Quote:
Originally Posted by borgatabud
Stayed at the San Juan Marriott Stellaris for a week in June and visited the Ritz for a meal and a walk-through of their casino. Poker at the Marriott is a crappy 5-10 limit game w/ rake 10% to an absurd $10. So Ritz better.
I like surf so for vacation aspect I much preferred the Marriott as it is on a beach that gets waves, body-surfable. Ritz is on a reef protected bay with no surf. Pretty but a snoozer if you enjoy surf (my wife would prefer the Ritz's beach, no surprise).
Marriott closer to Old San Juan, Ritz is very close to the airport. I think I might actuallly prefer the Marriott overall, poker notwithstanding.
I just stayed there and can confirm this is still the game at the Marriott. It is basically 5/10 LIMIT holdem, with $2/$5 blinds, except you can bet/raise $5 or $10 preflop and on the flop. Turn and river bets are always $10. Rake is 10% up to $10, which I think is unbeatable. The play is often really bad, so you do have a shot at winning short term. The game was mostly locals speaking spanish, but most of them also spoke english. The dealer also clarified all action in english and spanish. They have three tables and one of them has a shufflemaster. The players and dealers seemed to be obsessed with color-ups. The dealer would color up every pot, so someone would need to color-down almost every hand. This really slowed down the game. I think the game only runs Fri-Sun. If you must have NL, the locals recommended the intercontinental.
The casino also has roulette, craps, backjack and slots. The hotel was nice and I would stay there again.
Like others have said, don't go to puerto rico for the poker. Go for the nice weather and beach.