Deb and I went to a blackjack tournament at the Meskwaki casino near the burgeoning metropolis of Tama, Iowa on the weekend before Easter. This is our trip report, hope you enjoy.
I got hosed in the 2nd of 6 rounds when the dealer made the only total possible to prevent my advancing to Round 3. Deb did quite well, making it to the Final Table and ending up 4th (out of 192) for a very nice payday. This was the first time she's made the final table in a live tournament and I was just insanely happy for her.
http://www.blackjacktournaments.com/bb/showthread.php?t=5685
Since this is a VP forum, I'll save any further details on the tournament, so here's a review of the Meskwaki Casino.
LOCATION: Are you kidding me? To say that this place is in some serious boonies would be a ridiculous understatement. Halfway between Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, 48th cornfield on the left after you pass through downtown Tama - which actually has one traffic light although it's only a blinker. Over 20 miles north of I-80, nothing but corn, cows, and barns until this massive casino suddenly looms. Very nice place, however, 400+ hotel rooms and a much bigger casino floor than I figured to see in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. This was not the last of the pleasant surprises, however.
VIDEO POKER: Stop the presses! There's a 101% play in this joint! They've got 8 full-pay PickEms in quarters only. With a cashback rate of .333333% and triple points during your first 24 hours of slot club membership, plus a comp rate that I never did figure out because we didn't need 'em with the freebies included with tournament entry, this makes for a 101%+ play. Sometimes they run triple-points days for everyone, too. So, licking my chops at the chance to run some action like all good BJ tournament players should (and at 101%), I proceeded to dump $600 on this great play. They've also got SuckerBait Bonus Poker, it looks full-pay until you realize that all 4OAK's pay 130 and there's no premium quads. So it's really 8/5 JoB with a slightly higher quad payoff. There's some bartops with 9/6 JoB in .25-.50-$1, but the Royal is shorted to 2500.
STAFF: Every single employee we ran across, from upper level "floor" managers to those folks who clean between the machines, was outgoing, friendly, and anxious to please. "How are you, thanks for coming here, we're happy to see you, is there anything we can do to make your stay with us even better?"..... I was amazed. You'd think that you'd eventually run across someone in a cross mood but it didn't happen. Never seen that in a casino anywhere. Ever.
FOOD: Saved the worst for last. They have a buffet, a coffee shop, and an apparently high-end steakhouse. We never got past the buffet due to relentless time constraints with different table times in the tournament for everyone in our circle of friends. Wish we could have tried the other options because this buffet was RANK. Oh-My-God. Shades of the old Circus-Circus Road Kill Buffet of 20+ years ago. They even managed to render crab legs inedible and that takes talent! We were sorry to waste so much food here, but we kept trying different things in an attempt to find something decent. The pancakes were so bad that I could have thrown one like a Frisbee and taken someone's head off with it. But, as noted in the STAFF section above, the waitstaff were attentive and hard working. The only thing they were missing was portable stomach pumps.
VP:
FPPE .25 only, Six in a 3x3 back-to-back by Food Court. Two facing each other at ends of slot rows outside Race Book.
9/6 JoB (2500 royal) .25, .50, $1. Four bartops in the yet-unnamed nightclub bar.
8/5 BP "SuckerBait" .25 Four in a 2x2 back-to-back by Food Court. .25, .50, $1 - Four bartops in the yet-unnamed Nightclub.
Cashback:
1/3 of 1%. Triple points for your first 24 hours of membership. Triple points days occasionally.
- Brian in MI