Review of Westin casino & players card

[Grant]

PLAYER'S EDGE: New Casuarina casino offers little to recommend.
Whenever a new casino opens in Las Vegas, we usually devote the
entire column discussing the property's pros and cons. However, the
new Casuarina casino inside the Westin is not only quite small, we
unfortunately found very little inside to recommend.

In the former Maxim just east of the Strip, the property has been
extensively renovated by the new owners, Columbia Sussex, a well-
known hospitality company that has recently bought up several casinos
around the country, including the River Palms in Laughlin and Horizon
in Lake Tahoe. The hotel itself is managed by Starwood, former owners
of Caesars Palace. (The name Casuarina refers to a special tree
native to the Cayman Islands, where Columbia Sussex has other
hotels.)

Inside the casino are a nice variety of video reels and traditional
slots, a few video poker games plus some table games including
blackjack, roulette, craps and Three-Card Poker. Of course, we cannot
tell how loose the slot machines are, but the video poker game
schedules (including 7-5 Jacks or Better, 6-5 Bonus Poker, not to
mention a Double Bonus schedule at the bar that returns only 94.18
percent with perfect play) were the tightest we have seen in a full-
line casino: much tighter than the surrounding neighborhood, and
remember this is the Strip. We also noticed that their single-deck
blackjack returns only 6-5 on naturals, which also makes it an
unacceptable game.

At this time, all new Casuarina Premium Players Club members receive
$10 in free play at signup and earn an additional $10 with $1,000
coin-in on slots and $2,000 on video poker. Anyone wanting a food
comp has to visit the booth.

Source: EverythingLasVegas/reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2003/Nov-14-Fri-2003/weekly/22567258.html

[Grant]

From that article, I don't think I will be playing much there.

[misterKeno]

man.... up to now--ive just heard the casino is small (but not horrible with odds)

i guess, now, it's really crummy with odds for the Player.

but you know what---dang it, the beds in the website still look cool !! LOL

matthew

[heavy]

I actually liked the place. I walked in with three of my friends at around 10AM after they'd been open about a week. The craps table was fully staffed - and not a player in site. None of that break-in dealer nonsense, either. These guys knew the game - in fact, I believe a couple of them may be former TGS's who were riffed by MGM awhile back. Anyway, I made my usual plays at the table one time and they had them down pat. Within a half hour my friends and I had won around three hundred each. Then we took our players cards with the $10 free match play action imbedded in them over to the $5 slots and fed a $10 bill in with the card. On my first spin I won 2 coins. On the third it was 16. Print that ticket, baby. Heading to the cage.

If you're looking for a wide variety of good games - this is not your kind of place. But for the kind of action I'm looking for - an uncrowded craps table with an experienced crew - it's just about perfect.

[grannyvegas]

Spent about 20 min. in there last week. Not overly impressed with the place. Was very quite and a little stuffy. The Casino is very small and not a big variety in slots. Will probably stop there again when we get to Vegas just to see if its changed any.

[misterKeno]

thx u 2 for the reviews....

if i end up eatin @ batista's---i'll walk off the pasta & go in & take a looksie..

matthew

[Grant]

Thanks for the review heavy!

Glad you had good luck there :thumb: