Winstar Casino - how is it? (1 Viewer)

[RowdyRawhide]

We are headed to Texas this week for a family trip and thinking about staying there over night on the way down. Got the wife and kids in tow, and figured I'd sneak down for a few hours of poker after we got everyone settled for bed. My wife has given this idea her blessing, but I figured I'd try to see if anyone has had any first hand experience.

Thanks

 

[RowdyRawhide]

tagging a few people that may experience or know people that may have been there

@CraigT78 @David O @DrStrange
I know there are others that may have experience as well

 

[Frogzilla]

Poker room is good, you’ll have a great time. Every time I’ve been there they had lots of tables running

 

[David O]

It has been years since I have been there. So I am sure many things have changed. Being on the Texas border it is probably a six hour drive for me. The times I have been have been nice but don’t expect anything like a Vegas casino. Huge casino with tons of slots.

Enjoy and be safe!

 

[Ethan]

Poker room is huge. Weekend gets a decent amount of players. No free drinks but the food comps are pretty good relative to other places I’ve played imo.

Definitely worth a visit and a few session investment.

Edit: forgot to add they are the first casino I’ve player that enforced every chip over the line as the actual bet. No cutting chips inside the bet line to pull some back in the same motion. Also, I forget exactly why but 1/2 is hard to beat the rake. May be due to a capped buyin? It’s been a while. I’d personally stick with 1/3 or 2/5.

 

[toothpic]

I haven't been there in a long time, since they were still a tent on the parking lot connected to a small building. I played the 1/2 and after a few hours of playing felt like there were a lot of hands but everyone's stack was just average so I think the rake was pretty high. Some quick searching lead me to poker Atlas which says

10% up to $5 on the 1/2 table

There are also some comments about them taking the small blind every hand for the house or the BBJ so there's no option to chop a pot between sb bb.

I found this thread which may be helpful too if you're willing to go through all the banter of poker play strategy and complaints to understand the room and players that are typically seen there: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/.../winstar-world-casino-thackerville-ok-788837/

 

[DrStrange]

The table games are terrible due to a special "rake" of fifty cents a hand. Does not apply to poker games. But low stakes blackjack with an extra cost from the rake gets pretty ugly. Not so much a deal playing $100 hands - though even there you are losing an extra half percent due to the special fee.

One silver lining - maybe you can harvest fractional chips?

 

[Frogzilla]

They have a $230 bounty tourney every Sunday...I’ll snap a couple pics of the setup if I can make it up there today

 

[DoubleEagle]

The table games are terrible due to a special "rake" of fifty cents a hand. Does not apply to poker games. But low stakes blackjack with an extra cost from the rake gets pretty ugly. Not so much a deal playing $100 hands - though even there you are losing an extra half percent due to the special fee.

One silver lining - maybe you can harvest fractional chips?

I believe the $.50 “ante” is a requirement at all OK casinos. Makes low limit table games unplayable, but people still do.

 

[David O]

I believe the $.50 “ante” is a requirement at all OK casinos. Makes low limit table games unplayable, but people still do.

This is correct.

 

[ekricket]

The table games are terrible due to a special "rake" of fifty cents a hand. Does not apply to poker games. But low stakes blackjack with an extra cost from the rake gets pretty ugly. Not so much a deal playing $100 hands - though even there you are losing an extra half percent due to the special fee.

One silver lining - maybe you can harvest fractional chips?

That .50 goes into a “player pool” and that is where the payouts for winning come from. So you aren’t playing against the “house” you are playing against the “player pool”. It’s a law, part of their gaming pact with the government.
But typically a couple nights a week (slow ones) the house will pay the .50 for you, so it gets a little better. Not much, but a little. It really penalizes the small gamblers, having to pay $2.50 to win $2.00 in a blackjack bet, but it’s not so bad if you a $25 a hand gambler.
Most places won’t sell you the .50 chips, mainly cause they only have a few, and they are usually pretty beat up cause they use the same ones over and over every hand. But occasionally you can get lucky, usually you have to buy a barrel from each gaming table to get a decent amount.

 

[Frogzilla]

BTW it jumps to $1 if your bet goes over $50.
The 1% rake isn’t a good deal but it’s not as punitive as 6:5 blackjack (last I checked they were still 3:2 in OK). It’s still playable unless you’re actually trying to count/profit vs just have a bit of fun

 

[Ethan]

Winstar fracs are stamped plastic garbage. Convinced a dealer to sell me a barrel ‘for tips’ much to my disappointment.

 

[toothpic]

Oh yea and no free drinks, right?

 

[CraigT78]

IMO WinStar is a stop to say you've been to the largest casino in the world, but that's about it for me. It's huge, it's mostly slots, and you'll get run over by a old lady, chain smoking, in her motorized scooter, while on oxygen, if you don't walk fast enough.

The poker room is very nice, lots of tables, but I can't comment on the play, as I haven't played there in a few years. Before my daughter could fly by her self, I used to drive to Oklahoma every other weekend to drop her at her mom's, and the weekend sloppy play was good to me, but there's also a lot of "Dallas, I want to be a pro, grinder types" trying to capitalize.

The lack of free drinks, and that there's a last call, keeps me out of the OK casinos for the most part.

 

[Frogzilla]

Rowdy what day are you heading in? Tuesday will be packed for NYE

 

[CraigT78]

Rowdy what day are you heading in? Tuesday will be packed for NYE

Not to mention the hotel will likely be sold out or upwards of $400 a night! Didn't think about that!

 

[Frogzilla]

@RowdyRawhide im here now...they have about 10-12 cash tables running and 90 entries for the Sunday MTT. It’s a good room

They used to have RHC cash chips but have switched to edge aligned ceramics-will snap a pic if I get on the cash.

 

[RowdyRawhide]

Thanks for all of the replies guys

Rowdy what day are you heading in? Tuesday will be packed for NYE

Not to mention the hotel will likely be sold out or upwards of $400 a night! Didn't think about that!

We are coming thru tomorrow night. I looked at rooms yesterday and they were already at $389. Not sure if I want spend that much.

 

[rimmerryan]

Winstar... meh!

Casino - worth a stop, but nothing really to write home about. Slots aren’t actually slots... it’s based on some sort of bingo game and are class II machines = horrible payouts! Table games have gotten better... but there is still a .50 ante for blackjack hands up to $99 wagered, $1 ante for anything $100 and up. Yes some days the antes are covered, but those are the only days blackjack should be played. Craps used to be done by flipping over cards, but have now progressed to dice, so that’s gotten a little better.
Poker room is fairly large and nicely kept up. Have been some decent wait times depending on games being spread and numbers of players in attendance... but nothing over the top. Not really any chips worth harvesting... so that’s a bummer.
While yes, the casino is the worlds largest based on gaming square footage... it is still a tent-like structure with a fake facade facing the highway. (Same type of structure as the old Cowboys one that collapsed a number of years back!)
Rating - 3 /

Hotel - isn’t bad... rooms are fairly decent. We have gone and stayed and played at pool and a concert or two (they do have some pretty big name decent talent that plays there)
Rating - 3.5 / 5

Pool - is actually pretty nice, but obviously not at this time of year!
Rating - 4 / 5

Food / Drinks - as others have stated before... there are NO free drinks! Still can’t get past this, but it’s the law in OK (home to the craziest alcohol laws ever!)
Food is mediocre at best and I have yet to find a meal there that I would tell others about
Rating - 2 / 5

Good luck if you stop tomorrow!
Might be worth just a quick visit and then keep on trucking !!!