Caesar's Windsor Oct 11-13

We planned a trip to Caesar’s Windsor to coincide with a Vince Gill concert. We were originally planning to stay three nights, but a bad cold kept me at home an extra day. We arrived around noon on Friday and I was playing video poker shortly afterwards.

NON-GAMBLING STUFF
Along with a comped room, this trip included two free tickets to a Vince Gill concert. Tickets for Platinum level players could be picked up after 2pm. The line was ridiculously long and slow, which is not usually the case. I wished I had my Kindle with me to help pass the time, but I didn’t want to lose my place in line to go to the room to get it. Oh well . . . next time. It took nearly an hour to get my tickets. The worst part of the wait was listening to the woman in line behind me, complaining incessantly about the wait. And the fact that too many of the agents were waiting on 7 stars and Diamond customers. And how she would rather be playing in the casino. And how poorly run the ticket booth was, etc., etc. I have a hard time criticizing an organization that is getting ready to give me free tickets to a concert I really, really want to see. Later we met up with some friends who live in the area. They are Diamond level players and got better seats at their earlier pickup time. But they weren’t committed to going to the concert and they graciously swapped tickets with us. Their seats were great, seven rows up above the floor level. (Thanks, loonar!) And the concert was really wonderful. I’ve been a longtime fan of VG – I have a couple of his albums on the ipod I listen to when I’m playing in the casino.

Dinner Friday night consisted of a hot dog from the Pronto snack bar. Show nights are always busy at all of the on-site food outlets. We’re not big “foodies”, easily satisfied at the Pronto, Artists’ Café or Buffet. This night, the snack bar was the quickest choice.

Saturday there were hourly drawings for four Fiat cars, starting at 6pm. Things started getting really crowded in the casino around 5pm. We had dinner in the café around that time, beating the crowd by just a few minutes. At that time, the line to swipe your card at the promotional kiosks for the drawing was ridiculously long – hundreds of people. I’m not sure I would stand in a line that long for such a drawing, but that’s just me. In all my years of casino drawings, I have won exactly one time - $777 about 5 years ago in West Virginia. There are many Seven Stars and Diamond players in Windsor who automatically get many more entries than I do. Someday I’ll win another big drawing. But I won’t be holding my breath until then.

GAMBLING
At this casino, I mostly play quarter 9/5 DDB. (I sometimes play a little Let it Ride and I did on this as well, but I never hit anything significant.) So it was mostly video poker, which is fine with me. On Friday, I played for about an hour before hitting my first quad. It was dealt 2’s, but I failed to draw the kicker. Those credits dwindled fast and on my last five credits, I got four J’s – and a useless kicker. That seemed to be a theme this weekend: no kicker when it mattered and a useless kicker when it didn’t matter. My next hit was four Q’s – again with a meaningless kicker. And just a few hands later I got four Q’s again – again with a useless kicker. How could this keep happening? My next hit was unusual – I held a J and drew four 8’s. I love those serendipitous type hits. They always seem to hint at further good things to come. Sure enough, not long after that I held the Aces from AAAQQ and got the fourth Ace, and another Q (?). A few minutes later, the lady two machines down got four Aces. And minutes later I got four A’s again – again without the kicker. My DH then moved to the machine vacated by the Ace lady and he hit four Aces. The last time I was in Windsor I played for three days and never hit quad Aces. So now I hit Aces twice on the same machine and they were hit twice on a nearby machine all in the course of about 20 minutes. Crazy game. Daily total: 9 quads

Saturday started out slowly. I played for over two hours before hitting my first quad. After I played for about two hours, I moved from my usual area (the slant tops near the High Limit room) to the Legends Bar. I’ve had some good sessions there in the past and hoped this would be another one. After about 15 minutes of play, I drew four Aces, but missed the kicker by one spot (drawing a 5). A short while later, I was dealt four J’s – with an Ace kicker. Dang! Then I was dealt four 6’s. I love those dealt quads. Then I drew four 3’s, but once again, no kicker. Then I was dealt another quad, 3’s, but again I couldn’t draw the kicker. So that was three dealt quads in a couple of hours. I turned $100 into $500 and decided to move on. I returned to the slant top machines and got quad 4’s, but, you guessed it, no kicker. I was dealt quad 6’s again – twice. That was apparently my number for the day. Later on I held KQ suited (hoping for AJT) and drew the other three K’s. I also got quad 7’s – and a deuce kicker. And four 2’s w/o/k. Finally about 9:40 that night I got my first bonus quad w/kicker. I was dealt four 4’s and drew a 2. The last drawing for the car was at 10pm – they didn’t call my name. The casino was crazy busy at that time – long lines at the self-serve beverage stations and at all the ticket redemption machines. Leaving a VP machine meant you might not find another to play – I don’t like playing with my options so limited, so I decided to make it an early night. Daily total: 16 quads.

Sunday morning, while DH did the “beast of burden” thing taking all our stuff to the car, I again turned to VP hoping for a big win. I again played for a couple of hours before hitting my first quad, but it was 3’s with a kicker. A couple of hours and a couple of non-bonus quads later, I was dealt four 4’s and managed to pull the kicker. So three bonus quads with kickers in my last few hours of play – it seemed like a good time to leave. Daily total: 5 quads.

