Anyone heard if/when we'll have shuttles again? I'm a car-free city dweller. Right now I can get to Rivers (blue line to Rosemont, then shuttle), but not the Shoe, ever since they cancelled the Chinatown shuttles.

Some casinos have Bravo hooked up to the cage in some manner .. that's why most rooms 'make' you have a Player's Card to enter a tournament. You should see that early in a tournament that entries is higher than the tables allocated and that reflects both 'remaining' and 'wait list' entries. A Player waiting is not reflected in the 'remaining' until they actually sit down, since technically they could ask for a refund if the room allows for one before chips are in play.

Sometimes entries will be off by a few if there was an error at the cage (wrong tournament/Player ID) or a Player did get a refund. GL

Shuttles are expensive .. still should have some CV/cleaning protocols in place and gas prices 2x from before. No one has really commented on how busy the weekends have been on the floor/pits, but if they are full then why add expense to have patrons standing around? GL

Horseshoe Hammond is about to get hit with a ZHITLOAD of MORE competition within two years, but is already operating in "sinking ship" desperation mode. The two Illinois Hollywood casinos, one in Aurora and one in Joliet are being relocated to LAND near interstates, not to mention Bally's coming to Chicago.
What Horseshoe Hammond refers to as poker player "promotion" drop is actually "WIN" / "HOLD" / "WON" money by house. The promotion drop money is returned in dribbles so slowly, it is actually casino WIN - Joint is keeping that money. Would be no surprise if Horseshoe was holding over a million dollars in poker promotion drop money. Those rascals just reset that 50K capped bad beat to 15K. For as long as that joint has been there, the reset was NEVER lower than 20K. Horseshoe Hammond re-structured the bad beat promotion, to KEEP the money for the joint.

I don't think Horseshoe has to worry too much about the two Hollywood casinos. The one in Joliet might still not have a poker room and the one in Aurora is kinda far from Horseshoe and will prolly affect Rivers more than Horseshoe. Horseshoe will still be getting the Chicago southland and northwest Indiana traffic for as long as they have a poker room. The new casino being built in Homewood is not having a poker room. Bally's might have a poker room, but some people will still rather go to Hammond instead of downtown Chicago.

More than likely .. by law .. you can request to see promotional fund 'information'. It varies by state as to what is available on a daily basis v items that are available upon request. Any refusal to supply the information can be reported to the Gaming Commission. There is usually a Gaming Officer 'on the floor' of a casino at all times .. somewhere .. and you can request their presence to assist you.

Promotional funds are supposed to be put in an escrow account and NOT any casino general fund account. While state law and/or promotional language may allow the casino to take an administration fee it is certainly explained somewhere what the formula is to be used to that affect. It is possible that they could be keeping the fund 'fat' if they get a flat percentage of the fund each month, but this would explained in the various promotional documents that were originally approved by Gaming.

Again, no Indiana expert, but some Gaming Regulations put a 'ceiling' on promotional funds, requiring that they be distributed in a timely manner .. so the fund can't just grow and be 'held' by the poker room.

As far as competition .. If I ever plan a poker trip to Chicago I will be putting Rivers as my primary target, but since HH will host a WSOPc series then I may end up there anyway by default, so to speak. GL

Post written by someone with no REAL LIFE experience with "Gaming Officers" in casinos, nor with Indiana gaming commission. Indiana "Gaming officers" are in casinos to protect the casino's interests and MONEY. As an example: The TEENAGER, who was doing those $1K (LOSING) sports bets at Horseshoe Hammond, William Hill Sportsbook, was a "regular" (at least 40 times documented casino visits). He was never touched by Indiana Gaming Commission officers in Horseshoe Hammond. The teen was caught in ILLINOIS and that ILLINOIS ARREST and investigation led to Indiana Gaming Commission's $100K fine levied upon Horseshoe Hammond.

