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Inapinch's Journey to Southern Mississippi (3 Viewers)

Lunch today at The Hollywood. This was the spot that famous singer Marc Cohn famously sang about in the song, Walking in Memphis. Deelish. Food is fantastic, everything made with southern twists.

Next stop is 1st Jackpot, then Fitz.

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inapinch said:
Lunch today at The Hollywood. This was the spot that famous singer Marc Cohn famously sang about in the song, Walking in Memphis. Deelish. Food is fantastic, everything made with southern twists.

Next stop is 1st Jackpot, then Fitz.

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You got me. I’m scrolling down on my phone reading your post. When you said “The Hollywood”, I was assuming a Hollywood Casino. Then got to the picture and thought, holy hell that’s a terrible casino.

Looks delicious. I’m following along your trip as I’m thinking of doing a similar trip late next year or spring 2025. It’s a shorter drive for me.
 
Updates:
1st Jackpot was a dud. Staff was all frowns and the tables seemed cold. This was a (very) small casino. Personally, not a fan.
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Fitz was great! They have the only $5 blackjack table in Tunica! I didn’t even know these still exist! I stayed in one seat for hours tipping every hand, and me and the dealers had lots of fun cracking jokes and winning a few bucks. A small casino floor, but still deserves a thumbs up.
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Last Tunica Update
After Fitz yesterday, I hit up Gold Strike. You guys won’t believe this. I step up to the craps table. Knees weak, arms are heavy. For those familiar, I went with the iron cross bet: place the 5, 6, 8, and bet the field. The shooter places a come out number (I forget), and then rolls nothing but 6’s and 8’s and 12’s. Holy shit. I win about $500 on this guy in a matter of minutes (And I’m a minimum bets kind of guy!).

Wait, it gets better.

I have a disagreement with a gentleman on the table, so I walk to the next craps table, and I’m immediately the shooter. I then proceed to roll all numbers!!!! For those who may not know, this is the largest payout table bet in the casino. I was shouting so loud. I was ready to start a breakdancing competition and I don’t dance. I won some more money, but the saddest part is that I didn’t bet the bonus, so I didn’t win the 175:1 bet. But I still won, and I’m happy with that.

Anyways, the Gold Strike has the nicest tables and atmosphere on my tour so far, but no poker tables. Since this spot and the Horseshoe are next to each other, I’d highly recommend staying at one of these if you visit Tunica. That way, you have good table games, plenty of 24hr poker tables, and (mostly) friendly staff.

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inapinch said:
Last Tunica Update
After Fitz yesterday, I hit up Gold Strike. You guys won’t believe this. I step up to the craps table. Knees weak, arms are heavy. For those familiar, I went with the iron cross bet: place the 5, 6, 8, and bet the field. The shooter places a number (I forget), and then rolls nothing but 6’s and 8’s and 12’s. Holy shit. I win about $500 on this guy in a matter of minutes (And I’m a minimum bets kind of guy!).

Wait, it gets better.

I have a disagreement with a gentleman on the table, so I walk to the next craps table, and I’m immediately the shooter. I then proceed to roll all numbers!!!! For those who may not know, this is the largest payout table bet in the casino. I was shouting so loud. I was ready to start a breakdancing competition and I don’t dance. I won some more money, but the saddest part is that I didn’t bet the bonus, so I didn’t win the 175:1 bet. But I still won, and I’m happy with that.

Anyways, the Gold Strike has the nicest tables and atmosphere on my tour so far, but no poker tables. Since this spot and the Horseshoe are next to each other, I’d highly recommend staying at one of these if you visit Tunica. That way, you have good table games, plenty of 24hr poker tables, and (mostly) friendly staff.

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Waaaayyyy back when, Gold Strike used to have a great poker room. I was so disappointed when they shut it down. Was always a favorite.
 
Vicksburg Update
Bally’s. Small casino floor with $10-15min tables. Very smoky, but decent looking chips (oversized inlay RHCs). No poker room. Located next to Riverwalk.

Riverwalk. Another small casino floor, very smokey. RHC chips are highly used. $10-$15 min tables. No poker room.

Ameristar. Medium sized casino floor with $10-15 min tables. Plastic chips. There’s poker tables downstairs during limited hours (sadly, I didn’t get to enjoy). Very smoky, but slightly better ventilation.

I was down several hundred at Ballys and Riverwalk, but broke even at Ameristar craps table.

Got in trouble for this one: :ninja:
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Headed down to Biloxi yesterday to stay for two nights. I played a round of golf at Fallen Oak during the day. Great course! Last night, I had dinner with family at The Reef. Good food, I’d rate it a solid 8/10.

Afterwards, I visited the Beau Rivage and played at a craps table. I’m down a bit, but still having tons of fun on my journey! I had intentions of hitting the poker tables, especially after following @NotRealNameNoSir ’s visit, but never got to that area sadly.

Tonight, I’m planning on visiting Scarlet Pearl and Palace. LOVING BILOXI! I miss it, it’s a beautiful part of the country.

I haven’t harvested very many chips, not really seeing anything that’s grabbing my interest. If I find something, I’ll be sure to share.

