Quick Golf and Poker Get-Away to Mesquite.

Posted on 22 April 2008

Two of us were up for a golf and poker get-away last weekend and we chose Mesquite, NV. Mesquite is less than an hour’s drive away from Las Vegas and is home to some terrific golf courses. The weather is nice this time of year – not too hot. The whole trip can be done for peanuts and this is how we did it……

For accommodations and poker, we chose the Eureka Hotel and Casino and for golf we chose Falcon Ridge Golf Course.

We made an advance reservation at Falcon Ridge Golf Course for Sunday morning at 10:30 am.

We made advance reservations at the Eureka for Friday and Saturday nights – initially for $129 per night. When we got to the hotel and checked in, we each received the obligatory “fun book” and a 50% off ticket for the buffet (valid Sun-Thurs) for the adjacent casino. Along side the registration desk is a lounge with free wifi internet access and two computers for complementary guest use 24 hours per day. We used these computers over the weekend to check email.

We went down to the pool area and found it to be very nice. There were 2 jacuzzis and a nice pool area with shower, 3 free cabanas to use along with lounge chairs, table with umbrellas, and towels. After soaking in the jacuzzi, we walked over to the casino and the first thing we did was register for their player’s card, the Gold Club and each of us received another “fun book.”

Since we are both poker players, we rarely venture into the “pit” to gamble, but with match play coupons we had positive expected return value for playing one spin on the roulette wheel. One of us chose odd, the other chose even and we each bet $5 along with our match play coupon. It came up odd, so we made $2.50 each of clear profit. (We repeated the same play on Saturday for another $2.50 each of profit.) I know those guys up in surveillance were starting to worry, now! Next we used our fun book coupons for the free shrimp cocktail, tipping a dollar each from our winnings.

Since we weren’t very hungry for dinner, we drove over to the Oasis Casino to say “hi” to a couple friends that work in the poker room and to go to Tailgaterz Tavern. This sports bar has several flat screens, sports-oriented video games, a pool table and the best bar food around featuring 12 flavors of wings and specialty pizzas. We picked up $10 worth of 25-cent chicken wings to go for dinner. These are some good wings! We never did finish them all.

Off to a great start, we each played 4 hours of $1/$3 no limit hold’em later that evening in the Eureka poker room and that was good for a free room comp for Friday night. We repeated the 4 hours of play each on Saturday for another free room comp for Saturday night. Total cost for accommodations for the weekend: $0. As an added bonus, we each earned $1.25 per hour of poker play in comps and used them to eat a nice prime rib dinner while playing at the poker table Saturday night all for free!

Sunday we headed for Falcon Ridge for our 10:30 tee time. We were armed with our discount certificate that we had purchased earlier in the week from the Radio Shopping Show in Las Vegas. We paid $60 for the certificate good for 2 rounds of golf with cart (regular value $200). We were called to the first tee about 10 minutes early and played the round in about 4 1/2 hours. The course is challenging but not impossibly tough and in very good condition. We had a great time and drove back to Las Vegas upon completing our round of golf.

Total cost for 2 nights accommodations, and a round of golf each – $60. That’s a good golf and poker get-away!