Biloxi/New Orleans trip report

The Wife and I are back from a long weekend in Biloxi/New Orleans, and we won a little (gamblerspeak for "broke about even"). I'll have a lot more poker-specific stuff to spew about on Friday's show, but here's a quick trip report for those with lives beyond cards:

FLIGHT

AirTran has partnered with a few of the Biloxi casinos on package deals from Tampa to the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, and it's airfare-only prices were very reasonable (about $150-160 RT). But we couldn't pass up a cheaper Southwest Ding! fare, which made more sense for us since we were splitting time between the cities. But the best news: Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is much improved over my trip last August, when it was deserted with few amenities. It's still not so crowded, though, that you can't zip through security (well, unless, of course, some moron in front of you waits until the very last minute to start emptying his pockets of more metal than a Transformer robot has and STILL forgets a pocketful of change so he has to go back-and-forth through the metal detector 67 times.) One new good thing: free Wi-Fi in the terminal.

CAR

I know, I know. If I insist on remaining loyal to Thrifty and its great rates and awesome Blue Chip program (which I do, darn it!), I can't rightly keep complaining that Dodge is excruciatingly incapable of building a car that isn't cloaked in blind spots. Our Dodge Caliber wasn't a bad car (I found the illuminated cup holders amusingly cool and the double glovebox kept Laura entertained), but it would have been better had I been able to see anything - anything at all - behind me, or next to me.

HOTELS

Biloxi is back - big time (as in prices). Granted, it was a Saturday night, and Halloween weekend, but Isle of Capri offered the cheapest casino hotel rate ($144, tax included), and non-casino hotels didn't offer much better. As Fasso said, 'Wow, that's a lot for you." Yes, it is. But the room was nice enough (except for being a smoking one). They kinda went psycho on the colors (bright green carpet, and a red "racing stripe," as Laura described it, circled the top of the walls), but I'm sure they are required by Casino Conventions to adhere rigidly to their island theme. The bathroom had a gazillion shelfs and stuff, in case you often travel with volumes of leather-bound books and knick-knacks, and also had French doors instead of a normal door, which might be odd depending on the level of comfort you share on, um, personal things with your travel partner. Oh, and free Wi-Fi. Gotta love that.

In New Orleans, we decided to give the Queen & Crescent another shot, even though the last time we booked with them they lost our reservation and had no rooms left when we arrived (grrrr....). Of course, the $55 (+$15 for valet parking) rate kinda made us forget the first transgression - until we arrived at 4:30 p.m. and saw the lobby full of folks waiting for rooms. We eventually got a key an hour later (and then had to get new keys later and, oh, they lost the keys to our car). The room was very nice, though, and you can't beat the location - just a few blocks from Harrah's poker room and a few blocks from the French Quarter. No free Wi-Fi, but a few hotels nearby fortunately offer such a service if you're laptop is strong enough.

FOOD

The Boomtown Casino buffet, always the class of Biloxi in my opinion, is back better than ever. The Saturday Champagne brunch is about $18 a pop, but worth every slot machine nickel.

The Lava Bar at the Isle of Capri runs "gametime" specials of 25 cent wings. We ordered 20 and were charged $3.12. Even better. A bucket of beer was 10 bucks, so all together, that's a cheap meal.

Treasure Bay has the best name for a buffet EVER - Infinity. It's small, but there's enough there to make it worth $10 at lunch (or, if you did what we did and sign up for the players club, you get a buffet comp. Ka-ching!).

In New Orleans, even though we know better, we got tourist-trapped every step of the way. Too hungry to research the first night, we returned to the Cajun Cabin on Bourbon Street, where everything is way overpriced, except, oddly, a half slab of ribs for $12.95. (We did, however, have a front row seat for the best people watching in the entire world. Note to middle-aged men attending conventions - take off the "My Name Is" tag and lose the Dockers before strolling the thoroughfare in search of young women who haven't yet considered that a combination of seven Hurricanes and an odd desire for plastic trinkets may earn them a starring role in the next late-night must-have DVD). The next day, we hit Napoleon House, which is supposed to have the second-best muffaletta in The Big Easy. It was cheap and good, but overrun by pasty-white folks with cameras around their necks.

