Free Play - Interesting Article

If there are any flaws, I don't see them.  I'm glad that you and your family had a nice time that was successful.  I'm hoping to get to Black Hawk/Central City to see what promotions I might receive after visiting the casinos there.  Everyone stay safe.

Have you been to Black Hawk/Central City recently?

I moved back to Colorado 10 years ago and have never been there.  I've only been through the Eisenhower tunnel 3 times.  Once was to fly out of DIA and the other two were for high school regional golf tournaments.  It's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from here.

Ahh, western slope? I visit regularly, what games do you play? I may be able to direct you to some opportunities.

we may go there next week as well !

we may go there next week as well !

There are casinos on the western slope? The only one I know of is the Ute casino west of Durango.

Or do you mean Central City/Blackhawk and Cripple Creek? I was in the area about ten years ago and did a play-everywhere tour just to get on everyone's mailing list radar. At that time, there was plenty of NSUD and good promos.

I was more of a poker than VP player at the time, and was kind of repulsed by the rake structure in the various rooms there. I don't remember the exact details, but it made the games unplayable--I think it might have been 10% with no cap.

I've thought of living on the northern side of Denver (Wheat Ridge, up to Boulder?) before, and I wondered if there were decent opportunities in the mountain gambling towns. Never really investigated that thoroughly.

Of course, I love the mountains so much that I've had the same problem I've had with Lake Tahoe--when you're up there, spending time in a smoky casino seems almost criminal.

Black Hawk/Central City would be a 3 1/2 hour drive from many parts of the western slope. There is no smoking in the casinos in Colorado, so it makes it much nicer. 

Being old with a bad knee. I take breaks when I drive so it may take me a little longer.  For Max, I'm now a VP player.  This site has made me a much better player.  I used to play more blackjack but I don't spend the time on practicing my card counting skills.  I thinking about going over to Black Hawk/Central City next Tuesday.  I could hit some rain but I have good wipers on my cars.  The Grand Z in Central City has a room promotion for next Tuesday.  They have rooms for $25.50 with a total of $45.32.  Customer reviews are pretty good.  Do you have any info on that resort?  That would get me some relief from the heat.  On the Western Slope, we're in the grip of a heat wave.  Yesterday began a forecasted string of 5 days of 100+ weather with a heat advisory for tomorrow and Saturday.  We could tie the highest temp ever in my city of 107.  It was reported yesterday that Breeze Airways will soon begin new service from GJT to LAS.   For Kevin, there are two reservation casinos in southwestern CO.  One largest one is in Ignacio that is east of Durango.  The other is in Towaoc that is south of Cortez.  Boulder is a really nice area but has high real estate prices.  But prices have been rising in the entire state.   Thanks for the conversation. 

I don't play at the Grand Z, although my brother-in-law likes it, he's not an AP type player. I haven't figured out their slot club, not much info on their website on how it works, and they don't seem to have daily promos. Maybe you can share with me what you find there?

If you're there on Tuesday, there are some things you can easily take advantage of, since I'm assuming you're over 50 years old. You can drive from the Grand Z into Black Hawk to The Gilpin, you can park across the street on your left at the valet lot, or drive past the casino and turn into the parking lot on the right to self-park. It's a smaller casino but on Tuesday you can play 100 tier points, that's $800 coin-in and get a voucher for $15 comp at Lucille Malone's restaurant, you also get a random point multiplier that you can activate after the 100 tier points. Just swipe at the kiosk after you hit the 100 tier points and select the over 50 promo. We like Lucille's for the sandwiches and hamburgers, so we play there just enough to get food comps in the mail and $10 free play, usually $10 free play 3 or 4 times a month. There is a decent video poker play there, not +EV right now, I'm just not sure I want to share that info on a public forum.

When you are done at The Gilpin, drive over to Ameristar(since you have a bad knee or you can walk), take a right out of the self-parking lot, left at the first traffic light, then you can go straight through the next light to the parking garage, although that takes you to the 5th floor, which usually is busier. I would take a left at the second light, and turn in where it says "valet parking", the left side is self-parking taking you to the 4th floor, usually much less busy. Or you can valet park, if you accidentally go to valet, but want to self-park, just drive through the valet and head up to the 4th floor.

If you're 50 or older, from noon to midnight it's 2x's cash multiplier(not great but if you're already there, why not), you have to swipe at the kiosk to activate it. From noon to 5 pm is a free slot tournament for 50 or older, it's set up on a specific set of slot machines. When you get off the elevator from the parking garage, you come to an employee checking IDs of younger people, and an escalator in front of you, make a hard right(don't take the escalator), and then to your right will be the machines.  You can tell it's the right group because they have electronic signs showing the standings of the slot tournament or previous ones.  You put in your player's card and the machine will ask if you want to play in the tournament, follow the prompts.

On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, you earn a free hotel room at Ameristar by earning 200 tier points, that's $2,000 coin-in, if they have availability. I would expect them to be available. The city-view rooms, don't have much of a view, you pretty much look over the parking garage, so we get the mountain view side. Doesn't matter much if you have a comp, but they do charge a bit more for city view and it's underwhelming. They'll probably charge you the $16.00(?) resort fee.

They have decent video poker on certain machines, Tuesday is not a +EV day, but others are.

I hope that helps!