Went to Shreveport for the first time in many months over Thanksgiving, and had an enjoyable and profitable trip. I wanted to give the board an update on what's happening there from my perspective. I'm a red chipper, use K-O, consider myself a "serious recreational" player. My preferred games are the SD & DD $5 games in Vegas where I use a 1-6 spread. I play some good paytable VP, and occasionally Let It Ride, my "downfall" as it's never a positive expectation game, but I really enjoy it as a break from counting BJ. In past trips to Shreveport we have mainly stuck to $5 & $10 6-deck games.

The 6-deckers appeared to be consistent with past trips. All 5 of the casinos offer S17, DAS, DOA, no RSA at all levels. Sam's Town has been the only casino offering Late Surrender on past trips, and I didn't find any others doing it this time. Penetration on the 6-deckers seemed to be better than on previous visits, with 4.5 - 5 decks cut off, and Sam's continuing to be the deepest. Due to a pleasant surprise, we didn't play as much on the 6D's as we normally would.

The Horseshoe, former home to the best BJ game I ever played which has been gone for at least a year ($25 min SD S17 DOA DAS), on Friday afternoon didn't have even one BJ table lower than $15 minimum, so we didn't play there. There is some good news, as the 50 and 100-play VP near the poker room still offers 9/6 JOB. Lady friend & I played on them (1 cent level), and she got dealt quads on a 50-play for an $80 win.

Eldorado had a few $5 tables during the day on Thursday. Boomtown had a couple on Friday, but they quickly went up to $10. At Sam's the $10 table we were playing at went up to $15, so we left to eat. This wasn't all that unexpected as it was a holiday weekend.

We ended up putting most of our time in at Diamond Jack's (the former Isle Of Capri). They have renamed the road to match the casino name change, I hate to think how much that cost the Louisiana taxpayers in signage costs. In past trips the only DD games in town were $25 minimum at DJ's and Boomtown, and the pen was pretty horrible at around 50%. This trip DJ's had three tables of $10 min DD, which is a lot more in my comfort zone, and they didn't kick the minimums up at night. Pen was still pretty bad overall, but we ran across one dealer who was cutting 75 or 80%, so we milked that as long as we could. I was keeping my spread low for longevity (1-3). Also DJ's has two $1 9/6 JOB VP machines at the bar on the main floor inside the "high roller" slot area fence.

DJ's, Sam's, and Boomtown had drawing promotions going on, with free entries. Neither of us won the Mercedes at Boomtown. There are several 50+ senior promos available, including $4.99 breakfast buffet at Boomtown (yes I qualify). Sam's is now hooked up with B-Connected, the Boyd's players card system that includes the Vegas properties. Other than the above mentioned games, VP paytables sucked at the quarter level. Boomtown used to have some good ones in the past, but I couldn't find any this trip.

Overall we had a great time, and we both came out ahead a few hundred after 2-1/2 days. I'd still rather play in Vegas, but now that gas prices are down, it may be more economical to head to Shreveport again soon.