WARNING - long TR ahead.
I don't want to say I've been away from Tunica for a while, but all the casinos had stopped sending me any offers at all. I remembered that I was there the day that Harrah's switched over to Resorts. That was back in 2005 (I had to check Wikipedia for that fact). Ironically, My latest trip over May 22-23 included the day that the Grand switched over to Harrah's. Everything comes full circle, I suppose. Wonder when Splash Casino will make a comeback?
It had been a while since I could scrape together enough of a bankroll to at least make a token appearance in Tunica. The objective was to visit all the casinos (except Bally's - they don't have anything to offer that I would be interested in) and get back on the mailing lists. I was still in the Harrah's Total Rewards system thanks to a couple of visits to Caesars Indiana, but hadn't gotten any Tunica stuff from them for more than a year; likewise for the others except Sam's Town, which last sent me a mailer in December. So I would go to each casino and play enough to make about $40 profit per each. I would play video poker first, but only if good games were available, then fall back to craps or mini-baccarat if necessary; I would also hot a handful of slots that were known to be generous in the past, even $1 slots if necessary. No room comps available, but I noticed on the Grand/Harrah's site theat they had Terrace Hotel rooms for $40 on Thursday night. Hey. I can't stay at Motel 6 that cheap, and the Terrace is a lot nicer, so off I went.
Thursday
1. Sheraton - Still the best overall VP in town. Lots of 9/6 Jacks+ in quarters and up. This was Thursday, so they were giving away random free slot play, plus giving everyone on a machine $5 free play per hour. They also have what the vpFree Yahoo Group calls "almost positive Deuces Wild," which pays 15 for a five of a kind and 11 for straight flush, which results in a 99.9% payback for perfect play. That's as good as it gets in Tunica. I played quite a bit of APDW and JB, working up to dollars, and came out about $100 up thanks to a wild royal on my last hand.
2. Horseshoe - Absolutely no playable VP that I could find. It is obvious that the Shoe caters to table-games players first, traditional reel slots players second (preferably those who like progressives). Their slot inventory really hadn't changed that much since my last visit; they'd just moved things around a bit. But I'm a sucker for a Texas Tea video slot, and they used to have a $1 Texas Tea that was always my personal ATM in the past. I had to look around for it, but I found it in the high-limit area. I know it's $9 a spin, but like I said it's been generous. This was no exception. Four spins in I was up more than $100, so I ran. I did stop to play the new Monopoly slots for fun (and they were).
3. Gold Strike - Again, no VP worth playing. The 50c/$1 9/6 Jacks machines I used to play were gone. I poked around a few video slos, found a Texas Tea upstairs that gave me a lot of play for my $20. It was enough to score a buffet comp. The Gold Strike buffet isn't as good as I remebered from before. The beef disher were tough as leather, and the catfish was cold and hard. But my favorite, the grilled-to-order pasta station, was still there and still as excellent as ever. They've started serving wine and beer since my last time, but the only thing I drink is one solitary Bailey's on the rocks per casino trip. Plaed some dice and made up my slot losses. Dead even here, but the comp buffet is a gain.
4. Grand (it was still officially the Grand at that time, as the change came the next day) - Some playable VP at the Sphere bar. I usually don't like bartop machines, but if that's where the good VP is, I'm there. Went up and down on Jacks or Better. Took a break to case the joint, particularly to see the Paula Deen Buffet (more on that later). Went back to the slots toward the steakhouse and found a couple of Texas Tea machines - but 50 cents per line (or $1 if you prefer). I played a few minutes and went up and down, then played some craps, then back to VP. Voila - a straight flush! Now I'm back to the good, so I go back to the Texas Tea machine. Four oil wells on the second spin, and I net almost $200 more. Time to get out and get to the room.
The Terrace had changed litle since my last trip, and that's good. Very nice, clean, comfy and cheap! No Fox News on the TV, but I can do without Shepard and Greta and Sean and Alan and Brit for a couple of days.
