Weekend Trip To Biloxi
April 28th, 2015 at 9:06:39 AM
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I just came back from a weekend in Biloxi with Mrs. Joeman and my parents. We stayed at the Palace, which is still the only smoke-free casino in Biloxi, and the only smoke-free casino I've ever played in. Being smoke-free is not a game changer for me personally, but Mrs. Joeman appreciated it. Plus, I'm glad to see that a smoke-free casino can survive for at least the 4 or so years they have been doing it.
The Palace was having a "free" (It actually required 20 player's club points.) slot tournament promotion on Friday. I have never played in a slot tournament, and it sounded like something fun for me and the Mrs. Besides, I was going to play some VP anyway; 40 points should be easy to get, right? It was brutal -- $150 later, we had our points for the tourney! :P
BTW, VPFree2 said they had 8/5 BP, but the best I could find was $1 8/6 JoB. Also, the tourney was not as exciting as we had hoped. Pretty much hit the "Spin" button as fast as you can for 3 min. I did well enough to finish last in our heat! Mrs. Joeman finished 5th in the heat, also out of the money. Oh, well.
Fortunately, I made up our VP losses at the BJ table that evening. We palyed at the $5 shoe table (6D, 3:2, H17, DA2, RSA, 70-80% pen) and had fun dealers. I got back to even, and Mrs. Joeman ended up about $50. Had a guy sit dow next to us and put his BS card right on the table. The pit/dealers didn't seem to care. I took a peek at it, and it looked to be the correct BS for the game being spread.
The weird thing is, he would rarely consult it, and when he did, he would occasionally do something different! One time, he got a 4-4 vs a dealer 6, and looked at the card. "Hmm... it says I should split. I think I'll double." His double card was a 6! He didn't even realize that if he had split, he would have had a 10 (and much better doubling situation) on the split hand. But the dealer busted anyway, and he was happy.
Another time, he got 6-6 and split it out to 4 hands. He doubled on 3 of them (including when he was dealt a 2), so he had 7 bets out there, and he didn't have a total greater than 14 on any of them! He was quite nervous, but once again, the dealer busted, and he was a happy man.
Saturday morning, I went downstairs and promptly blew a quick $100 at the craps table. I don't know what it is, but it seems that these days, all I have to do is look at a craps table, and a $100 bill disappears instantaneously from my wallet. C'mon variance, where is your nice side?
After breakfast, Mrs. Joeman & Mom went shopping, and dropped me and Dad off at the IP. I hadn't been to the IP since Boyd Gaming bought it (in 2102?). It's my Dad's favorite joint in Biloxi, and we had comp buffets there for that night (crab legs & prime rib). I decided to play a little bit of 4 Card Poker and lost a fairly quick $200. My Dad decided to join me for a few hands.
He plays BJ almost exclusively, and I'm sure has been playing since before anyone published a basic strategy. He knows most of the plays, but, will kind of play "by feel" on the tougher (splits, soft hands, etc.) decisions. For someone who doesn't care to learn BS, and who just laughs when I mention that counting could give a player the edge, he is a very shrewd gambler. He refused to play the 4CP "Aces up" bet, even though the dealer told him he should ("That's where you make the money," ugh!). Good for you, Pops! He actually made a few bucks in the few hands he played with me.
After the beating I took at the 4CP table, I decided to play some VP. The IP has a nice bar (Insomnia) with 12 or so VP machines. They are multi-denom, and each denom has its own progressive. The quarter game is about my speed, and at over $1200, it had the best jackpot (percentage-wise). Their JoB was 8/5, but the deuces wild game did have a LV Airport/Illinois Deuces paytable, so I settled in with the $.25 deuces game.
I have only taken up VP seriously for about a year now (about when I joined WoV), and this was the first time I ever played bartop VP, and I have seen the light! I guess I never thought about it or put 2 and 2 together, but bar VP = instant drink service! Duh, right? Anyway, the deuces were kind to me, and with the help of a wild royal and a couple of SF's and 5oK's, I ended up with a $60 profit and several beverages! :)
By the way, the IP is definitely hopping on a Saturday night. We all met back up for dinner, and it was about a 25 minute wait to get a table at the buffet. Afterwards, we left to go back to the Palace. Mrs. Joeman & I made a little donation at the 3 Card Poker table, and then it was back to VP. I vultured a few multipliers off the only UX machine I saw and broke even. Then I spotted a Multi Streak game with a 2X left on it. Fortunately for me it was only dimes...
I decided to sit and play for a bit and was doing pretty well. I had run my $20 up to about $55 before it started to turn. At that point Mrs. Joemen decides to turn in. "I'll be up shortly," I say. With Multi Streak, when it goes bad, it seems to go bad in a hurry, and Saturday night was no exception. I lost it all plus another $20 in record time. Oh, Multi Streak, I wish I knew how to quit you!
To top it all off, on the way back to the room, I looked at the craps table again and lost another $100 :P Don't know what it is, but on our last 2 trips, I can't lose fast enough once Mrs. Joeman goes to bed! I think there may be a lesson in there for me somewhere...
Sunday morning came way too quickly. We decided to hit the 3CP table on the way out the door. First hand, I got a pair, and Mrs. Joeman hit a flush. We should have left then! Oh well, we had fun. And then a drive home down The World's Most Boring Highway(TM): I-10 in the FL panhandle!
