Traveling to Deal Poker Tournaments can be a very lucrative and exciting career. You get to see the country and sometimes other countries. Stay in upscale hotels (sometimes) with all the amenities. And meet interesting people every where you go. At some venues you have to pay your way for everything and some will pay everything for you. This was one of the good ones!
This is the Dancing Rabbit Inn located in Choctaw, Ms. which is on the Choctaw Reservation next to the Dancing Rabbit Golf Club and the Pearl River casinos. First class furnishings and amenities included in your stay. Very comfortable!
I’m 67 and semi-retired. I dealt for 15 years in a casino but now i just travel a few times a year to deal tournaments that along with my social security allow me to live. It’s a pretty good gig if you like traveling and getting paid pretty well to deal. If i were younger i would do this full time. Just can’t hang with these younger dealers. They are traveling to deal poker all year long and work many more hours than i can. My old body won’t allow me lol.
Hitting the Road to Mississippi
I was looking forward to traveling to deal poker this trip. It would be my first time at this venue in Pearl River Mississippi. An old friend that i worked with for many years is now the Director of Table Games there so i was excited to see him again after several years of just communicating on the internet.
So i packed my bags, loaded the car, and hit the road. It’s about a nine hour drive from my home in Gastonia North Carolina. The first hours of my drive were very uneventful. That is until i neared Atlanta Georgia.
Atlanta Georgia Traffic
If you have ever driven near Atlanta then you can relate to the traffic i encountered as i got nearer. Bumper to bumper, stop and go, one minute doing 75 mph down I-85 and the next coming to a complete stop and crawling along the highway.
Not my idea of a good drive. But one of the pitfalls of driving south and west from the Carolinas to another state.
Finally im on the open road again headed west out of there. When i drive somewhere i really hate to stop very often. I like to get to where i’m going in the least of time. Usually only stopping for gas and necessities.
Alabama
Next stop the Georgia-Alabama state line. Mother nature was beginning to kick in as i crossed the state line so i pulled into the rest area just inside the Alabama state line. When driving you can always count on a rest area near state lines. They usually have a Welcome Center there also where you can grab a map or advertising materials for the state you just entered.
Long Boring Drive
Now the drive all the way through the state of Alabama. Not much to see, just the scenery as i drive down the highway. Really quite boring. Glad i had some webinars to listen to as i drove along.
Mississippi Back Roads
The final leg of my drive was part Alabama and part Mississippi. But also it was close to 100 miles of two lane country roads. A few small towns along the way. I finally arrived at my destination and got checked into my room. I unpacked the car and settled in to my new home for the next 12 days.
Bright and early the next morning (Wednesday) we had to go to the Choctaw Gaming office to get my picture taken for my Gaming Badge that has to be worn at all times when working in the Golden Moon Casino Poker Room. And then to a dealer’s meeting in the casino and a brief tour to get my bearings in the casino. Then not much to do until Thursday morning when the tournaments start.
Tournaments
For the next 10 days there are tournaments every day starting around 11am in the morning and usually lasting until after midnite. The first one was a $100,000 guarantee prize pool stretched out for 3 days in flights with the final table on Sunday. Daily and sometimes nightly tournaments ran all week long. The main event, another $100,000 guarantee event started Friday with the final tables being played out on Sunday. A morning and an evening flight got us down to the finals. That’s me dealing the main event.
Monday morning i got up early. all the dealin’ was done!! I had packed a lot of my bags Sunday night, so i loaded the car and headed over to the casino one last time for this trip. TO GET PAID!!!! Yes they pay us as soon as the tournaments are over and they get everything tallied up. SWEET!!
Then it’s back on the road again. Not a bad trip at all. I only worked one really hard day. It was a 14 hour day and wore me out but that is usually everywhere the first Saturday of a tournament. So back home to Carolina until my next gig which is in April. Maybe i will do another blog on that one also. Until then, know when to holdem and know when to foldem. I may be looking at you across the felt!
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