Tunica Visit--May 2016

Our daughter's graduation in Mississippi brought us close enough to Tunica for a visit. We flew into Memphis on Friday evening, attended the graduation and packed her out of the apartment she lived in on Saturday, watched her hit the road to her new job, and then made it to the Gold Strike Tunica about 10 p.m. on Saturday night.

I did originally post that we would be staying at the Tunica Roadhouse, but that changed through the week prior to departure...here is a quick synopsis:

--Monday, Total Rewards (TR) had a room at Roadhouse for $75. Reserved it.
--Tuesday, TR had a room at Roadhouse for $50. Called and lowered the rate.
--Wednesday, I called Gold Strike Tunica (their reservations are handled by people at the Beau Rivage) and asked about a room. After a few minutes, I was told the room would be comped. I'll take it!!

Upon arrival in the casino, I took $500 out at the ATM. I immediately found a $10 craps table (lowest minimum that evening; there were some $10's, a $15, and some $25 tables...

The tables paid double on the 2/triple on the 12 in the field. They had the ATS bet.

I won the first bet. This seems to be how it works most times that I have a winning session. of course, sometimes winning the first bet makes no difference. Those damn dice are...well...random...

I played for about four hours or a bit more. My $200 buy-in went to $1900 in chips at the high point. It settled out at $1750 when I colored up.

My wife lost about $350 in slots per the MLife tax letter you can find in your "My Account" information.

My rating for the period was $100 average bet. The suit was very nice, and explained that "while we don't rate odds (I had done a lot of come bets during the evening), I bump the average a little bit to account for them." Then I asked if he could comp a buffet in the morning; he said "Sure" and told me that it would be on my card. He did not write up a comp slip, so I was a little skeptical.

The were several good rolls and a lot of the shooters took care with their rolls. I saw nothing to indicate anyone was actually trying to make the dice do anything but roll as close to the same each time, but it didn't seem like anyone was really changing their betting thinking they had control or anything like that. I will just note that there were more "careful" rollers than most places that I have played. That was consistent at all three casinos we visited.

The ATS paid off a couple of ways. there were several "S" wins without anything else. The good thing was that the ATS hit three times in the four hours--I had $1 across twice and $2 across the third time. That certainly helped along the way to the final count that night.

My other notes on the Gold Strike:

--Room was nice, not fantastic, but good
--Drink service was slow, which was a mixed blessing...I wanted more beer but it kept me from "drunk betting" all evening...
--Casino was smokiest of the three we visited
--View from hotel room was of the former "Treasure Bay" site.
--the buffet was good and the comp was on my card, just as promised
--The dealers did not pay correctly on several "center" bets. I had to correct them several times on paying my "horn high 12" (yep, a bad bet...but I like it). They seemed to always get the other bets right. The mistake was never in my favor.
--Rated @ $50/average bet for 10 hours. I think I played 6.5 hours at most. This was the number given to me by the casino host desk.

We also visited Roadhouse Tunica--
--My wife lost more on slots
--I won $50 on craps
--Field paid 2/12 at 2x each
--They would not book a $5 horn. horn high, yes. Horn, no. First time that I have seen that.
--They had the "fire" bet but the paytable was not visible.
--the casino seemed clean with decent air quality for a smoking casino

Then the Horseshoe--
--2x 2/3x 12 on the field
--Fire bet was 25/250/1000. They hit a four pointer when I first got to the table (it was the third point when I began playing). The shooter complained about people making too many "junk bets" between rolls and making him roll a 7. Funny stuff.
--I won a little on slots...maybe $80.
--I played Mississippi Stud and won a bit.

We were on casino property for 17 hours. We were in a casino for about 10 of those hours. I had $1850 in my wallet when we left for the airport. It was a fun little side trip and we enjoyed the casinos in Tunica.

Now we'll see what offers roll in...

Good report! Glad to see Lady Luck smiled for you.

Did you notice 10x free odds at Horseshoe? That should have been the case.

Looks like I'll be in Tunica in June for one night.

I do keep hearing that these casinos are competitive and it's not that hard to get a room comped. I am thinking about showing up without a reservation for that evening and trying my luck on getting a comped room. Now, if it turns out I have to pay full price even, instead, no big deal. But if it turns out there are no rooms available at all anywhere in Tunica, there'd be hell to pay, as I am traveling with the wife.

What are the chances that there would be no rooms available whatsoever on a Friday night in June?

I saw 100x odds at the Horseshoe.

If you are with Total Rewards or MLife, I'd try to nab a room at a low rate and then get it comped there. Friday or Saturday may have events that fill hotels. During most weeks, I think just going would be fine but the weekend would concern me a bit...and who wants a wife with no room at 2 a.m.??? Unhappy wife, unhappy life!

Thanks for the report. What is the Treasure Bay site?

From the story one of the dealers told me, it was located behind the three casinos we visited at one time. People would walk through the woods to get back there from those casinos. In order to control that traffic and monetize it a bit, they offered to put in a path back to it. The ownership rejected it; the three casinos then built a fence, effectively cutting off access without driving around to the Treasure Bay parking lot. Treasure Bay eventually closed down and moved to a new location on the coast. The parking lot is still visible, along with the casino entry area. It looks like there was not a hotel on that site, but I don't know that for sure.

