With bar league tournaments under intense scrutiny, home games becoming victims of robberies, and private games raided by police , many Texas players are taking a trip across the Sabine River to the numerous riverboat casinos in Louisiana. If you were to visit any casino poker room in Louisiana, you’re likely to hear as many Texas twangs at the tables as you’ll hear Cajun accents.

Of course, many players are familiar with Harrah’s New Orleans from their World Series of Poker Circuit televised tournaments of the last few years. While Harrah’s holds their tournaments in their spacious theater, cash games are another story. The poker area (only a low rail separates the poker tables from the casino floor) holds twenty-five tables crowded closely together. For no-limit cash games, the house takes a six-dollar rake from each player every half-hour instead of raking the pot for each hand. Just to add to the adverse conditions, a genuine (and genuinely loud) New Orleans brass band parades through the casino every hour. Just try reading your opponent after hearing “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In” for the sixth time!

One of the better casinos in Louisiana is Coushatta Casino Resort near Kinder, LA. Their recently renovated poker room features twenty-three tables, numerous cash games and a variety of weekly and monthly tournaments. At noon on the last Saturday of every month, they have a “Half-and-Half” tournament: alternating rounds of no-limit hold’em and pot-limit Omaha. Coushatta is one of the few casinos in the country to offer this type of tournament. Also, on the last Sunday of the month, Coushatta holds U.S. Poker Tour tournaments. Winners can earn points toward their National Points Championship.

Less than a half-hour from the Texas line in Lake Charles, LA, is the local franchise of the Isle of Capri chain. This room holds twenty-five tables and takes up the entire third deck of one of the two docked riverboats. While the scenery and accommodations may leave something to be desired (unless you happen to like staying next to a chemical plant), the poker action is fast and furious. From $3/$6/$12 limit hold’em to $25/$50 pot-limit Omaha, the cash games at Capri Lake Charles are loud, loose and lots of fun!

So put away the chicken fried steak and pick up some jambalaya, we’re going to play some Louisiana Hold’em!