Basic Dining Options

After a long night of gambling and enjoying everything a casino has to offer, the first place a visitor goes in the morning is most likely a coffee shop. Each casino has name brand coffee shops, such as Starbuck’s or Seattle’s Best. All of these are interchangeable, so there is no reason to travel away from your base casino unless you have a particular craving for a white chocolate double espresso mocha.

A staple of any casino is it’s standard restaurant, not too exclusive, but still featuring good food at a reasonable price. In the case of these mid-level restaurants, the clear winner is the Atrium Cafe at the Gold Strike Casino. This restaurant serves food late into the night and allows patrons to order breakfast at any time of the day. Their omelets are the best in town, and a special lunch treat is the meatloaf. Also, the fresh salads are worth a try. In a bright and comfortable setting with an open-air feeling, the Atrium Cafe is a great option when you want a meal, but are not in the mood for a buffet or fine dining type of place.

For a buffet, it is hard to beat the one at Sam’s Town. In a region known for its barbecue, The Great Buffet at Sam’s Town is the pick of the litter. The buffet is separated into different serving stations and features not just American fare, but also Asian and Italian dishes. In addition, fresh seafood is another option for diners. The highlights of The Great Buffet are definitely the barbecued ribs and the homemade desserts. The dessert station even features a chocolate dipping station with a number of fruits and sweets that can be dipped in the chocolate.

Top Picks for Fine Dining

Fine dining can be found at any of the major casinos, but the best option has to be Jack Binion’s Steak House at the Horseshoe Casino. This restaurant features only the finest cuts of beef in its steaks. The cuts of beef are USDA Midwestern dry-aged on the bone steaks and have a flavor that will keep you dreaming of your dining experience. This eatery has earned the much sought-after DiRONA award and has also received an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine.

Another fine dining option that is worth a try is the ‘37 Fine Dining Experience found at Harrah’s Casino. Named after the year of the opening of the first Harrah’s property, ‘37 offers diners American fare of impeccable quality. A great dish to try in this classy joint is their amazing crab cakes.

Who’s Driving This Boat?

One interesting fact that most people aren’t aware of is that the casinos in Tunica are all actually located on water. The legislation that permits casinos in Mississippi requires that the casinos are actually located on the Mississippi River. Since flooding and land erosion are considerable concerns in this area of the country, the casinos came up with a genius solution. Instead of building the casinos on the river, they moved the river to the casinos. Canals were dug to redirect some water from the river to the locations of the casinos.

Thus, each casino is actually surrounded by water from the Mississippi River and is technically considered a barge. Inside the casinos and hotels there is obviously no feeling of being on a boat as these properties are permanent locations securely rooted to the ground. What seems like only a decorating decision has actually been mandated by state legislation. On a visit to Tunica the action at the tables may prevent you from taking a trip to see the Mississippi River, but you can easily see just a small part of it surrounding each casino.

The Economic Situation

In addition to the barge aspect of gaming in Tunica, there exists another more serious issue that is largely unknown to the casual visitor to the casinos. For many years, Tunica County was one of the poorest areas in the country and it is for this reason that legislators decided to allow gambling. Before the inception of the casino hotels in the early 1990’s, the unemployment and infant mortality rates of the region were well into unacceptable territory. The expectation of the legislators was that the casinos would provide many new jobs and opportunities to people of the area. Thankfully, this expectation was correct and the area has benefited tremendously from the new industry.

Thousands of new jobs have been created, more than doubling the per capita income of each household. In addition, these jobs have led to a revitalization of the economy with local schools and hospitals receiving tax dollars from the revenue of casino hotels. Also, funds from the casinos have helped Tunica Country to construct a local museum and the RiverPark, which is a celebration of the Mississippi River. Of course, casinos are there to make money, but the positive aspect of what they have done for the region should not be ignored. As Tunica becomes a more and more popular gambling destination, it is only expected that these benefits will continue, making Tunica County a great place to visit and call home.

