May 25, 2005

Horseshoe officials cut ribbon at poker room

Horseshoe officials cut ribbon at poker room:
The manager of Horseshoe Casino's new poker room said Tuesday he'd strive to rebuild the client base of players that the property had when he ran the casino's poker room that operated from 1998 to 2000."A lot of players here were from the Dallas market, so it's getting those guys and ladies to come back here," said Dennis Jones, who was among several officials and a showgirl who posed for photos Tuesday at the room's ribbon cutting.Horseshoe opened its 11-table room about the same time that Hollywood Casino expanded its room, which it's had since 2002, from 10 to 15 tables. Both say the poker craze spurred by televised tournaments led them to replace other more-profitable games with poker tables, with the hopes that card players or their friends would spend more money elsewhere.Horseshoe is still considering whether to offer comps for food or hotel rooms, a practice it used during the old poker room's operation that regular players say they want to see return to the market, Jones said."We still are basically trying to analyze the business to see where it's at," he said. "There's been no official decision on it, but we'll continue to look at the numbers and see what's feasible."Hollywood also hasn't announced it will begin the practice, said spokeswoman Markey Washington.