A Pearl River Resort (Golden Moon & Silver Star casinos) one night TR

I went up to the Pearl River Resort last week for a quick overnight trip. In case you are unaware, Pearl River Resort is a tribal casino in central MS with two casinos (Golden Moon & Silver Star), about 1,500 hotel rooms, two golf courses, a big water park, and a bunch of gambling. (4,000 machines and 120 tables). It's not Las Vegas but this might be interesting if you have ever considered a trip there.

I was able to arrive a little before 5 and only had one person in front of me for check in. Less than 5 minutes later, I was taking the elevator up to the 17th floor to find my room. I usually choose the Golden Moon side of the property (GM & SS are separated by a state highway) because I like the decorative style of the rooms better. (modernistic vs classic) As expected, I had a panoramic view out the windows that stretched from one wall to the other. There was an upholstered shelf/couch with a bunch of pillows that you could relax on (or sleep on for that matter) as you gazed over at the Silver Star and the rolling pine forest hills. Putting my stuff in the bathroom, I had this feeling that something wasn't right. It finally dawned on me that the French style doors that opened from the bathroom into the bedroom area were not there. In their place was a solid wall. As far as I can remember, just about every Golden Moon room I had ever stayed in had those French doors that you could open and talk with your companion from bathroom to bed area. I actually think I like the solid wall better because if someone got up early, the light from the bathroom came thru the slats of the door and would sometime awaken me. Anyway, the room was as nice always and the view was great. Of course, this was a casino so my enjoyment of the room would be short and sweet. It was time to hit the casino floor.

My first stop was the Waterfalls bar that is located in the very center of the Golden Moon casino. I found a seat on the round circular bar and fed my first bill into a VP machine while ordering my first Miller Lite of the day. A quick check of the paytables revealed 6/5 for .25, 7/5 for .50 and 8/5 for $1 JOB. I wasn't really here to do a lot of gambling and didn't care about "extablishing a presence" so I compromised on the .50 level of play. Basically, I just wanted to settle in, drink a few beers, and get ready for the rest of the evening. And that is what I did. After about an hour, I realized that it had to be around 6:30 and I wanted to get up to the Luna Lounge up on the 26th floor before happy hour ended. I cashed out with a $60 loss and caught the glass elevator up to the Luna Lounge.

I made my way around the circular walkway to the bar area and took a seat on this funky bar stool. I asked the bartender if I had made it in time for happy hour (1/2 price drinks) and he replied that they no longer had happy hour. (the bad news) He then went on to say that he did have some discretionary complimentary drinks that he could distribute and that my drink would be one of those. (the good news)
So I ordered up a Stoli and water which he quickly made. (and made very stout I might add) The bar wasn't very crowded so we had plenty of time to converse. He reminded me a lot of the Sam Elliott character in Road House with a long gray ponytail, thick moustache and somewhat gravely voice. He shared with me the information that PRR recently (3 weeks prior) got a new GM and he did away with happy hour at the Luna Lounge. He also instituted a stricter code on facial hair and a lot of people were afraid that the hair policy was soon to get worse. I felt like that would be difficult since many of the Choctaw tribal members working at PRR also wore long ponytails. I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with this bartender over the next hour or so as we compared our car wrecks,(both) motorcycle wrecks,(both) rodeo falls,(me) rooftop falls,(him) and other misadventures that had left us with various aches, pains, and scars over the years. It was similar to the scene in Jaws but we weren't in danger of getting eaten alive. When the security guard up there joined us with his tales of 25 years in the Marine Corps, it really got fun. In all I was given 3 discretionary complimentary drinks of Stoli and Water as we strolled down memory lane. As all good things do, this enjoyable round of drinking had to end so I bid them goodbye and popped down a tip that was indicative of how much I had enjoyed my stay up on the 26th floor. A quck ride down the glass elevator and I was back on the casino floor.

