Tunica’s Famous Gambling Stories
The great casino action and big poker tournaments draw many familiar faces to the small gambling mecca of Tunica, Mississippi. For a number of years, Tunica in January was THE spot for poker. Two complete tournament series took place at competing locations with players benefiting from the action at both casinos.
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.