Touring Mississippi again
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:11:19 AM
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When I last posted to this forum, my wife and I were heading out on a car trip through Mississippi to enjoy one of my favorite recreations, or at least the most favorite one regularly discussed here. We visited seven casinos in five towns, including five casinos we had not been to before (five new souvenir chips added to the collection under the glass top of my desk). I'm not going to attempt an actual review of these casinos, but I thought I would report just a few of my experiences along the way.
Our first stop was for two nights in Tunica. We stayed and played at the Harrah's Tunica (formerly the Grand) and didn't get to any of the other establishments. We have visited Tunica three times previously, and I already had souvenir chips from all of them, so I just did my gaming in three sessions at Harrah's. There is once again a rumor that the old, closed Isle of Capri casino in Tunica will be reopened. The current rumor is that reconstruction will start this fall for a fall 2011 opening under the name The Sportsman. The article I read made it seem as if they thought that was a novel casino name, but I believe there is a casino by that name in London. No idea about trademark issues. If the reopening actually happens this time, I will be back to pick up one of their chips.
We spent the next night in Vicksburg, but on the drive down, we stopped by Greenville to visit Bayou Caddy's Jubilee casino (a riverboat) and Harlow's casino (on land next to a bridge to Arkansas). We had never before visited Greenville. There is a third casino (a riverboat) in Greenville, but it does not have table games, so I didn't bother. In Vicksburg, we stayed at the Riverwalk, a rather new place that we had not visited before, and we also played at Diamond Jack's, which we had not been to either. I had picked up my souvenir chips from the other Vicksburg casinos on a previous visit. Diamond Jack's was formerly the Isle of Capri. Earlier this summer, Isle of Capri purchased the Rainbow casino in Vicksburg, and there is speculation they may change the name to Isle of Capri. If they do, I will be back to pick up that chip. Interesting concept of a renaming a casino to the former name of another casino a mile away.
The following day, we drove southeast to Biloxi, with a major detour along the way. We headed northeast to stop by the Choctaw tribal casino in Pearl River. There are actually two casinos -- Silver Star and Golden Moon -- across the highway from each other and connected by a bridge. Unfortunately for me, the Golden Moon is only operated on weekends. We were there on Wednesday afternoon, so only one souvenir chip instead of two at that stop. Some day ....
In Biloxi, we stayed and played at the Grand, where we had stayed back last March. I already had my full set of souvenir chips from Biloxi, so no call to go running around again. We did get down to Beau Rivage for dinner, some mall shopping by my wife, and a performance by the Balagan circus. It was a very good performance and quite similar to the show by the Taganai circus that we saw at the Gold Strike in Tunica back in 2006. I understand that the same man developed both shows.
As for the gambling, I had ten sessions (all at the crap tables) in seven casinos -- five winning sessions and five losing sessions. A very favorable session that first night at Harrah's Tunica led to my coming out very slightly ahead for the whole trip. The streak is still alive, and I am still ahead for 2010.
There were a couple of interesting incidents while I was playing at Harrah's Tunica. A significant reason that first session was so favorable was that the really stupid bets were paying off -- if it works, don't knock it. I hit a 250 for 1 fire bet, which was the only time on the trip that wager paid off. That same session I was talking with the gentleman standing between me and the stick man. He was having a lot of fun, and when the stick man called out "Hard 6", he yelled out an enthusiastic "Parlay!" even though he didn't have a wager on that spot. I did have a whole $1 bet on it as one of my "throw-away" bets, and I patiently waited for my big $9 payout, which didn't come. I started looking around to see what had happened, and I saw that they had parlayed my hardway bet. I mentioned this to the gentleman next to me, and we were about the ask the stick man to straighten out the misunderstanding. But the dice were out, and we watched them roll down the table to wind up ... "Hard 6!" We looked at each other, smiled, shook hands, and said, "No harm, no foul." I collected the $90, tossed a nickel on the table, and asked the stick man to give a my new good buddy a hard 6 bet next to mine. With fluke occurrences, like winning on fire bets and accidental parlay on hardways, I had my best session of the trip. To hell with mathematical strategies.