Friday
1. Sam's Town - A Match Game slot sucked $10 out of me just because I was curious how faithful it was to the old show. It was, considering several of the people depicted are now dead (Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson-Reilly, Brett Somers). There's 9/6 Jacks scattered at bars and upstairs, mainly in dollars. I played to a dead even result. Stopped at an old Double Diamond slot and won $8. It'll do.
2. Resorts - Ugh! 9/6 Jacks in dollars. I exercised no self-restraint and let the thing eat $350 or so. Shoulda known better. Now I'm down for the trip, but not by much. Their cash back must be excellent, because I got $12. Didn't ask for the One Buck Buffet, because Paula was waiting.
3. Hollywood - No playable VP. Closest thing is an 8/5 Jacks with progressive, which has been there since the place opened. All the old dollar and quarter 9/6 Jacks were downgraded to 8/5. I mainly wandered around, but I remembered that they advertised 98% payback slots, so I tracked them down. Found a dollar two-coin Double Diamond. Played for a few minutes staying mainly even, then had a $100. Boom! Outta there. They never sent me much back in the day, so I'm not expecting much now.
4. The Fitz - Home of the last coin-dropper slots in Tunica! Weird to see coin buckets stacked between machines like the old days. That same bank of quarter 9/6 Jacks is still upstairs, side-by-side with some 6/5 (yikes!) machines still. Dropped a twenty, so no coins clanking in the tray. Found a triple-play quarter 9/6 Jacks nearby and gave it a twenty, and got back a fifty thanks to quad kings. Found $1/$2/$5 multi-game machines downstairs near the cage with 9/6 Jacks. Waited for one of the three machines to open up, played for a while and finished even. Then a little dice, where a guy was playing multiple-black place bets on all the numbers - at The Fitz, of all places! If he were to take that action to the Shoe or Strike, he'd really nice RFB comps, probably in suites. What kind of suites can The Fitz offer? But he was happy, and after I had a good roll he was happier and richer. So was I, but not nearly as much as he was. Up about $30.
5. Back to the Grand, now officially Harrah's, to play some free-play and use a comp for the new Paula Deen Buffet. Tried my Texas Tea machine again, and after a wild ride I stopped down $50. Played my $5 free-play on a penny machine with 243 paylines for 25 credits. Hey, it's free-play, so what the heck. Hit a really good spin and turned it into $29. After my buffet meal, I went to the giveaway line where they were handing out Mardi Gras necklaces with hidden prizes attached. Thought I would probably get a buffet comp (I just ate!) or a gift certificate to Deen's store, but no - $20 cash! Cool! I took it back down to the bartop dollar VP and turned it into a quick $60 and ran.
Now for the Paula Deen buffet. It's designed to look like her house, complete with the exterior facing the hallway. The cashier's stand is actually across the hallway from the entrance. You enter through the front door of her house and go through the Paula Deen Store - can you say "Cracker Barrel," boys and girls? Sure, I think you can. But it's a short trip. There are separate rooms and a porch area for dining. It's not nearly as big as you would think, or doesn't sem to be thanks to the arangement of rooms and such. The selection is definitely Southern comfort food, with virtually every item listed as a "Signature Item." I'm a little skeptical, as grilled smoked sausage somehow doesn't fit the Paula Deen type. But there were things like Low Country Boil (shrimp, corn on the cob, new potatoes), grilled oysters on the half shell (also raw), fried scallops, cold peel-and-eat shrimp, catfish, fried chicken, beef brisket, barbecued pork chop, stuffed cabbage, pork steak with cream gravy, and the usual veggies. One station was dedicated solely to hoe cakes and cheese biscuits (yum!). Some items are duplicated, meaning they are available at two or three different stations. The pork steak and pork chop weren't too good (tough and overcooked), but the catfish and chicken were excellent. The dessert area had an excellent selection with Paula-esque items like pecan tarts and bread pudding, but I went for the cheesecake as usual - good taste, but the crust was too crumbly. My favorite item, though, was the macaroni and cheese. You must understand that I grew up eating the best mac-and-cheese ever made - that served by the now-defunct Britling Cafeterias chain in Birmingham (also Memphis, I'm told). The chain's been gone for years, but people still write to the "Good Neighbors" feature in The Birmingham News (my sometime employer) trying to get the recipe. The mac-and-cheese at most casino buffets ranges from passable to absolutely dreadful, with many of them featuring mushy pasta and a watery sauce that makes Velveeta look like aged fine cheddar. But Paula's Cheesy Mac was superb, and the closest thing I've found to the old Britling recipe. It was worth the trip to Tunica just for that. I had three servings.
