Tunica Poker -- Alive and Well

Took a 4 day labor day weekend in Tunica. I had done this before and Tunica poker on a major holiday weekend is usually great.

Crowds were down a little from 2 and 3 years ago. Maybe its the economy. Maybe the poker boom huge growth of the past 5 years is over. Maybe its just supply and demand -- a slightly lower demand (# of players) and a continued high supply of poker rooms and tables. Actually, I think the number of players is down for a couple other reasons too; first off the NL games have burned out a lot of players and secondly the over supply of tournaments has players in those instead of in the cash games.

Tunica poker rooms still had plenty of games and players:

HARRAHS - This property was fka The Grand. Its now re-branded as Harrahs Tunica. Actually, this is the third building I've been in named the Harrahs Tunica. The first was a little casino that ended up as part of the Isle of Capri and is over by Sams Town. The second is now the Resorts Casino.

The Grand was very plush and upscale when opened, but they sure let it run down in recent years. Harrahs has redecorated it --and -- it looks like a Harrahs. Buffet upstairs is now a Paula Deen. Try it once.

The new poker room is downstairs and it looks great. 14 tables with a nice rail open on two sides to the casino. A little too noisy with some slot noise though. All tables are the small/medium holdem size and they play 9 handed. No autoshufflers that I saw. On a weekday afternoon, they had two 4-8 games and a 1-2 NL game and 2 tables remaining of a tourney going. I got off to a good start here. Came in behind the button and won the first hand I played on the first orbit. I was then money ahead the whole rest of the trip.


GOLD STRIKE - Very few changes to this place since January. GS had many management changes and there is a new poker room manager too. Upgrades to the poker room are on the way. Still 16 tables. Games are mostly 3-6 and 1-2 NL. Leo still deals on day shift - be sure to get at his table. GS bad beat jackpot is $220,000 + and so they are putting less money into that. Instead, they are running a nice promotion where every 2 hours someone at each table wins $60. Another promotion was where they put 2 Friday night concert tickets in for whoever won the next pot. I won and we went to see Davy Jones. Do you remember him?? "Here we come---" "Hey, Hey, we're the ---"
Hotel rooms are being renovated and the new decor is beautiful.

HORSESHOE - Still my favorite. 16 tables and all the holdem tables are the big ones and play 10 handed for Limit games. Games were always going and included 4-8, 15-30 (or 20-40 on wekends), 1-3NL, 2-5NL, and 1-5 seven card stud. Day shift dealers are just an awesome collection. I spent most of my hours playing the midnight shift, and several of them are great too. One of them (Gena) is about the fastest dealer I have encountered. I clocked her at 21, 22 and 24 hands per half hour down. Thats a lot of hands per hour. A typical dealer may get out 17 hands per down (thats 35 hands per hour) and many don't get that many out.


SOME GENERAL COMMENTS -

I was dealt AA four different times on this trip. Two were winners. Twice I flopped a set -- and LOST. The other two times were very unusual. I folded on the flop twice. Both times a coordinated board, multiple players and some raising starts. So they get pitched, throw them away-hey. I was in third place both times.

Sat down in a new game about 2am and I really didn't feel good. But watching the table I remembered an old Mason Malmuth essay about be sure to play poker with people who are sure to lose all their money. And, here I was. 4 of the players at this table were so bad they were sure to lose all their chips and as much extra that they could put into the game. One guy went thru 5 racks, and the others did multiple reloads too.

Saw my first poker room fight if a few years. Two big guys in a NL game (of course) stand up yelling at each other, then a point, then a shove, then punches, then a grab and tussle on the floor. Security took them out about a minute later.

Most poker rooms were running special giveaways and promotions to lure players to the cash games. Also the same poker rooms were running tourneys once or twice a day.

The 5 table Electronic poker room at Resorts is gone. An experiment that failed.
Evacuatees started showing up on Sunday from the Hurricane on the Gulf Coast. Many homeowners and residents just have to go north and hang out for a few days. Also, the poker tourney in Biloxi was cancelled so lots of players, dealers and staff came north to Tunica also.

The next two months is full of tourneys in Tunica. Harrahs is having one the first two weeks of Sept, then the Horseshoe for the last two weeks. Gold Strike is having their tourney the middle two weeks of Oct.

Compared to St Louis or Chicago, Tunica poker is such a such a great deal. $4 max rake +$1 for bbj/promotional drop. Free drinks, comped food and bargain hotel rooms. Why would you go anywhere else? In fact, now that the remnants of Hurricane Gustav are showing up in our town, I may have to be evacuated back to Tunica.