Horseshoe Cleveland (1 Viewer)

BiGGyT

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I am going to a family reunion/80th b-day party for my Uncle, and we have Friday night to kill so my brothers and I are going to head over to the Horseshoe Cleveland to have a few hours of fun. Anyone have experience with the place? I have never been to Ohio casino, so I am not sure about the atmosphere. I assume it is like any other monopoly casino where it is crowded for a Friday and you can't find a seat anywhere but a slot machine. I have read some reviews, most of them say it is a nice place, but tight and high limits on tables, Also read where dealers where not very good and made errors in play, one where the dealer showed the river before the turn betting had completed and the "hero" lost to villain because the floor asked the villain, who made a set on the river, if he would have called the turn anyway against hero's pocket aces. Finally, read parking is not free unless you have enough qualifying play (assume we will get this) otherwise $35 and the worst part, no comp drinks for players (Ohio law). Also, smoke free which is fine for me but one brother will probably be pissed about this.

So, anyone have any experience, let me know. I'll give my impressions next week when I get back in town.

Thanks,

BiGGyT
 
I've played there several times. The free parking is easy, just get a players card, swipe when you leave after 30 min of play and it will print a voucher. Alternatively, you can get your parking ticket validated by the poker room after 1 hour of play. Call ahead seating available: (216) 297-4777 (excludes Friday & Saturday 4 p.m. - 4 a.m.). The dealing has varied widely. Last time we were there, it seemed like many of the regular dealers had left and we were stuck with a bunch of break-in dealers who weren't great. It is a very nice room though with free wifi and charger stations at the tables. The rake is a gross $6 max though.
 
I was in Cleveland a few weeks back and staying at the Renaissance which is basically on the same block and physically connected.

Outside the casino there's a large city center that is under construction, which I guess used to also be a bit of a bus depot. Right now, if you walk outside the main doors of the casino you are basically walking through a crowded bus stop. This was true of any hour I was outside, even very late into the evening. I figured out later that there was a way to walk through the hotel lobby, then through the adjoining building lobby and directly into the casino without walking outside. First night there before I realized I could walk through the lobby I walked out the exit and cops were cuffing several guys in the middle of the crowded bus stop. This was maybe 11pm?

Related note to maybe paint that picture a bit - the night before the big debate in Cleveland the regulars at the poker table I was sitting at were discussing the parking garage situation, and the roadblocks coming with the debate (arena is basically a block away from the parking garage). They were wondering what time they had to get to the room the next day to not be impacted. The garage utilizes a second floor level skyway to enter the casino so you don't have to walk through the bus stop crowds. A couple local guys mentioned that if that garage wasn't there, and they couldn't use that skyway they'd never go to the casino. I call bullshit because degenerates needing to get their gamble on would walk on lava into the building, but you get their point.

Casino has three levels. If you go, and you want to play the house pit games, go directly to the second floor. Every time I was there the first floor seemed dead and had no energy. Second floor had a better feel. Poker room is on third floor, was a decent size, and in my limited experience was well run and the dealers were decent. Alcohol is served but only soft drinks, water, coffee are free when playing. So if you drink while playing, you'll have to pay for an adult beverage.

I played several short sessions at the Horseshoe. I was there on a Sunday, a regular weeknight and a Friday night. Decent size crowd in the room each time. I almost never play anything in the casino besides poker, but this time around I was there with a few work colleagues who don't play poker, or really gamble at all, so I did a bit in the pit area to hang out with them a bit. Like I said, I don't play craps or blackjack often, so I don't have much experience with other places but I was a bit surprised by the minimums at the table, especially on a Sunday night and the weekdays. There wasn't a single $10 blackjack table that I could find. On the strip, I could expect this, but Cleveland on an off night? Ended up playing craps for a bit trying to teach a girl I was with how to play. Know how a crowded hot streak at the craps table looks and sounds like the funnest place in the casino? Well we've got a shooter that couldn't screw up and everyone was making money, but I felt like I was at a funeral. It was the twilight zone of dice games. People seemed angry they were winning.

Otherwise, once I found the third floor poker room I played 3 sessions over the week of 1/2 NL Fold'em. First night the table was quiet and lifeless, but profitable. Had a couple sunglass and hoodie types at 1/2, One California sunshine sunglass guy on my left who wouldn't say a word the whole time, even when I talked to him directly in between hands about stuff that had nothing to do with cards. I just wanted to see if I could get him to talk at all. Second night I sit down and the table was fun, loud, lots of jokes, decent action happening... it was great. Changed my whole perspective because people were actually alive and having a good time for the most part.

