Upcoming Tunica trip

[MaxPowerPoker]

I am making a trip to Tunica next weekend with my brother and was looking for some advice/info. We are looking to play some short-ish NL tournaments and some low limit hold 'em. Which casino/s are our best bets? Also the wife and kid (10 month old) will need to be entertained while we are playing. Any first hand info on family friendly entertainment would also be helpful. Thanks.

[MicroBob]

lots of threads on tunica so you can just search the archives too.


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We are looking to play some short-ish NL tournaments and some low limit hold 'em

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horseshoe has 4/8...gold strike and grand have 3/6. i believe sam's town has 2/4.
hollywood is not worth even going to imo (these are the only 5 poker-rooms in tunica).

horseshoe's room is the best...gold-strike is immedaitely next door so i just walk over there if the wait-list is too long at horse-shoe.
grand is a 5-minute drive up the road and isn't a bad room.
sam's town is a 5-minute drive the other way but i don't care for it.


smallish tourneys - gold strike has a bunch of tournaments all week long. 2 or 3 a day now.
$35 entry with $15 re-buys and $50 add-on every Monday, Tues and Weds at 6:30p. Good tourney. About 65 players. 4 hours or so if you make the final-table.
They also have some lightning tourneys in the week with 10-minute levels that I think run at 11am. cheap buy-in but i don't recall specifically.

Horseshoe has $65 re-buy on mon and Thurs nights I believe.

Grand has a different tourney everyday...usually at noon or 11a.


Sam's Town also runs some sort of tourneys at 10 or 11a in the week....maybe only on Tues and Thurs though. can't remember.

gold strike seeme to be running the most of the cheap-ish fairly quick tourneys though.
They even have a re-buy tourney Sunday, Mon and Tues at 4am.


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Which casino/s are our best bets?

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Horseshoe's new room is the best in the area hands-down. Free comps for a burger at the table or to the buffet without just for asking.
Also - make sure to sign-up your wife for a players' card seperately and you should be able to get a free-comp just when you sign-up I believe.

Gold Strike and Grand rooms are adequate but many around here vastly prefer the horseshoe and with good reason.


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Any first hand info on family friendly entertainment would also be helpful.

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flying or driving?
if you are flying in then you are pretty much out of luck.
there's some sort of kids' center at the Grand I think if you are staying there.
and there's an outlet mall in the area which is in the area. as well as the swimming pool at the gold strike if you are staying there.

otherwise, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in tunica besides the hotel/casinos.
let me repeat: there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING there.

some people before they have ever been here struggle to believe in such a concept. they erroneously believe that there must be SOMETHING there.
they are wrong.
and they find out first-hand after they get there.

there is NOTHING there.

decent restaurants at the casinos, a strip-mall up the road, and a chevron gas-station with a subway restaurant.
that's about it.


now...if you have a car then the family can hike up to memphis.
Beale Street and Peabody Place (mall and movie theatre pracitcally on Beale Street) in the day-time is family friendly. at night it's more of a bar-hopping scene so not quite as kid-friendly.
The ribs at Blues City cafe as well as up the street at the Rendezvous come highly recommended.

Graceland is a fun visit for cheesy Elvis-ish stuff of course.
Stax Museum ofRock and Soul and Gibson guitar factory are in the Beale Street area as well.

Memphis Redbirds baseball games are in this district too and are quite popular. Lots of kids enjoy these games. Very family friendly (furry mascots running around and what-not).
It's a new stadium and very clean and is one of the best minor-league stadiums in the country. walking distance from Beale Street.


Libertyland theme park (roller-coasters) is in mid-town memphis.


From the horseshoe/gold-strike you'll be about a 35 minute drive to Beale Street and Peabody Place.
Liberty Land is about 10-15 minutes from Beale Street...but if you direct to Libertyland from Tunica and actually know where you're going it would only be about 40 minutes.

[MicroBob]

i've taken my non-gambling GF to tunica a couple of times and she's enjoyed it because the work-out room and swimming pool at the gold-strike are decent, the rooms are fairly nice and the dining is good.

But at night we go downstairs and drink and then play idiot-roulette or cheap-o blackjack for about an hour or two (which is about as long as she can stand to play).

With a kid though it would obviously be different since drinking and gambling are not options.

[steamboatin]

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otherwise, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in tunica besides the hotel/casinos.
let me repeat: there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING there.


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Just in case they didn't believe you.

[MicroBob]

for whatever reason...tunica-virgins find this hard to believe until they experience the magic of the chevron-subway themselves.

[steamboatin]

We need a name for this syndrome, pre-tunicaitis or tunicus underwhelmus or something like that.

[Bigdaddydvo]

Chip runners? Free drinks?

Need to know these things before I take my first Tunica plunge. I'm used to playing in Indiana after all.

[MaxPowerPoker]

Wow! Bob, you are my hero. Lots of great information. I'm sure it will very useful. Thanks for taking the time to be so thorough. Do you work for the chamber of commerce or something? They should seriously consider paying you.

I can't wait to check out all of the other non-casino fun in Tunica. I'm sure there must be lots to do there.

[steamboatin]

If you ever go play at Tunica, it will spoil you for playing here at home. Gold Strike, $35 a night for a weekend hotel room, play a couple hours and get a free buffet for you and the MRS.

go see Chiper (sorry, I can't remember how to spell your screen name) at the Shoe and He will take most excellent care of you.

Chip runners, free liquor everywhere, free Nathan's famous hot dogs at the Grand, if you want something, just ask, you might get it.

PS. Free liquor is good for poker.

[Brice]

Oh, come on! There is the Tunica Queen!