Tunica was very different from places I have gambled before. I was un-prepared for how rural this area is. It is like somebody decided to plop down some very large casinos in the middle of farmland. Being from a rural area it was easy to adapt to, but it certainly isn’t Vegas. Overall the video poker at Tunica Casinos was outstanding. I found the video poker play at Resorts, Sam’s Town and The Sheraton to be excellent. The Hollywood was just a notch below. In fact the abundance of full pay video poker in Tunica, has enticed me to take a March trip. I also loved the cheap food deals. Almost every casino seemed to have cheap food deals that reminded me of how Las Vegas was before it became the “it” place. I got my first offer from my play in Tunica on Friday. Hollywood sent me a $15 room coupon and a $15 cash coupon which is essentially a free room. I played less than two hours at The Hollywood to get this offer.
I stayed at the Grand, and I can’t say I was really thrilled with it. Don’t get me wrong it was a beautiful hotel and casino, but the lack of full pay video poker at this casino will mean that I don’t play there again. The biggest non-gaming negative about the
Grand is that the Grand’s hotel rooms are spread across three separate buildings. So what you end up with is three separate hotels in one. They even have separate names for them. The two largest hotels are across the parkway from the casino which means most people that stay at the Grand have to take the Grand shuttle bus to visit the Grand’s casino and restaurants. It makes it inconvenient for those of us that like to leave our rooms late at night for a quick gaming session or even a snack.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Tunica Recap
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Next up The Grand Casino Tunica
I will be at the Grand Casino in Tunica, Mississippi on January 16th and 17th. This is probably a trip I wouldn’t take, but it was offered gratis to my regular gambling buddy by Harrah’s and he was allowed to take a guest (me). It is hard to pass up free airfare and free accommodations. My last and only gambling trip to Mississippi was a pre-Katrina trip to the Grand Casino in Biloxi. I am looking forward to checking out how Tunica compares to Vegas and the two Indiana casinos I frequent.
Since I primarily play video poker, I expect to be disappointed by the Grand as I understand they have no full pay vp machines in any denomination. I hope to make it over to the Sheraton as I understand they do, and I can use my Total Rewards Card there as well.
Annual December Las Vegas Trip in Review (trip report)
For 5-6 years now I have been taking an annual trip early in December to Las Vegas. I love this time of year because it is generally less crowed. Some trips have included family and other trips have included friends only. This trip took place during the first full week of December. Accommodations were comped at the Flamingo. The rental car was from Alamo and the flights in and out of Vegas were on Southwest. Joining me on this trip was my regular gambling companion (my old law partner) and a married couple in their 50s from our neck of the woods. As far as costs go, the biggest negative was the airline tickets. Last year I found roundtrip tickets out of Indianapolis for $150 per-person including all taxes and fees. This year the best I could do was $320 per-person out of Nashville, Tennessee. We prefer to fly out of Louisville, Kentucky as that airport is only a little more than an hour away from us, but if the airfare savings is more than $80 a ticket we drive elsewhere.
The nonstop flight was a 7:20 am departure, and I got a whole row to myself as the plane wasn’t full. We arrived a few minutes late, but otherwise the flight was perfect. We took the free shuttle to Alamo and picked up our rental a Buick Lucerne. Alamo wasn’t the cheapest, but if it is within a few dollars, I find Alamo’s location makes for easier pickups and returns. To get to the strip from Alamo you just follow Bermuda a few blocks and make a left on the street it dead ends on and you will be on the strip a short time later. National also uses the same building as Alamo so if you’re looking for easy pick up and return it is another alternative.
We arrived at the Flamingo and checked in. We got a non-remodeled strip view room which was perfectly fine for me and my friend. If you want something more upscale, I would suggest the new Flamingo Go rooms as those rooms would be competitive with anything else in Vegas in terms of style. I mostly didn’t care for the gambling at the Flamingo, other than what was found in the High Rollers lounge as it had a $1 9/6 Jacks or Better machine which I hit a royal on for a $4k hand pay.
We spent parts of two days downtown where we found some excellent full pay video poker action at the Four Queens. We also ventured off strip to the Rio, Orleans and Gold Coast. The Gold Coast had great video poker pay tables available while the Rio had horrible pay tables and the Orleans was somewhere in-between. If you’re going to Vegas for Video Poker, the only places I can recommend for good play and a variety of machines are the Four Queens, The Las Vegas Hilton and the Gold Cost.
As far as food goes nothing really sticks out in my mind. We never made it over to the Paris breakfast buffet this time which I think is the best breakfast buffet in the whole town. I will say the midweek Flamingo lunch buffet was disappointing, but the Bally’s Big Kitchen Buffet was very good. Margaritaville was good as usual oh and Magnolia’s at the Four Queens was a very pleasant surprise.
The nonstop flight was a 7:20 am departure, and I got a whole row to myself as the plane wasn’t full. We arrived a few minutes late, but otherwise the flight was perfect. We took the free shuttle to Alamo and picked up our rental a Buick Lucerne. Alamo wasn’t the cheapest, but if it is within a few dollars, I find Alamo’s location makes for easier pickups and returns. To get to the strip from Alamo you just follow Bermuda a few blocks and make a left on the street it dead ends on and you will be on the strip a short time later. National also uses the same building as Alamo so if you’re looking for easy pick up and return it is another alternative.
We arrived at the Flamingo and checked in. We got a non-remodeled strip view room which was perfectly fine for me and my friend. If you want something more upscale, I would suggest the new Flamingo Go rooms as those rooms would be competitive with anything else in Vegas in terms of style. I mostly didn’t care for the gambling at the Flamingo, other than what was found in the High Rollers lounge as it had a $1 9/6 Jacks or Better machine which I hit a royal on for a $4k hand pay.
We spent parts of two days downtown where we found some excellent full pay video poker action at the Four Queens. We also ventured off strip to the Rio, Orleans and Gold Coast. The Gold Coast had great video poker pay tables available while the Rio had horrible pay tables and the Orleans was somewhere in-between. If you’re going to Vegas for Video Poker, the only places I can recommend for good play and a variety of machines are the Four Queens, The Las Vegas Hilton and the Gold Cost.
As far as food goes nothing really sticks out in my mind. We never made it over to the Paris breakfast buffet this time which I think is the best breakfast buffet in the whole town. I will say the midweek Flamingo lunch buffet was disappointing, but the Bally’s Big Kitchen Buffet was very good. Margaritaville was good as usual oh and Magnolia’s at the Four Queens was a very pleasant surprise.
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