maggsmaggs Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 So I am going with some buddies to one of the casinos tomorrow. Which ones is the best in NW Indiana? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 You might as well hop on 94 and go to Four Winds in New Buffalo. I've never heard much good things about the NW Indiana ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 08:59 PM) You might as well hop on 94 and go to Four Winds in New Buffalo. I've never heard much good things about the NW Indiana ones. Yeah, I think the extra two hours (both ways combined) might be a lil annoying, but appreciate the advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 New Buffalo is barely an hour and 25 minutes east of the Cell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Blue Chip, Michigan City. Let me know if you want any info about hotel, casino, or stuff to do here in City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 10:48 PM) Blue Chip, Michigan City. Let me know if you want any info about hotel, casino, or stuff to do here in City. I've been to Blue Chip quite a few times. It's good, but Four Winds is much better, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthsideDon48 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) I go to the casinos in Northwest Indiana all the time. The only ones I go to is Horseshoe Hammond in Hammond and Maestic Star in Gary. I never go to whatever casino it is that used to be Resorts/Ameristar/whatever it's called now in East Chicago, Indiana. I went there once, but their poker room sucked, so I never went there again. Also, what types of gambling do you and your friends like to do? If you're all poker players like me, you might like Horseshoe Hammond a little better. If you've never been to either casino, here's some information from my times there: Majestic Star, Gary Indiana: Easiest way to get there is to take Cline, and then when you get off Cline, make an immediate left on the first light and you're right there. You shouldn't even be driving through any residential areas in Gary, if you are, then you made a wrong turn somewhere. Despite being in Gary, the Majestic Star casino is perfectly safe. I've gone there so many times, I've lost count, and most of the times I went there I was by myself. Majestic Star has a funky design that's kind of cool at first, but becomes old, dull, and claustrophobic after a while. The casino consists of two boats docked side-by-side with a lobby in the center connecting them, kind of like an H formation. In the center of the lobby is where you sign up for the casino's rewards card. The boat on the left has 3 stories: 1st floor: lots of slots and some table games, 2nd floor: slots, bar, table games, 3rd floor: a 21-table poker room and a deli outside of the poker room with hotdogs, sandwiches, and delicious cake. If you play in the poker room, one cool thing about the Majestic Star poker room is that you can walk outside to the deck of the ship for a smoke, and if you're there during the day you have a very nice scenic view of Lake Michigan. It's pretty cool playing in the poker room during day and looking outside the window and seeing the beautiful blue water and the Chicago skyline in the far far distance on a clear day. In the 2nd boat on the right, there's 3 stories as well, I don't gamble in slots a lot because I usually only play poker, so I rarely go in the 2nd boat, but from what I remember, the 2nd floor is mostly a balcony where you can look down onto the ground floor and there's mostly slots, and some table games. Majestic Star has a nice buffet, but it doesn't have the "Wow" factor. It's like, slightly better than Old Country Buffet, but you do have a real nice view of the Lake. The buffet is located south of the 2 boats/lobby H formation in the same hallway that connects the boats to the parking garage. Also, another thing about the poker room, if you or any of your friends are big poker players like I am, they have lots of daily tournaments. They have about 15 tournaments throughout the week, but most of them are the lower buy-in tournaments with so-so structures. They also have a lot of cash games, but ever since the Horseshoe casino remodeled, a lot of poker players started playing at the Horseshoe instead of Majestic. And Majestic's strategy is to be a "cheaper poker alternative" to Horseshoe Hammond, but that just means the tournament structures won't be as great and the competition you'll face will be bad. Majestic Star food summary: Buffet, awesome Deli, and 1 or 2 other restuarants that I don't remember because I never ate anything else besides the deli and buffet. Horseshoe Hammond, Hammond, Indiana: I guarantee you that Horseshoe Hammond is the closest you will get to having a Vegas-quality casino in the Chicago area. This casino is like something right out of Vegas. They finished an extensive remodeling and the new Horseshoe is now all on one big flat barge and all the slots and table games are on one floor. Honestly, it doesn't feel like you're on a boat, it's so big and expansive that it feels like you're on a land-based