The Best of the Best Casino Hotel

For room quality, Harrah’s Casino is the leader of the pack. The rooms designated as being at the Casino Hotel are by far the best in the city and provide easy access to both an indoor swimming pool and exercise equipment. As Harrah’s also has two other hotels on its property, the Veranda Hotel and the Terrace Hotel, it is imperative that you make sure you are in the Casino Hotel when making a reservation. There are less of these rooms available and they go quick as gamblers in the know often book them months in advance. The Veranda and Terrace locations do offer nice rooms, but their location requires a shuttle or long walk to the actual casino. Each room in the Casino Hotel is a suite and is equipped with a whirlpool tub for relaxation. In addition, the proximity to Harrah’s great restaurants, such as ‘37 and Murano’s, makes ordering room service to these rooms the quickest in the city.

Choices in the Clusters

Although Harrah’s has the best rooms, it may not be the best choice depending on what you are looking for. The casinos of Tunica are laid out in a strange manner, with two main clusters of three casinos each, and the remaining three casinos located as stand-alone properties away from the clusters. However, any of the casinos can be reached easily by taking the free shuttle that runs on a regular basis. If you are the type of gambler that likes to bounce from casino to casino without having to wait on a shuttle, perhaps the clusters are more suited to your needs.

One cluster of casinos features the Sheraton Casino Tunica, the Horseshoe, and the Gold Strike. The other cluster is where you will find Sam’s Town, Hollywood, and Resorts Tunica. In the first cluster, the Gold Strike and the Horseshoe tie for best rooms, as they both have an individual style and allow easy access to the gaming floor. If you are planning on playing poker in Tunica, one of these properties is your best choice as they also feature the best poker rooms in town.

For the other cluster, it is no surprise that Resorts has the best rooms to offer guests. Being the newest property in town, rooms at Resorts are the most modern and feature sitting areas in every single room. With this location you will be close to the best buffet in Tunica at Sam’s Town, and also the interesting movie memorabilia found at Hollywood Casino.

In these years, the combination of the two tournament series acted as a reunion of all poker players from the southeast. This has changed since 2009, when the WPT opted to move their tournament to July so as not to be in direct competition with the WSOP. However, for many poker players, January means Tunica and thousands of players still flock to the city to compete.

Hotel Options for Poker Players

Your first question is obviously going to be where to stay. There are two options depending on what you are looking for exactly. If your main concern is playing in the official WSOP tournaments each day, then Harrah’s is the easy choice as this is where all tournaments are held. The casino’s second floor is converted into an enormous poker room for these events and staying here means it is easy for a player to go from poker room to hotel room and vice versa.

However, if your desire is to play in the high-stakes cash games that sprout up during January, a better option would either be the Horseshoe or Gold Strike locations. As the majority of space at Harrah’s is used for tournament play, the big cash games happen at these locations. Horseshoe is the center of limit Hold ‘Em action with many 20-40 and higher games going all month. If No Limit or another variation of poker is your game of choice, the Gold Strike offers these games at nosebleed levels. Choosing the right hotel will make your stay more enjoyable and should be decided based on what you intend to do in Tunica.

The Fame, The Glory, The Money

Now, that’s a different question entirely. The tournaments offer the fame, glory, and a decent paycheck to players who finish in the money. In addition, the Circuit Championship is a televised event, meaning that all final table finishers will gain exposure from this $5,000 event. For this reason, playing the tournaments can be a very good option. On the other hand, if your goal is to make money, then the cash games are not to be missed. Many casual players use the January trip to Tunica as their annual poker trip and as such the cash games are extremely profitable.

Specifically, the big games at the appropriately named Gold Strike are a goldmine. The Pot Limit Omaha games are some of the biggest around and feature many opportunities for a skilled player to walk away with a big win. Another game that has gained popularity and is played at high stakes is Badugi. This lowball draw game draws some real gamblers who prefer to play at the highest stakes available. The big Badugi and Pot Limit Omaha games run all day and night for the whole time of the tournament. Some players who came to Tunica intending to play the tournaments never end up leaving the high stakes games as they can be much more profitable.

One idea for a recreational activity is to play a round of golf. There are three golf courses in the city and the Tunica National Golf and Tennis Complex is one of the best choices. This course is spread over 212 acres and was built by one of the nation’s most lauded golf architecture firms, McCumber and Associates. The course is suited for both amateur and experienced players, featuring great contour changes found on many holes. Managed by Kemper Golf Management, the course has a great clubhouse and the added benefit of clay tennis courts if that is the game you prefer.
Another golf option that has received national attention is the Grand Casino’s Cottonwoods course.

It was built to resemble the popular golf courses of Scotland, with lakes interspersed between the holes that create many water obstacles to avoid. The greens are made up of Crenshaw bent grass and the fairways are Zoysia. The course can be a difficult challenge, as the professional tee boxes create a 7,000-yard, par 72 course.
The last, but not least, golfing option is the River Bend Golf Course. As the name implies, the course lies directly on the Mississippi River and was built on an old cotton field. Similar to Cottonwoods, this course attempts to recreate the experience of playing on a Scottish course. Players may be surprised to encounter a wild animal such as a deer, fox, or turkey.

Nature and History

Another way players can take a break from the tables and machines is by visiting Tunica’s RiverPark or the Tunica County Museum. This complex is built on the banks of the Mississippi River and has nature trails, a harbor, and a marina. A walk through this park can be very relaxing and will remind visitors of childhood stories like Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” The RiverPark also features an aquarium with many different examples of aquatic life from the river. Visitors coming to the park may either opt for a guided tour or can explore the facilities on their own. The park is open every day of the year except for Christmas and can be visited from 9am-5pm.

The Tunica County Museum is located slightly south of the casinos and explores the development of the city and region. A history is drawn from early Native American settlements to the current occupation by the casino corporations, focusing on what life was like living in Tunica throughout the history of the city. Additional exhibits feature wildlife of the area and a video that helps prepare visitors for the tour. Best of all, this learning adventure is provided by the city free of charge for visitors.

They are known to have allied with early French settlers against opposing tribes. An interesting fact about the Tunica tribe is that they are believed to be vegetarians, subsisting on agricultural crops such as corn. Men were primarily the tenders of the farms and the women created impressive fabric from mulberry cloths. Currently, there are only thought to be 30 direct descendants of the Tunica tribe and these participants still speak a variation of the Tunica language.
Because of the small size of the city, there have not been very many local celebrities. However, Charlaine Harris, is a notable resident who is known across the country as an accomplished writer, creating the Teagarden series of books and being nominated for the Agatha prize. She has since created other series of books and has been on the New York Times Bestseller List many times.
As far as industry, the farming tradition has remained popular, with early European settlers growing cotton. The land proved to be very arable due to the close proximity of the river. Like many areas of Mississippi, cotton was a boom industry and created much wealth for a number of people until the Civil War. With the following industrial revolution, Tunica was left behind and those that enjoyed reasonable success now found themselves at the point of poverty. For many years after this, cotton was still the main industry of Tunica, until the arrival of the casinos. And then a new era began.

The Age of Casinos

The casinos entered the Tunica region in 1992, beginning with the Tunica Splash. Since the inception of casinos, many new properties have been opened and Tunica has quickly grown to be the third largest gambling location in the United States. Economically, the casinos have made quite a difference. The resulting prosperity has provided many jobs to the people of the region and has enabled the city to construct and maintain the Tunica County Museum, which examines what life was like throughout the history of the region.

Also, the city has constructed the Tunica RiverPark, a celebration of the Mississippi River featuring nature trails and an aquarium. The Tunica region was one of the poorest in the state with per capita income falling much less than the state’s average, which is the lowest in the United States. In addition, the infant mortality was one of the highest in the country, but improved hospital conditions have provided a dramatic reduction of this aspect. The city was officially incorporated in 1888 and currently has a population of only 1,132 official residents, with the majority of casino employees residing in nearby Robinsonville or White Haven.

Despite a common misconception, there are no actual casinos in the city of Tunica, Mississippi. All the casinos are located in an unincorporated part of Tunica county and that is why the name is used. The city of Tunica is very tiny, with less than 1,500 residents. However, the city has benefited very much from the appearance of the casinos.

The Very Beginnings

In the early 1990’s, Mississippi legislators passed a bill that would allow casino corporations to establish locations in a specified area of the Tunica region. The first gambling operations set up shop in a place known as Mhoon Landing and were largely unsuccessful. These businesses, including Tunica Splash, the first Tunica casino, eventually closed up shop as new properties established locations closer to the city of Memphis, Tennessee.

These casinos were originally labelled under the Robinsonville moniker, but this was quickly changed to Tunica to avoid confusion with the location of the casinos. With the advent of these casinos, the unincorporated region around the casinos experienced a rampant population growth as people moved into the area. In addition to the casinos, other businesses have quickly sprouted, including retail stores, hotels, and restaurants. This growth is only expected to continue accompanied by the rise in popularity of gambling and poker.

Modern Times in Tunica

While the majority of casinos in Mississippi were drastically affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the properties in Tunica were largely unharmed. In fact, the region experienced a bittersweet boom as employees and families were forced to relocate from coastal casinos inland after the destruction experienced by the hurricane. The rebuilding process of both Biloxi and New Orleans has taken quite a bit of time, thus giving the casinos in Tunica County extra visitors wanting to gamble.
Currently, Tunica is the third largest United States gaming area and has had an amazing impact on the surrounding economy. There are nine casino properties, including the following casinos: Bally’s Casino Tunica, Fitzgerald’s, Gold Strike, Harrah’s, Hollywood, Horseshoe, Resorts, Sam’s Town, and the Sheraton Casino. Unemployment rates have been drastically reduced and public education has been greatly improved as additional funds have drifted into local economies.

The area of the casinos is currently trying to incorporate into a separate township, meaning that residents of this particular part of Tunica would be the full beneficiaries of the tax revenue instead of the money being filtered to all the cities of the region. This is a controversial issue as it could severely hamper the growth of the actual cities of Tunica, Robinsonville, and others located nearby.

Star Treatment and Real Stars

We touched down in the Memphis airport and were quickly shown to an awaiting shuttle that took us directly from the airport to Harrah’s, our host casino. Upon arriving, there was no check-in process as the helpful staff had already organized everything for us. We received our room keys, dropped the bags off in the room, and headed down to the floor to check out the action. Stepping into the casino, Gene and I both stopped and looked at each other.

The view before our eyes was incredibly different from what we had imagined. Instead of the rinky-dink casino we expected to find, the pit was comparable to Las Vegas standards. Eager to jump into the games, we stepped up a nearby roulette table and bought in for some chips. There were a few rather large gentlemen at the table and Gene eyed them with a suspicious glance until he figured it out. He asked them if they were players for the Tennessee Titans, a professional football team, and they nodded. Wow! Not fifteen minutes after we first arrived at the casino and already we were gambling with celebrities.

Ribs and Riffs

For dinner we were in the mood for barbecue, so we headed next door to Sam’s Town as one of the football players had said their buffet was the best in town. He was right and we stuffed ourselves silly with great barbecue and all the trimmings. Gene wanted to play craps, so we ambled our extended bellies up to the table and bought in. After thirty minutes we were still even, neither losing or winning and decided to go check out Hollywood Casino, which is also within walking distance.

As the dealer colored up our chips, a pit boss came over and asked us if we like Peter Frampton’s music. For Gene the answer was a resounding yes and the pit boss unexpectedly fished two tickets out of his jacket pocket. He handed them to us saying that the show started in less than an hour. Again, wow! We hadn’t asked for any comps, but here they were, put into our hands by a pit boss no less. After a couple beers at the bar, we headed to the River Palace Entertainment Center for a rocking show where Frampton truly came alive.
Amped up by the concert, we decided to head back to Harrah’s and play a bit of poker before calling it a night. The cards worked out for both of us and Gene netted a nice bonus by having the highest hand of the hour. From this first day in Tunica, it was very clear that Gene and I would repeatedly return as the employees in Tunica were extremely attentive, the food was excellent, and the entertainment was top-notch.