The mission of the Indiana Gaming Commission is to provide a fair, transparent and dynamic regulatory environment that encourages economic development while requiring the highest level of integrity of all activities under its jurisdiction.

Enforcement Agents monitor casino operations to assure regulatory compliance by reinforcing the applicable Indiana Administrative Code. Enforcement agents conduct regular, timely, and thorough testing of electronic gaming devices and other gaming equipment at casinos.

These two statements come directly from the Indiana Gaming Commission web site. While I'm certainly down with comparing IGC as a sort of 'Internal Affairs Department' they are also tasked with protecting the patrons interest of fair play as well. In essence, we are both 'correct'. IGC is the intermediary for both the casino and patron to go to if there's an issue that either party wants looked into. Yes, if someone is cheating the casino, IGC will assist the casino in the investigation and any further legal action that needs to be taken. That is protecting the casino's interest and money by default, but only because it's in the interest of fair gaming .. not by specific directive. If a slot is found to be too tight, or dice are loaded for 7s, then the IGC will step in to protect the patron's interest and money as well, by default.

IGC officers are exactly that, sworn officers with the ability to investigate claims, arrest and seek other charges/citations/fines if warranted. They are not employed directly by the casino. Yes, sure, you can say that the casino is paying for them in a backdoor way, but the patrons are also paying for them.

EVERY casino is the US that I know of has oversight by a '3rd party' Gaming Commission, either state or tribal. While most consider the individual Tribal Gaming Commissions as a bit of a patsy, they do have a National Tribal Gaming Commission that oversees them as a group.

A simple search of IGC shows that all Promotions much be submitted and approved at least 15 days prior to their start date. This makes them public. Being public makes them available for review via the proper request route, which may or may not be upon proper request while in person at a casino. If someone with enough interest wanted to obtain and review these documents, they could. Those documents contain the conditions of the promotion .. which most certainly contain the ultimate backdoor for the casino to do whatever they want with the funds, so to speak. But no matter what it says, it's the patrons money.

I don't have any immediate interest in the poker promotional fund at Horseshoe Hammond, but if I can assist someone who may want to feel more at ease with 'their' money I will offer it. I'm not saying it will be easy, I'm just saying it's possible, by law, to get your answers eventually. Then if you want to do your own investigation and or prompt an investigation by Gaming that would be your next step.

There is always chatter about promotions, but when it comes down to doing the work the chatter falls off pretty quickly. GL

My brother and I are looking for a city to vacation for a week or so and I want to play poker. He doesn't play poker so it's not a concern of his. He wasn't interested in several of the cities I rattled off but one city he DID like was Chicago. I don't know anything about the Chicago poker scene but it looks like Hammond, IN is near Chicago so I wanted to ask about this room.

Is it a good room in terms of number of number of tables and player pool? By player pool, I mean are there enough loose or passive players to make money or is it a rock garden like I've seen in Tunica and St. Louis? Are there enough tables so if I wanted to play on a weekday morning, I could find a game or does it cater mostly to weekends?

Any other information you think may be useful would be appreciated. Like are there other good poker rooms near Chicago?

All you need to do is look through the previous 4-5 pages of posts to see the status of this room. It's on the decline .. But that doesn't mean it wont fit what you're looking for when it comes to location and available good games. I wouldn't doubt that the games are still good to very good in Hammond and for the most part you can find a game 24-7. What stakes are you looking for? NL or PLO?

A lot of the Chicago poker action is taking place at The Rivers casino near O'Hare airport in Rosemount, IL. There's other poker at The Grand Victorian and also opportunities with Chicago Charity Games and Rockford Charity Games

I've not played in Hammond since pre-CV, so I can't talk about games or action there but again, I can't imagine the games not being good .. get a table change, eh?

I can say that The Rivers is action city for both NL and PLO with various stake levels offered consistently. I can also say that they tend to have very long wait lists so make sure to plan accordingly. There can be 2-hour waits for some games, especially towards evening on any given night depending on staffing and Player turnover.

