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The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma completed the most recent renovation on the Durant casino in 2015 when a second hotel tower with spa was added along with The Grand Theater and The District, a family entertainment center. A schedule of Choctaw Durant poker tournaments, including time, buy-in, blind structure, and more. You also can find Choctaw Durant phone number, address, and website info. Choctaw Casino Resort: Bed Bugs - See 861 traveler reviews, 154 candid photos, and great deals for Durant, OK, at Tripadvisor.

Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, OK is one of several properties owned and operated by the Choctaw Nation of Native Americans. This particular property offers a wide selection of tables games, slot machines and video poker, and it is the second largest casino in Oklahoma right behind Winstar World Casino. It has a large 200,000+ square foot gaming floor and over 700 hotel rooms complete with a spa, pool, fitness center, dining and many other amenities. This makes it one of the most popular vacation spots for many residents in the surrounding area, most of which come from Texas.

Aside from gambling, they also have a newly expanded facility named “The District” which is catered towards families, offering non-casino entertainment. This facility includes laser tag, a movie theatre, bowling alley and an arcade. Choctaw is located close to the Oklahoma-Texas border; about a 1 1/2 hour drive from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and that is where a large majority of its visitors come from. It is also popular amongst residents in Arkansas, Louisiana and Kansas due to its close proximity. It sees between 5,000 and 10,000 visitors each week, bringing in about 300,000 people every year.

Casino at Choctaw Durant

All in all, you’ll find over 4,100 slot machines, a party pit (Thursday to Sunday) and a large selection of table games spread across the two casino floors. The table games offered at Choctaw Durant include Blackjack, Let It Ride, Three Card Poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, Pai Gow Poker, Mini Baccarat, Roulette and Craps. The only downside to playing these types of games here, as is the case with other Native American casinos in Oklahoma, is the fee you have to pay while playing. This is referred to as the “ante” and costs the player $0.50 when betting up to $50 and $1 for bets over this amount. They try to compensate for this by paying 3-2 on blackjacks. Choctaw’s full Blackjack rules are outlined below, which are used on all tables.

• The dealer stands on all 17’s or better
• You may double on any first two cards except a blackjack
• You may split any pair up to three times to make four hands
• You may double down after you split
• Split aces get one card
• Blackjack pays 3 to 2
• Insurance pays 2 to 1

The slots available at Choctaw Casino include all the standard vegas-style machines from Wheel of Fortune to Top Dollar, Triple Double Diamond and other popular games. The denominations for these games range from $0.01 on the floor to $100 when venturing into one of the high limit rooms. You’ll find two separate casino floors at Choctaw Durant’s large gaming complex. These are named the “North Casino” and “South Casino.” The North Casino is the newest expansion, and was added in 2010. It has 110,00 square feet of gaming space which includes electronic machines and table games. The South Casino is the older of the two facilities, and was completed in 2006 with about 108,000 square feet of gaming space. The South Tower includes the same types of games as well.

Poker Room at Choctaw Durant

Choctaw has a newly renovated poker room which overall is pretty nice. It is known as the “Poker Lounge” and is conveniently opened to players 24/7. The Poker Lounge includes a total of 30 tables and is spread across its own private floor with a separate staff. This gives it a nice laid back feel, being that it’s tucked away from everything. They run cash games here daily as well as tournaments. The No Limit Holdem tournaments are run in the Poker Lounge every day of the week, and WPT events are also held here on occasion. To learn more about tournaments, you can click the image below for a full No Limit Poker tournament schedule.

Restaurants and Bars at Choctaw Durant

One of the upsides to visiting Choctaw Durant is that it has an abundant selection of restaurants and food options to choose from. They have everything from your standard fancy casino steakhouse to national chains like Subway and Papa John’s. Whether you want to grab a quick bite or are looking to splurge, they will likely have something for you and your budget. Below we have outlined each of the eating options currently available at Choctaw Durant.

Restaraunts & Food

• 1832 Steakhouse
• Bamboo Noodle Bar
• Blue Moon Cafe
• Butterfields Buffet
• Gilley’s
• Jackpot Java
• Krispy Krunchy Chicken
• Papa John’s Pizza
• Parrot Beach Bar & Grill
• Smashburger
• Subway
• Tomatillo Mexican Grill

Bars & Lounges

• Mason Jar Bar
• Red River Lounge
• 6th Street Lounge
• Platinum High Limit Lounge
• Tailgater’s Lounge

Hotel and Resort at Choctaw Casino

Though it originally had just two hotels with limited amenities, Choctaw now has a total of four towers and facilities dedicated to overnight guests. Combined, the resort at Choctaw features 776 rooms ranging from suites to standard size king and queen rooms. Though I’ve never stayed overnight here, they seem to emphasize quite a bit about having nice bathrooms. The hotel options include the Choctaw Inn, The Lodge, Spa Tower and Grand Tower. Aside from hotel rooms, Choctaw also has an on-site RV park for those passing by or looking to save money on hotels. The average nightly cost for rooms here is right around $200, but if you play frequently you can usually get them comped.

Amenities featured at Choctaw include The Spa, The Oasis Pool and a fitness center. The fitness center has more of a spa feel to it than it does a fitness center. There is a room dedicated to fitness, but it also is home to a reflection pool, loungers, steam rooms and a whirlpool. It’s not all-inclusive however, and will cost you $8 per day if you’re staying at Choctaw. The Spa offers treatments that are inspired by the natural environment and you’ll find massages, facials and body treatment services there. They also have two suites catered towards couples massages. The Oasis Pool is a massive indoor/outdoor pool complete with a water slide. The pools and slide are both opened until 10PM daily.

DURANT — Cards flew and multicolored chips hit the pot as poker players from around Oklahoma and nearby states converged on the Choctaw Casino on Dec. 10-11 for the new Native American Casino Poker Tour.

The two-week tournament series was the idea of Card Player magazine, a leading publication in the poker industry, which partnered with the casino for the first event.

The federal crackdown on online poker in April (known in the poker world as “Black Friday”) has been a boon to live tournaments and cash play, which has helped many casinos and poker tours. Dominik Karelus, spokesman for Card Player Media, said the tour was introduced because of a niche in the market — American Indian casinos — and that the Choctaw Casino was a property with experience running major poker events. The casino boasts a poker room with 30 tables.

“The idea for the tour was always there, but Black Friday made Card Player realize that there will be an increased demand for live tournaments,” he said. “The Native American casinos are and have always been great clients and partners, and Card Player wanted to do something to increase the players' awareness of how great the Native American casino properties really are. Things have gone great thus far, with Choctaw reporting tournament revenues and interest way up from last year.”

Kansas wheat farmer Kirk Stewart, winner of the $1,000 buy-in Main Event championship, would take home $50,000, an intricately designed buffalo trophy, a buy-in to the casino's World Series of Poker Circuit event in January, and appear on a future cover of the magazine. The final table was also broadcast on the magazine's website. The total prize pool for the event totaled $290,681.

After playing late into the night, Stewart was thrilled with his victory and planned on investing his newly won cash in his farm and adding a bit to his poker bankroll.

Ken Lambert Jr., poker room manager at the casino, said he jumped at the chance to be the first casino in the tour series — and boost a traditionally slow month for the poker room. The low buy-ins for the event (from $100 to $300 for preliminary events) also helped attract more players looking to test their poker chops.

“The whole event has been great for us. It was interesting to be first. If you're first you get the perks — advertising, notoriety, etc.,” Lambert said. “We're looking at being a part of it again next year.”

• Related to this story
• Video:Native American Poker Tour (2011-12-19)

Lambert expected between 200 and 250 players for the Main Event, but the turnout exceeded 320. Lambert said the low buy-ins definitely helped bring in players during a tough economy and holiday season. The idea worked and cardsharps and amateurs alike turned out for their chance at poker glory.

“To me it was more important to drive volume and get people in the door,” Lambert says. “Our idea was to give the average guys with a little money a chance to win some nice Christmas money.”

Most of the poker players seemed pleased with the events and turnout.

“I've enjoyed the experience. The facilities are nice and the people are always nice,” said Val Wood, of Durant, who took third in a $300 preliminary event for a $6,200 win. “The Main Event is affordable enough for most people who want to play.”

And what would he do with his winnings? Spend it on Christmas for his family, he said — no bluffing.

Choctaw Casino Poker Room Durant

Choctaw Casino Durant Ok Poker Room

Kirk Stewart, main Event winner (courtesy Card Player).