[ChicagoJoe]

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My rankings for Chicago area casinos, with a poker bias, all within 1.5 hours (ex-rush hours, which seem to be always)of Skokie:

1. Majestic Star Gary IN - largest poker room 21 tables, best staff, best tournaments, OK NL/LHE cash, meh hotel
2. Resorts East Chicago IN - best jacked up NL/LHE cash games, smallish tourneys/WPT sats, attached hotel no opinion
3. Potawatomi Milwaukee WI - decent poker room, no tourneys yet, OK cash - great fine dining restaurant @ Dream Dance, no attached hotel
4. Hollywood Aurora IL - LHE cash only, some low stakes NL except heard that tghey get a small stakes NL game running; pathetic tourneys, fine dining OK, no attached hotel
5. Empress Joliet IL - micro room, weird hours - yawn, food? - who cares, hotel on grounds but not attached
6. Harrahs Joliet IL - no poker, OK to good fine dining, attached hotel
7. Grand Victoria Elgin IL - no poker, slot heaven, fine dining OK, no attached hotel
8. Horseshoe (Harrah's) Hammond IN - no poker until Summer 2008, fine dining great at steakhouse - likely to be my #1 pick after poker room opens cuz I have degen Diamond Card suck & Horseshoe is more liberal with steakhouse comps, compared to Joliet where comps blow by comparison; no attached hotel yet.
Note: all IL casinos sked to go No Smoking Jan 1 2008. So, they are on my semi-perma-ban at that time. You may not care. All poker rooms in IL,IN,WI,MI are No Smoking & that is fine with me - can still puff w/cocktail in main casino if I want. IL casinos are trying to get exemption from The State, but, another personal freedom about to vanish along with consuming foie gras in Chicago, thanks to nanny state.

WIthin two hours East of Skokie:

Blue Chip - Michigan City IN - OK room, LHE small stakes/hi rake cash, "interest lists for NL" seem to prevail whenever I go there (infrequently), no tourneys that I know of, steakhouse OK, decent attached hotel

Four Winds - New Buffalo MI - huge, brand new casino w/attached hotel - poker room is unique,at least for this area - all electronic PokerTech/PokerPro tables, OK smallish stakes action, WPT sats/daily tourneys - I kinda liked it, but some people hate e-tables, really great hotel.

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Pacecar86 nice post I totally agree. Rumors started two weeks ago that Harrah’s Joliet plans to open a poker room by the end of the year. A week later Springfield brought back the gambling expansion bill. It looks like the state and the casinos struck a deal. I will be interesting to see what develops in the next sixty days.