Tunica

[irish79]

Heading to Tunica. Any of you 2 + 2ers have advice on the best B&M cardrooms? I'm staying at the Grand-but I wanted to play in a couple of different ones.

[Chipr777]

Check out the new Horseshoe room. Better room, more games, best comps.

[steamboatin]

Is Fourth of July weekend busy and what are the odds of getting the poker room rate?

[MicroBob]

I have to think that 4th of July weekend will be INSANE...and that the chances of getting the poker-room rate are NOT very good.

I've been wrong before though so call and check it out and prove me wrong on the room-rate bit.
But I would think that the crowds will be sky-freaking-high.


I'll be in Vegas by then for the WSOP...and the rates for the 4th of July weekend were more than double at the places where I checked the rates. If it's a big weekend in Vegas then I suspect it's probably also a decently big weekend in Tunica (on a much smaller scale of course).


To Irish from Nasvhille - the new room at the horseshoe JUST opened last weekend. I saw it just before it opened and it looked terrific....and the guys who played there DURING the opening said it was really good too.
The Gold Strike is the other poker-room worh checking out...possibly if the wait-list is too long at the Horseshoe (it's practically attached to the Horseshoe so you can walk easily between the two).

Sam's Town and Hollywood's poker-rooms I don't recommend. And that's all of them. 5 poker-rooms in Tunica...3 of which are considered worthwhile by most of us 2+2'ers.



For more details you can do a search in these forums.
Tunica Q's and reviews come up constantly.
Just search for 'Tunica' in the B&M forum for the past 2 or 3 months or so and you will find many opinions on the rooms there.


For a bit more about the Grand I posted about a month ago my experience in the weekend 7.5/15 game that they spread there. It was the first time I had played there in almost 2 years.
Also - Randy Refeld who used to work there has posted frequently about the problems he sees with the management and staff there (as well as the dealers for the most part).

Just some ideas to help you along in your search.

[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
Also - Randy Refeld who used to work there has posted frequently about the problems he sees with the management and staff there (as well as the dealers for the most part).

[/ QUOTE ]

That reminds me, one thing that does bug me about the grand that I noticed last weekend... they put up with WAY too much abusive behavior by regulars. In the 7.5/15 game there was this one guy who was obviously a regular who would routinely pull crazy [censored] like mucking his cards by throwing them at the dealer, etc. This went on all night until he really blew up, flung his cards (which hit the dealer in the face), muttered something I couldn't hear (I was at the other end of the table), and stormed off to the bathroom. When he came back, the dealer very meekly said "I have to give you the profanity warning, moe." Geez. Of course, all the players were trying to keep him around and being nice to him since he was totally steaming and spewing chips, but I don't think dealers should have to put up with losers like this guy.

[Chipr777]

Try dealing PLO in Janurary at Horseshoe.

[jakethebake]

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Is Fourth of July weekend busy and what are the odds of getting the poker room rate?

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I went on some arbitrary weekend WITH a reservation and got bumped. But I think it was some big event IIRC. The poker rate is easy to get otherwise. They don't even keep track of playing time.

[jakethebake]

The 20-40 game at the Horseshoe is soft.

[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
Try dealing PLO in Janurary at Horseshoe.

[/ QUOTE ]

Are these guys dickheads about stuff like bad cards, or do they only get combative over dealer mistakes?

There's NEVER any excuse for abusing the dealer over what cards come out, no matter how high you play. I understand that at high stakes games the players are entitled to expect an experienced, professional dealer, but even then there's very few occasions when berrating a dealer is excusable. Whenever there is a screwup, the dealer surely knows that he's messed up, a lecture from Mr. Bigshot Highroller is not really going to help the situation any.

[Randy_Refeld]

[ QUOTE ]
Quote:
Try dealing PLO in Janurary at Horseshoe.



Are these guys dickheads about stuff like bad cards, or do they only get combative over dealer mistakes?


[/ QUOTE ]

I get a certain amount of amusement out of these threads. It is true that the players that come to Tunica in Jan are more abusive than their regular customers, but these players are on their best behaivor in Tunica. The Horseshoe on its worth day in Jan is far more pleasent to deal with than an LA casino on any random day. I have never seen a dealer in Tunica get cut by a trhwon card or have a beer bottle thrown at them (doesn't mean it hasn't happened, just means I haven't seen it). In general the players will be as abusive as the room management allows.

[MicroBob]

and you guys wonder why I don't play live-poker very much.

Big freaking babies.
Just the drunken, immature whiners are enough to get to me sometimes. Anything approaching 'This guy should probably be thrown out' really bothers me just because I think that people should know better than to be total ass-holes.

