Vacations for the Poker Player

Need a reason for your next vacation to include something more than poker? Maybe your significant other is not a poker player and needs a different diversion? Well, a casino resort may still be your answer. While the obvious destination would be Las Vegas with its myriad shopping, dining, and entertainment choices, there are other locations that offer the draw of a great poker room with first class non-poker
offerings.

If you are looking for golf, there are top-rated courses sitting right next to some of the best casinos in North America. Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut is home to the 36-hole Lake of Isles golf course, designed by Rees Jones. With its beautiful lake views and scenic vistas, the golf course has been rated highly by both Golf Digest and Golf Magazine. And with the largest poker room on the east coast, it is a prime destination for poker players.

In Biloxi, Mississippi, you can stay and play at the Beau Rivage casino, home to the 510 acre, 18-hole Fallen Oak golf course, designed by Tom Fazio who also designed the top-rated Shadow Creek golf course in Las Vegas. The sixteen table poker room offers high stakes games as well as daily tournaments.

Turning Stone Resort and Casino, in central New York's scenic Mohawk Valley, is another great golf and poker destination. Turning Stone is the largest golf resort in New York, boasting five championship golf courses, and its poker room is home to daily poker tournaments, a wide variety of cash games and the annual New York Fall Poker Classic.

Further north is the Niagara Fallsview Casino in Ontario, Canada, which has over forty-five golf courses within a 30-minute drive, including the Grand Niagara Resort designed by Rees Jones and Greg Norman, and the John Daly designed Thundering Waters course. After a round, you can head back into the casino which is home to the largest poker room in Ontario.

For those who enjoying skiing, there is South Lake Tahoe. Skiers and snowboarders can walk to the lifts from Harvey's Casino, with its large poker room that hosts daily tournaments, cash games, and even a World Series of Poker circuit event. Cross country skiers can take advantage of the trails at the Caesar's Windsor, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Just north of Detroit, the Windsor was voted one of the world's best new casinos by Forbes Traveler. It is a WSOP satellite location, with weekly tournaments to win a seat to the Main Event, in addition to its daily tournaments and various cash games.

Just an hour from Dallas/Ft. Worth is one of the largest casinos in the country, the WinStar in Thackerville, Oklahoma. This casino offers you a taste of Madrid, Paris, Rome, and other exotic destinations with its themed World Casino. And its concert venue, the ShowPlace Theatre, brings in top talent every week.

Finally, if you are looking for a vacation where you can combine shopping with your poker, the Horseshoe Hammond Casino in Chicago may be for you. The casino boasts proximity to some of the best shopping anywhere, from the Magnificent Mile to State Street. To the east, Caesar's in Atlantic City recently expanded to include The Pier Shops, a $175-addition to the casino which offers a number of high-end retailers from Swarovski to Louis Vuitton to its indoor waterfront mall. A simulated beach on the third floor adds to the vacation ambiance.

With so many casino destinations offering so much more than just great poker, who said you can't have it all? Whether you, your spouse, or both of you, like poker, but want your vacation to include more, a casino destination is the ultimate way to have too much of a good thing.

Shari Geller is an attorney, journalist, reporter, blogger, poker player, and observer of the poker scene. You can write her at BurnThis2@aol.com, and read her blog at www.burnthistoo.blogspot.com.