Feeling the buzz from those freely poured Stoli and waters, I made my way to the covered and elevated people mover that would take me across the highway to the Silver Star casino. My plan had been to be in drinking/VP mode for the early part of the evening and then make my way to the poker room to finish up the night. Therefore, my first stop was at the Starlight lounge. If you haven't been in a while, they remodeled this lounge about a year ago and it is really a nice place now. The band was good and I took a seat at the bar to enjoy their performance. After getting a beer from the friendly bartender, I swung around in my chair to see who all was in here. There were a few scattered individuals here and there but only two couples. I would have expected more couples to take advantage of the nice dance music being provided by a talented band. As I was sitting here contemplating the slow night, I got a brainstorm. If I was going to just listen to a band, I was moving over to The Blue Note lounge and listen to some jazz. Plus, the Blue Note had bartop VP whereas The Starlight did not. Up and Out I went.

Once at The Blue Note, I grabbed a seat and started feeding the machine, staying at the .50 level of play. The best thing about my change was the opportunity to hear the smooth sounds of the Glenn Parker band. They are really good and could easily be playing any of the jazz clubs down in New Orleans. After 30-40 minutes, the band went on break. The bartender said they usually did 90 minute sets and took 30 minute breaks. Since I had already lost $40 dollars, I decided to move on back across the street to the Golden Moon. I still had two more bars to hit (The Atrium Bar & an unnamed VP bar) if I wanted to sample all of them on this side of the hwy but they would have to wait until next time.

As I was walking past the craps pit, I saw the guy who used to run the dice tournaments I came up here for every week back in the fall. I stopped by, said hi, and asked if they were ever going to resume having the weekly tournaments. Much to my disappointment, the answer was no. I really hate that. I took over 15K out of those dice tournaments in 2007.

As I approached the people mover, my eyes were drawn to the gift shop at the base of the escalator. They had a big table covered with college logo'd items. I have gotten some really good bargains here in the past so it was worth spending a few minutes checking it out. In fact, I got four different Christmas presents here back when they put a bunch of sale this past year. Most of the stuff they have is Ole Miss, MSU, USM, with a good bit of Bama & Auburn stuff. There is usually a pretty fair amount of Georgia and LSU stuff too. On this visit, everything that was on sale was either something I didn't want or that I already had. So it was back to the casino.

For some reason, I have this presumption that I play better poker around midnight so I still wasn't in a big hurry to get to the poker room. As I made my way thru the main Golden Moon table pit, I saw one of the guys who plays in my monthly poker game sitting box on a nearby craps table. By the time I strolled over there, he was out of the box and up walking floor for a while. I stopped to chit-chat with him and another floor guy I know came over to visit for a while. My buddy and I got to talking about the poker day from the previous month and the second guy asked if he could play. We both responded with a "Sure, we need some new money in the game" So at least one thing got accomplished this trip. We added another player to our monthly game. I just hope his skill level doesn't make that invitation backfire on us. While we stood there talking, I inquired about the possibilities of tournaments being restarted on this side of the highway. (despite the tribe owning both properties, the two casinos compete with one another somewhat) Once again the answer was no. So I guess I am going to have to travel if I want to play any tournaments for a while.

They had to get back to work and I had to get back to beer. ( I liked my option better) I made my way back to The Waterfalls and grabbed a seat for some more VP. Getting a fresh Miller Lite, I resumed my quest for the elusive Royal. After I finished that first beer, I decided I was tired of losing at JOB and switched over to KENO. Heck, what could it hurt? Plus, Keno is kinda fun to me and it wasn't like JOB was doing anything exciting. (I was already down $50) So I spent the next 30/40 minutes watching those rocks fly out of the volcano. After 50 or 60 hands I finally got a bonus multiplier that multiplied any winnings by 4X. With my limited Keno knowledge, I thought maybe the machine had some sort of trigger that those bonuses only started showing up after a certain amount of play. Well, that is not the case. The Caveman Keno game scatters 3 eggs throughout the 80 number grid before each game. If you hit one number with an egg on it, you get your winnings multiplied by 4X. If you hit two eggs, your winnings are multiplied by 10X. I don't know what happens if you hit all 3 since I was never that fortunate. Just a little info in case anyone is as big a Keno doofus as I was. The good thing about Keno is that you don't have to be all that skilled to play it and win. Eventually those eggs helped me out and I was able to hit a 6 spot (out of 8) with a 4X multiplier. That enabled me to get my credit meter a little above the $100 I had started out with. Those extra credits let me keep piddling around and I was able to eventually sneak in a $20 profit for this machine. Feeling that is about as good as it was going to get, I got up and made my way to the poker room.

