Harrah's Cherokee Poker Room

pokeraddict

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This is in response to Paul in another thread but figured it needed its own thread.

For Paul and anyone else curious here is the scoop on Harrah's Cherokee poker room. For those unfamiliar with this casino it is at the base of the Blue Ridge Pky in western North Carolina. It is about 2 hours north of Atlanta and 45 minutes southwest of Asheville NC. It is the only casino in any state it borders as far as I know so it has a bit of a monopoly, to my knowledge there isnt a state that borders North Carolina that even has legal video poker so it has a good draw. In my opinion it is a disgrace to Harrah's name. It is all video poker, video keno, video blackjack, slots and a "never ever" craps machine that is in dire need of repair. The selection of video poker is terrible, as well as the payouts and many of the machines are broken in some way. It is literally the graveyard of now illegal machines from Georgia (banned video poker in 2002) and South Carolina (banned video poker in 2000) as well as some 20 year old IGT machines no longer desirable to "real" casinos. Most of the machines in the casino are manufactured in states with no gaming regulations. The main machine, the old Pot O Gold's are manufactured in Georgia, a state that doesnt even allow video poker anymore, mush less ever regulate the manufacture.

In October 2004 Harrah's Cherokee broke ground on a poker room with real cards, no games at this casino have been allowed to use real cards, they are all video. Harrah's felt this was covered under the bingo part of their gaming pact. This pact did not allow any games with cards, the games must require skill (although several of the new slots and the video craps dont seem to require any skill) and the game must otherwise be legal in North Carolina. North Carolina allows video poker across the state but the payouts are limited to $10 in merchandise per transaction. Something that is abused across the state but widely ignored it seems. There are Pot O Gold's everywhere with the famous Shamrock 7's as well as other low payout games, the exact same ones offered at Harrah's Cherokee. These Pot O Gold machines are not approved in any casino state.

The fact that the gaming pact forbids them from using cards and makes them have to offer games that are already legal in North Carolina makes the poker room not fit in to either category. There will have to be a law passed in North Carolina allowing poker for the entire state or the entire gaming pact must be renegotiated. This would require approval from the governor, the secretary of the interior as well as the chairman of the National Indian Gaming. I asked a suit there a couple of months ago and they said "we hope to have it open in 2006 as it appears the state will not approve it this year." Also keep in mind the powerful NC video poker lobby is against this poker room. The more of a draw Cherokee has the more money the video poker machine owners lose to Cherokee.
 
To my understanding, it is on an Indian reservation covered under federal law, not state. Still the worse Harrah's around. I would like to see a poker room though. I haven't heard nothing about that. I live about 1 1/2 hrs. away in the TN valley. It's NW af Asheville, not SW. :rolleyes:
 
I am 99% sure Indian reservations must have gaming pacts with the state they are located in. I am 100% sure this is the case for Cherokee. This is why they only have video poker. This is their agreement with the state of North Carolina.

Also this sure does look SW on Asheville to me. WSW I guess.

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The Cherokee's video blackjack tables act mathematically just like paper blackjack--they can even set the parameters to offer a countable game, if they want to.

They could have poker if they installed poker tables that were the same i.e., digital representations of paper cards. That's how these same blackjack tables are regulated in Washington State and so non-Indian cardrooms can have them (but can't have video poker or slot machines).
 
The best blackjack game at Cherokee is not the dealer ones. There are Pot O Gold blackjack machines that you can bet $2-$50. Unlike the other 2 blackjack games you can double on 9 (the other 2 games are 10 and 11 only), dealer stands on any 17, you can hit split aces and get a 6 card charlie and if the dealer hits 6 cards and does not make a hand you automatically win. This is only about a .5% house advantage. This is easily the best game in the house with the possible exception on the $100 6/9 jacks or better being about the same. All of the other jacks or betters are 5/8, 5/7 but most are 5/6. The other 2 blackjack games are over 2%. The BJ blitz is the 2nd best because it does not hit soft 17. The only advantage the "dealer" games have is that you can resplit once which I guess happens every 2200ish hands but the dealer hits soft 17. None of the games allow a double after a split.

For most it is worth the trip to Tunica, Biloxi or on the other side AC to get a more fair game of video poker.
 
Do the Pot of Gold machines pay 3 for 2 on BJs? Sometimes machines short the BJ payment...which is eeeevil.

I read in a magazine that the Cherokee proposed not running raked poker, but charging a fee per player.

I couldn't figure out why some of the slot machines had to be hit & hold * respin, while others were just hit & spin.
 
pokeraddict said:
I am 99% sure Indian reservations must have gaming pacts with the state they are located in. I am 100% sure this is the case for Cherokee. This is why they only have video poker. This is their agreement with the state of North Carolina.

Also this sure does look SW on Asheville to me. WSW I guess.

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I stand corrected! :thumbsup: I always go through Knoxville, then through Gatlinburg up the mountain. Didn't realize Asheville was that close. Always went to it via I-40.
 
All 3 of the blackjack games offered pay the 3-2 for blackjack unlike most video blackjack games found elsewhere. Dont give them any ideas!