The following day, I was back in Harrah's, but the only standard crap table operating stayed completely full, so I wound up losing far too much playing crapless craps. One time when I was shooting, I was already down enough that I was significantly limiting my wagers. After setting a point, I placed the 8 and put $1 on the hard 8, but I didn't bet the 6 at all. During that roll, I never hit an 8 of any kind. I did, however, hit the hard 6 on three consecutive rolls. I was so shocked that I had to ask the player next to me whether I had really done that, and he gave confirmation. The following roll was an easy 6, but the one after that was another hard 6. If I had bet the 6s instead of the 8s and had pressed just a little bit, I might have had a winning session. Coulda, woulda, shoulda....
Anyway, I had a lot of fun in Mississippi. Next trip with casino opportunities will be in September -- another driving trip up through Connecticut, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and possibly hitting Delaware on the way home.
Our first stop was for two nights in Tunica. We stayed and played at the Harrah's Tunica (formerly the Grand) and didn't get to any of the other establishments. We have visited Tunica three times previously, and I already had souvenir chips from all of them, so I just did my gaming in three sessions at Harrah's. There is once again a rumor that the old, closed Isle of Capri casino in Tunica will be reopened. The current rumor is that reconstruction will start this fall for a fall 2011 opening under the name The Sportsman. The article I read made it seem as if they thought that was a novel casino name, but I believe there is a casino by that name in London. No idea about trademark issues. If the reopening actually happens this time, I will be back to pick up one of their chips.
We spent the next night in Vicksburg, but on the drive down, we stopped by Greenville to visit Bayou Caddy's Jubilee casino (a riverboat) and Harlow's casino (on land next to a bridge to Arkansas). We had never before visited Greenville. There is a third casino (a riverboat) in Greenville, but it does not have table games, so I didn't bother. In Vicksburg, we stayed at the Riverwalk, a rather new place that we had not visited before, and we also played at Diamond Jack's, which we had not been to either. I had picked up my souvenir chips from the other Vicksburg casinos on a previous visit. Diamond Jack's was formerly the Isle of Capri. Earlier this summer, Isle of Capri purchased the Rainbow casino in Vicksburg, and there is speculation they may change the name to Isle of Capri. If they do, I will be back to pick up that chip. Interesting concept of a renaming a casino to the former name of another casino a mile away.
The following day, we drove southeast to Biloxi, with a major detour along the way. We headed northeast to stop by the Choctaw tribal casino in Pearl River. There are actually two casinos -- Silver Star and Golden Moon -- across the highway from each other and connected by a bridge. Unfortunately for me, the Golden Moon is only operated on weekends. We were there on Wednesday afternoon, so only one souvenir chip instead of two at that stop. Some day ....
In Biloxi, we stayed and played at the Grand, where we had stayed back last March. I already had my full set of souvenir chips from Biloxi, so no call to go running around again. We did get down to Beau Rivage for dinner, some mall shopping by my wife, and a performance by the Balagan circus. It was a very good performance and quite similar to the show by the Taganai circus that we saw at the Gold Strike in Tunica back in 2006. I understand that the same man developed both shows.
As for the gambling, I had ten sessions (all at the crap tables) in seven casinos -- five winning sessions and five losing sessions. A very favorable session that first night at Harrah's Tunica led to my coming out very slightly ahead for the whole trip. The streak is still alive, and I am still ahead for 2010.
There were a couple of interesting incidents while I was playing at Harrah's Tunica. A significant reason that first session was so favorable was that the really stupid bets were paying off -- if it works, don't knock it. I hit a 250 for 1 fire bet, which was the only time on the trip that wager paid off. That same session I was talking with the gentleman standing between me and the stick man. He was having a lot of fun, and when the stick man called out "Hard 6", he yelled out an enthusiastic "Parlay!" even though he didn't have a wager on that spot. I did have a whole $1 bet on it as one of my "throw-away" bets, and I patiently waited for my big $9 payout, which didn't come. I started looking around to see what had happened, and I saw that they had parlayed my hardway bet. I mentioned this to the gentleman next to me, and we were about the ask the stick man to straighten out the misunderstanding. But the dice were out, and we watched them roll down the table to wind up ... "Hard 6!" We looked at each other, smiled, shook hands, and said, "No harm, no foul." I collected the $90, tossed a nickel on the table, and asked the stick man to give a my new good buddy a hard 6 bet next to mine. With fluke occurrences, like winning on fire bets and accidental parlay on hardways, I had my best session of the trip. To hell with mathematical strategies.