[charlie_t_jr]

[ QUOTE ]

Sam's Town and Hollywood's poker-rooms I don't recommend. And that's all of them. 5 poker-rooms in Tunica...3 of which are considered worthwhile by most of us 2+2'ers.


[/ QUOTE ]

Bob's advice is always solid, I just have to "mildly" disagree about Sam's Town...their poker room is more than adequate. The big draw backs would be the location, closest poker is at Hollywood, which is useless...and the food, all though the snack bar and buffet at Sam's is ok.

If your a low limit player, Sam's is fine. The poker room is well run and most of the dealers are competent and friendly.

I end up at ST quite often because I usually only know about a week a head of time if I'm going to Tunica. By then the availability for the poker room rate at HS/GS for a Saturday night is full, and I can get one at ST.

All that said, the best recommemdation would be HS/GS.

[MicroBob]

I actually haven't played at ST and have only rail-birded there occasionally.
It does seem okay and isn't THAT bad. But I just think you can do better.


My 1-10 ratings of the Tunica poker-rooms based on my experience (I've played at the other 4):

Horseshoe - 9
gold Strike - 8
Grand - 7
Sam's Town - 5 or 6 probably
Hollywood - 3 or 4


Something like that anyway.

There's something about the G.S. room that I still don't like. but the poker-room-rate for $25 mid-week is pretty good.

GS has those slot-machines all along the wall up there and should REALLY just get rid of them (I'm hoping the new room at the HS will push the GS to make positive changes to remain competitive).
I also don't like all the soft-music piped in all over the place (Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, etc) but thankfully you don't hear it as much ni the poker-room there.

Still....things are generally well-run from my observations at the G.S. and I usually have a good playing experience.

The fact that your choices are usually 3/6 limit or 1/2 NL is kind of annoying. Wouldn't mind a 6/12 limit game (think they spread one on weekends) or higher.

The Grand is okay but certainly not terrific.
The weekend 7.5/15 game I tried out was enjoyable but the dealers are a little slower and they didn't have the automatic shufflers.

The Horseshoe has the better comps by far. Ask for a buffet or a burger and get one. Easy as that.
4/8 at Horseshoe is better than 3/6 at Gold-strike if low-limit slumming (percentage that is raked is more favorable).
and the H.S. 10/20 game is usually pretty juicy.
haven't played the 20/40 game yet but it always looks to be pretty wild every time I see it (and have reports confirming this).


Both Horseshoe and Gold Strike are running more tourneys now then thney used to.

Gold Strike dealers are typically pretty decent.
Horseshoe dealers are almost always outstanding beyond compare.

[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
There's something about the G.S. room that I still don't like. but the poker-room-rate for $25 mid-week is pretty good.

GS has those slot-machines all along the wall up there and should REALLY just get rid of them (I'm hoping the new room at the HS will push the GS to make positive changes to remain competitive).
I also don't like all the soft-music piped in all over the place (Celine Dion and Whitney Houston, etc) but thankfully you don't hear it as much ni the poker-room there.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would actually put the Grand ahead of the Goldstrike, if not for the fact that GS is right next door to Horseshoe. Looking at the rooms themselves, I prefer the Grand.

Horseshoe definitely has better comps. Their snack bar is flat-out awesome. The Grand has pretty good burgers at that sports bar, though, and they have these awesome quesadillias at the blues cafe downstairs. You can get food from either of those places comped and brought up to you with no trouble. One bad thing about comps at Grand is that they can't (so they claim) comp two people, which is pretty lame. Horseshoe will comp two people no questions asked. Of course, when I'm in tunica with my wife she plays nickel video poker and gets way better comps anyway, so this one isn't that big of a deal in my book. (The grand probably has the best comps in town for nickel machine players.)

Horseshoe's buffet is better, but the difference isn't as big as some claim. They're all pretty good, roughly interchangable. I don't ever feel like I'm missing out at any of them.

The Horseshoe hotel people try to put all the cheapo poker players in their old hotel rooms, which are directly above the casino floor, and very noisy. If they try to give you a 2nd floor room, just ask the front desk person for a different floor. They'll usually move you if you ask.

The rooms at the Grand are pretty nice, but they are in the Veranda hotel, which is not connected to the casino. You have to take a shuttle bus which runs every five minutes or so.

I haven't stayed at the GS since about 2000, but the rooms are just as nice as anywhere else, and you're likely to get a better view since their hotel is much taller than anything else in Tunica (31 floors, IIRC). When it was built, it was the tallest building in the entire state.


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The fact that your choices are usually 3/6 limit or 1/2 NL is kind of annoying. Wouldn't mind a 6/12 limit game (think they spread one on weekends) or higher.

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They occasionally spread 5/10, which doesn't really fit in with their 3/6 6/12 thing. I've only seen 6/12 on weekend nights, and never seen anything higher.