In this time, the many big poker names in the world invariably travelled to Tunica for both the tournaments and the sky-high cash games that occurred as rich amateurs came from all corners of the country to play. As with any casino city, sometimes strange events happen and Tunica is no exception. Stories of weird incidents abound among regular players.

Celebrity Poker Faces

One annual visitor is famous professional poker player Daniel Negreanu. Each year he makes the journey to Tunica to play in the World Series of Poker Circuit Event. In the year 2006, he bested all competitors, winning the Championship Event and netting a payday of $755,525 and the coveted WSOP ring. Since that year, Negreanu has had other final table finishes and often comments that he seems to play well in Tunica. However, he does complain about the food. Not that it is bad, but there are less than adequate vegetarian options. Yes, the southeast, and Mississippi in particular are heavily carnivorous areas, but great vegetable options can also be found at the many excellent restaurants located in Tunica casinos.
Other professional poker players have made the poker tournaments at Tunica a required stop on the circuit.

Well-known pros such as Eric Seidel, Eskimo Clark, Josh Arieh, Phil Ivey, and Barry Greenstein have all had wins or strong finishes in the yearly competitions. Barry Greenstein’s win in 2004 ended on a dramatic hand when he made Aces full of Kings on the last card. This emotional win was enough motivation for Greenstein to name his later book, “Ace on the River.” Many professional players continue to come each year to take advantage of all the easy money that shows up in the month of January. Although attendance to the tournaments has decreased slightly in the past few years, many players find the southern hospitality of Tunica casinos a welcome change from Atlantic City and Las Vegas.

Why is there a Car in the Lobby?

In the same year and during the same time period as the WSOP, a weird incident occurred at the Gold Strike. At 2:30 in the morning, a drunk poker player, possibly reeling from a huge loss, managed to hijack a car from one of the valet driver’s and proceeded to drive the auto through the glass doors and into the casino’s lobby, scaring employees and casino patrons alike. When police arrived on the scene, the poker player was sitting calmly on a bench, having exited the car after parking it on the lobby’s floor. The policemen quickly apprehended the suspect and took him into custody. Despite all the great casino action and poker games that continued to run, for many visitors this will be the memory of a January 2006 trip to Tunica.

Live Music

This is the Mississippi River, so music is a big concern. Located between the two major music cities of Memphis and New Orleans, Tunica has a storied history of music in the city and region. In modern times, the best place to catch a show is either at Sam’s Town’s River Palace Entertainment Center or Harrah’s Tunica Event Center. Both of these location offer great entertainers at reasonable prices. The River Palace Entertainment Center in Sam’s Town casino features a 1600-seat auditorium that has been home to top performers like B.B. King and Peter Frampton. They have made a commitment to have an event every weekend of the year and you can expect they will deliver.

Harrah’s Tunica Event Center is the largest arena in the city, boasting 2400 seats and featuring musical performers as well as sporting events. This arena has been host to some of the biggest names in music and is one of the premier locations for boxing events in the country. With the rise of mixed martial arts, Harrah’s has made this the spot to catch all the local fights. Also, if you are looking for a place where kids will be entertained, Harrah’s also has the Kid’s Quest activity center and a video arcade packed full with over 100 enjoyable games.

Hitting the Sauce

But Harrah’s and Sam’s Town are not the only entertainment spots in town. The Gold Strike Casino offers revelers the best nightclub in town, the Red Door. Only open on Fridays and Saturdays, the party starts at 10:00pm, with resident DJ Crumbz spinning records until the early morning. Women always have free entrance and everyone must dress to impress as the club features a strictly enforced dress code. In addition to the Red Door, Gold Strike also features a bar right in the middle of the casino, Stage 2. This performance space has live music five nights of the week and is a welcome respite when players want to take a break from the action.

Not one to be outdone, the Horseshoe casino has also created a nightclub that is getting rave reviews. Push, the nightclub at the Horseshoe, features the best national touring DJ’s in the country and a state of the art sound and lighting system. Dress code here is less formal than the Red Door, but patrons should still take care to dress nice as baseball caps and sneakers are not permitted. With a VIP area for celebrities to hang out in, this may be the best choice for those gamblers who want to take a break and dance the night away.