As for the slots the games had to require skill so they implemented these lock and roll slots machines where you got a second spin. At some point a few months ago traditional slot machines hit the floors and when I asked they said the governor had OK'd this. Games like Wheel of Fortune and other popular slots hit the floor. An entire side of the casino now is dedicated to these games. My 2 favorite games were removed to make room for these. Video Let it Ride and 10 hand draw poker. I have not been up there in a while because of this. Video blackjack with no alcohol is only so exciting. Besides if you know where to look you dont have to go all the way to Cherokee to find most of these games as they are already legal in North Carolina.
 
I ONCE LOVED GOING TO CHEROKEE (HELP) ?

I started going to Cherokee about 6 or 7 years ago to take my Mom that was very sick with Lung Cancer,Only becasue Mom had got to weak to be able to walk very far at all by herself, The first 2 years I walked around and watched others while they played and somtimes won jackpots, and it seemed I seen and heard a few pots won on quarter machines and never did or have I heard or seen any jackpots won on a nickel machine, But it seemed to be most all the jackpots won were allways on the dollar machine,So I decided well if I am going to put my money in these things then I need to figure out how to play these Dollar games I did not know anything about cards I had never played anything but: (crazy-eight) HA! HA! So I would need to find somthing that looked real simple and to this day I still have not played the lock-and-hold games,I have put $20 in one and just threw it away becasue I did not know what I was doing, All of that to say this back then which was just about 3 years ago when I started playing, I never took over $300.00 with me and the first jackpot I ever won was on a 4 leaf clover $1 playing max made it $3 and I won 2800.00 off of a $20,Well that did me in becasue I thought then I had to increase my play So I had some of the winning money set aside but the $300 that once was all I would take to play with had now become $1200.00 or $1500.00 and I played the $1 machines all the time when we went now at that point I had became platium and was working on diamond card but my Mom was allready there and had been a diamond card holder since her first year.But I did not have that kind of money to spend only if I had won a jack pot then I put up all of it or most of it but I would have my money set aside for the next trip and mom got invites to go every where but because of her breating problems and being on oxygen we really just did not feel comfortable in going very far from home and cherokee was only a 3 hour drive from home. So we went about every 3 months and somtimes every 2 months and 5 or 6 years ago you could win a little with $1000 to play on you could bring back 3 or 4000 somtimes or at lest 1500 but you could play and really have fun but now I get so frustated because the machines are so tight there the last few times I went I have took more and more money tring to win some the past week 8/6/08- 8/8/08 I took $6000.00 in that place becasue I had saved and saved to have extra so i would put more in one machine instead of going from one to another thinking maybe I could get somthing to hit for me like that wrong (but somthing really is wrong) becasue listen to what happened I put 3 hundread dollar bills in a tripple diamond machine at one time sit down to play my favoret machine and out of the first $300 it may have hit $40 so I fed and fed hundreads after hundreads the most i could get a $100 bill to hit was maybe 40 or 60 I never pulled any money out and the guy right before me said he had put 200.00 and he did not take anything out either, I never even hit a diamond but just a few times and then it would be with a cherry i ony got singel bars alot of cherries but you know if if it could had just hit a diamond and 2 bars or 2 diamonds and a bar I would have been happy and took what it would have been and got up and went on I guess that is why I kept feeding it becasue I just knew after having all this money put into it it will surely hit double or triple bars with a diamond or hit the bars and give you the frinze spins well I fed that machine $1600.00 and it never hit double bars or triple bars it never hit more than 1 diamond and mixed bars I know it is my own fault for playing that machine and putting money in it when I knew it was not hitting but I had so much invested that I could not just leave it and I felt It would surely hit sooner or later. But I am not going back to cherokee for a long time I have learned this has been going on for a while it just gets harder to hit anything there I have plans to go to Biloxi Ms. this Sunday Mornig on charter plane for 3 days Sunday at 10 am flight I have heard a good time to play there is Sunday Morning Help me Has anyone been there if so please send me message I have never been any place but cherokee I have spent to much there but I do not have that much to take to Biloxi maybe 500 can anyone tell me am I making a mistake do there machines (slot) pay off good? What to play I do not play lock and hold or video poker or cards I am no good at cards I like double diamonds and triple diamonds but i play alot of slots as log as they are not lock and hold help me have you been to Biloxi lately anyone?
 
