400 coins
(four 2s - 4s), the machine locked up and sang awaiting a hand-pay.
The feed rate was pathetic. Eight machines played near constantly
were at $1240 when I arrived at 4pm. The next evening at 7pm... the
prog had grown to $1262. Simply amazing. The casino and rooms were
all dingy and yucky. When I requested a second slot card, I was
refused because, "We only allow one slot card per customer." Loss =
$200. (YES, we played... over 100 people came that we know - so
we "suffered" briefly for social reasons).
For anyone who is curious to know, TP tied for 5th place in the
called ace tournament ($175 win). I tied for 6th ($115 win). The
buy-in was $25 for each tournament. Neither of us placed in JD.
Correna Correna