Hello VP Friends!
EH and I just returned from St. Louis where we enjoyed (?) a long weekend of Cubs and casinos. Our results for neither sport were especially good!
One day we visited the Casino Queen, both before and after the BB game.
The Casino Queen is on the IL side of the Mississippi River, though it is a very short Metro ride from downtown St. Louis. I had forgotten that all IL casinos are now smoke-free, so it was particular surprise and pleasure to walk into a fresh smelling, new casino.
I will admit that the casino was NOT crowded on this Saturday morning. I hope that it was not due to the N/S provision now in place, but rather to our ghastly, slowed economy and the inflated price of gasoline. In any event, because of the smoke-less feature, we played longer, and more often than we used to, when we had to contend with smoke. Hopefully, there are others who feel the same way. Also, I noticed that the CQ provided a nice looking enclosed "Smoker's Lounge" for those who felt the need to light up.
The old CQ facilities had involved a long walk to access the barge. The former 3 deck casino riverboat is now closed. We briefly wondered what the CQ plans to do with this large edifice.
IMO, the new casino floor is much nicer. The machines are now located almost at the casino entrance, certainly a much more convenient and short distance to traverse.
Though the CQ loudly proclaims their Casino Player Magazine status, as "having the loosest slots in the US", that is certainly not true of their VP. The best VP that we could find, at the dollar level, was 10/7DB (with SF and 4OAK pays shorted to 239 coins). The other game of interest to us was 9/6DDB. Even on the $1.00 banks we could find no 9/6JOB or even 8/5BP. The .25c and .50c VP that we found, was unplayable. The database states that they do have .25c 9/7DB. I have played that game here in previous years. But I couldn't find it this time, in the new casino.
EH and I both selected the 10/7DB on the M/G box. Despite my popping 2 non-bonus quads, for $500, early on, I wound up losing $300 for the session. EH was losing approximately the same amount.
Then we spotted a Dollar Prog. which was flashing a nice $6700 RF, just under a large Deuces sign. Drawing closer, we saw that this prog. had a short pay schedule. (1/2/3/4/4/9/15/25/200/800) I'm not sure whether the name of this game is "Illinois Deuces", "Colorado Deuces", "Airport Deuces", "Ugly Deuces" or my favorite game, "WhereTheHeckAreTheDeuces". (WTHATD) I can state that I sat for the better part of an hour, playing on a single Bennie. EH had to insert a 2nd Hundred before he drew two deuces to the two that he was dealt. No RF, but the family exchequer was replenished.
Soon after EH's heroism, we metro-ed back to ballpark where we had the pleasure of watching the Cubs trounce the Redbirds 9 to 3.
After the game, still reveling in the glow of his Dollar Deuces, EH suggested that we travel back to the CQ for dinner and more deuces play.
We each enjoyed a very large and quite nice Sirloin steak with a baked potato and a salad with blue cheese dressing in the CQ Steakhouse. A tad over priced, but good.
We then went directly to the Dollar Deuces prog., now flashing a RF which was a few bucks higher than when we left. While there we managed to give back a good portion of EH's win, before quitting in favor of an early bedtime.
The next morning we took a 25 minute ride on the Metro to Lambert Airport, a short distance from suburban St. Charles, MO, where Harrahs is located. We planned to sample the heavily advertised "Best buffet anywhere including Las Vegas!! " served by Harrahs for Sunday brunch. We phoned the casino after we arrived, and they sent a shuttle to pick us up. Fifteen minutes later we arrived at Harrahs/St.Louis.
The frustration began as soon as we entered the building. We had agreed to play for an hour or two before having brunch. It was still too early in the day to do justice to a great brunch.
Since I had neglected to bring my TR cards from home, we went to the TR center and asked for two cards, one for me and one for EH to use. I was given the cards and handed one to EH. "Oh no!!" yelled the boothling, he must have his OWN card. I explained that he did, but I didn't have it with me, and he preferred to play on my card. "This is Missouri", she replied stridently, "He CANNOT play on your card!" EH said to forget it. He'd "watch me". After verifying that it was permissible for one person to play two adjoining machines, we walked, separately, into the casino. I will say that the Security Guards at the entrance to the casino, who swiped our cards, gave him a strange look as they noticed the name on his card. However, no one attempted to prohibit his entrance or even questioned him. According to informed sources, we were fortunate that we were not backroomed and/or whisked off to a MO
jail!