VP SUMMARY
Royal Flush: 0
Straight Flush: 0
Aces w/k: 0
Aces w/o/k: 3
2,3,4 w/k: 3
2,3,4 w/o/k : 5
5-K: 19
Dealt Quads: 8
Quads from holding 1 card: 1
Quads from holding 2 cards: 15
Quads from holding 3 cards: 6
Four to a royal: 17

At the end of play, I wasn’t ahead, but was only down a few Bordens (Canadian $100), an acceptable loss for three days of play.

Our return home was uneventful. The border crossing was quick, although traffic was backed up going into Canada nearly the entire length of the bridge. I joked that the smart Americans were running away from our shut down government, but actually most of the cars had Ontario plates. I don’t recall such backups on previous Sunday trips home, so I don’t know what was contributing to the problem.

We’ll be back in Canada in a little over a month. I hope to earn Diamond level during that trip. And I hope to hit a couple of royals then too!

 

I appreciate this trip report. I am traveling from Cleveland with my g/f and staying at Caesars this weekend. Hope to get some solid VP time in. Am comped Friday but Saturday I was charged a redic. $213 after tax. My fault for not booking when it was $139+tax. But I was offered $50 in slots and a free dutch oven(weird) so I guess it could be worse.

How did you like your room? Which tower did you stay in? I dont plan on being on my phone but they will work on WIFI. Did your room or casino or certain parts have WIFI? "I moved from my usual area (the slant tops near the High Limit room) to the Legends Bar.".....I will have to check this are out. Thanks for the solid info.

 

Nice report.

 

mdm4sfest: Good luck on your trip. I've had some great luck there. I wish I was going this weekend.

Room rates can be high if you don't book early. We've even stayed at local motels when we failed to book early enough.

We've stayed in both the Augustus Tower and the Forum Tower. We prefer the Forum Tower because the pool and exercise room is in the FT and it just makes things easier. I've always found the rooms very nice - clean, comfortable beds and quiet.

The casino often has give-aways: This week a dutch oven, next week a frying pan. Go every week and get the entire set of whatever. Local players claim to have a room/basement/garage full of stuff from the casino.

I don't know about their wi-fi. I'm one of the ten people in OH who still doesn't have a smart-phone. Have fun! -- Lorna

RRR: Thanks, I'm glad you liked the report.

 

Thanks for the TR, higgiel. Is the Johnny Rocket's open yet?
Caesars' on-site food options could really use a boost. I order pizza (Windsor is known for great pizza) or get takeout from Tunnel BBQ a lot when I'm there.

 

Was just there on Wednesday, no Johnny Rockets. I only play VP at both of the bars. My lucky hand Wednesday was this: hold an ace and get 4 4's on the draw playing DDB! Won't be back to Windsor until the 8th of November to see Frankie Valli.

 

Thanks for the report.
We also had two nights comped and tickets for Vince Gill but had to cancel. We had seen VG about 20 years ago and enjoyed the show then. He can really play that geeetar.

It was Canadian thanksgiving that weekend so it may explain the lineups at the border crossing.

 

I was at Vince's concert as well and it was wonderful as always. Even though I had comped tickets I went ahead and bought tickets in the second row because my daughter is such a huge fan. She is not happy unless she is front and center!

Regarding the WIFI...there is free WIFI in the lobby and all through the Augustus tower. The Forum tower is wired. I actually prefer the old tower, but I always stay in the new one to get the WIFI.

 

Vince Gill

We saw Vince last year and really enjoyed him also . Puts on a great show, and knows how to play a guitar.
We always Valet and stay in the Augustus Tower, that way you don't have to shlep your luggage all the way through the casino . Just up the Elevator walk right over to the front desk, then right up to your room.Unless you can drop it off in front , near Nero's and then park. Bob

 

h_upmann: Glad you liked the report. I haven't seen a proposed date for Johnny Rocket's yet, but I'm sure it will be a welcome addition. We've heard about good pizza in Windsor, but haven't tried it yet. Which one do you call? I understand some deliver to your room, but I'm not sure if that is only selected shops.

Guardian: I love your draw of four 4's when holding an Ace. I had the same type of hand at the Stratosphere earlier this year. Almost as good as the hand is the eye-rolling I got from my brother and DH. I've not yet played at the upstairs bar. I seem to remember that their pay table is not as good as the Legends bar.

redzone: I'm glad you liked the report. Sorry you missed the VG concert. One thing that struck me is how appreciative he was of the audience. He loves to play and is thankful that people like to listen. He told a great story about in the early days when he was first getting recognized. He was walking through a mall and two older women were walking toward him, puffing on their cigarettes. After he passed them, he heard one say to the other "I think that was Vince Gill!" The other replied "Yeah, he wishes!"

Blonde_4_ever: Thanks for the update on the WiFi. Someday soon I'll get a smart phone and that may change our tower choice.

motownbob: If I'm traveling by myself, I'm more likely to take the Augustus tower for that very reason. But my DH seems to relish the "beast of burden" role. I'm OK with it if he is.

 

The only pizza place I've ordered from is Capri because they have a location near Caesars.
Armando's is supposed to be very good but a little further away. I'm guessing they'll deliver to Caesars too, though.
Enjoy!

P.S. Best kept secret in Windsor: Taza in the Augustus tower has a great inexpensive breakfast menu. Like $13 for steak and eggs including coffee. Great pancakes too.

 

h_upmann: Thanks for the info about pizza in Windsor. Also good to know about Taza. I haven't been there yet, but I'm interested to try it. Perhaps this next trip - I'll be up there Nov 21.

I see you're heading to Vegas soon. Good luck at M. -- Lorna