It’s been a while since I’ve checked VPFree for video poker pay tables.  I’ll be staying on the boardwalk for the first time since last summer, so I figured that I should take a whirl.  Most of the pay tables look the same, but there are a few updates.

For this update I only included casinos that I’ll likely visit on this trip.  Head over to vpFREE for pay tables on all casinos anywhere.

Bally’s
99.54% JoB (FP): 25c, $1(3 lines, Prog)
1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800
25¢ – 1 Play – near poker area, towards cashier – 4 Uprights
$1 – 3 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area – 1 Slant top
$1 – 3 Play – in Diamond Pointe immediately to the left after entering – 3 Slant-tops
$1 – 1 Play – Prog – in Park Place to the right of the big six wheel – 4 Uprights
$1 – 1 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area – 4 Slant-tops
$1 – 5-10 Coins – 1 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area smoking section – 8 Slant-tops

99.17% BP (FP): 25c(3 lines, Prog), $1(3 lines, Prog), $5, $10, $25
1-2-3-4-5-8-25-40-80-50-800
25¢ – 1 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area – 1 Slant-top
25¢ – 3 Play – Prog – in Park Place to the right of the Big Six Wheel – 9 Slant-tops
25¢ – 3 Play – Prog – in Park Place near Big Six Wheel – 7 Slant-tops
$1 – 5-10 Coins – 1 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area smoking section – 8 Slant-tops
$1 – 3 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area – 1 Slant-top
$1 – 3 Play – in Diamond Pointe immediately to the left after entering – 3 Slant-tops
$1 – 1 Play – Prog – in Park Place Video Poker area – 4 Slant-tops
$5 – 1 Play – in back of Tower Slots – 3 Slant-tops
$10 – 1 Play – in Tower Slots – 1 Upright
$25 – 1 Play – in Tower Slots – 1 Upright

99.11% DB: $1
1-1-3-5-7-9-50-80-160-50-800
$1  – 1 Play – in Park Place Video Poker area – 4 Slant-tops

99.00% JWD: 25c(NS)
1-1-4-6-8-10-25-50-100-1000
25¢ – 1 Play – Game King bank in Little Joe’s (WWW) 2nd Row from back wall – 5 Slant-tops
25¢ – 1 Play – non-smoking section of Park Place Poker just opposite the casino host desk – 3 Uprights

Caesars
99.54% JoB (FP): 25c(Prog), $1, $2, $5
1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800
25¢  – 1 Play – Prog – location unknown – 7 Slant-tops
$1, $2, $5 – 1 Play – about 3 rows past BJ tables as you walk towards Pacific Avenue – 3 Slant-tops
$2 – 1 Play – $2 Game Kings in high-limit room     Slant-tops

98.98% DDB (FP): $1, $2, $5
1-1-3-4-6-9-50-80-160-160-400-50-800
$1, $2, $5 – 1 Play – in middle of casino near mens room on left – 5 Slant-tops

Showboat
99.54% JoB (FP): 25c, 50c, $1, $2
1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800
25¢, 50¢, $1 – 1 Play – In Main Casino across from Carousel Room/Jackson Square down steps, on left; two banks of four machines – 8 Uprights
$1, $2 – 1 Play – High Limit Area – 1 Slant-top

99.17% BP (FP): 25c, 50c, $1
1-2-3-4-5-8-25-40-80-50-800
25¢, 50¢, $1 – 1 Play – In Main Casino across from Carousel Room/Jackson Square down steps, on left; two banks of four machines – 8 Uprights

Trump Plaza
99.54% JoB (FP): 25c, 50c, $1, $2, $5
1-2-3-4-6-9-25-50-800
25¢ – 1 Play – near the Wheel of Fortune alcove (Boardwalk end) – 30 Slant-tops
25¢ – 1 Play – in Poker room – 1 Slant-top
25¢, 50¢, $1 – 1 Play – towards the Boardwalk end near the mass of the good VP; (“Jacks or Better” on the face glass; Little/no cashback on these machines) – 14 Uprights
50¢ – 1 Play – near the East Tower     1 Upright
$1 – 1 Play – in the alcove near the elevators – 2 Slant-tops
$2 – 1 Play – in the alcove near the elevators – 2 Slant-tops
$5 – 1 Play – in the raised alcove next to the center escalator – Slant-tops
$5 – 1 Play – in high-limit area – Slant-tops

99.17% BP (FP): 50c, $1, $5
1-2-3-4-5-8-25-40-80-50-800
50¢, $1, $5 – 1 Play – in the raised alcove next to the center escalator – Slant-tops