When I sat down the second night there was a guy immediately to my right who had three stacks of reds, and an oversize pumpkin chip, value $1000. Hell of a nice run. He ran it up more too while I was there. I should have grabbed a photo of his stack. Guy was the room regular I guess, and was the social oil for getting people talking. We played a few hands together, he won some from me, I won a bunch back from him. Good player. Third time I came back I saw him at a full table and instead of taking an open seat elsewhere I waited for a seat at his table to open up just because he was actually fun to play with.

3 sessions of poker, 3 small wins. Left the casino at the end of the week up $350, and had fun at the table doing so. I'm a pretty small time player so I was happy.

Chips:
JBlw45Y.jpg


Anyways, that turned out longer than I expected.

TLDR Recount... basically... use garage if you can, or if staying at the Renaissance walk through the lobby... just go straight to 2nd and 3rd level... poker room decent size, some fun action. They were spreading the usual 1/2 and 2/5 NL, some Omaha (didn't look at levels), had some daily tourneys that were running but I didn't play or even look into those.
 
We will be driving in from airport area, so will be using the parking deck entrance. I am a bit sad to hear that it is so quiet at a craps table, I guess because there is not free alcohol people are more subdued. Since we will only be there Friday night, I see a bit of poker, tables, and one of my brothers loves his video poker (guess I do since it is my avatar) so might be some of that too. Not a fan of $25 blackjack, so I am probably looking for pai gow or maybe some other carney game at the pits. All I do is lose at craps, which is sad since it is such a energized game.

Thanks for the info, will post an update next week.

BiGGyT
 
So we decided to take uber to the casino to avoid parking and was glad I did as I probably would have lost my mind trying to figure out how to get there and it seems some concert was letting out when we arrived around 11pm. I did see the easy "slide your card for parking validation" next to ticket machines. We found one seat at $25 pai gow and so one brother played it while other brother and I played some video poker. Games were not good pay schedules, as expected, but I got lucky on some draws, except for one, was 4 to royal/straight flush (k-10) needed ace or 9 of clubs, nada. But I turned my $20 into $56.25 when I got the text "2 seats open", so we sat down at the 2nd table across from 1st brother. He did well at his table, won $100, our table not so good, I lost $200 of $300 and bro Jeff lost $100. We then went to find some carney game Jeff wanted to try and ended up at Mississippi Stud. I had never played the game, it had an ante bet and a 3 card poker bet that used the 3 community cards. Each player gets 2 cards and you can fold (not 3 card bet) or bet 1-3x your ante bet, then first card, same 1-3x bet or fold, then 2nd card, again bet 1-3x bet or fold and last card is played. Here is the paytable for the 5 card hand.

Mississippi Stud Pay Table
Hand Pays
Royal Flush 500 to 1
Straight Flush 100 to 1
Four of a Kind 40 to 1
Full House 10 to 1
Flush 6 to 1
Straight 4 to 1
Three of a Kind 3 to 1
Two Pairs 2 to 1
Pair of Jacks or Better 1 to 1
Pair of 6s thru 10s Push
All other Loss

So brother Scott plops down with his $500 chip from pai gow (bought in $400, won $100) and about 3 hands into the game, while I am doing nothing but lose, he gets dealt a Q6. He bets 1st bet x1, 1st card is a Q so he jams 3x next two bets and the cards come 6, 6 to make his boat. We push because we made 6s on the board, and win 3-card with pair, but Scott gets $400 payday on his $5/$5/$15/$15 bets. When he leaves the table, he leaves with $900, so he won $500 on the day. We lost another small amount, but not much, probably $150 each for the day.

During our Mississippi Stud time, we got sleepy from early morning starts and close to 2am they did last call, and then they came around and removed all alcoholic drinks from the tables. Well, that was enough of a reason to call it quits so called uber and 3am we were back at the hotel by the airport. We did not see the poker room but did think the casino was very nice and it seems the surrounding area has been revitalized, I was surprised to see so many shops and restaurants and clubs in the area, I always hear how bad the Cleveland economy was but here there are building sized video screens showing ads for clubs and such. I did notice that when someone was hooting after a win, many disapproving looks went their way, and it was kinda quiet around full craps tables. I did see some early 20s guys dropping $2500 cash on mini baccarat table like it was nothing and playing $800 hands. Not sure of their profession, but sure it was legit.