The following day, I was back in Harrah's, but the only standard crap table operating stayed completely full, so I wound up losing far too much playing crapless craps. One time when I was shooting, I was already down enough that I was significantly limiting my wagers. After setting a point, I placed the 8 and put $1 on the hard 8, but I didn't bet the 6 at all. During that roll, I never hit an 8 of any kind. I did, however, hit the hard 6 on three consecutive rolls. I was so shocked that I had to ask the player next to me whether I had really done that, and he gave confirmation. The following roll was an easy 6, but the one after that was another hard 6. If I had bet the 6s instead of the 8s and had pressed just a little bit, I might have had a winning session. Coulda, woulda, shoulda....
Anyway, I had a lot of fun in Mississippi. Next trip with casino opportunities will be in September -- another driving trip up through Connecticut, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and possibly hitting Delaware on the way home.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:05:52 PM
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Doc -- Great report! Did you by any chance get to the Tunica Roadhouse, which was formerly the Sheraton? Do you think they might have new chips?
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If I knew you were going to Greenville I would have recommended Papa Doe's restaurant. It's the best!
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Silver Star and Golden Moon are the best casinos in Mississippi, in my opinion. They are underrated because they are not on the coast but they are the nicest by far.
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If I knew you were going to Greenville I would have recommended Papa Doe's restaurant. It's the best!
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Silver Star and Golden Moon are the best casinos in Mississippi, in my opinion. They are underrated because they are not on the coast but they are the nicest by far.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:50:54 PM
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I did not get to the Tunica Roadhouse on this trip, but I did go there on my visit last March. If by "new" chips you mean chips that say "Roadhouse", then yes indeed, they do. I picked up one in March. I have a Sheraton chip from a 2006 visit.
Thanks for the suggestion of Papa Doe's. We did not take time to eat in Greenville and just waited (too long) until we got to Vicksburg. We saw a lot of Mississippi two-lane roads with few people, almost no towns, and a scarcity of fuel stations and restrooms. I guess my wife and I are just softies accustomed to the interstate highways.
On my pass-through visits to Mississippi, I have tried to get to Tunica and places south: Biloxi, Vicksburg, Natchez, and/or New Orleans. A route to those points keeps me close to the coast and the river, which means that Pearl River is well off my main path. I took the detour this past week in order to visit Silver Star, and if I can arrange to be in the area on a weekend, I want to check out Golden Moon. Maybe someday I will stick to I-20 out to northern Louisiana's casinos and take the shorter detour from that highway to Pearl River.
I don't remember from your earlier posts -- are you from Mississippi? Your profile cites a rather non-specific location. :-)
Thanks for the suggestion of Papa Doe's. We did not take time to eat in Greenville and just waited (too long) until we got to Vicksburg. We saw a lot of Mississippi two-lane roads with few people, almost no towns, and a scarcity of fuel stations and restrooms. I guess my wife and I are just softies accustomed to the interstate highways.
On my pass-through visits to Mississippi, I have tried to get to Tunica and places south: Biloxi, Vicksburg, Natchez, and/or New Orleans. A route to those points keeps me close to the coast and the river, which means that Pearl River is well off my main path. I took the detour this past week in order to visit Silver Star, and if I can arrange to be in the area on a weekend, I want to check out Golden Moon. Maybe someday I will stick to I-20 out to northern Louisiana's casinos and take the shorter detour from that highway to Pearl River.
I don't remember from your earlier posts -- are you from Mississippi? Your profile cites a rather non-specific location. :-)