The Palace was having a "free" (It actually required 20 player's club points.) slot tournament promotion on Friday. I have never played in a slot tournament, and it sounded like something fun for me and the Mrs. Besides, I was going to play some VP anyway; 40 points should be easy to get, right? It was brutal -- $150 later, we had our points for the tourney! :P
BTW, VPFree2 said they had 8/5 BP, but the best I could find was $1 8/6 JoB. Also, the tourney was not as exciting as we had hoped. Pretty much hit the "Spin" button as fast as you can for 3 min. I did well enough to finish last in our heat! Mrs. Joeman finished 5th in the heat, also out of the money. Oh, well.
Fortunately, I made up our VP losses at the BJ table that evening. We palyed at the $5 shoe table (6D, 3:2, H17, DA2, RSA, 70-80% pen) and had fun dealers. I got back to even, and Mrs. Joeman ended up about $50. Had a guy sit dow next to us and put his BS card right on the table. The pit/dealers didn't seem to care. I took a peek at it, and it looked to be the correct BS for the game being spread.
The weird thing is, he would rarely consult it, and when he did, he would occasionally do something different! One time, he got a 4-4 vs a dealer 6, and looked at the card. "Hmm... it says I should split. I think I'll double." His double card was a 6! He didn't even realize that if he had split, he would have had a 10 (and much better doubling situation) on the split hand. But the dealer busted anyway, and he was happy.
Another time, he got 6-6 and split it out to 4 hands. He doubled on 3 of them (including when he was dealt a 2), so he had 7 bets out there, and he didn't have a total greater than 14 on any of them! He was quite nervous, but once again, the dealer busted, and he was a happy man.
Saturday morning, I went downstairs and promptly blew a quick $100 at the craps table. I don't know what it is, but it seems that these days, all I have to do is look at a craps table, and a $100 bill disappears instantaneously from my wallet. C'mon variance, where is your nice side?
After breakfast, Mrs. Joeman & Mom went shopping, and dropped me and Dad off at the IP. I hadn't been to the IP since Boyd Gaming bought it (in 2102?). It's my Dad's favorite joint in Biloxi, and we had comp buffets there for that night (crab legs & prime rib). I decided to play a little bit of 4 Card Poker and lost a fairly quick $200. My Dad decided to join me for a few hands.
He plays BJ almost exclusively, and I'm sure has been playing since before anyone published a basic strategy. He knows most of the plays, but, will kind of play "by feel" on the tougher (splits, soft hands, etc.) decisions. For someone who doesn't care to learn BS, and who just laughs when I mention that counting could give a player the edge, he is a very shrewd gambler. He refused to play the 4CP "Aces up" bet, even though the dealer told him he should ("That's where you make the money," ugh!). Good for you, Pops! He actually made a few bucks in the few hands he played with me.
After the beating I took at the 4CP table, I decided to play some VP. The IP has a nice bar (Insomnia) with 12 or so VP machines. They are multi-denom, and each denom has its own progressive. The quarter game is about my speed, and at over $1200, it had the best jackpot (percentage-wise). Their JoB was 8/5, but the deuces wild game did have a LV Airport/Illinois Deuces paytable, so I settled in with the $.25 deuces game.
I have only taken up VP seriously for about a year now (about when I joined WoV), and this was the first time I ever played bartop VP, and I have seen the light! I guess I never thought about it or put 2 and 2 together, but bar VP = instant drink service! Duh, right? Anyway, the deuces were kind to me, and with the help of a wild royal and a couple of SF's and 5oK's, I ended up with a $60 profit and several beverages! :)
By the way, the IP is definitely hopping on a Saturday night. We all met back up for dinner, and it was about a 25 minute wait to get a table at the buffet. Afterwards, we left to go back to the Palace. Mrs. Joeman & I made a little donation at the 3 Card Poker table, and then it was back to VP. I vultured a few multipliers off the only UX machine I saw and broke even. Then I spotted a Multi Streak game with a 2X left on it. Fortunately for me it was only dimes...
I decided to sit and play for a bit and was doing pretty well. I had run my $20 up to about $55 before it started to turn. At that point Mrs. Joemen decides to turn in. "I'll be up shortly," I say. With Multi Streak, when it goes bad, it seems to go bad in a hurry, and Saturday night was no exception. I lost it all plus another $20 in record time. Oh, Multi Streak, I wish I knew how to quit you!
To top it all off, on the way back to the room, I looked at the craps table again and lost another $100 :P Don't know what it is, but on our last 2 trips, I can't lose fast enough once Mrs. Joeman goes to bed! I think there may be a lesson in there for me somewhere...
Sunday morning came way too quickly. We decided to hit the 3CP table on the way out the door. First hand, I got a pair, and Mrs. Joeman hit a flush. We should have left then! Oh well, we had fun. And then a drive home down The World's Most Boring Highway(TM): I-10 in the FL panhandle!
"Dealer has 'rock'... Pay 'paper!'"
April 28th, 2015 at 11:27:56 AM
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Nice report - have always wanted to try out the Palace just on general principles to support their smoke free environment.
April 28th, 2015 at 12:53:39 PM
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Thanks for the trip report. I've been thinking about going to biloxi and I was wondering what the minimums there where for BJ. A $10 DD game sounds like what I am looking for. Thanks again got your report.
April 29th, 2015 at 4:21:33 AM
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Pleasant weekend trip. I took a bus trip to the IP last winter and enjoyed myself. Thought the buffet was perhaps the best in Biloxi. Intend to try the Palace this coming winter for a couple nights.
Thanks for the post.
Don
Thanks for the post.
Don
May 1st, 2015 at 9:10:27 AM
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Biloxi is calling me, never been there. Got friends who love it, just have to beg the Mrs. At the moment the answer is probably a NO. Big letters, loud voice. That's OK, I'll get there....;-)
Youuuuuu MIGHT be a 'rascal' if.......(nevermind ;-)...2F
