Harrahs Lake Tahoe

[chattycattty]

Thanks for all this info on Lake Tahoe..wife and I are trying to decide if we want to get the 2500 TC daily bonus, once per quarter, at HLT, or do downtown Vegas (Boyd properties)I think you guys are making up our minds, lol.

If you decide to go to Tahoe there are some really good machines in both high limit rooms. As mentioned in a previous post, these are $1 triple play and have 9/6 JOB and 9/6 DDB on them and other games. They can also be set to 5 play and ten play in I remember correctly.

If you do not want to play $15 plus at a time there are some good quarter and 50 cent machines scattered throughout both Harrah's and Harvey's. There are some quarter allstar video poker machines close to the food court at Harrah's that I have played a lot. Have hit several royals there. They have triple play, 5 play, 10 play, stp, ultimate x, and other games on them. You can go down as low as nickel or up to dollar on them as well. The pay tables do change as you vary denominations but as long as you play quarter and above they are very close to full play. The nickel and dime pay tables are not that bad either. They also have some of these machines at Harvey's around the Straw Hat Pizza area.

I hope you decide to give Tahoe a try. I do not think you will be disappointed. No matter what time of year you go, there are a lot of things to do, not to mention it is probably the most picturesque place on the planet.

[chattycattty]

[QUOTE=chattycattty]
BTW, are you close enough to drive to Lake Tahoe, or do you have to fly in like we do?

I take the nonstop from Chicago to Reno - then rent a car.Quick question about 7-Star status.  I do most of my gambling at local casinos (or tahoe) which have good VP.  I don't do a lot of gambling in Vegas since downgraded their VP - just some table games, so I've never received great comps in Vegas.  Will 7-stars give me an automatic free room in vegas?  Or will my Vegas play need to justify it?Thanks[/QUOTE]

Do you play at any of the CET properties in the Chicago area? We have thought about going there and a flight between DFW and Chicago should be reasonable. We were wondering if the casino and hotel areas are adjacent to each other and what the video poker odds there and availability are like.

Also, are they generous with comps and is the food decent at each of the CET properties? Any feedback would be great as we are thinking about doing a trip there this summer and combine it with a trip to Wrigley Field to catch a baseball game.

It appears that Harrah's Joliet and Horseshoe in Hammond Indiana are fairly close to Chicago. If you have played at both, which one would be the best place to stay?

[Tedlark]

Horseshoe has no hotel and the hotel in Joliet is nice; typical CET rooms. The hotel is attached to the casino, that makes it nice as the walk isn't too far. Their steakhouse has excellent food and they just opened a new buffet that replaced the Paula Dean restaurant.

The casino is spacious and completely non-smoking. The machines are also typical CET pay tables and for the lower denomination players there is a small selection to chose from. I think they may have two hundred play machines, .02 to .10 denomination and they have some .05 UX and Spin Poker too. They have a good amount of slots but because Illinois caps the number of gaming positions a casino can have; they get picky about the floor space.

There is also a Boyd property, Hollywood Casino, about 15 minutes away from Harrahs Joliet. Horseshoe is bigger but they have their issues and excessive cigarette smoke is the least of them. Binion's Steakhouse at Horseshoe is excellent but a limited menu if you are looking for somethingother than red meat. PaPay tables at Horseshoe have been being reduced but I haven't played there in 6 months.

[Vman96]

Considering Hammond is surrounded by ghetto and does NOT have a hotel attached, I'd be staying at Joliet.

If you have a car on your trip (and you probably should), I would consider visiting both for the experience. Hammond itself is a nice property.

I did the last major update at Hammond on VPFree2. Full pay JoB and better return games are $25/point (and some are $50/point). One exception, full pay 9/6 DDB with 3 play Ultimate X for dollars is $10/point (~99.7% with proper Ult X Strategy).

I haven't been to Joliet since the major VP machine overhaul was completed. I would assume their "best games" on VPFree were still there though. Best game based solely on return currently is 1000(RF)/55(SF)/9/6 dollar DDB (99.57%) on the annoying "My Poker" machines of all things. Supposedly 98.91% DW44 exists on those too, so the extra royal would make that 99.38%. The only full pay games I ever saw on those stupid things.

Also they have dollar 98.91% Dw44 with STP (99.19%).