THE SUMMARY
Gambling: +$139 (Yay!)
Hotel: $44, with tax
Food: All comped - it's Tunica, if you breathe, you eat free
Net result: $95 to the good!
Considering my meager bankroll, that was a good result. It even covered my gasoline - barely.
Notes: 1) The food court at Gold Strike is definitely a Wi-Fi hot spot, apparently for free. Two different diners were using it Thursday evening. I assume it works in the lobby, too. A welcome alternative to the $10.95 per night that Harrah's wants for in-room Wi-Fi. Anyone know of any other hot spots in Tunica? 2) This was my first trip since the new I-69 was finished. A welcome change from Goodman Road. Google Maps routed me to get off US 78 (the new I-22) at Bethel Road, then to College Road and then to Pleasant Hill Road, where it ran into I-55/69 just north of the 69 split. Looked good on paper as an alternative to the Goodman Road traffic, but it turned out to be curvy, hilly country roads with just enough new subdivisions to make things interesting. Church Road might be better. 3) The soon to be I-22 is now open almost all the way to Birmingham. It exits on to the old road 12 miles from town, just north of Graysville. The time savings over the old US 78 route is about an hour.
I don't want to say I've been away from Tunica for a while, but all the casinos had stopped sending me any offers at all. I remembered that I was there the day that Harrah's switched over to Resorts. That was back in 2005 (I had to check Wikipedia for that fact). Ironically, My latest trip over May 22-23 included the day that the Grand switched over to Harrah's. Everything comes full circle, I suppose. Wonder when Splash Casino will make a comeback?
It had been a while since I could scrape together enough of a bankroll to at least make a token appearance in Tunica. The objective was to visit all the casinos (except Bally's - they don't have anything to offer that I would be interested in) and get back on the mailing lists. I was still in the Harrah's Total Rewards system thanks to a couple of visits to Caesars Indiana, but hadn't gotten any Tunica stuff from them for more than a year; likewise for the others except Sam's Town, which last sent me a mailer in December. So I would go to each casino and play enough to make about $40 profit per each. I would play video poker first, but only if good games were available, then fall back to craps or mini-baccarat if necessary; I would also hot a handful of slots that were known to be generous in the past, even $1 slots if necessary. No room comps available, but I noticed on the Grand/Harrah's site theat they had Terrace Hotel rooms for $40 on Thursday night. Hey. I can't stay at Motel 6 that cheap, and the Terrace is a lot nicer, so off I went.
Thursday
1. Sheraton - Still the best overall VP in town. Lots of 9/6 Jacks+ in quarters and up. This was Thursday, so they were giving away random free slot play, plus giving everyone on a machine $5 free play per hour. They also have what the vpFree Yahoo Group calls "almost positive Deuces Wild," which pays 15 for a five of a kind and 11 for straight flush, which results in a 99.9% payback for perfect play. That's as good as it gets in Tunica. I played quite a bit of APDW and JB, working up to dollars, and came out about $100 up thanks to a wild royal on my last hand.
