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#1
06-27-2005, 12:20 AM
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Biloxi Grand trip-report 6/24 - 6/26
This was our first Trip to Biloxi. It was just me and one friend: Michael. The goal was to have a trip on a grad-student budget and a grad-student's sleep-tolerance. We're both math PhD students at GATech.
The drive from Atlanta was a piece of cake. 6 hour there, 5.5 hours back. (Mapquest said 8.) There's tons of parking by the Grand. We must have met 10 people from Atlanta while we were playing. Next time we should carpool with all the fish. I was surprised how desolate the town was. It looks run-down and depressed. Lots of closed/abandoned buildings and so forth. We didn't see much of it, though, because they only deal poker inside. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] There's a casino there referred to as "The Baby Bellagio". (Named "Beau Rivage", or something.) You should check it out. It looks like a scale-model of the Bellagio. If every window were FOUR windows (twice as wide and twice as tall), it'd be the Bella. They even have a piddly little fountain out front. In general, it felt mean to talk about Vegas while we were playing in Biloxi. It's like talking about your super-model ex-girlfriend with your current girlfriend. "It's ok, baby. You have a beach. And you're lower maintenance." Our schedule turned-out to be the following:<ul type="square">[*]Arrive at 6PM (CST) and play till 3PM the next day. [*]Find a hotel and sleep 7:30PM. [*]Get up and play through the night, till 5:30AM. [*]Go BACK to the hotel and sleep till 10:30AM.[*]Check-out and play till 2PM.[*]Drive home.[/list]There was driving back & forth and eating in there, but otherwise it was 36 hours of play and 8 hours of sleep. It was a good trip. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] We ended-up staying at a Motel 8, less than 10 minutes away from the Grand. They charged $90 for one Saturday night, though. We couldn't find anything cheaper; some places were full. Next time we'll probably do more research and stay farther away. We just played the 1-4-8-8 game at The Grand. It was absurdly soft. I think it was dramatically looser than Party $.50/$1. I saw a guy call 2 bets cold on the river, then call another raise, all to show us his flush draw THAT DIDN'T HIT. Prepflop-loose is always nice, but postflop-loose is better. (for EV, not for Variance.) I would have moved-up (I play the $5/$10 on Party.) but I really wanted to make profit on this first trip. I'll play the $6/$12 next time, and gradually work my way up. In Hold'Em, they had the 1-4-8-8, 6/12, and 15/30 (with and without a rock) in limit and $1/$2 and $5/$10 NL. I was surprised how prevalent the rock was. It seemed like half the 15/30 games had a mandatory rock. Sorry, I didn't watch any of these games to see exactly how soft they were. I didn't even notice what limits they offered in Stud & Omaha. The Biloxi Grand was just bought by Harrah's, but there apparently hadn't been any changes yet besides who signs the paychecks. There's word that they'll move the poker-room downstairs with the higher ceilings, better ventilation, and better chance of walk-ins, but dealers seemed skeptical. They ARE going to change the name to "The Horseshoe Biloxi", which seemed sacrilegious at first, but I guess is ok. I was amazed to find that SUNDAY had the collection of the worst players. Calling stations like you've only read about. Saturday was a LAG fest; half the hands were straddled. Be prepared to 3-bet somebody's check-raise because you have top-pair. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Dealers were almost unanimously fun and skilled. I watched a couple fumbles on Friday, but it was only a few mistakes. Michael saw 2 pots pushed to the wrong people, where the winner had to yell "But I had a straight!", but the two of us played 36 hours each; we'd have to see a FEW mistakes over that time. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Dealers weren't dressed especially nicely. I mean, the card-room is classy and professional, and the dealers have uniforms, but most dealers had their shirts half-unbuttoned and need a shave more than the average player. Around 2AM, we lost the classy floormanager in the suit, and got one in a TShirt and a name-tag. He looks worse than a dealer. This wasn't a big deal at all; I was just surprised they let it go at an otherwise tight-ship. The food comps were amazing. There was more free food than I'd ever seen, and in a huge variety of ways. (I feel more than a little sick.) For one thing, they have free food in the room all day long. They have one of those displays like in a gas-station, with the rolling hot-dogs, ketchup, mustard, onions, relish, and slaw. They also have big bins of peanut-butter cookies, chocolate-chip cookies, pretzels, and apples. It's a nice spread. During the early hours of the morning, they add Krispie Kremes to the mix. If (sorta nasty) hot-dogs and (slightly stale) cookies weren't enough to sustain you, getting a meal comp was the easiest I've seen. You have to fill-out the info for a "Player Comp Card" with the casino-proper, but then getting a meal from the poker manager was cake. You walk to the back of the room, tell the guy in the suit that you've played 3 or 4 hours, and he'll give you $8 to any restaurant in the casino. (You have to tell him which restaurant you want.) They have 2 buffets, one literally next to the poker room. That one runs from 8AM to 11PM. It was only ok. It's not the Bellagio, but it's not Shoney's, either. The shrimp were ok, etc. For breakfast, the OTHER buffet was much better. Otherwise, this one's fine. They also have a mexican place, a 24hour diner, and another restaurant that we didn't go to. The mexican place served us a nasty chicken-wrap and a nasty quesadilla. Your mileage may very. The diner was the very best place to get food to-go. I recommend onion-rings over french-fries. My buddy was stuck at the end of the trip, so he decided to get back as much of his rake as he could. We filled the car with food for the drive home, just trying to charge them as much as possible. If we knew that they paid $0.15 for the $0.20 sour-cream, he'd have used his comp on 32 sour-creams. Over all, it was a GREAT trip. Good poker, nice card room, fun crowd, easy drive. I can't imagine passing through any other states with card-rooms to get to Biloxi, but in the South-east, I guess we take what we can get. -Sam 
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#2
06-27-2005, 01:51 AM
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Re: Biloxi Grand trip-report 6/24 - 6/26
Thanks for the writeup.
36 hours is a lot. I am impressed. Did you do coke? Or at least Coke? I know you said you're playing $6/12 next time. Are you also gonna take a shot at the $15/30 if it looks good?
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#5
06-27-2005, 08:49 AM
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Re: Biloxi Grand trip-report 6/24 - 6/26
Did you go to any other casinos or even look around? lol
How much did you profit off of the weak tables? Tunica is just another half hour drive if you need another option [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
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#10
06-28-2005, 08:48 AM
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Re: Biloxi Grand trip-report 6/24 - 6/26
Excellent post Sam...Im at one of the Ramada's on the main
drag in Gulfport...havent gone to play any yet since we just got in from Atlanta at about 6pm...decided to lounge at the pool, get some dinner, and relax. Its now about 8am Tuesday, and Im itching to play...Im definitely going today...probably play the 1-4-4-8 and then enter the limit tourney on Wednesday...$5 entry, $10 buy-in Will post later.
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