casino. I've gone there many times, both by myself and with friends/family. If you go with friends, make sure you all stay close together, because it's so big it's easy to get lost and spend an hour looking for each other, lol. They have a nice big parking garage, and when you leave the parking garage, you take elevators to the main casino floor, and after going through security and the id-check process, you're able to enter the main casino floor. When you enter the main casino floor, you'll notice it's so big with so many options. Most of the game floor by the entrance will be slots, then there's a circular bar in the center, and past the circular bar are a lot of table games, and more slots. The poker room is in the far back left corner, and it has 32 tables. Speaking of the poker room, this is the best poker room in the Chicago area. While I also like Majestic Star's room, the room in Horseshoe is still very new. They have nice big flat-screen tv's on the walls. Their poker room only has 4 poker tournaments a week ($200 buy-in noon tournaments on Sunday and Friday, and a $100 tournament on 2 other days at noon). The past year now, I've only been playing the $200 tournament because of the higher quality tournament they offer. You get 6,000 in starting chips, 30 minute blind levels, fields of about 60-90 opponents in each tournament, and a higher quality level of play from your opponents. The last daily $200 I played in, I finished in 4th out of 83 people for $1,400 . The first place guy won $4,000+ in that tournament. Horseshoe Hammond also hosts two major poker events each year. The Chicago Poker Classic in the end of February, and the World Series of Poker Circuit in October. They use the Venue concert room with 100 poker tables to host the major tournaments and if they need more tables, they use the extra tables in the poker room. Really cool. Horseshoe Hammond also has a really nice buffet on the 2nd floor in the same area where the Venue is located in. Let me tell you this: the buffet at Horseshoe Hammond is like a buffet RIGHT OUT OF VEGAS. If I had to compare the buffet, it would have to be very similar to the buffet at Planet Hollywood. They have many different "stations" of food with Italian food in one station, Latin food in another, Asian food in another, Seafood in another section, American food in another, and some other section I'm forgetting plus a huge dessert island. This buffet is just awesome. Buffets like this costs $50 to enter in Vegas, but Horseshoe Hammond charges just $20, and that's a huge bargain for the Vegas-quality buffet experience. Horseshoe Hammond also has another section where you exit the main casino floor through another security checkpoint and you can take escalator steps up to a nice gourmet sandwich shop on the 2nd floor that has some awesome sandwiches and some HUGE cake. You can also go to the 3rd floor of the same area and go to a steakhouse, it looks nice but I never ate there since I'm more of a sandwich/buffet guy. Horseshoe Hammond food summary: AWESOME buffet, awesome sandwich shop, plus they also have a steakhouse which I never went to. Also, Horseshoe Hammond uses the same rewards card that you use at Harrahs Joliet and a lot of Vegas casinos. Since they're all owned by Harrahs, they use the same card and you can accumulate your points. I think the best way to get to Horseshoe Hammond, if you're from the south suburbs of Chicago, is to take the way I go: Take I-80 east to Calumet Ave north. Take Calumet Ave north to Indianopolis Blvd and make a left. You'll see a big sign for the casino and you'll make another turn onto a bridge that will lead right to the casino. A lot of people say that Hammond is scary to be in, but they're nuts. There's nothing at all scary about Hammond. I've been going there since I was 17 and never had any problems. People who think Hammond is bad are just not used to being in diverse areas that are kind of run-down looking. Hammond aint gonna be pretty-looking like Naperville or north suburban towns like Arlington Heights, but I'll be honest, I prefer areas like Hammond, lol. Also, I honestly don't see any reason to go to the Blue Chip Casino or any of the casinos in Wisconsin or Michigan. Why go that far when a Vegas-quality casino like the Horseshoe Hammond is in Chicago's backyard? Also, if your group of friends are all guys, there's a strip club on Calumet ave south of the casino called Industrial Strip. Look out for the neon palm tree and the sign that says "This IS it". It's a strip club that lets people 18 and over in since they don't serve alcohol, so my friends and I used to go there all the time before we turned 21. It's a nice strip club, with nice private dance rooms, but I haven't been there in a while since I turned 21 and started going to the 2 strip clubs in Harvey. Oh, one last thing about the Northwest Indiana casinos, since you're probably used to the no-smoking in public places laws in Illinois, you'll notice cigerette smoke in both Indiana casinos. Honestly, it's not that bad, and I didn't notice the smoke in Horseshoe Hammond and I'm usually one of