I have never seen a $25/point sign at Joliet though. But I haven't been there in 6 months.

And Harrah's Joliet actually gave me freeplay ($5) when I blew $50 there one time after earning maybe 20 Tier points. I was pretty surprised. Generally speaking though, I'll defer the rest of the "freebie" talk to billyjoe/tedlark.

[chattycattty]

Horseshoe has no hotel and the hotel in Joliet is nice; typical CET rooms. The hotel is attached to the casino, that makes it nice as the walk isn't too far. Their steakhouse has excellent food and they just opened a new buffet that replaced the Paula Dean restaurant.

The casino is spacious and completely non-smoking. The machines are also typical CET pay tables and for the lower denomination players there is a small selection to chose from. I think they may have two hundred play machines, .02 to .10 denomination and they have some .05 UX and Spin Poker too. They have a good amount of slots but because Illinois caps the number of gaming positions a casino can have; they get picky about the floor space.

There is also a Boyd property, Hollywood Casino, about 15 minutes away from Harrahs Joliet. Horseshoe is bigger but they have their issues and excessive cigarette smoke is the least of them. Binion's Steakhouse at Horseshoe is excellent but a limited menu if you are looking for somethingother than red meat. PaPay tables at Horseshoe have been being reduced but I haven't played there in 6 months.

Thank you Tedlark and Vman for the info. It sounds like the Joliet property is the better choice. I go to VPfree quite often and they are the best source I know of on the internet to keep up with pay tables. With the massive recent changes CET has made I am surprised they are as up to date as they are.

If we make the trip we most definitely will get a rent car as we want to visit Chicago and explore the area. Thanks again guys for your suggestions.

[Tedlark]

  If you do get a rental car there are a few other casinos within 1 1/2 hours from Harrahs Joliet. Besides the Boyd property in Joliet they also have one in Aurora, IL and this is about an hours drive from Joliet. There is a casino up near O'Hare airport that is owned by Neil Bluhm, he also has a casino in PA, Philly I think. Blue Chip casino in Michigan City, IN is about 1 1/2 hours east of Harrahs Joliet and only about 45 minutes east of Horseshoe Hammond if you do go to Horseshoe. If you do go to Blue Chip in Michigan City, IN just 15 minutes east is Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo MI. Four Winds is a beautiful property, huge and expansive and they have been doing a better job of getting in some of the newer vp games. I like to play Dream Card at Four Winds but they only have 2 machines and they are quite often being played.    I was wrong earlier when I said that Hollywood casino was a Boyd property; actually Blue Chip in Michigan City, IN is. The Hollywood casinos in Joliet, IL and Aurora, IL are Penn Natiional Gaming properties and there is another Hollywood casino in Lawrenceburg, IN. Lawrenceburg, IN might be a bit too long of a drive for you as it is probably 4 1/2 hours south of Harrahs Hammond.    If you are partial to CET properties then I would suggest booking a room at Harrah's Joliet and then driving to Horseshoe Hammond for a few hours. Horseshoe Hammond is a very nice casino but as Vman stated: the area surrounding the casino can get a bit dicey.    If you do decide to come out I would enjoy meeting you if my schedule allowed, maybe we could get billyjoe to spring for a comped dinner for us if we could get him to stop buying Shell gas cards with his points.

[chattycattty]

  If you do get a rental car there are a few other casinos within 1 1/2 hours from Harrahs Joliet. Besides the Boyd property in Joliet they also have one in Aurora, IL and this is about an hours drive from Joliet. There is a casino up near O'Hare airport that is owned by Neil Bluhm, he also has a casino in PA, Philly I think. Blue Chip casino in Michigan City, IN is about 1 1/2 hours east of Harrahs Joliet and only about 45 minutes east of Horseshoe Hammond if you do go to Horseshoe. If you do go to Blue Chip in Michigan City, IN just 15 minutes east is Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo MI. Four Winds is a beautiful property, huge and expansive and they have been doing a better job of getting in some of the newer vp games. I like to play Dream Card at Four Winds but they only have 2 machines and they are quite often being played.    I was wrong earlier when I said that Hollywood casino was a Boyd property; actually Blue Chip in Michigan City, IN is. The Hollywood casinos in Joliet, IL and Aurora, IL are Penn Natiional Gaming properties and there is another Hollywood casino in Lawrenceburg, IN. Lawrenceburg, IN might be a bit too long of a drive for you as it is probably 4 1/2 hours south of Harrahs Hammond.    If you are partial to CET properties then I would suggest booking a room at Harrah's Joliet and then driving to Horseshoe Hammond for a few hours. Horseshoe Hammond is a very nice casino but as Vman stated: the area surrounding the casino can get a bit dicey.    If you do decide to come out I would enjoy meeting you if my schedule allowed, maybe we could get billyjoe to spring for a comped dinner for us if we could get him to stop buying Shell gas cards with his points.

