I went to Lake Charles Friday to pickup a new Diamond card at
Harrah's which will be good till 2006. At LC you must earn 2000 base
credits (at VP $10 equals 1 base credit)in one day to get Diamond.
Their slot club day runs from 6 a.m. to 6 a. m. I was planning on
playing the 50-play NSUD and 9/6 Jacks, but those machines had been
changed to short pay penny and 2 cent machines. They did have
however, quite a few new $ 9/6 jacks that were very fast (easy 1000
hph) and wonderful machines to play except that they were uprights.
Pleasant 50's and 60's music that was not too loud and no Wheel of
Fortune slots nearby<g>. I had my diamond in less than 4 hours.
Played $20020 through and the boothling said I had $37 worth of food
comps available. (I think that works out to about .18 comp rate).
Diamond at LC gets you 2 free buffets per day. Is that universal at
all Harrah's properties?
I also went to the Isle of Capri and the 10, 50 and 100-play machines
were still there with 16/10 NSUD and 9/6 JOB. Good machines and the
play of choice in Lake Charles these days with .25CB and .50CB for
seniors on M,W&F. The machines that had the .25 pick-em were
disabled. I don't know what that means, but will check it out when I
get there next time. The BJ game is 6 decks with about 4 1/2 decks
penetration and only cutting one card off at the beginning of the
shoe. S on 17, DDAS, D on any 2 cards, RS 4 times except Aces, no
Surr, BJ pays 3:2. Seems to be a thorough shuffle. Pleasant game with
casual pit personnel that seem to enjoy what they are doing. $50
steakhouse comp (which is plenty for one person) after about 3-hours
of 2 hands at $25 per. (The steakhouse has gotten better over the
years, and I consider it about a B+ these days.) I don't know how
much bet variation they will tolerate before they start cutting off
more of the shoe because the table where I was playing didn't have
anyone playing an aggressive counting game. Martinis at the tables
are McCormicks gin served in a plastic cup-- CCllaasssyy. It didn't
seem like there were as many escapees from Deliverance there this
trip either.