Mid West Road Trip July 2025 – First Stop, Commanche Red River Casino

Looks like the Comanche Red River Casino is in farmland territory.

My first casino was a medium to small sized Indian casino in Devol Oklahoma. The scenery on the road definitely stirred some memories, especially since I started on the road from Abilene Texas where I grew up. My family took frequent road trips to Hutchinson KS to visit grandpa and grandma, and the trip alays passed by this place. Don’t think there was any casino here 50 years ago 🙂

So I get to the casino and find the Blackjack table, and proceed to buy in for a few hundred bucks. No one was at the table and I had the dealer to myself for the first few shoes. This was a pretty good game. Dealer stands on all 17’s, double any two cards, resplit aces, no surrender. This was the first time that I have played a stand on soft 17 game. You play it a little differently than the game where the dealer draws another card for hit on soft 17.

I had a great experience and played aggressively. One of my goals on the trip is to not hold back my play and a bucket list item was to be in a situation where I would want to be dealt a pair of face cards against a dealer bust card and then split them. Guess what! I got a pair of 10 value cards against a dealer 6. I had my opportunity and took it, placing another $100 wager and split to two hands. The dealer immediately called out to the pit “Splitting Tens”! The pit boss came over to observe what was happening. My heart was racing but on the outside I showed feigned excitement.

The dealer proceeded to deal me another ten. Out goes another c-note and split again. Another 10, another split, now I have four hands each with a 10 card, and I’m done splitting. First hand is dealt a 10 for a 20. Second hand a 10, 20 on it too. Third hand a 6, for 16. Last hand a 9, for 19. Now I have a 16 on my second spot and stand against the dealer 6. $500 on the felt and up comes the drum roll, the dealers cards come out. First a 10 for hard 16, and then, BUST, dealer draws a 9 for 25. I get paid on all 5 hands! What a moment!

I played for about 4 1/2 hours before taking a break. Was up a good amount. Went back that evening around 9 and played for a hour or so with some young local guys. This session was pretty tame compared to the afternoon but I just couldn’t lose, so ended that one up even more.

Really fun start to my trip. Celebrating this morning with a Oklahoma plains breakfast at Wrights Family Diner!