I did a two night trip thru Southern Indiana for the first time and got pleasantly surprised. First was the Casino Aztar in Evansville. Nice casino, nice people, well lit, few of the smokers and losers that one found surrounded by in downtown St. Louis or, downtown Las Vegas. Mostly six deck games much more deeply dealt than I expected. I suppose part of it is that they are hand shuffled and dealers dont seem to want to shuffle too often. The ones I saw and played were mostly red chip tables, $10 -$200 only. Little heat that I could see. Won $200,

After that I drove to the town made famous with the greatest white basketball player of our time, about 95 miles away. Scenic drive by the river. I would bet its beautiful later in the Spring when the leaves are out. I expected a small casino but it was a moderate sized one, clean and well lit. Again, good folks all around. Games were 6 deck and deeply dealt. Won about $350.

On to the Horse Shoe casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, about 62 miles away. It was typically like other Horseshoe casinos elsewhere. ASM's, bad penetration (cut off 2 decks) but I was still able to win $300 and then I slept at a cheap motel in New Albany, IN.

Next morning, I drove to Florence, IN and to the most beautiful casino of the trip. The Belterra. Quite big and quite lovely. They had higher minimums ($10 - $3000) and DD on both, the main floor ($25 min) and HL ($50 min). All hand shuffled. They told me they had ASM's but quit those some time back. Played some $25 min. DD games. While the casino was crowded on the main floor, the $25 DD was at one end and I was able to play either heads up or with one other player. The regular dealer dealt for 40 minutes, gave about 65%-70% pen. The relief dealer dealt for 20 minutes and cut off a deck. They had a very unusual and time wasting procedure at every dealer change. First, they quit as soon as another dealer came, which was frustrating when the count was positive and relieving when count was negative. The new dealer would then take the DD, count out 5 rows of 10 cards each plus 2 cards on the 6th row. Gather up these, then do the same with the remaining deck. After this, they hand shuffled and dealt. I won $#500 and left.

I drove ab out 20 miles over to a town called the Rising Sun and to a casino of the same name. Smaller but a very pretty casino. 6 decks, hand shuffled, only one deck or less cut off. $10=$200 max. Played for a while, won about $200.

I went back the 20 miles to Belterra Casino, played some more DD and won $100. However, the cashier's window had long lines so I took gthe chips and went looking for a motel (Belterra rooms were over $230 on the weekend) and the only nearby motel, a cheap one, still cost $120. I stayed there overnight.

I had visited 5 casinos, played 6 sessions and won about $1500 from when I started off from the St. Louis area. The plan was to drive on to the Cincinnati area, play a couple of casinos there and then hit all the above casinos on the way back. However, I had $100 in chips from the night before, so I stopped by the Belterra to cash in. I saw the DD table empty and decided to play instead. Big mistake. I went down and stayed down, played close to 4 hours, sometimes heads up, sometimes with another player. The game was great, about 65% cut off. However, it was my worst day in 5 years. Max bets went bad, dealer either got a 20 or 21, it seemed every time. Once, with my $200 max bet and 20 with a dealer up card of 4, dealer has an Ace under, hits it with a 6. I lost all the money I had won the previous two days plus $400.

A wonderful trip had gone bad. I was upset, so I got back in my car abandoned the rest of the trip (which had stops in Cincinnati and back at all the casinos on the way) and drove home. After getting home I cursed myself for abandoning the planned trip after losing just $400 of the trip bank roll ($10k) I started out with. I also think I should have not played as longs as I did (4+ hours) in one session. I think that maybe the pit or dealer would remember me there but I wont be going to Indiana for at least a few months.

In any case, Indiana is an under rated state for BJ. Casinos were not close by in the same town but the drive was beautiful. I know I made mistakes, especially the way I reacted to the long losing session (lost about $2k), the loss of confidence and abandoning the trip. I have done that a few times when I have taken driving trips.

Well, the next couple would be to Oklahoma and later thru Iowa.