99.11% DB: 25c, $1, $2, $5
1-1-3-5-7-9-50-80-160-50-800
25¢ – 1 Play – near the Wheel of Fortune alcove (Boardwalk end) – Slant-tops
$1, $2, $5 – 1 Play – in the east tower – 2 Uprights

98.98% DDB (FP): 25c, 50c, $1, $5
1-1-3-4-6-9-50-80-160-160-400-50-800
25¢ – 1 Play – scattered around casino – Slant-tops
50¢, $1, $5 – 1 Play – in the raised alcove next to the center escalator – Slant-tops

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Frequent guest on ECG, JMP, took a trip a little south and off the coast to the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, West Viginia and shares his thoughts on the casino, food and gambling.

JMP Went to a Casino in West Virginia and All You Get is a Trip Report!

Okay, lest you readers think ol’ JMP has a) developed a major gambling problem and b) has been 86ed from every casino in PA and NJ which would lead him to seek out gambling in the hills of WV, let me explain: I spent the better part of last weekend supporting the graveyard shift at work in their Herndon VA office.  I had my mornings and afternoons free and, prior to departing PA, didn’t even consider the possibility of visiting a casino.  Then, I saw the signs for Hollywood Casino in WV on the way down (via 15 South, not 95).  I still didn’t seriously consider it because, quite frankly, it’s been a long time since grade school and US geography class, so I had no idea that there are parts of WV that’s about 1 hour away from Northern VA.

Charles Town WV (not to be confused with the State Capitol of CharlesTON) is in one of those parts and, like I already said, they have the most recently minted ‘Hollywood Casino’ in the Penn National Gaming portfolio.  Prior to Fourth of July weekend and live table games, it was merely “Charles Town Races and Slots”, but the arrival of table games also brought the Hollywood addition, both in name and in space.
Since I don’t have nearly the history in WV that I’ve had in SE PA, I’ll have to go to Wikipedia for some background (hope you don’t mind!): the race track has been there since 1933 and slots (VLTs) came in the late 90s.  There’s also a 150 room inn, although it’s not attached to the casino.

Armed with the knowledge that, yes, it was ‘close’, that table games had arrived and brought renovations with it and that their ‘Epic Buffet’ was much better than average (more on that later), I decided that a journey to WV was a good way to kill an afternoon. I began my journey around noon, taking 267 West to 7 West.  Soon, however, the luxury of these 4 lane highways gave way to the rural-ity of VA 9, which was one lane in each direction and rather curvy in parts.  I strongly recommend only taking this particular route during the day; if you want to go to the casino at night, try and find a route that incorporates more of 15 and 340.  If you choose to go during the day, though, you will be rewarded with some stunning views as valleys and such open up before you.  It reminded me in many ways of driving in Ireland, minus the sheep.  Oh, and if you’re listening to the rock station DC 101, be prepared to have it turn into a Christian rock station immediately upon crossing the border into WV.  Spooky, right?  Not quite ‘Dueling Banjos’, but jarring nonetheless.  Luckily, DC 101 returned a few minutes later.  But I digress…

Hollywood Casino was about 10-15 minutes from the border and was like an oasis in the middle of ‘not much else’.  I drove in through the main entrance, passed ‘The Inn’ on my right and made my way to the west parking garage (all parking is free, btw).  This turned out to be a good choice as it clearly was just built as part of the recent renovations and you end up in the newly-opened ‘Hollywood’ part of the casino.  All I can say about this space is ‘WOW!’  They really did an excellent job replicating the art deco style of 1930s/40s Hollywood.  As I explored, I found self-service soft-drink stations and the small subset of table games that was actually open.  Since these games were new and it was a Saturday, I was not surprised the minimums for blackjack and craps were either 25 or 50.  There was also roulette (couldn’t see the mins) and also a few 3CP and Pai Gow Poker tables off to the side.  I saw a Baccarat pit that may have also contained some other Asian games like Pai Gow Tiles (I didn’t venture in to confirm/deny).  I think the final goal is for 85 tables (not counting the poker room), but they’re not quite there yet.

I then made my way through an entranceway and that’s how I discovered that this complex has been around for some time and had gone through numerous earlier additions.  My first stop was also a Hollywood-themed space, however it was more like an homage to different film genres; there was a little sci-fi area, a little area with fake palm trees, and so on.  Moving on, I found a Western-themed space and what was either a ‘Manhattan financial district’ or an “early Washington DC” space; I still haven’t decided.  Somewhere in there I signed up for their slot club and got nothing in the way of coupons or offers; boo!  As I continued my self-guided tour, I saw some advertisements for $10 in slot play if you gave them your email, so I found another slot club booth but learned that they email you the voucher and you can use it on your next trip.  Again, boo!  Also note that, up to this point, I had seen ZERO video poker machines.  Triple boo!

Still, there was one thing that could make all this negativity go away and that was if the Epic Buffet lived up to the reviews I had read on yelp.com.  To cut to the chase, it did.  This is a magnificent buffet; if it was in AC, it would rank just behind the Borgata and Harrah’s; that’s how good it is.  I paid just under $16 for lunch (plus a $3 tip) and just about everything I tried was a winner (fried chicken, BBQ spare ribs, mashed potatoes, onion rings, tortellini Alfredo, hot dogs, grilled yellow and green squash and assorted other veggies).  Since it was lunch, the carving station featured turkey or ham (no beef) and I didn’t try either; I’m guessing beef only shows up for dinner.  The only ‘bad’ thing I had was their attempt at General Tso’s chicken, which was drenched in soy sauce.  I’ll chalk that up to the supposition that most West Virginians think Chinese food is nothing but chunks of meat and veggies drenched in soy sauce; in short, they just don’t know any better.  But everything else was great!  Seriously, if I lived just over the border in ‘plain old’ Virginia, I would probably eat at this buffet at least once every two weeks.

My belly full and my desire to get back to my hotel well ahead of my shift approaching, I made my way back through the newest part of the property and FINALLY found a bank of 8-10 Game King VP machines.  Now, I don’t condone VLTs in any way shape or form, but I did plan on running a twenty through some JoB just to see what happened.  However, between the fact that some of the machines were out of order and the rest required you play TWENTY CREDITS at the 25 cent level (in other words, $5 a pull) to have a shot at the jackpot, I decided that Mr. Jackson was just fine where he was and left.  Yes, I realize that merely just turns a ‘quarter machine’ into a ‘dollar machine’ but I still didn’t appreciate the bait and switch.

Other items of note; the casino is smoke free and the waitresses are easy on the eyes.  I didn’t drink anything, so I’m not sure if drinks are comp’d.

All in all, it was a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.  Every employee I encountered was super-friendly (especially the guy who thought my Green Lantern t-shirt was classy!) and the property was very nice.  For those of you wondering why I didn’t accuse them of “overbuilding for the neighborhood” like I did Parx, let me retort.  Building a very nice themed casino in the middle of ‘nowhere’ is not overbuilding precisely because you have a theme.  If they had gone only with ‘luxury’ as the theme, as Parx did, I’d have the same gripe.  Instead, though, they’ve got this Hollywood thing going on, which is a little bit luxury, a little bit kitschy and a whole lot of fun.  I’d say once they get all their tables up and running and the hype dies down (which will bring the table minimums down with it), it’s worth a look from those of you within a 1.5 hour radius.

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• May 28, 2010 -- A Look at Harrahs Chester

The time has come for advertisers to find another way into your head.  It was only a matter of time before idle slot and video poker machines at your favorite casino had ads running.

Enter Reel-TV, a Henderson company that has patented technology enabling television ads and other marketing messages to appear on slot machine video screens while not in use. Last month, frosty bottles of Bud Light began materializing on video poker screens inside the main entrance of the Palms, like hallucinations induced by the desert heat.

Over the past few years advertisements have popped up in almost every free space marketers can find.  No area is sacred anymore.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone.  Like TV’s in supermarket lines, I expect to see this spread rapidly, so get ready for ads and casino promos everywhere you look in a casino.

Photo: Brandweek

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Intrepid ECG contributor, JMP, recently had a look at Harrah’s Chester.  All casinos are in play for me once table games arrive so I appreciate the advanced scouting – for better and worse.

When last you left your hero, I was basking in the glow of the $25 I took from Parx (nee Philadelphia Park Casino) in Bensalem, PA prior to getting together with friends for the Super Bowl.  Despite the win, playing 7/5 left a real bad taste in my mouth, despite never hitting a short-pay full-house.  I wanted to erase that memory with a trip to Harrah’s Chester for some 8/5 and some free Mountain Dew, but alas, tragedy struck in the form of what I’ll just call “a major source of uncertainty surrounding my continued employment”.   And since a gambling trip is always better when it’s to celebrate something, I decided not to gamble until I had re-achieved job security.

