'It's a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville...' — The Wreck of the Old '97
Fortunately, the roads to Danville are much better than they were in 1903, the year of the train wreck that inspired that song. Furthermore, I was coming in from Raleigh-Durham airport, just a hair under 90 minutes from Caesars Virginia, which opened in December of last year.
Danville is an old mill town on the Dan River, with a long and colorful history. It became the last capital of the American Confederacy after Richmond fell to the Union troops in 1865. But like many mill towns in the East, it fell on hard times. In 2020, Virginia legalized casino gambling, and Caesars won the right to build a property in Danville. It is not a coincidence that Virginia and Caesars parked their casino in a town that abuts the Virginia-North Carolina state line. North Carolina has only a single casino — another Caesars property in Cherokee, a twisty four-hour drive away.
Built for the community
Caesars Virginia is a classic example of a casino built to help revitalize a struggling community. Whether a casino is a long-term solution for community growth and vibrancy is beyond the scope of this article (and far beyond my education and training), but here it is. At least in the short term, it seems to be working — the local newspaper talked about how much healthier the town budget is now that Caesars is there.
As always, I did my sleeping and eating off-property. I stayed at the Holbrook Hotel, which is the most industrial-looking ex-office brick building you've ever seen. But it is a great hotel. I mean, any hotel that has Bowie and Hendrix quotes in the hallways has my attention. But the staff was great (Hi, Sierra!), and they gave me a free upgrade to a lovely two-room suite. The Holbrook is an eight-minute drive from the casino but in a great midtown neighborhood.
I had dinner at King Cropp's — excellent farm-to-table fare. Breakfast the next morning was at Crema & Vine. Both were within three-minute walks of my hotel.
How's the poker?
I could talk about the casino itself, but honestly, if you've seen one small Caesars property, you've seen 'em all. Let's talk about the poker.
I was immediately welcomed into a $1/3 NLH game around 7pm on a Tuesday evening. Given that the room is less than four months old, things seem to be running fairly smoothly. There were four $1/3 games and one $2/5 game running. I sat in the $1/3 game for a little while but quickly moved to the $2/5 game when I discovered the rake structure (see below).
Some of the dealers appear to be less experienced, and that was reflected in their card-handling and general management of the game. But hey, we all gotta learn somewhere. Also, learning to deal poker is a skill you can take almost anywhere these days, and it is certainly a better career path than working at Walmart. Players were understanding and helpful with the new dealers – it all worked out just fine.
I do need to note that we had one dealer, sadly I didn't catch his name, who was one of the finest poker dealers I've ever encountered. A giant guy, he fired out cards quickly and accurately, spoke only when it was exactly appropriate, and ran the game like a Swiss train station. Just a couple of hands into his down, I said something mostly under my breath about how good he was. The local on my left replied quietly, "Best dealer in the room. Maybe the region."
A fine side trip
I wouldn't call Caesars Virginia a poker destination. But if you find yourself in the region — perhaps a business visit to the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill Triangle — Danville is a great side trip to play some cards and forget the meetings and PowerPoint slides for a while.
Caesars Virginia by the numbers
- 21 tables
- Non-smoking, of course (with thanks to Tom McEvoy and Casey Kastle). The poker room is immediately off the main casino, so there's definitely an eau de tabac in the air.
- Chairs are comfortable – five-legged and height adjustable
- The felts are awkward and slow. I found it hard to pick up my cards, which is a skill I'd like to think I've mostly gotten down by now. Part of it may be that they have a whacky circus game built into the table. The players can place a $5 wager on what the flop will look like (3-straights, monotone, etc). Then if they hit, there may be an electronic wheel to spin. I don't even want to think what the house edge on that game is.
- USB A and C (what a world we live in) chargers in the tables. The ones I used worked.
- You can't cash out at the desk in the poker room. I'm not making this up. You can buy chips there, but if you want to cash out, you have to carry your chips all the way across the casino floor to the main cashier. This, in my opinion, is inexcusable. It's not only a hassle, but it's an accident/security risk as you carry racks full of chips across a busy casino floor.
- The rake is marginally usurious. It's 10% up to $7 plus 10% up to $2 for the bad beat jackpot. When the pot reaches $90, i.e. basically every pot in a $2/5 game, $9 is dropped. I doubt the $1/3 game can be beaten in the long run.
- Buy-ins: $1/3 $100-$500; $2/5 $200-$1,000
- Soundtrack. One of the best I've heard, exceeded only by Gila River in Arizona. 'Relay' (a grossly under-appreciated deep Who cut), 'Communication Breakdown,' 'Hush,' and (bless my soul) 'And You and I' by Yes.
- There's a coffee shop in the casino called 'Three Stacks.' I did a double-take, thinking that finally the greater casino world was riffing on Rounders. Then I realized it was a reference to the three massive smokestacks that dominate the Danville skyline, a reminder of the town's glory days.
- Pepsi products in the poker room, which many locals found egregious.
