Trip Report: Horseshoe St. Louis

This is for the benefit of anyone wanting to run Diamond In A Day at this property.

TRIP REPORT: HORSESHOE ST. LOUIS

Since I was in the area I decided to book two nights at Horseshoe St. Louis to play some advantage slots and inventory their current video poker offerings. The CZR mobile app works very well for making reservations on their properties. I'm currently Diamond Card because of the Wyndham Hotels status match. I was surprised to see that I didn't get a full room comp midweek at the Horseshoe's hotel, called Hotel Lumiere. I checked the other CZR properties in the midwest and I was getting room comp, but not at Hotel Lumiere. But the member rate of $50 per night plus tax but no resort fee, was cheap enough.

I drove in from the east on I-70. The Horseshoe and the Hotel Lumiere are located on the Mississippi River next to I-70 and next to the Arch. There is a sky walk connecting the two buildings. Google Maps led me right into the Horseshoe parking garage. Online it said I would be charged $20 per day to use their parking garage or hotel parking lot. But upon arriving I had to stop then the attendant opened the boom gate and let me in. I found there was no charge for parking.

Once in the Horseshoe I found out that it would be a long roundabout walk to the hotel desk as I wouldn't be able to get thru the sky walk without a hotel pass key. So I went back to my vehicle and moved it to the hotel parking lot. I had to stop at the Gate, the attendant raised the boom gate and let me in. There was no charge. The parking lot was fenced in, the only pedestrian way out of the parking lot was to the hotel. I felt the attendant was probably watching me to insure I was going to the hotel. So the parking lot security was pretty good. In hindsight I should have just went straight to the hotel parking lot instead of the parking garage.

The hotel clerk asked if I wanted a high floor or lower floor. I said higher but she said the internet didn't work so well on the higher floors. I said I'd take a lower floor .That was the first indication I got that the internet connection was not going to be so good.

The hotel room was actually two rooms, a living room and bedroom. Nothing real fancy, the living room had a love seat, table, big screen TV, and wet bar. The bathroom was cramped.

Then it was off to the casino thru the sky walk. I had to use the passkey to get from 2nd floor to 4th floor. Then had to use it again to get into the sky walk. Then on the other side had to take the elevator down to the 2nd floor where the casino was located. So the security was pretty good there.

These were the exploitable slot games I found:

Wolf Run Eclipse
Regal Riches
Rich Little Piggies
Buffalo Link
Buffalo Lightning Link
Phoenix Link
Firelight Eruption
Magic Treasures
San Xing Riches
Wu Jin Pen

So I caught some big positive variance on the first night by making two big spins on Phoenix Link. When I hit the first hand pay I found out something I probably knew a long time ago. The State of Missouri automatically withholds 4% tax out of every hand pay ($1200 or higher). That means the cost to play video poker for Diamond will be a little higher. More on that later.

I grabbed a Burger and Fries to go from the Waterfront Grill and headed up to the room. Yep, big problem with the internet. Very slow and continually disconnecting. So I couldn't use the laptop but my i-phone pulls internet out of the sky and my i-pad connects to my i-phone hot spot. So that was the situation for two days.

The next day was uneventful. I would make a lap around the advantage slots playing off any expectation I found then back to the room for a few hours. Then make another lap. No big spins. During this process I inventoried their video poker for Diamond In A Day possibilities.

Over the course of two days I put just 915 points on my card, just a $4575 wager. I left with a $3670 win. Without the two big spins it would have been just a $148 win. But what really matters is how much expected value I found, maybe $500 worth over two days. That would be the average win. I just got lucky and caught some big positive variance. Over the course of two days just $500 in expectation is not that good. The Horseshoe St. Louis is not a place I would hang out to play advantage slots. Not enough plays.

The other negative with the Horseshoe St. Louis is it gets smokey when the place is crowded.

Hotel is on the left, casino on the right, sky walk in the middle:

The suite was fine except for the cramped bathroom:

The Hotel Atrium:

Nice report, thanks!
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Mickey I'm happy to read that you're feeling well enough to make these trips.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by country978

Mickey I'm happy to read that you're feeling well enough to make these trips.

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Thanks. Last July I developed a 130 heartbeat and got diagnosed with a hyper active thyroid to go with my A Fib. The A Fib was being controlled by Metoprolol but the hyper thyroid got in there and really messed things up. They tried to get my heart rate down with Methimazole but it didn't work. To top it off my cardiologist quit the hospital and it was super hard finding another one that would accept new patients. Montana has a shortage of health care workers.

In September I had to have gall stones removed and gall bladder removed. They wouldn't take the bladder out because of the high heart rate. So they worked on me for like two weeks to get the heart rate down. I was in the hospital for 24 days. They got it down only partially but enough to operate. Then I was in transitional care for 18 days.

Finally got another cardiologist in late October. He prescibed digoxin on November 15. On November 20 my heart was regular, 65 beats a minute, and it's been the same ever since.

Not one to sit around I took separate road trips to Washington and Oregon. Then northern Nevada. And I just recently returned from the midwest. The only reason I came back was for doctor's appointments. But I'm feeling the best I've felt since before July. I feel really good.

I'll have the doctor's cleared by early April. But they always give me follow up appointments usually 2 to 6 months down the road. So I have to work my road trips around them and the meds refills.But anyways, sometime in early April I'll be hitting the road again. It ain't for the money. It's because when my health is good I don't sit around and watch the paint dry.

Last time I seen the endocrinologist she said it looks like my thyroid isn't hyper anymore but she wanted to be sure. I'll see her again in a couple of days. She said if my status was the same she would take me off the propylthiouracil. I monitor my heart rate and blood pressure everyday and every thing is good.

St. Louis and Kansas City are both pretty tough places to find slots or VP that's ready to go IME. Hotel Lumiere is a bit of a dump, and that's too bad. The bones are so good there to build on and they've blown it by not maintaining the elevators or bar. Also a weird, long walk into the floor. I think they must have had more entry and exit points in the past and then isolated it to just the single entrance they have today for security purposes.