Overall, it was not a bad experience, if you were in the area and wanted to play, sure, go check it out. Would I fly to Cleveland just to play there? No.

Took home a commemorative $5 for the Rock & Roll hall of fame, and 2 $1 just regular rough chips for the display case. Got a chip, don't need to go back.

BiGGyT
 
Poker room wasn't bad at all. But I wouldn't fly in there to play, of course not. I will probably be in Cleveland for work a bit in the next year though. I'm also thinking about a trip there for the Cardinals @ Browns game Nov 1. So there's going to be some return visits in my future.

I also grabbed one of the RRHoF $5's to put in my display at home.
 
From Las Vegas Advisor
• November 3, 2015 10:51 CET Pulls Out of Ohio: Having earlier this year sold its minority stakes in the Horseshoe Cleveland, Horseshoe Cincinnati, and the ThistleDown Racetrack casino properties to Detroit-based Rock Gaming, Caesars Entertainment has announced that it will now pull out of the Ohio gaming market altogether by handing over operations to its former partner (with whom CET still has an ongoing relationship at Horseshoe Baltimore, at least for the time being). The consequences of this move will include the removal of the famous 'Horseshoe' name and, for players, the transition of existing Total Rewards points to Rock's own loyalty program, since the properties will no longer be associated with CET in any shape or form.

Say goodbye to all those Horseshoe chips, hope they show up for sale, especially the Cincy $2 chips,
 
Wonder if the room will undergo any kind of management / staffing changes, because I did enjoy them for the most part and thought the poker room was well run in my limited experience there. I will be back for a month this summer and probably another trip or two sprinkled in before hand. I was looking forward to going back to the room.
 
Somebody needs to buy up as many of these as possible before they change racks. Given recent market conditions, all would seem to be good investments (not to mention nice chips):

099813.jpg
099950.jpg

73971.jpg
73972.jpg


I'm in for two racks of each, if anybody is interested in harvesting. @Ronoh ?
 
Somebody needs to buy up as many of these as possible before they change racks. Given recent market conditions, all would seem to be good investments (not to mention nice chips):

099813.jpg
099950.jpg

73971.jpg
73972.jpg


I'm in for two racks of each, if anybody is interested in harvesting. @Ronoh ?
I have one rack of each and multiple racks of the Cleveland singles. Those snappers were only on the tables for a month or so before being replaced due to being too close to their $500s
 
Found some of them
photo(13).JPG


I currently have no intention of making the 5 hour drive to Cincy anytime soon but I'm sure I can get racks from Cleveland. Fair warning, mine were harvested opening day... current ones in circulation are beat to shit and some of the dirtiest chips I've played with.
 
Shame on those snappers.... those are some of the prettiest pink chips I've ever seen. Would make great re-labeled fracs, 500s, or 5000s.
 
Try to pick up some their quarters.....not many place left where you can get sweet inlayed fracs......who knows if they'll get anymore made once casino is rebranded.

Pretty sure they have to, at least if they are going to continue to offer Pai Gow (I think that is where the quarters are) at the limits they do. It is state law to not use currency.
 
They are closing HS Cleveland May 9th at 11:59pm and reopening at 4pm Wednesday May 11th as Jack Cleveland Casino
upload_2016-5-3_11-46-50.png


Go get some opening day chips @Ronoh and send us some new pr0n!

BiGGyT
 
I'll be there on the 13th. I'm sure Ronah will have posted all the pron by then!
 
I plan on going opening day and harvesting whatever I can. I'm still kicking myself for not doing it at the Aria opening, but I wasn't a chip collector yet :(
 
I thought I just read somewhere that they weren't going to be switching the chips out for awhile?
 
I thought I just read somewhere that they weren't going to be switching the chips out for awhile?

Aww. I haven't read anything one way or another, but I would be disappointed if this was true, as I'm just starting to put some sets together.

Edit: Here's all I could find; not very definitive as it's from February, but...
http://www.crainscleveland.com/arti...cleveland-to-be-renamed-jack-cleveland-casino

In the short term, said Mark Dunkeson, president and COO of Rock Gaming, the look and feel of the casino will change. That includes replacing chips and card decks that carry the Horseshoe name as well as uniforms and wall coverings.

Edit2: http://www.cleveland.com/casino/index.ssf/2016/05/horseshoe_casino_cleveland_clo.html

Seems to indicate that they're switching chips, signs, and other logos during the 40 hour down period. Good news, maybe?
 

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