I had the chance to visit several of the Eastern Iowa casinos recently, including Meskwaki Casino in Tama, where I was treated to a low price on a hotel room and $1-per-hour comps in the poker room. Meskwaki is unique in that it’s one of the few places where 18-year-olds can play. I found there to be good action in Omaha/8 and no-limit hold’em.
Just across the river at Jumer’s on Rock Island I found similar action. Be aware there’s no phone or iPod use at the table. I then found myself in the Quad-City area, playing limit at the Isle of Capri in Bettendorf. This room has a good following of limit players, but you’ll seldom find a NLHE game.
Finally, I visited Riverside Casino near Iowa City. On the weekends you’ll find tourneys, limit, NLHE and Omaha/8 in this big room.
MSPT: The Mid-States Poker Tour will hold three events at Meskwaki this year, with the first coming this month (March 24-April 1), followed by July 21-29 and Oct. 27-Nov. 4. The MSPT also visits Grand Falls Casino in far Northwest Iowa near Sioux Falls on Aug. 11-19. The Meskwaki events will carry a $300k guarantee.
WSOPC: The World Series of Poker Circuit returns to the Horseshoe in Council Bluffs at the end of this month (March 29-April 10).
— Ken Warren is the Ante Up Ambassador for Iowa. You can email him at anteupken@gmail.com.