A meet up sounds great if we end up making the trip. Likewise if you ever want to get a wild hair and make a trip to Bossier City or Tahoe we can meet up there as well. Both places have very good video poker. Because of the recent VP changes, Tahoe is a little better. As far as I know Tahoe has better VP than any CET property.

We have played exclusively at CET for the past 4 years to maximize points and to get all the travel benefits it affords. As CET continues to "move our cheese" if we end up getting beat up too bad, we may end up making some changes. So far they have been very good to us but all of their debt makes me wonder what their long term plans are.   

[BillyJoe]

  If you do get a rental car there are a few other casinos within 1 1/2 hours from Harrahs Joliet. Besides the Boyd property in Joliet they also have one in Aurora, IL and this is about an hours drive from Joliet. There is a casino up near O'Hare airport that is owned by Neil Bluhm, he also has a casino in PA, Philly I think. Blue Chip casino in Michigan City, IN is about 1 1/2 hours east of Harrahs Joliet and only about 45 minutes east of Horseshoe Hammond if you do go to Horseshoe. If you do go to Blue Chip in Michigan City, IN just 15 minutes east is Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo MI. Four Winds is a beautiful property, huge and expansive and they have been doing a better job of getting in some of the newer vp games. I like to play Dream Card at Four Winds but they only have 2 machines and they are quite often being played.
 
  I was wrong earlier when I said that Hollywood casino was a Boyd property; actually Blue Chip in Michigan City, IN is. The Hollywood casinos in Joliet, IL and Aurora, IL are Penn Natiional Gaming properties and there is another Hollywood casino in Lawrenceburg, IN. Lawrenceburg, IN might be a bit too long of a drive for you as it is probably 4 1/2 hours south of Harrahs Hammond.
 
  If you are partial to CET properties then I would suggest booking a room at Harrah's Joliet and then driving to Horseshoe Hammond for a few hours. Horseshoe Hammond is a very nice casino but as Vman stated: the area surrounding the casino can get a bit dicey.
 
  If you do decide to come out I would enjoy meeting you if my schedule allowed, maybe we could get billyjoe to spring for a comped dinner for us if we could get him to stop buying Shell gas cards with his points.
Hey - my car likes Shell gas..   Besides, you will have to wait until all that snow, plus the 7 feet of ice in Lake Michigan, thaws out to see me up there, even though I have family and friends in the area.
 
I am sure that with all the offers Joliet sends me, there are some food offers for The Reserve in there, which is an excellent steak house, even by Chicago steakhouse standards. That is one CET venue anyway where I am always able to get a comp from my host for dinner with friends/family without using RCs.  
 
When I visit Chicago, I fly into Midway, let Harrahs limo me to Joliet, and pick up a car from Hertz Local Edition. WAY cheaper, and easier, than renting at the airport and driving to the hotel/casino. I would not consider strolling the streets of Joliet, however, especially after dark.  
 
In 2013, Harrahs Joliet yielded my most positive results among CET properties nationwide for gaming, and I play VP almost exclusively there. I was also slightly positive for the year at Horseshoe Hammond.   

[Vman96]

Blue Chip used to be a great place to rack up BConnected Points too. 9/6 JoB w/STP for 10-play quarters and 0.2% cash back. But they downgraded it to 9/5 in August. So the only 9/6 JoB w/STP I am aware of is at Gold Coast now. I'm still bitter about that.   

[joechgo]

Chattycattty (or anyone else),

whats your preferred room at harrahs lake tahoe? On the site, i just see luxury, premium and executive rooms. Do they have anything else worthwhile? What view do you prefer? Mointains? Lake?

any insite that can be provided would be appreciated. Thx