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Biloxi second update:
Scarlet Pearl
This is my all time fav spot. Very clean casino floor with kind staff. It just felt top notch all the way around. And, if you have kids, there’s a cool volcano-themed putt putt course directly across the street.

The Palace
The only nonsmoking casino (maybe in all of Mississippi?). Great spot, 8/10.

BoomTown
Slightly more dated, moderately smoky, but they have a lot to offer!! $5 blackjack tables (multiple!), poker room, hybrid man/electronic craps table, and more!

I’m relaxing back in Jackson now. It’s been a fantastic trip. I should have some Mississippi chip sales coming up in the new year.

Here’s a few sharp edges I did find along the way:
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Flying back to Denver today with the wife and kiddos.
My cousin heard about my trip to visit, tour, and collect chips, and he gave me his Dad’s small set of chips, saved throughout his life. My “Uncle Gabby” passed away several years ago, but I was honored to have his chips. What a special trip it’s been! It’s not many chips, but I’m going to try and get a cigar box engraved and save his chips in there. Among the set is one particular chip:
Gold Shore secondary $1k
I don’t see it in chipguide, I’ll try to add in the next few weeks.
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inapinch said:
Flying back to Denver today with the wife and kiddos.
My cousin heard about my trip to visit, tour, and collect chips, and he gave me his Dad’s small set of chips, saved throughout his life. My “Uncle Gabby” passed away several years ago, but I was honored to have his chips. What a special trip it’s been! It’s not many chips, but I’m going to try and get a cigar box engraved and save his chips in there. Among the set is one particular chip:
Gold Shore secondary $1k
I don’t see it in chipguide, I’ll try to add in the next few weeks.
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Quite a special find with that chips. Anything else particularly interesting that you got from that pickup? Seems like southern Mississippi has some nicer chips waiting to be found!
 
inapinch said:
Flying back to Denver today with the wife and kiddos.
My cousin heard about my trip to visit, tour, and collect chips, and he gave me his Dad’s small set of chips, saved throughout his life. My “Uncle Gabby” passed away several years ago, but I was honored to have his chips. What a special trip it’s been! It’s not many chips, but I’m going to try and get a cigar box engraved and save his chips in there. Among the set is one particular chip:
Gold Shore secondary $1k
I don’t see it in chipguide, I’ll try to add in the next few weeks.
View attachment 1249452
Click to expand...
Proud Of You Yes GIF
 
Bill_Man618 said:
Quite a special find with that chips. Anything else particularly interesting that you got from that pickup? Seems like southern Mississippi has some nicer chips waiting to be found!
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Appreciate you asking…
There’s a few chips that I find SUPER cool, including the Cotton Club (what a name!), and the bear claw Lady Luck $500 (canceled though)!

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If anyone’s interested, I found this article explaining the 30-year history of casinos opening and closing in Mississippi. The pages and link below.

IOC Biloxi was the first to open in August 1992, followed by President, Biloxi Belle, and Gold Shore. All of them were barges bc land-based gambling was illegal (until Katrina hit). When families go gambling, even to this day, folks say “we’re going to the boat!” — suggesting going to visit the casinos :)

link: http://www.mslagamingnews.com/

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So, funny story, when I was growing up as a youngster, my uncle used to have a saying when we were all seated at the table for Christmas. Every year, we’d all get together (in Jackson MS) for dinner and poker. And every year, he’d wear this worn out yellow Tshirt that said Lindsay’s Lemonade. He got the shirt probably sometime back in the 90s. During the blistering summers in Mississippi, he and several other family members would work a small lemonade stand at the Neshoba County Fair. It was extremely hard work.

Anyways, he loved that yellow shirt. It was so worn, you could hardly read the letters. When he’d arrive for dinner and poker, we’d always give him hard time about the shirt. The moment he sat down at the table, we’d always ask, “Hey, where can I buy one of those shirts?” he’d always quickly reply, “can’t buy ‘em!”

I had some time today and wanted to separate my Uncle’s chips from my collection. I have an old cigar box that can fit maybe 80-100 chips. I sanded down the box and got a dremel to carve out his saying onto the top of the box. It’s not much at first sight, but I think he’d like it.

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Fascinating Find!
I didn’t realize that Biloxi Belle has both short cane and long cane versions.

Was this common among other casinos in different states? E.g., to have both SCV and LCV for the exact same design? I figured it might be a security issue, but then again, maybe not?

SCV:
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LCV:
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inapinch said:
Fascinating Find!
I didn’t realize that Biloxi Belle has both short cane and long cane versions.

Was this common among other casinos in different states? E.g., to have both SCV and LCV for the exact same design? I figured it might be a security issue, but then again, maybe not?

SCV:
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LCV:
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I'm not exactly sure if it was a security aspect or maybe they were just made in different production runs. Then there have also been times where they used a mold where one side of the chip was LCV and the other side is SCV. I don't really know the information about that, but I have seen chips where LCV and SCV are mixed.
 
I think it was an era of chips when SCV/LCV molds were rocking two or more presses and one had an old mold and one a new mold.

And they just went with it. Someone had mentioned this a few years ago but I can’t find the thread. One of the local PCF historians I believe.

Side note…. Lemme play with them :D
 

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