Poker Road Trips

They’ve opened a buffet at Paradise Casino near Red Rock, Ok, between Ponca City and Stillwater.

That means the snack bar with the $1 hotdogs and $2 hamburgers and BBQ sandwiches is gone.

They stioll sell hot dogs at the bar but they are $2 now and they don’t have the fresh chopped onion for garnish anymore, just those plastic packs of relish.

The buffet is $10 and I didn’t eat but looking in didn’t show much of a selection.  The buffet is cheaper at lunch, but the poker games don’t start until evening.

Durant is just north of the Red River, on hiway US75.

It’s a fairly large room, no smoking, enclosed in glass, with another enclosed room inside for “big” games.  They used to have a regular 2/5 NL game that went in that room but it didn’t go on any of the days during my recent trip although they did have a list for it.

It seems to have pretty much turned into a 1/2 NL room.  They used to spread a 3/6 limit game also but that game seems to have dried up.  The 1/2 game is a capped buyin game ($40-$300).  It might be $200, I actually don’t remember.

Durant is just north of the Red River, on hiway US75. It’s a fairly large room, no smoking, enclosed in glass, with another enclosed room inside for “big” games.  They used to have a regular 2/5 NL game that went in that room but it didn’t go on any of the days during my recent trip although they did have a list for it. It seems to have pretty much turned into a 1/2 NL room.  They used to spread a 3/6 limit game also but that game seems to have dried up.  The 1/2 game is a capped buyin game ($40-$300).  It might be $200, I actually don’t remember.

They have frequent tournaments and have a 5 am breakfast buffet for players.

I like the room.

Here’s a review of Winstar on rec.gambling.poker.

the rake remains a draconian $6 maximum. winstar (and the other chickasaw casinos) like to say the $1 they take from the small blind prior to any card being dealt is for “promotions” but the bad beat jackpot, and other promotions certainly don’t match the amount raked even during the hours i play there (usually about 40 a week). generally, on weekdays there are 15-20 tables, a couple of $4-8 structured limit, a couple of $2-5 no-limit, a couple of $5-10 limit and the ubiquitous $1-2 no limit for skillful players who want to protect their hands (8=)). this last category dominates the room, and, given the rake and the fact that most pots at most tables are under $60 in order to beat the rake, in my opinion, you must be very, very lucky on a given day or very skillful. on weekends there are usually 30-35 tables running at a given time, with an occasional omaha game, or a $6-12 and even a $10-20 structured limit game.

Click on the link above for the complete review and a comment thread.

I played a few hours at Cherokee Tulsa Saturday.  Played too long, ended up losing more than I should have because of it.  I’m to old to be playing more than about 4-5 hours but I ended up playing 8-9 hours.  I’ll never learn.

I’ve played here before, I like the room.

I’m not sure what the comp limits are but you can at least get a comp ticket for enough to pay for a sandwich.  Without a comp poker players get 20% off menu prices.

Espresso is available but you have to walk to the other end of the casino to McGills, the high end steak house.  A double espresso (to go) is $5.  You can probably get a comp ticket to cover that, but since I didn’t know what it was going to cost I didn’t get one  Next time I’ll get a comp ticket before I make the trek (It’s a long walk).  The espresso is pretty good though — lots of creme, tart but not bitter at all.

The 1/2 nolimit game has a max buyin of $200 which I think is a little too small.  And the rakes are high.  I think it’s $5 on $40.  But the games are good.  Saturday any game I was in was a good game.

Higher blind nolimit games don’t have a max buyin (I think, I only played 1/2 Saturday).

A tournament was going on and they spread PLO during tournaments (1/2, 2/5, 5/10, and 5/10/25) but I got there about noon and they hadn’t started any PLO yet so I got into a 1/2 NL HE and just stayed when they called my name for the PLO.

They are having a seniors event Monday and I might drive over for that.