CASINOS

Still with me? Well, here's the stuff you really care about. The Biloxi gaming is back better than ever, and even better, poker on the Gulf Coast is miles ahead of where it was pre-Katrina. In those days, the Grand Casino and President were the only casinos in Biloxi proper dealing poker. Today, five casinos do and ironically, the Grand (open, but still rebuilding) and President (washed away) aren't among them. The IP and Beau Rivage have the most happening rooms (several games going and wait lists on Saturday night), while Isle of Capri, Hard Rock and Boomtown had two or more games going. Alas, it's a land of hold'em. I was told an Omaha game breaks out a couple days a week (Isle deals an O8 tournament on Sundays), and all the rooms had a stud bad beat, so it must be played sometime, but I never saw it. The good news? No $2/$4 anywhere. Cheapest game is $4/$8, and often with $1/$2 blinds. Some of the rooms it's even a $1-$4-$8-$8 spread, which is cool. No-limit was $1/$2 everywhere, and $2/$5 and higher games were taking place at the bigger rooms. You can find one or more tournaments every day of the week.

Everything seems a little hipper in Biloxi now (Hard Rock, of course, is always hip, but the IP is no longer a low-roller's paradise). And definitely don't forget to sign up for a players club card everywhere. Our bounty for doing so: Three $10-in-free-slot play offers (which we turned into more than $30), two buffets, a T-shirt and a deck of cards). Laura even got the new-player bonus at a casino she had a card at, so it's worth asking.

As I did last trip, I really like Harrah's poker room in New Orleans. I wasn't sequestered in the back room this time, so I really got to see the design and layout this time. It's really authentic. Plus, they had a $4/$8 half-and-half (hold'em/Omaha high) game going, which was fun. I wish more rooms dealt something like that. The wait list was so long they opened a second table - proof, I think, that once you get something like that established, it can live on.

- SCOTT

Comments

[Michael Paul]

Now it's stuff like this that makes you the funny one........

"so he has to go back-and-forth through the metal detector 67 times"

"but it would have been better had I been able to see anything - anything at all - behind me, or next to me."

"in case you often travel with volumes of leather-bound books and knick-knacks"

"Note to middle-aged men attending conventions - take off the "My Name Is" tag and lose the Dockers before strolling the thoroughfare in search of young women who haven't yet considered that a combination of seven Hurricanes and an odd desire for plastic trinkets may earn them a starring role in the next late-night must-have DVD"

Great write up. I look forward to your thoughts when the show comes out on Friday.

Go Badgers!

Michael

[viii_ball]

I was in New Orleans not too long ago and Harrahs was in surprising shape from what I heard had gone on there during Katrina. Played in a $1-2 NL game and had a guy (girl?) at the far end of the table from me and I swear I could not tell their sex. I said to him/her/it one time "Nice Hand Ma'm" and when I looked up I wasn't sure. I was very confused and a bit flustered so I tried not to play any more pots with them/it/her. The air hose and beeping apparatus sitting next to him was quite distracting as well. Not sure I liked the timed rake thing but did cash out for more money than I sat down with so I was able to stay ahead of the rake.

Gonna be in Tampa for 4 days next week (2 free nights) at some resort called Innisbrook (sp?). Where's the nearest card room?

[Gambit]

Tampa Bay Downs is 12 mi from Innisbrook.

[Joker]

8_ball wrote: "The air hose and beeping apparatus sitting next to him was quite distracting as well."

Is this a riddle? To save my life, I could not guess what the hell you're talkin about here. Did you have a few cocktails or smoke some crack? Cuz it sounds like you were in Salvador Dali Land.

[viii_ball]

Joker:

This lady/man thing was hooked up to some sort of air tank with hoses and $hit providing breathing assistance.

[Clever Moniker]

I'm willing to bet that the one hooked up to the air tank took breaks to go smoke. The ultimate picture of irony.

[Scott Long]

vii_ball - shoot me an email at poker@tampbay.com with the dates you're in town.

[viii_ball]

Scott:

I have tired to send email per your note above but it bounced back. I sent another one this morning so you may get it. I will be coming to town Monday but not able to get out to TBD until Tuesday night. May also play on Weds. but schedule will dictate. In town for work so I can only scoot away so much.

You can hit me on email at doug@dcfitness.com

[OL Expert]

I was in new orleans this past weekend. Played at harrah's saturday morning and ate at cajun cabin on saturday night.

Small world