St. Louis or Southern Illinois

[kender]

I will be travelling through the midwest during the holidays and thought I'd ask you guys some questions.

1. I have a choice of taking a route through St. Louis and one through Southern Illinois. Based on the casino's in those areas, which is the better route to take (table conditions would be nice if you know them). Any help would be appreciated.

2. Also, I know there are some casinos in the chicago area. Are they worth it? Are there options? (again, conditions would be nice if you know them).

3. I'll also be in Minnesota/Wisconsin. I know there is already a thread started on this exact question, but if you had to make a "top 5" list or something of casinos in those areas what would it consist of and why.

Again, thanks for any help.

[EasyRhino]

St Louis was where I learned to count while on a long business trip!

The good thing about St Louis is there's lots of fairly decent casinos with friendly folks. Also, if I read my MO gaming commission regulation right, the casinos can't throw you out or bar you from BJ if you're counting (not that it mattered with my tiny bets). The bad news is that the games aren't so hot.

On the low-roller side, all of the casinos have the same rules. 6d, H17, no surrender. I know ameristar allows resplit aces, it didn't come up anywhere else. Usually you'll find a few $5 tables, and no problems with $10. Side bets are popular (three card poker, and also a proprietary Harrah's one that requires advanced calculus). I remember some CSMs at Harrahs, although in quiet times it was usually just the shoe games running.

You might find fancier games in high roller town (both Ameristar and Harrah's have one), not sure. Ameristar actually had a 2d game out on the main floor (same rules but no RSA). However, penetration was 50%, and it was also dealt out of a shoe! (no midshoe entry). $50 min I think.

Two curious things about MO gaming law. One is that they limit you to buying $500 in chips per two hours (players card tracks you). So, if you're a big bettor, you want to just buy chips every two hours and rathole them for when you need them. The other minor thing, if I read things right, is that every time you "board" the casino, they casino has to pay the state a fee. So, if they take your money, you can always just leave and re-enter a lot of times, just to stick it to The Man.

I liked the Ameristar and Harrah's. Both are pretty big, and fairly spiffy. I ended up preferring Ameristar, simply because it is bigger (lots of space for table games, but they didn't even open up every section over labor day weekend) and gives more room to wong, and to find lower-limit games. Harrah's is still decent, although one of their gaming sections is right next to a stage where woman dance around in their underwear, it's kind of loud. How good is your concentration?

I went to the President, a riverboat just off downtown. It was a craphole. I think they had one blackjack table and one double exposure table. Plus, I had to pay $5 to get in. The buffet looked dangerous, too. The Argosy is about 20-30 min away in southern Illinois. Small-medium size, but nice for its size I'd guesstimate there's maybe 6 blackjack tables, hand-shuffle. Since it's illinois, there's no limit.

I did not go to the Casino Queen at all. It's just on the other side of downtown in East St Louis. The area around it looks like beirut. However, it may be in Illinois, thus no limit.

[kender]

Originally Posted by EasyRhino

Harrah's is still decent, although one of their gaming sections is right next to a stage where woman dance around in their underwear, it's kind of loud. How good is your concentration?

My concentration is fine, and so is my girlfriends who is coming with....we'll be gambling at the Ameristar if the above is the case. Don't need to get caught counting by the casino cause of looking up skirts and caught looking up skirts by the girlfriend cause of counting all in one night.

But seriously, thanks for the info Rhino. Trying to plan the trip just got a slight bit easier.