Lumiere, St Louis - Revisited

Ok Ok, I said I wasn't going back here until the summer -- but some of my guys "made" me go again.

Its still a beautiful place in a choice location. 20 minutes faster (each way) than going to Harrahs or Ameristar. And really easy access from the King Bridge to the parking ramp. Then more really fast access right to the casino entrance.

Some things in the poker room are better than 6 weeks ago:
--The lighting is increased in most places, but some are still too dark.
--The noise factor is better. No overly loud music blaring from the casino. The bank of slots right outside the poker room have been muted so they do not make noise.
--The "swipe in/out" system now works so they don't cheat you out of your comps like last time.
--Some of their other technology is working now -- and some is not.
--All 13 tables were able to be opened now. So the "security camera" problems have been fixed. However (this must be really complicated) now some of the tables are too close together while others have lots of extra room.
--Dealer quality was better than last time, although this is not saying much.

Some things are still bad about this place:
--Dealer quality is Average-minus and thats being generous. Most are ok, some were terrible.
--Floor staff is still terrible. When we arrived, there were 8 tables running and 4 (count em, 4!) suits running the room. One was taking names for the lists and swiping players in and out, another was staring off into space and the other two were arguing. Floor staff was not as rude as last time, but still had trouble filling seats and responding to questions.
--There is still only ONE place in the casino where you can buy chips, and its about 150 steps from the poker room - dodging thru slots and table games.
--This time they were having some kind of drawing every hour on the casino floor. There would be continual announcements over a very loud PA system reading names and giving instructions. The announcer had the most annoying voice I have ever heard -- it was terrible. Thought it was a joke at first, but it went on and on.

I was surprised at the crowd. The casino was packed and very busy. Its a very nice layout with wide aisles and good traffic. The poker room was NOT packed even on a Saturday prime time. 8 to 11 tables going out of 13. Short lists. Only games spread were 3-6, and NL at 1-3 and 2-5. The crowd was very "Harrahs-ish" - kind of scruffy and downmarket.

Still have not seen the poker manager on site and we have been there on two different weekend days during "prime times". Choosing to make this facility a low limit 3-6 and low NL room sure cheapens it. Its almost just like a generic Harrahs poker room. Dealer and Floorman training seems to not be much of a priority.

Seems like a great opportunity missed. A great facility but the poker management and management decisions have made it a lot less than it should have been.