A Brit in Vegas » Pechanga casino

Inland poker update:

Steve — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:47:41 +0000

With the tournament just eight days away and the qualifying date (Jan 27th) almost over only fifty players have qualified for the Annie Duke $25k freeroll at Pala casino. The weather, five inches of rain and rising, has left the room rather quiet this week. The lucky qualifiers must be doing a rain dance in front of Indian casino country.

Pechanga casino has attracted almost 100 players to their evening tournaments this week.All tournaments have guarantees.The room is awesome and you can see the schedule here. The casino has a Wine + chocolate festival on the same day as the Annie Duke freeroll. Maybe Annie can drop Ugly Joe off there on her way down to Pala.

Harrahs boasts the lowest rake (and the tightest machines) in the Valley. They also have an aces cracked promotion at the weekends and daily tournaments. The drive is a little frightening at night especially with all the coaches but go down in the daytime it is like being in Scotland!

New: Inland Empire poker update

Steve — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:03:41 +0000

Vegas too quiet and cold? Well this year the weather is perfect for a trip to SoSo Cal or the Inland Empire. This is the area the native Indians have looked after and I love it. Orange Groves, vines, ostrich or emu farms ,horses, free range chickens and casinos!Within a 30 minute drive you can go from Pechanga to Pala to Rincon to Valley View.

Pechanga has a poker room any Vegas casino would be proud of. If I was forced to pick a Vegas twin I would say Venetian. The room is a private room upstairs. Plenty of tables so they can hold tournaments without limiting the cash games. The tournaments come with a guarantee so popular in SoCal.

Friday 7pm $80 $10000 guarantee. 4000 chips 20 minute rounds.

Saturday Jan 30th $125 $20000 guarantee 5500 in chips 30 minute rounds.

Sunday Jan 31st $60 Omaha8 4000 in chips 20 minute rounds.

Harrahs Rincon is probably the best known poker room in the Valley because the circuit event has attracted Doyle Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Daniel Negreanu and Max Pescatori in the past. The regular poker room is a cozy dozen tables.They still like to hold tournaments though including a $42 crazy pineapple on Wednesday and Sundays. If you can master this game you would have a huge edge,

Pala is all getting the hours in for the Annie Duke $25000 giveaway on Sat Jan 30th. The room is twinned with the Sahara in my opinion, definately a step down from Pechanga but a nice casino with fine dining options.

Watching ESPN at Pechanga

Steve — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:59:51 +0000

My quest to visit all the casinos with poker rooms has taken me south to Pechanga in Temecula. Like San Manuel it is not on a reservation in the middle of nowhere.One minute you are passing Big Lots,then a school and there it is. Built more with energy saving features in mind than photogenic qualities which is good news as my camera battery is still plugged into the wall at home. Unlike San Manuel they haven’t built a huge bingo room instead opting to isolate the poker room away from the noise of the penny,yes they do exist here, slot machines.

One machine I have never seen before is a communal baccarat game. Each hand costs a quarter and they may have to have a list of players to call if and when a seat ever becomes available. I wonder if it is a coin toss or whether they deduct 5c from every winning bet?

The poker room is massive and thankfully non smoking. This must have dealt a blow to nearby Lake Elsinore poker room. The comparison would be the El Cortez to the Venetian.

The room spreads a 1=2 NLHE with a $40 buy in, 3=6 Omaha and occasionally $10=20 NLHE. 54 tables and a sofa where I am watching the rerun of the final table. I am especially happy to see an Everest player there albeit a French one.

The poker room also has some affordable tournies.Tonight was “bring a friend” evening. One player pays $25 your friend plays for free. This tournie has a $2k guarantee. Now I just need a friend or to be a friend :)

First time visitors receive a $10 food voucher. I tried the buffet and was surprised to find English trifle on the menu.

If you are driving from Vegas to San Diego you should plan on staying here. More fun than Motel6, more hot water than Lake Elsinore and a chance to win your ex’s back in the poker room or a quarter at a time on the baccarat machine!