So depending on which side of the city you plan to stay on there's opportunity. There's also Hollywood Casino SW of the city, but not as many tables running.

If you want to check out another Midwest city .. take a look at Indianapolis, IN .. Horseshoe Indy is about a year old and is SE of the city just a short way. I've heard very good things about this room. Indy has always had a strong charity presence on the north side, but this is the first 'public' poker in the immediate area and still has a lot of 'learning' Players too.

Nice that you and your brother are working together on a trip .. have fun .. GL

Thanks for the reply. I play exclusively NLHE and prefer 2/5 but if the games aren't good I'll find a better one at 1/3 or 1/2 if I can.

I guess if Chicago is the best city he wants to go to it sounds like it'll probably work. I just know I would NOT want to spend a week in St. Louis or Tunica playing poker because those games are NOT good. Just trying to verify it's not that level of bad.

I did check out Indy just a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't too bad but I doubt my brother would suggest Indy. I think he wants a bigger city he hasn't been to before.

Games are great in Chicago, Rivers is the most active with the most games but you'll have a longer wait.

Games at GVC are prob the overall softest but they play smaller (and the casino aside from the new poker room is a dump tbh, terrible food etc).

The Shoe I've not been to in a while but it's been fading since Rivers opened, but they do get games around the clock usually.

RCG I won't personally go to again since the latest cheating scandals.

I think you would find what you need in Chicago-land poker. Without knowing your brothers desires it is difficult to share alternative choices.

Try to plan your trip for the spring…winter in Chicago generally sucks.

Anyone knows why they cancel daily tournaments at Horseshoe ? I did make the trip today and got the really unpleasant surprise : no tournaments and no reason why they were canceled.

How about lack of a Player Pool and an unwillingness to pay the Dealer for their time in a minimal rake spot? Possibly also a lack of Dealers that could be put to better use in cash games on better shifts?

You certainly weren't expecting a formal announcement? Eh? The best you'll ever find in these spots is a sign on the counter and/or some verbiage on Bravo. GL

Yes I just see the announcement on Bravo , but I am not checking the Bravo all the time I just knew is a Wednesday and waist my time traveling.
I hear the lack of dealers explanation for so long now , but I don't understand why the are not hiring and pay them just a little bit more. I think the room only chance to compete with Rivers is thru tournaments but looks like they just don't care.

I am curios how busy the room will be after the cash game promotion for Main event seat will end .

Anyone know why some times the dealer has a square with an "R" out on the table? Dont think ive seen this before.

It's to signify reduced rake. 6 players or less and it goes down to 3+1 instead of 6+1.

With WSOPc rolling in .. someone update us on how cash is going? GL

Absolutely none of this is true. What happened was that the IGC required the room to resubmit applications for the tournaments and were told to put them on hold until full approval came through. They should be back following the Circuit events.

Cash games have been at their busiest since I started working there back in June. Last week we topped out at 14 games.

Currently there are 12 games going with decent waitlists on the first day of the event.

Did they get anything bigger than 1/2 plo or 2/5 nl last weekend? thanks

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday tournaments are back.

They changed the structure a little. Wednesday tournaments are 20 minute levels for the first 4 levels. Then they change to 30 minute levels at level 5. Registration still ends at the beginning of level 5. So you only get 90 minutes to enter/re-enter(4 20-min levels plus 10-min break) instead of 130 minutes.

Also, they went back to the BB ante starting at level 4 instead of at the beginning of the tournament.

Every time I come here it makes me LOL that people complain about Rivers.

Was sat at 1-3, top of 2-5 list. Name never called, didn't get a text, name disappeared somehow. Happens, put me back at top of list.

Call a new game with only 9 names on the list. Obviously doesn't get off but a few of us left 1-3 seats to join, so now we are sat at a table of 3 waiting for others which there are none to start, or we can go to the top of the 1-3 list I guess?

Shambles lol