Here is a little info I found about it:

"At one time, eleven different casinos were operated in the community. Treasure Bay Casino closed, and the Isle of Capri (originally the first of three Harrah's locations in the area) was bought by the neighboring Sam's Town resort; it is used only for its hotel tower and parking garage."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsonville,_Mississippi

Quote: RonC

From the story one of the dealers told me, it was located behind the three casinos we visited at one time. People would walk through the woods to get back there from those casinos. In order to control that traffic and monetize it a bit, they offered to put in a path back to it. The ownership rejected it; the three casinos then built a fence, effectively cutting off access without driving around to the Treasure Bay parking lot. Treasure Bay eventually closed down and moved to a new location on the coast. The parking lot is still visible, along with the casino entry area. It looks like there was not a hotel on that site, but I don't know that for sure.

Here is a little info I found about it:

"At one time, eleven different casinos were operated in the community. Treasure Bay Casino closed, and the Isle of Capri (originally the first of three Harrah's locations in the area) was bought by the neighboring Sam's Town resort; it is used only for its hotel tower and parking garage."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsonville,_Mississippi

Don't expect great offers, gold strike may still do express comps - beau rivage still does on table games....
If your numbers are right you can expect a comp for 3 nights twice a month - some variation of 1-15 and 16-30
Probably a 30-50 food credit on your stay, invites to a lot of tournaments and probably 100 in Freeplay - mlife offers on smaller play are generally very low and infrequent -

Quote: RonC

I saw 100x odds at the Horseshoe.

Yes, I guess that is their deal at any Horseshoe, not that there is any difference between 10x or 100x to me personally LOL

Quote:

If you are with Total Rewards or MLife, I'd try to nab a room at a low rate and then get it comped there. Friday or Saturday may have events that fill hotels. During most weeks, I think just going would be fine but the weekend would concern me a bit...and who wants a wife with no room at 2 a.m.??? Unhappy wife, unhappy life!

yep, my thinking too, just not worth the risk since you confirm it is not unthinkable that all rooms could be booked.

in my day, I have been in a place where you couldn't get a room to save your life - late 70's in Columbus Ohio. A bachelor then, fortunately; weirdly, the whole town was booked with nothing remarkable going on. Since then, there always seem to be rooms available [maybe not at good prices] save something remarkable and obvious like the Super Bowl ... but I have never forgotten that .

Also you will get some cross marketed offers for Vegas,
Maybe your experience was better at gold strike - I found it to be the worst rooms in the mlife chain- except the obvious low end like circus circus - felt the food selection at tunica was blah at best and it was definitely the smokiest casino in a while

Treasure Bay Casino - Tunica
Apparently closed in 1995 after only a year of operation.
Found some pics, looked a bit like a pirate ship.
Google Maps will drop a pin for it, not much there now. Maybe can discern the old parking lot.
And a large pond of course.
Apparently MS only allows 'Riverboat Gambling' so they all float.
Your hotel, parking, entrance etc can be on land but you need to walk a gangplank to the gaming area.
You might be able to apply for a license to set up a floating Poker game in your backyard pool.
Maybe not ;-)

That is not true in ms anymore , just year and years ago after Katrina I believe legislation was changed so that they are safer-

Quote: Wizardofnothing

Also you will get some cross marketed offers for Vegas,
Maybe your experience was better at gold strike - I found it to be the worst rooms in the mlife chain- except the obvious low end like circus circus - felt the food selection at tunica was blah at best and it was definitely the smokiest casino in a while

The offers you mentioned would all be in line with what I get at the Beau Rivage on a regular basis with a similar bankroll. They offer three nights, usually without Saturday as one of them, and $50 in promo chips most months. I certainly don't expect anything great!

I would like to see cross-market offers but I have been getting free rooms at Aria lately, so I am fine with that...I think I barely qualify for those on marketing offers; nothing from a host or anything like that. I do have one rep who I write to because she reached out to me, but the regular MLife offers are usually better than what she do independent of them. I am just not a high roller!!

I liked the room at the Gold Strike but it was not the Beau or Aria by any stretch. Those are the only two MLife properties I have stayed at thus far; this was only the third one. The buffet was decent and free, but not special. Drink service was slow (may have been a good thing for me) and the casino was the smokiest of the three. That is an air handling issue, I think, because it was not that crowded and there were not as many smokers as there seemed to be smoke smell...

I felt like the crowd was extremely different between gold strike and roadhouse

As far as the mail.... Thanks .... I'm usually pretty close to accurate with that stuff..
Mlife overall is tight with most offers,
One suggestion is to get a card at a pinnacle property- they do a once a year trip with some good benefits- nothing spectacular but like once a year 3 nights 225 Freeplay 259 food
For your level of play

Quote: Wizardofnothing

That is not true in ms anymore , just year and years ago after Katrina I believe legislation was changed so that they are safer-

I thought I remembered the rules changing after Katrina, the Biloxi casinos were hit hard. I was referring to the 'good ole days'.

