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Earlier this week, I spent a couple of days in Cherokee, NC. My primary reason for going was to check out Harrah’s Cherokee.

While I am not a huge fan of many Harrah’s properties, this is the only casino option in the state and the poker room was supposed to be a fairly hopping place.

It's probably a good thing they are the only game in town.

I want to know whose definition of hopping they were using. I went to the poker room on Monday and the place had 0 players.

The room was dark. I thought maybe they hadn’t opened yet. It is the offseason after all.

Wrong. There was a list for $1-$2.

The game did finally go off, and the room stayed dark. Apparently, they play on the electronic poker tables there in the dark.

That was weird. I didn’t even bother to sign up for a game. The poker room is a decent size room in the middle of he first floor area, but nothing about it spoke to me.

The main casino floor is a mix of slots and some video poker. Double Bonus Poker there had ok odds, but the machines played much tighter than the odds would indicate.

In fact, that seemed to be the theme that I discovered. I had heard that you shouldn’t expect to win much there and that seemed to be the case.

And don’t get me started about whatever smell it is there at the casino that made me literally ill. It’s still on my shirt I wore that day so I’m guessing it’s some type of tobacco or cigar.

Overall, my impression of the casino was fairly meh. Sorta the typical Harrah’s casino in that it was big, but not a lot of true substance.

Granted, I am not a big Harrah’s fan in regards to their casinos. I do like Harrah’s Tunica, but because of the resort as a whole. I don’t play at the casino a ton when I am there.

Harrah’s Cherokee isn’t a dump, but at the same time it isn’t a casino that I think many would frequent if there was other competition.

If you are ever down that way and want to go to the casino, consider taking the local transit bus over driving and self parking or using the valet.

Valet service is $12 there and Self Park is quite a hike. For those of you that either don’t like to do a lot of walking, or just cannot stand to due to bad knees, age, weight, this may be a bit intimidating.

However, the local shuttle bus is $2 round trip. $1 to the casino and $1 back. During the offseason you will have to have the hotel and casino call them, but during the summer the buses run every 30 minutes.

The buses will also take you wherever you want to go in town.

I may try the casino again the next time I go to Cherokee, but next time I go, I will be going to check out some of the local attractions, not making a casino trip.

For those of you thinking of making a significant drive to check out the casino, check for other options. A couple extra hours drive might make your experience better.