That happened a couple of weeks ago, so all I needed at that point was a window of opportunity.  In a rare moment of synergy in my life, I had to support a task that could only be done from our offices in northern VA, requiring a trip down 95 South.  Since I use 476 S (aka ‘the blue route’) to get there and the ‘good’ exit for Harrah’s Chester is the one immediately north of where 476 connects, the trip down on a recent Wednesday night was my first, best hope for some gambling.

(I should explain what I meant by ‘good exit’.  Since I know my way there, I didn’t use my Garmin, but if you choose such a tool, disregard any directions that don’t involve taking 95 to Exit 8 for Ridley Park, then heading for Industrial Road and making a right.  Do not risk getting off anywhere else and going through Chester to get to Harrah’s.)

Yes, for those of you who aren’t aware, Harrah’s Chester isn’t in what I’d call a ‘good neighborhood’.  In fact, it isn’t even a neighborhood, unless you count the prisoners next door as neighbors.  Also, I originally thought that the new stadium for the MLS Philadelphia Union was nearby, but I saw no signs of it while driving in.  The racino sits on aptly-named Industrial Road, along with Boeing and other warehouse-y looking buildings.  Actually, it’s a warehouse-y building itself and that’s fine, in my opinion.  Unlike Parx, which I believe overbuilt for its neighborhood, Harrah’s built the proper facility for the locale.  The outside is basically a two story gray box with just enough color and neon to let you know something fun is inside.  There’s also a large ‘screen’ that shows things like the Harrah’s logo, similar to what you can see on the Waterfront Tower at Harrah’s AC.  Attached is a 5-level parking garage, where each level actually connects to the racino.  No going all the way down to the bottom and over to the building and then back up to whatever level you want.  Instead, once you leave the garage, you’re presented with enough elevators and escalators to take you wherever you want to go.  The 2nd floor, which takes up two stories, is for the race track and the 4th is for the casino.  Connecting those two is a grand set of two-story escalators.  The first floor features the valet entrance, a little ‘art gallery’ featuring photos of every single Harrah’s property and, last I knew, a Brighton store where you could use your Reward Credits in a 2:1 ratio.

I haven’t spent a lot of time on the 2nd level, as I don’t play the ponies (the gene must’ve skipped a generation), so all I can say about it is there’s a snack bar called The Copper Mug and plenty of places to wager on races going on at the track as well as at other tracks.

I’ve spent considerably more time on the 4th floor, however J.  Coming off of an escalator/elevator, you cross what I guess is a concourse (which also serves as the landing point for the aforementioned ‘grand escalator’ from the 2nd floor) onto the gaming floor.  There’s a Total Rewards desk and a gift shop on your left (because I don’t know about you, but I really need stuff with “Harrah’s Chester” emblazoned upon it!).  Now, it used to be that this concourse was nice, open and free from machines, but that’s not the case anymore.  Harrah’s is doing their best to squeeze 2 gaming pits and a poker room onto the floor and that has displaced many banks of machines.  I’m really hoping this isn’t a permanent thing because getting out of the elevator and being hit almost immediately with slot machines was pretty jarring.  The ceilings are high and feature exposed girders, beams and ductwork, not unlike what you’d see if you were to look up at Home Depot or Lowe’s.  They are painted what I can only describe as a mix of “Harrah’s Purple” and “Rust”, giving it an industrial, yet slightly Mardi-Gras-ish feel.  The rest of the casino completes the Mardi Gras theme, as it’s decorated just like Harrah’s AC or LV.  There’s a bar in the middle called Stir and it seems that it’ll be at or near the epicenter of the gaming pit(s).  The electronic table games used to be off to the right, but I have a hunch that’ll be the poker room.  It’ll be interesting to see if they keep any of the electronic tables (21, 3CP, roulette) once the real McCoys go in.  It may make sense to have the lowest denominations be electronic in order to a) make newbies feel more comfortable and b) keep costs down since you don’t have to pay a dealer to pitch a $5 game.

The ‘outer ring’ of the floor contains the eateries: Cappuccino (the coffee bar that also sells sandwiches), The End Zone Sports Bar & Grill, Riverview Cove/Terrace/etc. and the buffet.  I’ve eaten at the buffet once before, back in 2008.  I really enjoyed the salad/dessert bar and the seafood and Italian stations.  Their attempt at a ‘comfort food’ station didn’t have the desired effect on me and the Prime station should be renamed Choice, unless they want to be sued for false advertising.  I didn’t like the Chinese station, either.  Still, .500 ain’t bad and it’s still better than the .000 that Parx is batting in this respect.  I can’t tell you what they’re charging now, as my visit was right before Mother’s Day so the only sign I could quickly find described their holiday offering/price.