Once there, I was able to get a 3/6 hold em seat in a very short time. The most memorable thing about the makeup of my table companions was that there were at least 3 people on the table who were obviously inexperienced at casino poker. Actually, there was only one person on the table that I had played with in the past so there may have been more inexperienced people but those 3 were the ones who stood out. Of course, inexperienced players are always a good thing so I was happy, especially since I had drank more than I usually do when playing poker. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the first hour I played other than I was able to slowly build my pyramid by winning some pots here and there. My usual buy-in of a rack ($100) gives me two rows of 5 with chips stacked 10 high . As I win, I add a third row in front of those two initial rows that is only 4s stacks in a row, then the next row with 3 stacks, 2 stacks, and finally the pyramid is complete when you add the final row with only one stack. That means I have doubled my buy-in and now have $200 in front of me. After that I start a second layer on top of the first pyramid.

Things just rocked on along with me continuing to add to the second level of my chip stack. Then I took a hit on the only hand memorable enough for me to put some notes about it in my little trip report note pad. The hand started out well with me looking down to see a couple of KOWBOYS staring back at me and giving my pocket Kings to start the hand with. Of course I raised when the bet got to me and a number of people stayed in the hand. (a common thing in low-limit hold-em) The flop came down with
A-K-6 which gave me a set of Kings. The previous early bettor bet out and again I raised. We lost a couple of players but the bettor and two others stayed in for the turn card. The turn was a harmless looking 9. BTW- the flop was a rainbow with no flush possibilities. Once again, my antagonist led out with a bet and I raised. That sequence narrowed it down to him and I in the hand. Of course, I am putting him on a pair of aces or aces up (two pair) at best. Even if he started with Big Slick (A-K), he is still behind to my set (3) of Kings. Then the river came and wouldn't you know it, there lay another ace for a board of A-K-6-9-A. Well the good news was that I now had a full house with my K-K-K-A-A. The bad news was that if he had an Ace and a K,6, or 9, I was in trouble. He led out with a bet and I knew I was beat. Still, the pot was so big that you don't lay down any hand for one bet so I called. Just as I figured, he turned over an Ace and a 9 to have a superior full house and rake in a really nice pot. If not for that hand, I could have really had a nice night. As it was, when I finally got so tired that I had to go to bed, I was able to carry 3 full racks ($300) plus 5 or 6 reds to the cashier's cage. After tipping my few oddball whites to the brush, I still had over $200 profit for my time at the poker table. Even subtracting my losses at the VP bars, I was able to turn a profit for this quick trip.

After cashing out, I asked for and got a comp to Bistro 24, the 24 hour coffee shop. I was in the mood for eggs and got their big and huungry man breakfast with eggs, grits, sausage AND ham. I even considered some pancakes but some last vestige of good sense kept me from being an even bigger food hog. The food was good (if my memory is accurate) but then, there haven't been many meals I have eaten at 3 AM that I considered bad.

The next morning came waaaaaay too soon and waaay too bright for me. Luckily I had failed to close the blinds and the bright sunshine woke me up. I say luckily because in my rush to get to the casino floor I had failed to set the alarm or call for a wake-up. I jumped up, showered and hit the road for my workshop 20 minutes away at Lake Tiak O'Khata in Louisville. BTW- if you are ever wanting to take a road trip to get away from the casino for an hour or two, Lake Tiak O'Khata is a nice place with a hotel, cabins, and one of the best home-cooked country style buffets you will find anywhere. It is about a 20 minute drive and located just off the highway. (easy to find) I stumbled into my workshop about 20 minutes late but at least I got there. During the day, I had to keep repeating to myself that I had won money and had a great time the night before so this overwhelming weight of fatigue and headache was worth it.

So that was how things went at Pearl River Resort a week ago.