What a weekend. Friday after lunch, we took the 2 and a half hour trek to Pearl River Resort. We got there a little before 5 and took a look around the casinos. Silverstar reeked of smoke throughout the floor. It was hard to go anywhere and not cough until your body adjusted. Silverstar was really nothing special; it looked like any other basic casino: slot machines as far as the eye could see and a few gaming tables. Tucked away underneath a skylight behind one of the bars was the poker area which was decorated to look like an outdoor environment.

We made our way around the casino to the walkway that connects the two casinos. Golden Moon was a drastic contrast to Silverstar. It looked more like a Vegas casino than Silverstar did. The decorations were ornate and the colored lighting added a lot of effect to spruce up the environment. We found out the hard way that photos of the gaming floor are forbidden inside the casino. While standing next to one of the employees, Erika took out her camera, pointed it at the gaming area and snapped a shot. The casino employee watched the whole sequence of events and then proceeded to reprimand Erika for taking the picture. There were no signs posted saying that photos were not allowed. It wasn't until we were leaving Sunday that we saw a note stating photographs of the gaming floor were forbidden added on to the bottom of a sign stating gamblers must be 21 in order to play.

That irked us a little, but we finished wandering around the casino. It was still a little early for dinner so we stopped by the arcade so I could browse. Erika had a closed bottle of water that she was carrying and the arcade attendant rudely told her she couldn't have it in the arcade. We promptly turned around and walked out. Only there for an hour and already we were wondering if the rest of the weekend would be the same.

Friday night we ate inside the golden moon on the top of the resort. It looked very nice, but our waitress couldn't be bothered to do her job. She left it to someone else to take care of us, refill our drinks, etc. She was there to take our order and bring our check. When we ordered dessert she seemed perturbed that we ordered something off the menu that they weren't serving. Excuse me, but there was nothing saying that you were out of certain desserts. After that experience, we spent the rest of our night in the room.

Saturday was more pleasant. After breakfast, I went to play poker while Erika went to the spa. By lunch, I had won 88 dollars. Erika had a nice time being pampered except for almost passing out during a body wrap. Because they felt bad for her experience, they gave her some free treatments. After lunch, I headed back to the poker room while Erika went to the salon to get her nails done. My afternoon session was not as productive as I proceeded to lose 60 dollars, but I was still ahead. I could never get a feel for the table because it was constantly changing. It didn't help that Mr. Moneybags sat down at proceeded to play wrecklessly which ended up hurting me more than it hurt him. I saw him play stupid hands that should never be played like a K-4 that resulted in a pair of 4s on the flop. Any decent poker player knows better than to stay in for the flop at a 10-player table. Saturday night we ate at a Mexican restaurant at the resort. Ironically this was probably the best meal we had while we were there. After dinner we went up to the room to watch The Legend of Zorro.

Sunday morning I was supposed to go play Omaha Hi-Lo, but the information I received on Saturday was apparently incorrect. I was told they started playing around 8 or 9 but when calling on Sunday, I was told they don't play until late afternoon or early evening. So, we packed up and went to the buffet for breakfast. Although we managed to fill up, it wasn't the best food we had ever eaten. In fact, most of the food was rather bland. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise decent weekend. I had fun playing poker and enjoyed getting away for the weekend, but I don't think we will make the trip again.