2. Horseshoe - Absolutely no playable VP that I could find. It is obvious that the Shoe caters to table-games players first, traditional reel slots players second (preferably those who like progressives). Their slot inventory really hadn't changed that much since my last visit; they'd just moved things around a bit. But I'm a sucker for a Texas Tea video slot, and they used to have a $1 Texas Tea that was always my personal ATM in the past. I had to look around for it, but I found it in the high-limit area. I know it's $9 a spin, but like I said it's been generous. This was no exception. Four spins in I was up more than $100, so I ran. I did stop to play the new Monopoly slots for fun (and they were).
3. Gold Strike - Again, no VP worth playing. The 50c/$1 9/6 Jacks machines I used to play were gone. I poked around a few video slos, found a Texas Tea upstairs that gave me a lot of play for my $20. It was enough to score a buffet comp. The Gold Strike buffet isn't as good as I remebered from before. The beef disher were tough as leather, and the catfish was cold and hard. But my favorite, the grilled-to-order pasta station, was still there and still as excellent as ever. They've started serving wine and beer since my last time, but the only thing I drink is one solitary Bailey's on the rocks per casino trip. Plaed some dice and made up my slot losses. Dead even here, but the comp buffet is a gain.
4. Grand (it was still officially the Grand at that time, as the change came the next day) - Some playable VP at the Sphere bar. I usually don't like bartop machines, but if that's where the good VP is, I'm there. Went up and down on Jacks or Better. Took a break to case the joint, particularly to see the Paula Deen Buffet (more on that later). Went back to the slots toward the steakhouse and found a couple of Texas Tea machines - but 50 cents per line (or $1 if you prefer). I played a few minutes and went up and down, then played some craps, then back to VP. Voila - a straight flush! Now I'm back to the good, so I go back to the Texas Tea machine. Four oil wells on the second spin, and I net almost $200 more. Time to get out and get to the room.
The Terrace had changed litle since my last trip, and that's good. Very nice, clean, comfy and cheap! No Fox News on the TV, but I can do without Shepard and Greta and Sean and Alan and Brit for a couple of days.
Friday
1. Sam's Town - A Match Game slot sucked $10 out of me just because I was curious how faithful it was to the old show. It was, considering several of the people depicted are now dead (Gene Rayburn, Charles Nelson-Reilly, Brett Somers). There's 9/6 Jacks scattered at bars and upstairs, mainly in dollars. I played to a dead even result. Stopped at an old Double Diamond slot and won $8. It'll do.
2. Resorts - Ugh! 9/6 Jacks in dollars. I exercised no self-restraint and let the thing eat $350 or so. Shoulda known better. Now I'm down for the trip, but not by much. Their cash back must be excellent, because I got $12. Didn't ask for the One Buck Buffet, because Paula was waiting.
3. Hollywood - No playable VP. Closest thing is an 8/5 Jacks with progressive, which has been there since the place opened. All the old dollar and quarter 9/6 Jacks were downgraded to 8/5. I mainly wandered around, but I remembered that they advertised 98% payback slots, so I tracked them down. Found a dollar two-coin Double Diamond. Played for a few minutes staying mainly even, then had a $100. Boom! Outta there. They never sent me much back in the day, so I'm not expecting much now.
4. The Fitz - Home of the last coin-dropper slots in Tunica! Weird to see coin buckets stacked between machines like the old days. That same bank of quarter 9/6 Jacks is still upstairs, side-by-side with some 6/5 (yikes!) machines still. Dropped a twenty, so no coins clanking in the tray. Found a triple-play quarter 9/6 Jacks nearby and gave it a twenty, and got back a fifty thanks to quad kings. Found $1/$2/$5 multi-game machines downstairs near the cage with 9/6 Jacks. Waited for one of the three machines to open up, played for a while and finished even. Then a little dice, where a guy was playing multiple-black place bets on all the numbers - at The Fitz, of all places! If he were to take that action to the Shoe or Strike, he'd really nice RFB comps, probably in suites. What kind of suites can The Fitz offer? But he was happy, and after I had a good roll he was happier and richer. So was I, but not nearly as much as he was. Up about $30.