I started going to Cherokee about 6 or 7 years ago to take my Mom that was very sick with Lung Cancer,Only becasue Mom had got to weak to be able to walk very far at all by herself, The first 2 years I walked around and watched others while they played and somtimes won jackpots, and it seemed I seen and heard a few pots won on quarter machines and never did or have I heard or seen any jackpots won on a nickel machine, But it seemed to be most all the jackpots won were allways on the dollar machine,So I decided well if I am going to put my money in these things then I need to figure out how to play these Dollar games I did not know anything about cards I had never played anything but: (crazy-eight) HA! HA! So I would need to find somthing that looked real simple and to this day I still have not played the lock-and-hold games,I have put $20 in one and just threw it away becasue I did not know what I was doing, All of that to say this back then which was just about 3 years ago when I started playing, I never took over $300.00 with me and the first jackpot I ever won was on a 4 leaf clover $1 playing max made it $3 and I won 2800.00 off of a $20,Well that did me in becasue I thought then I had to increase my play So I had some of the winning money set aside but the $300 that once was all I would take to play with had now become $1200.00 or $1500.00 and I played the $1 machines all the time when we went now at that point I had became platium and was working on diamond card but my Mom was allready there and had been a diamond card holder since her first year.But I did not have that kind of money to spend only if I had won a jack pot then I put up all of it or most of it but I would have my money set aside for the next trip and mom got invites to go every where but because of her breating problems and being on oxygen we really just did not feel comfortable in going very far from home and cherokee was only a 3 hour drive from home. So we went about every 3 months and somtimes every 2 months and 5 or 6 years ago you could win a little with $1000 to play on you could bring back 3 or 4000 somtimes or at lest 1500 but you could play and really have fun but now I get so frustated because the machines are so tight there the last few times I went I have took more and more money tring to win some the past week 8/6/08- 8/8/08 I took $6000.00 in that place becasue I had saved and saved to have extra so i would put more in one machine instead of going from one to another thinking maybe I could get somthing to hit for me like that wrong (but somthing really is wrong) becasue listen to what happened I put 3 hundread dollar bills in a tripple diamond machine at one time sit down to play my favoret machine and out of the first $300 it may have hit $40 so I fed and fed hundreads after hundreads the most i could get a $100 bill to hit was maybe 40 or 60 I never pulled any money out and the guy right before me said he had put 200.00 and he did not take anything out either, I never even hit a diamond but just a few times and then it would be with a cherry i ony got singel bars alot of cherries but you know if if it could had just hit a diamond and 2 bars or 2 diamonds and a bar I would have been happy and took what it would have been and got up and went on I guess that is why I kept feeding it becasue I just knew after having all this money put into it it will surely hit double or triple bars with a diamond or hit the bars and give you the frinze spins well I fed that machine $1600.00 and it never hit double bars or triple bars it never hit more than 1 diamond and mixed bars I know it is my own fault for playing that machine and putting money in it when I knew it was not hitting but I had so much invested that I could not just leave it and I felt It would surely hit sooner or later. But I am not going back to cherokee for a long time I have learned this has been going on for a while it just gets harder to hit anything there I have plans to go to Biloxi Ms. this Sunday Mornig on charter plane for 3 days Sunday at 10 am flight I have heard a good time to play there is Sunday Morning Help me Has anyone been there if so please send me message I have never been any place but cherokee I have spent to much there but I do not have that much to take to Biloxi maybe 500 can anyone tell me am I making a mistake do there machines (slot) pay off good? What to play I do not play lock and hold or video poker or cards I am no good at cards I like double diamonds and triple diamonds but i play alot of slots as log as they are not lock and hold help me have you been to Biloxi lately anyone?

Betty, I would have loved to have read your post about Harrah's Cherokee but my eyes started hurting too bad...please try and use a few paragraphs...:)
 
Betty, I would have loved to have read your post about Harrah's Cherokee but my eyes started hurting too bad...please try and use a few paragraphs...:)

The last part is all you need ;)

... I have plans to go to Biloxi Ms. this Sunday Mornig on charter plane for 3 days Sunday at 10 am flight I have heard a good time to play there is Sunday Morning

Help me Has anyone been there if so please send me message I have never been any place but cherokee I have spent to much there but I do not have that much to take to Biloxi maybe 500 can anyone tell me am I making a mistake do there machines (slot) pay off good?

What to play I do not play lock and hold or video poker or cards I am no good at cards I like double diamonds and triple diamonds but i play alot of slots as log as they are not lock and hold help me have you been to Biloxi lately anyone?
 
I'm sorry I didn't see your post earlier. Perhaps you'll still have time to see this before you leave...

Biloxi has several casinos. They are all real casinos, not Indian casinos, no lock and roll, no bingo pull tabs, no VLT... but slots and VP like you'd find in Vegas. There'll be more slots there than you can shake a stick at.

Don't know how long you'll be there, but I always divide my money up by the number of days I plan on staying. When that day's money is gone, I do something else, then next day, I've still got money to play on.

I hope your meals are covered by your junket. Out of pocket, it can get pricey... Get a player's card for where you're playing and use it when you play. That way you may qualify for comps (related to the points you earn).

You'll have a grand time. Is Biloxi any 'looser' than Cherokee? Who knows? Just have fun, stay within your budget, and don't stress over winning.

Good luck.
 
I live in NC about 5 hrs. from Cherokee, but I never had much luck there. Now I go up to Charleston, WV. ( Crosslanes Racetrack & Casino), as it is the same distance and they have all the table games you could want. (They just got them a short while ago). I never cared for the Lock and Roll machines at Cherokee. I wish NC would get their act together and get a casino here!
 

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