the most sensitive people to cigerette smoke. If I were you, and you and your friends want to go to a really nice casino in northwest indiana, I'd definitely go to the Horseshoe. It's a casino that will give you the "wow!" factor and give you a Vegas-quality casino experience. You should have a great time there. Edited January 29, 2011 by SouthsideDon48 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 My family constantly winds up at the Blue Chip and the Four Winds. The Blue Chip was very nice on the hotel part. The Casino Floor at the Four Winds was absolutely ridiculous; that was like 3 Vegas Casinos stitched together. Oh, and in the summer, you can get to Redamak's easily from either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightni Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 The buffet at Four Winds is incredible too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigruss Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 11:25 AM) My family constantly winds up at the Blue Chip and the Four Winds. The Blue Chip was very nice on the hotel part. The Casino Floor at the Four Winds was absolutely ridiculous; that was like 3 Vegas Casinos stitched together. Oh, and in the summer, you can get to Redamak's easily from either. I hate you for bringing that up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted January 29, 2011 Author Share Posted January 29, 2011 QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Jan 28, 2011 -> 09:55 PM) Horseshoe Hammond, Hammond, Indiana: I guarantee you that Horseshoe Hammond is the closest you will get to having a Vegas-quality casino in the Chicago area. This casino is like something right out of Vegas. They finished an extensive remodeling and the new Horseshoe is now all on one big flat barge and all the slots and table games are on one floor. Honestly, it doesn't feel like you're on a boat, it's so big and expansive that it feels like you're on a land-based casino. I've gone there many times, both by myself and with friends/family. If you go with friends, make sure you all stay close together, because it's so big it's easy to get lost and spend an hour looking for each other, lol. They have a nice big parking garage, and when you leave the parking garage, you take elevators to the main casino floor, and after going through security and the id-check process, you're able to enter the main casino floor. When you enter the main casino floor, you'll notice it's so big with so many options. Most of the game floor by the entrance will be slots, then there's a circular bar in the center, and past the circular bar are a lot of table games, and more slots. The poker room is in the far back left corner, and it has 32 tables. Speaking of the poker room, this is the best poker room in the Chicago area. While I also like Majestic Star's room, the room in Horseshoe is still very new. They have nice big flat-screen tv's on the walls. Their poker room only has 4 poker tournaments a week ($200 buy-in noon tournaments on Sunday and Friday, and a $100 tournament on 2 other days at noon). The past year now, I've only been playing the $200 tournament because of the higher quality tournament they offer. You get 6,000 in starting chips, 30 minute blind levels, fields of about 60-90 opponents in each tournament, and a higher quality level of play from your opponents. The last daily $200 I played in, I finished in 4th out of 83 people for $1,400 . The first place guy won $4,000+ in that tournament. Horseshoe Hammond also hosts two major poker events each year. The Chicago Poker Classic in the end of February, and the World Series of Poker Circuit in October. They use the Venue concert room with 100 poker tables to host the major tournaments and if they need more tables, they use the extra tables in the poker room. Really cool. Horseshoe Hammond also has a really nice buffet on the 2nd floor in the same area where the Venue is located in. Let me tell you this: the buffet at Horseshoe Hammond is like a buffet RIGHT OUT OF VEGAS. If I had to compare the buffet, it would have to be very similar to the buffet at Planet Hollywood. They have many different "stations" of food with Italian food in one station, Latin food in another, Asian food in another, Seafood in another section, American food in another, and some other section I'm forgetting plus a huge dessert island. This buffet is just awesome. Buffets like this costs $50 to enter in Vegas, but Horseshoe Hammond charges just $20, and that's a huge bargain for the Vegas-quality buffet experience. Horseshoe Hammond also has another section where you exit the main casino floor through another security checkpoint and you can take escalator steps up to a nice gourmet sandwich shop on the 2nd floor that has some awesome sandwiches and some HUGE cake. You can also go to the 3rd floor of the same area and go to a steakhouse, it looks nice but I never ate there since I'm more of a sandwich/buffet guy. Horseshoe Hammond food summary: AWESOME buffet, awesome sandwich shop, plus they also have a steakhouse which I never went to. Also, Horseshoe Hammond uses the same