5. Back to the Grand, now officially Harrah's, to play some free-play and use a comp for the new Paula Deen Buffet. Tried my Texas Tea machine again, and after a wild ride I stopped down $50. Played my $5 free-play on a penny machine with 243 paylines for 25 credits. Hey, it's free-play, so what the heck. Hit a really good spin and turned it into $29. After my buffet meal, I went to the giveaway line where they were handing out Mardi Gras necklaces with hidden prizes attached. Thought I would probably get a buffet comp (I just ate!) or a gift certificate to Deen's store, but no - $20 cash! Cool! I took it back down to the bartop dollar VP and turned it into a quick $60 and ran.
Now for the Paula Deen buffet. It's designed to look like her house, complete with the exterior facing the hallway. The cashier's stand is actually across the hallway from the entrance. You enter through the front door of her house and go through the Paula Deen Store - can you say "Cracker Barrel," boys and girls? Sure, I think you can. But it's a short trip. There are separate rooms and a porch area for dining. It's not nearly as big as you would think, or doesn't sem to be thanks to the arangement of rooms and such. The selection is definitely Southern comfort food, with virtually every item listed as a "Signature Item." I'm a little skeptical, as grilled smoked sausage somehow doesn't fit the Paula Deen type. But there were things like Low Country Boil (shrimp, corn on the cob, new potatoes), grilled oysters on the half shell (also raw), fried scallops, cold peel-and-eat shrimp, catfish, fried chicken, beef brisket, barbecued pork chop, stuffed cabbage, pork steak with cream gravy, and the usual veggies. One station was dedicated solely to hoe cakes and cheese biscuits (yum!). Some items are duplicated, meaning they are available at two or three different stations. The pork steak and pork chop weren't too good (tough and overcooked), but the catfish and chicken were excellent. The dessert area had an excellent selection with Paula-esque items like pecan tarts and bread pudding, but I went for the cheesecake as usual - good taste, but the crust was too crumbly. My favorite item, though, was the macaroni and cheese. You must understand that I grew up eating the best mac-and-cheese ever made - that served by the now-defunct Britling Cafeterias chain in Birmingham (also Memphis, I'm told). The chain's been gone for years, but people still write to the "Good Neighbors" feature in The Birmingham News (my sometime employer) trying to get the recipe. The mac-and-cheese at most casino buffets ranges from passable to absolutely dreadful, with many of them featuring mushy pasta and a watery sauce that makes Velveeta look like aged fine cheddar. But Paula's Cheesy Mac was superb, and the closest thing I've found to the old Britling recipe. It was worth the trip to Tunica just for that. I had three servings.
THE SUMMARY
Gambling: +$139 (Yay!)
Hotel: $44, with tax
Food: All comped - it's Tunica, if you breathe, you eat free
Net result: $95 to the good!
Considering my meager bankroll, that was a good result. It even covered my gasoline - barely.
Notes: 1) The food court at Gold Strike is definitely a Wi-Fi hot spot, apparently for free. Two different diners were using it Thursday evening. I assume it works in the lobby, too. A welcome alternative to the $10.95 per night that Harrah's wants for in-room Wi-Fi. Anyone know of any other hot spots in Tunica? 2) This was my first trip since the new I-69 was finished. A welcome change from Goodman Road. Google Maps routed me to get off US 78 (the new I-22) at Bethel Road, then to College Road and then to Pleasant Hill Road, where it ran into I-55/69 just north of the 69 split. Looked good on paper as an alternative to the Goodman Road traffic, but it turned out to be curvy, hilly country roads with just enough new subdivisions to make things interesting. Church Road might be better. 3) The soon to be I-22 is now open almost all the way to Birmingham. It exits on to the old road 12 miles from town, just north of Graysville. The time savings over the old US 78 route is about an hour.
. I am looking forward to my next trip and saving a few more miles. I bet the gas
station at the corner where you use to get off of 78 to get onto I 22 is a ghost town now. It was always really busy.