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The Grand is okay but certainly not terrific.
The weekend 7.5/15 game I tried out was enjoyable but the dealers are a little slower and they didn't have the automatic shufflers.

[/ QUOTE ]

The Grand is a little run-down looking. They have autoshufflers on a few tables, but definitely not all, and you're not going to get one in the 7.5/15 game since they don't want to use the autoshuffler tables on games that break easily (the pink game breaks every time there's a tournament, EG). I REALLY hate the new felt at the grand. The action line is annoying (though they recently stopped using it), the little bet circles are REALLY annoying (they supposedly ordered felt without the circles), and the Grand logo in the middle makes it difficult to read the board.



[ QUOTE ]
and the H.S. 10/20 game is usually pretty juicy.
haven't played the 20/40 game yet but it always looks to be pretty wild every time I see it (and have reports confirming this).

[/ QUOTE ]

I keep thinking I'm going to take a shot at the 20/40 but with that rock I hear the game gets way crazy.

[Chipr777]

I agree with you there but you still have to admit the Horseshoe has always put up with more from the players than any other casino in Tunica. In 8 years I've only seen 1 high limit player put out of the Horseshoe. He got drunk and stuck his hand up the shift managers skirt in the corner by the host desk. They actually let him back in until she told Jack it's him or me. It's a well known fact the bigger you play the more you can get away with. I've had my share of cards thrown at me. I've only been cut once and it was just my finger. I was taken off the game and the player was still playing when I came back through a few hours later. Never had a beer bottle thrown at me but does a chair count? About 10 years ago at Lady Luck I had an entire dice table turned over on me. That was fun.

[tylerdurden]

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It's a well known fact the bigger you play the more you can get away with.

[/ QUOTE ]

What's the theory behind this? The rake these guys generate can't possibly come close to the potential liability for a dealer that gets seriously hurt (or otherwise abused) and sues the casino for failure to fix the problem when they had the chance. Most of these lowlifes are cowards, and if management stands up to them they'll back off real quick.

[ QUOTE ]
About 10 years ago at Lady Luck I had an entire dice table turned over on me. That was fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

Were you hurt? That had to be scary as hell. Was this when LL was in Tunica? IIRC, they moved that boat down to Lula before it went under. Flipping a dice table is a pretty impressive feat, the guy must have really had some adrenaline going. I heard that something similar happened at the Grand not long after it opened.

All of the really weird [censored] seems to happen at dice tables. I was shooting at the Horseshoe a few years back, standing in the hook next to the dealer, when I noticed him looking at his feet and kinda shaking his pants. He asked me if someone spilled their drink in the rail, and I said I didn't see any glasses or bottled turned over... after a few seconds, he realized it wasn't booze, but it was (you guessed it) urine. Nice.

My dad was shooting dice at Fitzgeralds when the guy next to him keeled over and died. Just like that. Paramedics wheeled him out, boxman bagged his chips and calmly said "move the dice."

[Randy_Refeld]

[ QUOTE ]
I agree with you there but you still have to admit the Horseshoe has always put up with more from the players than any other casino in Tunica.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would agree with this. I was just pointing out that overall the Horseshoe in Tunica is a pretty tame place. The first time I dealt on the Plaza at the Bike I was but about a half inch below my eye by a card. The second time I dealt on the plaza I had a beer bottle thrown at me. Things seemed to calm down after that.

[tylerdurden]

[ QUOTE ]
I would agree with this. I was just pointing out that overall the Horseshoe in Tunica is a pretty tame place. The first time I dealt on the Plaza at the Bike I was but about a half inch below my eye by a card. The second time I dealt on the plaza I had a beer bottle thrown at me. Things seemed to calm down after that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like dealers there should be allowed to carry sidearms. Or at least tazers.

[RacersEdge]

The room at the Horeshoe has really put them ahead of the Goldstrike. The layout is really good - plenty of space to move around, great flat screen TVs, and just a very professional feel to the whole thing including the staff. The only negative is that the smoke at the table near the rail can still be annoying - a glass enclosure that was 4-5 feet high around the room would be perfect.

[Chipr777]

[ QUOTE ]
What's the theory behind this? The rake these guys generate can't possibly come close to the potential liability for a dealer that gets seriously hurt (or otherwise abused) and sues the casino for failure to fix the problem when they had the chance. Most of these lowlifes are cowards, and if management stands up to them they'll back off real quick.


[/ QUOTE ]
The theory is that big money generates more action. People tend to like to hear about the guy playing 25k a hand at blackjack or having a million bucks in front of him in the poker room. The more people talk the more exposure the casino has. Don't run off your free exposure.

[irish79]

Sweet guys thanks for all the responses. I've only played at the Grand and it sounds to me like the HS/GS might be a better option for a low-limter like myself.