rewards card that you use at Harrahs Joliet and a lot of Vegas casinos. Since they're all owned by Harrahs, they use the same card and you can accumulate your points. I think the best way to get to Horseshoe Hammond, if you're from the south suburbs of Chicago, is to take the way I go: Take I-80 east to Calumet Ave north. Take Calumet Ave north to Indianopolis Blvd and make a left. You'll see a big sign for the casino and you'll make another turn onto a bridge that will lead right to the casino. A lot of people say that Hammond is scary to be in, but they're nuts. There's nothing at all scary about Hammond. I've been going there since I was 17 and never had any problems. People who think Hammond is bad are just not used to being in diverse areas that are kind of run-down looking. Hammond aint gonna be pretty-looking like Naperville or north suburban towns like Arlington Heights, but I'll be honest, I prefer areas like Hammond, lol. Also, I honestly don't see any reason to go to the Blue Chip Casino or any of the casinos in Wisconsin or Michigan. Why go that far when a Vegas-quality casino like the Horseshoe Hammond is in Chicago's backyard? Also, if your group of friends are all guys, there's a strip club on Calumet ave south of the casino called Industrial Strip. Look out for the neon palm tree and the sign that says "This IS it". It's a strip club that lets people 18 and over in since they don't serve alcohol, so my friends and I used to go there all the time before we turned 21. It's a nice strip club, with nice private dance rooms, but I haven't been there in a while since I turned 21 and started going to the 2 strip clubs in Harvey. Oh, one last thing about the Northwest Indiana casinos, since you're probably used to the no-smoking in public places laws in Illinois, you'll notice cigerette smoke in both Indiana casinos. Honestly, it's not that bad, and I didn't notice the smoke in Horseshoe Hammond and I'm usually one of the most sensitive people to cigerette smoke. If I were you, and you and your friends want to go to a really nice casino in northwest indiana, I'd definitely go to the Horseshoe. It's a casino that will give you the "wow!" factor and give you a Vegas-quality casino experience. You should have a great time there. Awesome info man. We are all poker guys, so we are hitting up the Horseshoe. Definitely appreciate everyone's advice, too. Leaving in about 30 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthsideDon48 Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 02:54 PM) Awesome info man. We are all poker guys, so we are hitting up the Horseshoe. Definitely appreciate everyone's advice, too. Leaving in about 30 minutes. Sweet. How was the trip? Did you all enjoy Horseshoe Hammond? ...and did you try the buffet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowand44 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 02:08 PM) Sweet. How was the trip? Did you all enjoy Horseshoe Hammond? ...and did you try the buffet? I was actually there last Sunday as well for a concert and to gamble of course. Fun time for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Jan 30, 2011 -> 01:08 PM) Sweet. How was the trip? Did you all enjoy Horseshoe Hammond? ...and did you try the buffet? It was a blast. Nah, didn't do the buffet, though. Put in $100 in poker, got up to $250 at one point ended up winning $50 overall, so it was a productive day. The smoke was awful though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 31, 2011 -> 12:18 AM) The smoke was awful though. That's one thing I'd say is legitimately better about the highest-end places, like the Strip, or in CA where there's no indoor smoking. They flat out handle the air quality better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2011 -> 10:25 AM) My family constantly winds up at the Blue Chip and the Four Winds. The Blue Chip was very nice on the hotel part. The Casino Floor at the Four Winds was absolutely ridiculous; that was like 3 Vegas Casinos stitched together. The Four Winds is freaking massive. It's also really nice and the poker room has those video machines or whatever they're called. No dealers (which means no tips) and more hands/hr. It's way too far from the North Suburbs though. I liked it a lot otherwise. The Horseshoe is a freaking pit. It's always crowded beyond belief. However, it's still easily the nicest and if you're into higher stakes poker it's the only place to go. It's just so damn crowded. I've never tried the Blue Chip, it's a bit further than the Hammond/Gary ones so I've never made the trip. The Majestic Star and Ameristar and mediocre at best, but you'll always be able to play what you want unlike the Horseshoe. I've been to the Potawatomi in Milwaukee a few times. It reminds me of a less spacious Four Winds. It might be my favorite, but their poker room has a waiting list out of this world every time since they're the only game in town. I've called before I was going to leave and still been deep on the wait list. They suck. As long as you're not into poker, it's a good spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.