MS (WPT & WSOP) vs. Atlantic City (WPT) events--which one?

Looking to take a trip to either of these locations next month. Would like to play in $1000 or less buy in, have a buddy that wants to satellite into the main event. I saw WPT event at Goldstrike has daily $540 buy ins, which is a big plus. Would like your opinions on:

1) which airport would be best to fly in for Atlantic City or MS (the 2 locations only 10 miles apart)?
2) better side games at either location?

I'm flying from midwest, never been to either locale.

[tripp0807]

I can only tell you that it's going to cost a FORTUNE to fly into the AC airport from the west. You're better off flying into Philly or Newark (north Jersey) and renting a car or taking the train. You can PM me for the best directions - I live in Philly.

WRT to side games in AC - the 1/2 and 2/5 NL games at the Borgata are really soft, but I'm not sure how this would change at big tournament time. I play at the Taj, where I would say the same about the games.

[aumorgan]

For Tunica you will have to fly into Memphis and drive about 30 miles. Don't know about AC

[ShadowBJ21]

You should check the WPT $500+40 carefully. I'm not sure if they are real tournaments or just satellites for the main event!

But you will find some $500+50 during the WSOPC at the Grand.

Shadow

Thanks for the help--Travelocity is a good source for airports (I should've checked before posting that part of ?).

Sounds like Mississippi might be a better destination due to:

1) less expensive flights
2) easier access from airport (only 30 miles, no east coast traffic to worry about)
3) 2 venues 10 miles apart with action

Looking forward to checking out a new casino and seeing the buzz around a major event.

The side games were great in Tunica during the last WSOPC event at the Grand. Pretty much any limit and any game you wanted was being spread. I played mid-limit games and some NL and they were pretty soft.

[MicroBob]

If you are going to Tunica you need to get your hotel room NOW.
Hotels were being sold-out in 2003 when it was just the WPO and this was BEFORE the Moneymaker boom.
Now, poker is much much bigger and there are 2 events.

You will need to fly into Memphis and it's another 30 minutes from there so you'll have to rent a car or make other arrangements.

The Grand and the Gold Strike (the 2 places hosting events) are about 5 minutes apart driving...but you can't walk between the too (well, technically you could, but I promise that you wouldn't want to).
There are shuttles that run between the places but I don't think it runs 24 hours (probably 8a-midnight or something...but I really don't know).


The single-table satellites that they run are mostly fine to just use as 'real' money.
If you win of the 'entry chips' for $500 or $1000 you can usually find someone who is buying-in directly for one of those events who will sell it to you.

I'm pretty sure they will also run other tourneys that aren't listed on the schedule (such as a daily $300 event at 3pm or something like that).


Lots of the 'big names' were coming to Tunica when it was JUST the WPT and the side-games including Brunson, Hellmuth, Greenstein, Ferguson, etc.
So I imagine that 2 tourneys running side by side could be even more popular.

The side-game action is great. It's a very WSOP-like atmosphere because of all the action.
Lots of long wait-lists at times though which is kind of annoying...but 2 seperate places running their own thing might actually help to divide the traffic.