Slots are pretty much everywhere else, save for 2-3 banks of VP.  There’s a long row of 25 cent multi-game slant-tops in front of Cappuccino that are linked in a progressive.  There’s another area towards the back-left with all sorts of VP games (triple-strike, multi-denom, etc.) and a 2nd progressive bank closer to the front and also on the left; these are uprights.  There used to be a 3rd bank of linked machines, but I guess it didn’t survive ‘the great rearranging’.

Since the bank of uprights had a larger progressive (nearly $1100 vs $1050 on the slant-tops), I decided to give them a whirl.  I helped myself to a free cup of Mountain Dew (hey, I had a 2.5 hour drive ahead of me!), inserted $40 and started to play.  The first machine was okay, but the full-houses weren’t coming, so I switched.  Well, that made things worse and I was tapped about 15 minutes later.   The thing of it was, I was okay with it.  I had a long road ahead of me, I was grateful for any chance to play and, due to all the disorganization, I wasn’t really feeling it.  I don’t believe in Feng Shui and I don’t need perfect surroundings, but I need a bit more than Chester can offer at this point.

Still, what they offer is head and shoulders above Parx.  Let’s sum up where Chester comes out ahead: parking garage, better VP, integrated race track, buffet and high ceilings.  Really, the only thing Parx has on Chester is location.  Assuming they do an equal job bringing in live table games, I don’t see how Parx can close the gap.  I hope to return to both places after this happens for further investigation.
In the meantime, I hear Delaware has some racinos and one of them is just off 95 between myself and Northern VA.  Hmmmm…. J.

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Going into my solo adventure to Las Vegas I thought that I would end up gambling a little more than I would if I was with friends.  I met that expectation.

Being with out anyone else to consider I found myself wandering to just about any slot machine that looked remotely entertaining.  That was both good and bad.

Munny was located on the edge of the walkway to the rooms at the Palazzo.  I put $20 in and left with $50.  This is a 5 reel penny slot. There were tons of line combinations, but all that really mattered were the bonuses.  The big bonus set free a lotto ping pong ball scene.  Each ball had a multiplier.  I got a couple of 10x balls and bingo!  I played this game a few times and ended up positive each time.

I played a lot of slots in all denominations with unspectacular results, but not awful results.  I played my new favorite Time Machine at Palazzo, a new version of Top Dollar at Wynn and many more.

By definition, slots include video poker.  I played a good amount of video poker too and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.  There were some nice wins like 25 straights playing multi-video poker at Planet Hollywood.

Unfortunately there was nothing better than 8/5 Jacks or Better anywhere I played.  I did pretty well on my last trip to Vegas playing 8/5 JoB…

..this trip to Vegas was the complete opposite.  It happens.  It’s time to move away from machines to the tables.

Let It Ride
My greatest session gambling was a win of a couple hundred dollars in Let It Ride.  I haven’t played Let It Ride in a while and didn’t have much of an idea what I was doing.  Maybe that’s the trick.

Sports Betting
The best gambling for me this trip was sports betting.  I won about 8 of 10 games.  I only wish there were more games that were that I felt strongly about.  I spent a good amount of time at Legasse Stadium and I can’t wait to get this TV setup in my house.  Someday…

Blackjack Switch and Blackjack
Wynn was a second home for me and I played slots, bet on games and played Blackjack Switch for the second time.  Being sober helped a lot as I almost doubled my money in about 15 minutes.  Not too shabby.

Blackjack is always the same for me.  Up and down, up and down.  I did have a great time playing blackjack at the Palazzo on my final night.  I went to a table to play alone, but that changed quickly as the table filled with a variety of fun people.  I doubled my money and even spotted comedian, Brad Garrett, across the way!

3 Card Poker
My worst gambling came playing 3 card poker.  I did not have a winning session or even a big hand.  My experience in 3CP was so bad I had to stop playing.

My downfall at 3 Card Poker began at Planet Hollywood where I fell prey to extremely hot dealers and plenty of vodka in the Pleasure Pit.  I wasn’t in the section with Go-Go Dancers.  That’s a bit too distracting.

I had a great time playing at the Pleasure Pit.  The music, other players  and dealers were all fun.  Drink service, to no surprise, was very quick.

I’ve had a pretty good year and a half run gambling.  I may have gotten a little reckless gambling alone, but I gamble to have fun and I succeeded at that.  Moving forward I have to get back to smart gambling.

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