EH and I frequently play on the same card. He does have a separate TR card number in the HET system, but had decided that he was going to play on my card, and no one was going to talk him out of it.
We headed for a bank of dollar M/G slant-tops that offered among some other short-pay games, 8/5BP. No 9/6JOB was available on that bank, or the other banks that we perused.* We both put my card in the card readers, and tried to insert Bennies in the bill acceptors. Nope. The machines would not accept the bills. We tried a few other machines with the same result. We decided that it was because we were both playing on my card. But, since we had been assured that one person could play two machines, we called for a slot attendant to verify if that was true. We both lit our "Call Attendant" buttons, and in just a few seconds a slot person appeared. She told us that in the future, we must punch number 2 on the keypad, to call for help. Harrahs no longer used the light buttons when requesting assistance. She then verified that I could play both machines simultaneously. The reason that the machine wouldn't accept the bills, was that the TR center had made a mistake
when printing the cards.
(* A St. Louis friend advises that 9/6JOB is available in triple play in the high limit area.........How do you play dollar 3 play on the limited allotted loss per hour?)
Back we went to the TR center for new cards. By this time a very long line had formed. Something about the entire situation, including the stupid MO law that a player could not spend more than $500 per hour* on gambling, made me lose my temper. I suggested to EH that we dine at the great Harrah's buffet, and then go back to the Casino Queen until it was time for the evening Cub's game. He agreed to this plan, if that was still my wish after we finished brunch.
(*I have since been advised that the limit is $500/TWO hours; IMO, it's truly difficult ,if not impossible, to play dollars with this restriction, unless you are very lucky early and often!)
I thought that the buffet was average to good. EH didn't rate it that highly. The Asian station had tasty selections, a few of the salads were very good, and I also noticed a modest selection of sushi and sashimi. Additionally, I would give high marks to the dessert assortment. However, a great Sunday brunch should offer smoked salmon, smoked fish, carved ham, prime rib, an omelet station and a good selection of rolls and breads. These were all missing. We both thought the service ranged between surly and complete indifference. Though $20.00 is not a high price for a good brunch, we did not feel that this Harrah's brunch was a good value.
By the time I had finished my second cup of coffee, I was in a much less crabby mood, and decided that we should play there for a couple of hours after all.
I went back to the TR center and got both cards re-programmed. We then went to the same bank that we had tried to play at previously. No problem this time, and in very short order, we proceeded to lose the allotted $500. Playing $1.00 8/5BP did not earn a single bonus point.
We than took a walk around the casino and inspected the pay table on every VP machine that we could find. Eventually, we discovered the HET version of an "Optimum Bank". There was one machine that had 9/6JOB, one that had 8/5BP, one offered 9/7DB, and a few that offered 9/6DDB. These could all be played in quarters, halves and dollars. This bank was very busy, and the seats were narrow and close to each other. This was MO. Lots and lots of smokers were puffing away.
We waited a few minutes for two side by side machines to become available. Our patience was soon rewarded and I began playing 25c 9/6DDB, in hopes of stretching my playing time somewhat. Against my strong advice, EH decided to play the same ugly deuces at dollars, sans the nice prog., that had been kind to him at the CQ. He was soon down another $200. I was finally dealt 3 aces, and was lucky to snare the quad with a kicker, to redeem some of the family honor. Though we played for a couple of hours, I did not receive a single bonus credit.
I did note, with some pleasure I might add, that Harrahs was no more crowded on Sunday afternoon than the Casino Queen had been on Saturday afternoon. Despite the fact that smoking was permitted on the premises.
By this time, we had enjoyed enough of the sounds, smells, smoke and ambiance of Harrahs/St Louis, and decided to head back to the hotel for a few minutes rest, prior to the ballgame. The shuttle then took us back to the airport. We thought that this was a very nice additional service that Harrahs provides to players.
~Babe~
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