Donna Blevins

Mississippi: 1990 - Legislature approves dockside gaming. Over the years, Mississippi's economy and infrastructure benefited immensely as the gambling tax revenues flowed into state and local coffers. By 2005, the coast casinos generated tax revenues to the tune of $500,000 a day, according to the state Gaming Commission.

August 29, 2005: The heavy hand of Hurricane Katrina devastated most of the 12 coast casinos and the 13th that was just about to open. The least damaged of the Gulf casinos was the Imperial Palace, which reopened in December.

If poker had its own month, it would be January, especially in 2006. The toughest decisions you face is where to go to play. You'll be able to find major tournament action in Mississippi, New Jersey and New York.

MISSISSIPPI: Who would have ever imagined that Tunica, Mississippi would become such a keystone of poker that two major events would take place virtually simultaneously - The Gold Strike World Poker Open at the Gold Strike and the Jack Binion World Series Circuit Event at the Grand.

"When you build it, they will come," is a famous line from the movie Field of Dreams. Many people called it a baseball movie. I call it is an amazing life lesson told around a baseball theme.

[Read part 1 and part 2]

TULSA, Okla. - Corporate sponsorship of poker players is now a reality as Scotty Nguyen, 1998 World Series of Poker Champion, signs an agreement with the Cherokee Casino. The agreement positions Nguyen as a representative of the casino at home and abroad.

This 21-table, non-smoking poker room overlooks Lake Michigan from the top deck of the Trump Indiana Casino river boat. A convenient open-air deck for smoke breaks is half a dozen paces from the room. The Casino is located in Buffington Harbor, in Gary, Indiana, a short, half hour's drive from downtown Chicago.

As we continue following the evolution of the WPT Boot Camp, which we'll cover in later articles, we are lead to Gary, Indiana, a half hour's drive from downtown Chicago. Who would ever have believed that Gary, Indiana, which was once known for soot-belching smoke stacks from the steel mills and oil refineries, would become a gaming destination? Gary has gone through a complete metamorphous according to Greg, who lived in Chicago during the 60's and 70's. As we drove around town, he repeatedly commented, "I can't get over how clean and neat this town has become."

Last weekend Greg and I experienced the WPT Boot Camp in Hollywood, Florida, at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel. We'll share our boot camp adventure in a later article. For now, the WPT Boot Camp is a must for poker players who want to improve their tournament skills and have aspirations of reaching the final table.

Do you remember the television commercial, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature"? This last week, it kept echoing through my mind as we experienced the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

Returning from the WSOP Circuit Event in Tunica, we stopped for the weekend at the Pearl River Resort in Philadelphia, Mississippi, about 200 miles north of the Gulf Coast. We decided to stay and play in a World Poker Showdown satellite that Sunday for a December tournament and cruise package.

[Editor's Note: This article was written before Hurricane Katrina]

When Mississippi approved casino gaming in mid 1990, they approved dockside gambling. That is, other than Indian Reservation, all gaming must take place on boats that are actually in the water. Effectively, the casinos are on huge barges that move with the rise and fall of the tides in the Gulf of Mexico, bays and the Mississippi River.