I don't know the current rules but it looks like all MS casinos are still 'near' the water, river or ocean.
I could be wrong, happens all the time ;-)

I do not believe that pearl river is on the water - well at least most of it isn't - also. Hollywood casino is on a golf course so you may just not be familiar with those casino

Biloxi is all land-based now.

I spent a lot of time in Tunica from 1994-1996 opening new casinos. The Treasure Bay scenario was strange even then. Opening a new casino and closing it in a year is almost unprecedented. They also opened a Treasure Bay in Biloxi around 1994 that was reasonably successful.

Quote: DRich

I spent a lot of time in Tunica from 1994-1996 opening new casinos. The Treasure Bay scenario was strange even then. Opening a new casino and closing it in a year is almost unprecedented. They also opened a Treasure Bay in Biloxi around 1994 that was reasonably successful.

That dealer told me the Treasure Bay casino moved from Tunica down to the shore somewhere...

Quote: Wizardofnothing

I felt like the crowd was extremely different between gold strike and roadhouse

There was no crowd at the Roadhouse; we were there at 1:30 p.m. on Mother's Day. None of the casinos had a big crowd that day from what I saw. A dealer was speaking to a pit critter about it being slow that day--she said that they were very busy on Mother's Day the year before. I wonder what made that difference--could they have not ran promotions that helped bring people in last year? Anyway, if there were 50 people in the Roadhouse gambling when I was there, I would be surprised.

My wife has become very partial to the Aria. They have a great fitness center that she really likes. A this point, your idea might work for local stuff (have to check out those properties that Pinnacle has) but Aria it is in Vegas...free or pay! She usually times it with a convention/conference, so we get any paid room reimbursed. I don't let the fact we stay there keep us gambling there--I move from casino to casino without regard for offers or comps. I just like to see what pops up and use what works.... We almost always have $50 in free play at both the "D" and Golden Gate, for example.

Quote: DRich

I spent a lot of time in Tunica from 1994-1996 opening new casinos. .

AP's showed up soon after.

Makes sense now.

Quote: RonC

I played for about four hours or a bit more. My $200 buy-in went to $1900 in chips at the high point. It settled out at $1750 when I colored up.

How many DI's were at the table? That's enough solid evidence to conclude it works.
Or did you just follow JoelDeze's zen crap(s)?

Quote: AxelWolf

How many DI's were at the table? That's enough solid evidence to conclude it works.
Or did you just follow JoelDeze's zen crap(s)?

Taken alone, it looks awfully good.
My lifetime session...not nearly so!

I did think some people were trying to control their rolls or whatever but there were no people like Heavy or Scobe there...not that it would matter anyway!!

Just to be clear about the Horseshoe here... 100x on normal craps and 20x on crapless. Also, they will not let you buy or place the point on the crapless game. Dealer had no idea why, my opinion is because they want to decrease variance on a semi carnival game.

Crapless lets you buy craps and yo without the vig up front. So $25 on the 2 or 12 pays $149. Their buffet sucks except for a very well stocked snow crab station. It also has a more traditional (read: pie) dessert station which I enjoyed, but some people might miss flan and whatnot.

Tunica is fine, but I have no idea why one would make it a destination. The dealers were below average at Horseshoe and most of them lacked a personality. 4/5 cocktail waitresses were bitchy, two brought the wrong drink. Nonetheless, I'm glad I went.

Lastly, Memphis drivers are the worst. I say this as someone who has driven extensively on both coasts.

There are a lot of craps players using stools in Tunica...I had read that somewhere before and it is true. Stools were readily available in each casino.

I've stayed at both Roadhouse and Gold Strike. Gold Strike is miles above Roadhouse. RH does have jacuzzi tubs in every room but the rooms are outdated. In my opinion GS is the best property to stay at in Tunica. It's definitely a huge step above RH.

RH is also a dealer break in joint. A lot of dealers start out there. Lots of mistakes made as well in payouts. If you can put up with slow dealers sometimes the mistake in payouts go your way.

Ron, I didn't think people could do $5 horn since that would be $1.25 on each. I think that would make the math a bit more difficult and slow down the game.

Quote: GWAE

Ron, I didn't think people could do $5 horn since that would be $1.25 on each. I think that would make the math a bit more difficult and slow down the game.

usually people will throw a five and call horn high midnight or horn high yo meaning they bet one on all but two on the one that is high.

Never worked out the math, because I never made the bet, but it is common in MS. On some tables $5 multiple horn bets out weigh horn high bets and the dealers know the payouts by heart. But make a horn high ace deuce bet, roll a 12, and there will be hesitation as everyone figures it out.

Quote: GWAE

Ron, I didn't think people could do $5 horn since that would be $1.25 on each. I think that would make the math a bit more difficult and slow down the game.

I have seen $5 horn bets all over the place--I think there is breakage involved on the high side (roll of 2 or 12) and you "lose" a bit over the proper payout.