Beau Rivage Trip Report

[The Big Easy]

So I was very excited that the Beau added a pokerroom because I am so [censored] sick of playing NL holdem. Players in Biloxi (and the state of Mississippi in general) love to play PLO and LHE with a rock, and I was ready for a change of pace. So I decided to stop at the Beau on my way from New Orleans to Perdido Key, FL, and I enjoyed playing there so much that I decided to stop on the way back too.

Friday 9/1 - My friend and I arrive at the Beau at 4:00pm. Walk through the lobby and am very surprised at the small number of people in the lobby and casino. The decor is very nice (reminds me of the Bellagio), but the people are scummy. Get to the pokerrrom (which is in the very back left corner of the casino), and it looks like a mini version of the Bellagio. They have 11 tables on the lower level, and 5 in the raised "high-limit" room. There are 8 games going on the floor - 2 2/5 NL, 2 1/2 NL, 1 20-40 LHE, & 3 4-8 LHE. There are 4 games going in the upper level, 5/10 NL, 10-25 PLO, 25-50 PLO, & 100-300 2-7 TD (spread limit, I assume). I want to play 20-40, but there are 5 on the list, so take an open 2/5 NL seat and also put my name on the 5/10 NL list. I was hoping to play 5/10 PLO, but no such luck. The buyin at 2/5 is $300 min/Uncapped. I play for 5 hours and end up losing $200. The tables are crammed in, and with the drink tables scattered about, it gets really tight between tables. Each table has electronic tracking for comps and seating (I overheard some guy say it is the same system used at Red Rock and TI). The floormen were not used to the system yet, and they were very inefficient at filling open seats. Also, there is a separate host stand for the "high-limit" room, but you still have to check-in at the front podium to get on the list for the "high-limit" games. This makes no sense. But it was the first week, so I am sure they will work out the kinks soon enough. The cocktail waitresses were very good looking and efficient.

Sunday 9/3 - I decide to stop at the Beau on my way back and hit the casino floor at noon. The casino and lobby are like a zoo. The line for the buffet is ridiculous, and there are people everywhere. On the other hand, the pokerroom is relatively quiet. Only a couple 1/2 NL games, 3 4/8 games, and a 10-20 LHE game. They are getting ready to start a 10-25 PLO game, so I take the last open seat. I buyin for $2K (as do most of the others), but after two rounds half the players have gone bust and rebought for $4K or more. The game has a mandatory $50 straddle on the button. Actually, I don't know if it was mandatory, but everyone was doing it, so I just went along. At about 2:00pm, they start a 20-40 game, so I move to that game. I play till 7:00pm and win $2500 (the deck ran me over). Josh Arieh showed up around 1:00pm and helped start a 25-50 PLO game which filled up after an hour. They started a 5/10 NL game around 4:00pm. By the time I left at 7:00, every table was open and every game had a list.

Overall, I really liked playing there. The floormen are very attentive to the bigger players, and want to have consistent higher limit action (including 20/40 and PLO, which I love to play). I like that the 2/5 NL game is uncapped, and I like that they are trying to consistently run a 20/40 game, which is almost impossible to find in any room on the Gulfcoast. One thing I forgot to mention: if you are playing in the upper level, you get free food from the Snack Bar. The food is nothing special, but it's good and it's free. If they continue to run bigger LHE games and maybe get a 5/10 PLO game on the weekends, I will have no problem driving to Biloxi instead of staying in New Orleans and being forced to play only NL.

[StevieG]

Thanks, Big Easy.

As much as I liked playing at the Grand, if Beau Rivage had a room while I was in Biloxi, I most likley would have never played anywhere else.

Does anyone know if Beau Rivage plans to reopen the Port House restaurant?

I was disappointed to see onthe Web site that there is a Todd English Olives franchise there now, and nothing listed about Port House.

[The Big Easy]

Some stuff I forgot about:

The NL games have a time charge of $6 per dealer down. The PLO games had a collection pot for the rake, but I never really figured out how that exactly works. The limit games (including 20-40) have a max rate of $4.

There is a BBJ, but I am not exactly certain as to what games qualify. I know that the 1/2 NL, 2/5 NL, 4-8, 10-20, and 20-40 games all qualify. I am not sure about the 5/10 NL.

The pokerroom also has safety deposit boxes for you highrollers.

Outside of the pokerroom, I was very surprised at the high number of "high-limit" tables on the main casino floor. There was an entire pit of $100 minimum BJ tables on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully there will be a spillover into the pokerroom, and they will have a large enough player base to consistently spread a variety of mid-stakes and high-stakes games.

[d10]

Here's another BR trip report:

This thread inspired me to make another trip back to Biloxi. Previously I had tried out the Imperial Palace, and hated the experience. I decided the 6 hour drive to Tunica would always be a better plan than the 3 hours to Biloxi.

The BR is a very nice casino. I hated the IP because it was clearly a boat, everything was packed in super tight, it was dark, and the atmosphere just sucked. The BR is a big open space, I don't know if it's one of the casinos that rebuilt on land or if it's still technically a boat like the casinos in Tunica, but I don't really care. The poker room had a decent amount of tables (I didn't count how many, somewhere around 20?), all new and clean, same for the chips and everything else in the room.

There was a 20/40 game going when I got there (10pm Friday night), it was pretty soft. I recognized some regulars from the Horseshoe in Tunica. It started getting short within an hour (which I love), but then it got too short and broke. I took like $400 something in profit and took a seat at 2/5 NL while waiting for a 10/20 LHE seat.

I can't comment much on the 2/5 NL game, because I suck at NL. There was no cap, but I only bought in for the $400 something that I had profited from the 20/40 game. I let myself get stacked with AQ on a flop of Q77. I knew on the turn he probably had a 7 but being a limidonk I couldn't get away from the hand. I rebought for $1k and played better, and made about $200 something to bring to the 10/20 game.

I was getting hungry but I had put off getting a rewards card until just before I joined the NL game. The BR is not as nice as Tunica with comps, you actually have to clock in and play a bunch of hours before you can eat. Fortunately the floor was an old dealer from the Horseshoe that recognized me and she hooked me up.

I started slowly grinding up a profit at the 10/20 game. Then around 3-4am it also got short, and the guys that stayed around were clearly terrible SH players. I almost felt bad because I was running them over. They were clearly upset about losing the money and a few hundred bucks didn't mean much to me, so their utility lost was much greater than what I gained. Eventually that game also broke, I left it with around $650 profit for the day.

I went back to the 2/5 NL game and bought in for $400 something (I pocketed a couple bills I had earned from the 10/20 and just took whatever chips I had). I was grinded down to about $400 when I pick up AQ, a bunch of guys call the straddle and I pop it to $60 out of the BB and only the straddle calls. Flop is Q high and I cry inside because I'm probably going to get stacked again. Straddle has KQ though, so instead of getting stacked I double up. I net another few hundred when I turn a flush against someone who paired up his AT. I only had a Q high flush on the turn and after I bet like $100 Villian counts out the wad of like $800 bills he's got and I almost [censored] myself because if he pushes I will call like a fish and get stacked. He just called though so I felt a little better. The A pairs up on the river though to make me hate my hand even more, but I bet $200 and Villian makes a nice laydown. I leave a bit later because I have more on the table than I'm comfortable playing with, and the only LHE game left is 4/8. $1195 for the trip.

I like the casino, I'll probably go back, and I don't know if I can justify the trip to Tunica anymore. It would be nice if they could get higher LHE games going more consistently. It sucks that even B&Ms now are shifting towards mostly NL games. I should really learn to play NL better.