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Thread: OsageDave: Oklahoma Casinos

  1. #1
    OsageDave
    Guest

    OsageDave: Oklahoma Casinos

    Does anyone know if there are any good casinos in Oklahoma?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Sun Runner
    Guest

    Sun Runner: No. None. Nada. Depends.

    How about this for specifics, last I checked there were about 85 places in Oklahoma you could make a bet .. 83 of them suck.



    To play BJ, every casino in the state, by law, charges a fee (a rake), on evey hand played, to every player at the table.

    A red chip bettor is getting charged $0.50 per hand on a $5.00 bet, and, to add insult to injury, they are playing against a CSM or, if they are fortunate, an ASM with 75% pen. Try beating that 10% rake with your 2% count game.

    If you play at a $25 min table, you MIGHT find a shuffling dealer (of course, usually, he is plugging the discards three times and using a four pile criss-cross shuffle, geeez, what are they afraid of?) with decent pen, but the rake per hand jumps to $1.00; negative EV of TWICE a counters expectation on his best day. Of course as your average bet increases, the percentage rake goes down, but for the majority of the playing public, you can't beat the rake ... amazingly, that does not deter even the seemingly most educated among them from trying.

    Some do play alot of mini-tournaments which have real value if you live relatively close by; they are geared to throwing a bone back to the locals. The Cherokee casio in Tulsa, just this past weekend, concluded a series of tournaments that gave away three seats to the up-coming WSOBJ 2006. Good for them; and nicely done.

    There are two sister casinos, off I-35 near the Red River, that are now hosting qualifiers for a $1MM tournament in December -first prize $400K. But those tournaments, again, are qualified for by logging hours at the horribly negative EV games coupled with a random drawing. If you have the ability, getting by there and at least getting your name in the drawing would be worth the time .. but I'm still not convinced that the Chief's kid dosen't have an inside track on that angle.

    (Man, I hate being cynical.)

    The rake not withstanding, there is opportunity where you can find it, but it takes a lot of looking around and pounding the pavement.

  3. #3
    Bettie
    Guest

    Bettie: Yuck! I'm not surprised

    that Trackjack has no info on any games in the entire state of OK, even though blackjack has been allowed there for just over a year. Either no one has seen fit to visit the casinos in order to make a report or, if they did go, they didn't see fit to make a report based on the lousy rules!

    Thanks for the update, SR.

    Bettie

  4. #4
    Jay
    Guest

    Jay: OK Short Trip Report (the trip was short)

    I just got back from visiting WinStar Casino just over the border from TX on I35 exit 1. It is now the closest casino to where I live but I don't expect to visit again any time soon. There's good news, bad news, and worse news.

    I used their valet parking (free like Vegas) which was a nice start. I arrived on Wed, which is "Mens Night". This got me $5 in free slot play and into a every-half-hour drawing for $50, and one big drawing around 9PM for bigger amounts. They have a Ladies Night on a different day of the week.

    Video poker is playable - all the machines I saw were 9/6 JOB even at .25 level. They have a OTB race book that looks nice, but I can play the horses near home. So much for the good, now comes the bad & ugly.

    BJ at WinStar, as described by Sun Runner, is unplayable. The .50 fee applies to each original hand dealt, you do not need to add another .50 when splitting. At WinStar it stays at .50 no matter what level you are betting, I think all tables maxed out at $500, even the higher minimum ones. $5 tables were all CSM, 6-deckers started at $10 and up to I think $50 minimums. Strange signage: the $50 tables said "no midshoe entry". Huh?? What's the difference if they're all $500 max anyhow?

    They do offer bonus payouts without a side bet - I saw them pay $25 in addition to the 3:2 payoff for suited blackjacks. They have other payoffs up to $500 for a suited 6-7-8. Interestingly there was no literature documenting the bonuses, and they are only available certain hours on certain days.

    The $5 & $10 tables were crowded, and quite a few players at the higher tables as well. I will admit I was tempted to play despite knowing the odds were stacked against me. Luckily I had played BJ in Louisiana the week before and was able to reign in the urge. I settled for playing the free $5 plus another $20 on the VP machines.

    Now the weirdest thing of all - the poker room was......electronic! No cards dealt, it's all done by computer. It's like playing online with a bunch of people around the same table. I've never seen anything like it, and can't imagine I would enjoy it. They play $1 - 2 limit Texas Holdem, maybe the limits go up on the weekends.

    Finally the topper - no alcohol. I was told they expect to get licensed for it later in the year. I know APs aren't supposed to drink, but I really enjoy sipping a baileys & coffee or a cuba libra while playing.

    While I never play reel-type slots, I did notice that all the games were unknown to me, like they were custom made for that casino. No brand names like WOF, Star Wars, Little Green Men, Double Diamond, etc. All the slots including VP require your players card in the machine - it racks up your wins/losses, then you bring the card to the cashier to cash out. You can only add money once your card is empty of credits.

    All in all I spent a couple hours there looking around and not winning anything in the drawing. It wasn't really a wasted trip, as I now know to never return. Why are the Indian casinos in Louisiana & Mississippi able to offer BJ without a commission and OK can't? It would seem to price them out of the market. Of course as the full BJ tables there and 6:5 tables in Vegas prove that there's plenty of folks willing to give their money away.

    BTW I did really well in Louisiana, so I'm thinking about heading to Vegas again in a couple weeks. Good luck to all.

    Jay

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