Mother's Day Visit to Pearl River Resort (Golden Moon Casino)

Like many good gambling families, we decided to celebrate Mother's Day at a casino. The Golden Moon Casino at Pearl River Resort is less than an hour from my house so it was a quick easy trip. My group consisted of me, my girlfriend (The Baboo), my brother from Florida, and my mother (the guest of honor).

Once we made our way thru the doors, The Baboo and my mother immediately headed to the slots for some spinning action. My brother and I went to the Waterfalls bar in the center of the casino which serves as sort of a hub for the rest of the casino arrayed around it. I wanted to play a little Video Keno but more importantly I wanted my first beer of the trip. (I drove) We settled in and were quickly immersed in Video Keno (me) and VP (brother) with cool drinks in our hands. Since the bar is slightly elevated and opens onto the casino floor at the four compass points, we had plenty of people watching opportunities. It wasn't long before I saw one of the guys who plays in my monthly poker game go walking by. Calling him over, we caught up on gossip for a few minutes before he went and fetched his wife to join us. Soon all 4 of us were chasing that Royal in 4 consecutive seats around the bar. (I had grown bored with Keno) Nothing of consequence happened for any of us and we all got up as losers about 40 minutes later. My friends headed up to their room and my brother and I ambled over to the poker room to see if any 3/6 seats were available.

There were seats open when we got there but we passed on the opportunity. He doesn't get up here that often so he wanted to go play slots with our Mother. I don't like to play poker unless I have at least 2 hours to play. Since he was going that way, I decided to see if the VP machines at the Zenon Bar were any hotter. I had lost 42 dollars at Waterfalls and wanted to get it back over here. I played for about 45 minutes and mostly just rode that video poker roller coaster. I never got over $50 ahead or $50 behind. (I was playing dollars) BTW- both bars had 8/5 JOB paytables for dollars, 7/5 for .50, and 6/5 for .25 Yeah, bartop VP is just great at Pearl River.
I eventually landed my credit meter back at the hundred I started with and decided to take a stroll.

One of the first things I noticed was a sign that they were starting the weekly blackjack tournaments back up. Those tournaments were a great deal last year. They had a total of $5,000 guaranteed in the prize pool and only took in $3,500 in entry fees when every seat was filled. That leaves a $1,500 overlay to the benefit of the players. Plus, there were lots of weeks when the tournament didn't completely fill up and the overlay was even bigger. Last year they had a blackjack tourny on Tuesday and a craps tourny on Thursday. Between the two tournaments, I took $11,000 in prize money. I was up here most weeks since PRR is so close. So I was real happy to see that they have resumed them. I didn't see anything about the craps tournaments re-starting but I sure hope they do. 8K of my winnings came from the craps tournaments.

As I walked around, I noticed my brother over on a craps table and moved in that direction to join him. I gave my players card and money to the guy sitting box and prepared to play. Then an odd thing happened. The floor guy checked out my card with a quizzical look on his face. Then he looked at me and said we already have a ------- ----- on the table while looking over at my brother. I had forgotten that I gave him one of my spare players cards to use while we were playing VP. He had used it when he bought in at this table. So now there were two of us on the table with the same name and the pit critter was confused. I just fessed up and told him that my brother had been using my card since he did not have an account. The pit guy didn't seem to care. I have two friends who play in my monthly poker game that stand floor in this exact pit and being laid back seems to be a commonality among all the suits who work this pit.

Once we got all that confusion cleared up, I got some money in action. I was playing my standard craps strategy of a pass line bet with odds and placing the 6 and 8. The first three shooters after I got on the table did nothing and my rack was being slowly diminished. My brother doesn't get into gambling as much as me and sometimes has a bit of impatience. He decided to switch over to the dark side since everyone was losing the dice so quickly. Well, you know what usually happens then. The next guy established a point of 5. After popping my 6 and 8 one time each, he rolled that 4-1 that we needed for a winner. So there was a quick 3-2 payout on my odds. The next throw, he re-established a 5 as his point again. Again, he rolled a few 6's and 8's ( I was pressing them up one unit every time they hit) and then came back with that winning 5. (I had pressed up my odds after the first hit and got an even better payout this time) (Pearl River has either 10X or 20X odds so I could keep pressing for a while) The third point this guy established was a 4. Knowing that it paid 2-1, instead of doing my usual 50%press, I just left my odds bet at $50. Well, it wasn't long before he hit that four for his third winner in a row. His next point was a 10 and that is where this little rush of good fortune ended. He was able to roll a couple of 6's and 8's but that 10 was too strong for him. Since we had dinner reservations in about 20 minutes, I figured now was as good a time as any to scoot. I was able to walk with a $225 profit thanks to that one guy's roll.

I saw my brother and The Baboo gathered areound a slot machine my mother was playing. When I got over there, I got the good news/bad news report. The good news was that my mother had won $240 while the bad news was that The Baboo was down $300. Brother was down less than $100 thanks to some fortuitious cards on the blackjack table. (or the 21 table as he calls it) We were all ready to eat so we made our way over to the elevators for the 26 story ride up to The Galaxy for dinner. I always enjoy the ride when in glass elevators. The view wasn't as breath taking as Las Vegas but the pine tree covered landscape had it's own charm.

We had originally been concerned that we would need reservations due to Mother's Day but quickly saw that we could probably have done without once we were at The Galaxy. When we were seated for our 5:30 reservations, there was only one other table occupied. Things got busier before we left but there were still unoccupied tables when we left a little after 7. Like a lot of "restaurants with a view", this one has good servicable food but they depend a lot on that view from 26 floors up for business. I got a NY strip, Mother got coconut shrimp, brother got the daily special of Lobster & steak, and Baboo got a filet mignon. My steak was OK but certainly nothing to brag about. My mother was singularly unimpressed with her shrimp. The Baboo's filet was rated as excellent and the daily special my brother got was judged to be "good but not $55 good". BTW- food down here is very inexpensive when compared to places like LV. $55 is high for a meal. The "special" was delivered verbally with no price. The next highest thing on our ticket was the NY strip I got at $29. One thing that was very good was the service. It might have been that they weren't terribly busy but our service was outstanding. They were attentive, prompt, and basically just fun tohave around. They filled several special requests with a smile and a can-do attitude. None of them minded playing photographer for our little gathering. I had one of the most tasty, visually appealing, (and huge) White Russians I have had in quite a while. Two other things that were spectacular were the desserts. Mother and I were too stuffed for dessert but brother got a huge piece of Mississippi Mud Cake and The Baboo got a "Strawberry Tulip". Both were mouth-watering and made me wish for a little more room in my stomach. All in all, a good time was had by all.

Once down on the casino floor, Mother wanted to play for a little longer. (hey, she was winning) She and The Baboo (after a resupply of money) went off together. Brother went over to try his luck on his earlier blackjack/21 table. I found a bank of Megabucks machines and ran my usual $30 thru with nothing at all to show for it. After that stab at fame and fortune, I went to Waterfalls and found a seat to try a little more JOB. Nothing much happened until the rest of my group was ready to go. I did drop $25 but that was OK. No one else had any wins either. We all had early obligations the next morning so we called it a night and headed off the reservation.

 

Nice report Rebel! I especially enjoyed the craps part!