Ameristar Poker Room

Impressions: I really enjoyed the Ameristar Vicksburg. The entire casino appears to be updated and the poker room itself is brand new.
The standard Mississippi rake of 10% up to $4 was a welcomed change from the $5 taken in Louisiana card rooms.
Atmosphere: The 9 tables are brand new, brown felt with a betting line. They have deep elbow cushions with built in sterling silver cup holders. Six of the nine tables had automatic shufflers. The chairs are also brand new and very, thickly cushioned. Unfortunately, they are non-swivel and non-reclining. They have a funny rule about turning your chair around backwards so that you can’t sit leaning forward on the back of the chair. This seems a little silly to me.
The cage and sign up area are located in the center of the room as you enter from the casino floor. There are 4 tables to the right and 4 to the left and one table between the cage and the 42’ flat-screen that displays the automated waiting list on the east wall. In addition, there are three more 36’ flat screens in the room about 6 feet off the floor. I think this height is preferable to TVs located higher on the walls that cause you to incline your view further away from the table.
A three foot wall separates the poker room from the casino floor, yet the cacophony of slot machines didn’t feel overwhelming or even irritating. In retrospect, the room actually seemed fairly quiet compared to other rooms. The poker room itself is non-smoking, but a three foot wall does nothing towards keeping cigarette smoke out. I will say that the level of smoke in the Ameristar was still very tolerable, much like the Beau Rivage in Biloxi.
Dealers: The dealers were a low-point for the card room with one or two exceptions.
With the room being new, it seemed that the dealers weren’t fully aware of the exact rules that the room enforced. Some rules were enforced by some dealers and some were over looked or forgotten by others. There is no Mississippi straddle in this Mississippi card room. This rule was universally enforced. MP3 players and I-pods aren’t allowed in the card room, but I didn’t get informed of this rule until I had been there for 4 or 5 hours. Only one dealer mentioned this rule, and I had my MP3 player back in with the next dealer.
One dealer was quite short with and even called the floor on a guy who she said was harassing her about the cards being marked. (They were getting marked by the automatic shufflers at every table, apparently.) It took a while for the cage to replace the setup, and the irritation between the dealer and this player began to escalate. When the floor manager warned the player about his comments I was quite surprised, as I didn’t feel that he had been too far out of line. Apparently, he’s a very irritating regular who whines about a lot of stuff. This was confirmed by many of the players at the table after he left. Still, a dealer should be able to deal with annoying customers; they do, in fact, provide a service for human beings who do often prove picky and annoying.
One or two of the dealers weren’t very efficient in keeping the game moving. Rather than turning the next card then scooping the chips together they would scoop the chips together then turn the next card. This made it seem like it took forever to get the next card. This is a minor thing, but probably the difference in one or two more hands in per hour. There were a few other mistakes that I’ll not go into.
Food: The waitresses were in and out every 10 to 15 minutes for drinks. There is a coffee station just outside the barrier wall with coffee, hot chocolate and cappuccinos. It has an assortment of creamers, in case you like your coffee with some frill.
They do not offer table side service for food as of yet, but there was a deli in the works right beside the coffee station and a snack shop located upstairs.
Service: You are able to call ahead up to one hour in advance, regardless of, whether or not you are staying at the hotel. The automated waiting list was giving them some trouble, but they worked around this issue well enough to have us seated immediately upon arrival.
Lisa, who was running the cage and waiting list, was very knowledgeable and professional. She seemed very apt to remember your name and knew how to make poker players happy.
I was sat immediately at a $4/8 LHE game that was already running and played two and a half hours while waiting to join the one $2/5 NLHE game that was running this Saturday morning and afternoon. Unfortunately, upon leaving the LHE game, I waited for just over 30minutes on a dealer to start our new table of $2/5 NLHE.
Comps: The room offers the standard $1/hr comp rate and the comp is applicable toward food, rooms and anything else that the Ameristar’s VIP program offers.
The BBJP was already up to $20k for any four of a kind or better beaten. This is very good for a room that has only been open for two whole weeks.
The poker room rate at the hotel was yet to be determined.