Was traveling in Florida and decided to pop over to Biloxi for some
VP:
- I called and talked to a host at the Grand Biloxi, and based on my
Rewards credits at Bally's in L.V., was comped a room for two nights
in advance. The host's name was Kimberly Williams.
- The room was nice and large, with an HDTV.
- I'd never been there before, and aside from the casinos themselves,
cannot imagine why anyone would ever want to go there, especially
after the devestation of Katrina.
- The people were almost absurdly nice, including the check-in staff,
the hosts, the cashiers and cocktail waitresses. And even the other
guests! I'm told this is a southern thing ...
- I thought the buffet was very good, and not very crowded.
- I split my time between 50-cent and dollar 9-6 DDB machines in a
back-to-back bank of 10 outside the buffet. They each had a
progressive royal flush. There were very few VP machines in the whole
place actually. I probably put in 24 hours of play, for upwards of 60-
72K, receiving $40 and $30 in same-day free slot play for the two
days. I got upgraded to Diamond level for getting more than 4K
credits in a day. Hoping goodies come my way now ...
- I had wild swings between good runs and bad, but things turned
dramatically good toward the end, which is always nice: About 12
midnight Friday night, I started making my way back to my room,
getting as far as the main entrance before turning around and
deciding to get in another 30 minutes in play before bed. Good thing
I did! I went back to the same machine I'd been hammering away at for
hours and within 10 minutes drew the 10 and J of spades to complete a
royal for approx. $4,300. Nice hit! Finished up $5,200 for the trip.
- They take 3 percent out of all jackpots for some kind of
Mississippi gaming tax, whether you're a resident or not, which kind
of sucks. I imagine this does cut into the EV on games above 25-cent
level.
- I also scouted the IP, Beau Rivage and Isle of Capri. I like that
the Isle has 9-6 DDB in the non-smoking area at the 50-cent and
dollar levels. Slant tops too. It seemed like it would be a nice
place to play. The Beau was posh, but I didn't feel all that
comfortable there or at the IP, which seemed claustophibic.
Cheers to all!
- Casey