Beau Rivage trip report

[sweetjazz]

I went to the Beau Rivage to try out their new poker room. I give their new room very high reviews. While there was little diversity in games, almost all HE, the room is willing to spread the other games. They had 1/2, 2/5, and 5/10 NLHE games going. They spread 4/8 and 10/20 LHE.

They also agreed to spread a LHE 20/40 game, making sure that it did not break up the 10/20 game. At first, the 20/40 game was only four-handed. They agreed to let us play rake free until the game was seven-handed or more. When the game later started to break up, they let us play for reduced rake ($1/pot) when it was below seven-handed. Later in the evening, there was a $50/$100 blind dealer's choice game. I don't know any more details than this, but the BR is definitely hoping to become the place for the biggest games in the Gulf Coast area.

They are working very hard to make the poker room work, giving breaks to players in situations where they don't have to. It's the completely opposite approach of Harrah's in New Orleans, which never makes exceptions to its rake policy no matter how much common sense in a given situation would suggest that they should.

Everything in the poker room is done well. The only complaint is that the chairs don't have wheels to roll around, making them somewhat uncomfortable at the moment. But this is a short-term issue, as the wheels are on order. There is food service, the dealers I had were all professional, dealt quickly, and were often friendly. They have a comp system, which includes reduced room rates (as low as $69/night) if you play poker for five hours that day.

Anyone in the nearby area should definitely check out the room for themselves. And anyone considering making a visit to the Gulf Coast might not find a better place to stay than the Beau Rivage. As people round here like to say, "Y'all come down and see us now!"