The new Wildhorse pass casino opens Friday the 30th, Is this going to be a great place to play? the 8-16 and 15-30 Limit Holdem games have been some of the best limit games in the state! The players are horrible and super loose! They are also going to spread a $1-$2 blind, $500 max bet, No Limit game with a $500 max buy in (in the past they only spread limit games).

I personally think that the new casino is going to attract the sharks and the game is going to get harder to beat. Anyone in phoenix going to check it out or stay at Casino Arizona?

This is BY FAR going to be the nicest casino in the Arizona! at least until the the new Casino Arizona is finished building

The new room is gorgeous.

Thanks for the heads up. I might check it out for the $1-$2 spread game since it's alittle closer than Casino Arizona.

What are the cross streets of this new place?

South on I-10. Exit... 162 I think. It's right on the highway. It is huge and impossible to miss.

I really think people are going to be impressed. I'm excited.

I'm going to try to get there Sat before noon and get into the 8-16. I've heard they are planning on $10,000/day promotions. Confirm?

Will be riding at Rawhide Friday night so I suppose I should come hit the $1/$2 game as well.

I'm leaving town tomorrow, but going to play some poker today/tonight. I'm staying downtown Phoenix, should I hit Casino Arizona or Wildhorse Pass (even if the new one is not yet open)?

also are either places daily tourneys (I think 11:30 at CA and 12:00 at Gila) worth a crap?

I thought about going in t-minus-three hours (and change), but I'm concerned that it will be a zoo getting in there...I don't want to wait two hours to play poker...but it is very close to me.

Ditto. I'm in Ahwatukee, and I was happy to see the new road open today (I drive by it twice a day, pretty much).

...but if I hit a casino tonight, it might be Harrah's and then Gila later in the wee hours.

I think I'll head down there tomorrow night...post details or something...:-)

I've heard the casino was packed, but very impressive. Confirm?

I had a Halloween party to attend to last night, and I live in Buckeye, so the drive wasn't high on my list of things to do after partying. Today, there is a good chance I'll be there after yardwork.

That's impressive...just sayin'.

THIS IS THE NICEST CASINO IN ARIZONA!!! All I can say is WOW! I got there at 9:45 and the place was PACKED!!! every seat in the house was taken. The poker room was very very nice. I could not get a game last night because the wait was over 2 hours so I went home. I think that this is going to be the best place in Phoenix to play mid limit holdem. Casino Arizona is still going to be the place to play any limit higher then $15-$30. See ya there tonight!

Did anyone else check it out? Did anyone get a chance to play in any of the games?

If you are going there tonight and there is a ton of traffic, park infront of the hotel (turn left as you come in, instead of right toward the parking garage) and walk to the front door. I was able to get in and out fairly easy, some idiots took over an hour just to park last night.

I cant wait to see how the new Casino Arizona (being built now) is going to compare to the new Wild Horse!

Thanks for the information - I'm really looking forward to checking it out later.

Competition will be good for the industry.

A friend of mine is there right now. Here are some pics, although they suck because they're from a ****ty phone camera. He said the poker room is about half full (25 tables total in room) right now.



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Mark

I just got back from an 8 hour session at Gila's 8-16. Here are some initial impressions:

The casino looks great, nicely decorated. I'm not sure how I feel about the huge TV's in the center that are visible through out the casino. I also think they don't have sufficient rest room capacity. The food court is a nice touch, the other restaurants look nice.

The poker room is too dark. They use spotlights onto the tables which is ok but I found that if I looked around from my seat, or walked around the room I got a bad case of eye strain. Their electronic sign-up/board system was not working and they had just 1 'board' person taking names and assigning seats using paper lists. He was overwhelmed. I just don't understand the mentality of a management that can let him stand there for hours, alone, w/o getting somebody to help him.

Also, the swipe card system that they use to sign the players in at the table slows the game down. This was a tremendous mistake. If anybody had thought for a couple of minutes they'd have realized that missing a hand here and there because of the delay multiplied by the number of tables in action multiplied by 365 days is costing them hundreds of thousands in lost hands and therefor rake. Stupid mistakes like this 'offend' the business man in me even though I'm not missing out except the aggravation of a slight delay here and there.

Also, their insistence on dropping only white chips is uber-stupid, imo, and has been for years. The dealer will make change for 2 peach ($2) chips w/ 4 whites in order to make the drop w/ them. When there is $200 in peach chips in the tray they call for a runner to bring them whites. You ever want to see the effect of the rake stuck right in your face? Just note on your watch to see how quickly they are needing to refill $200. OTOH, most people don't even realize what they are seeing.

Last: The food sucks, imo, just sucks and the service is horribad. That'll get better once they get organized better but they are charging $2 for a bottle of water (50 cent at CAZ) and there is no water cooler available. That's just insane.

Game was good, though, so that cures a lot of ills.

btw: Have you people noticed Harrah's Ak-Chin's highway billboard right next to Gila on the I-10? The AZ republic said that Gila's people chuckled at it. For those who don't know Harrah's is 17 miles down the road and they put up the following sign right by the exit to Gila's beautiful new casino:

On the left side of the sign it says 'Everybody's favorite casino' exit 164.

On the right side of the sign it says 'Another casino. This exit.'

lolololol, great sign!

Thanks for the updates guys. Still haven't been there as the hangover set in yesterday...Maybe today after the Colts vs 49ers game. We'll see what the wife says.

What games were up on the board? Any good spread games? Any Omaha Hi games?

They are doing it wrong. In Vegas it takes no time away from the game because the dealer does it during a slack time, waiting for a player decision, etc. It's usually before the player even gets a hand, so they have no complaints either. I've never seen a dealer take more than 10 seconds to swipe anyone in.

That's weird. In Cali they color UP not down for the drop.

I think for 2 bucks I would have to sneak water in via Camelback or something, and sneak off to the restroom to have a drink. My local places have stations with free coffee, tea, and ice water.

I should have sent you a PM, I was slumming in the lower limits getting used to the place. I was there for about six hours.

I agree with you here. I think the casino looks fantastic. Definite upgrade from the earlier place.

It took me awhile to get "used" to the environment and I couldn't put my finger as to why. You explained it nicely. Plus, because their systems weren't working, it was quite noisy with the floor guys and their walkie-talkies blaring with the open seats. Once I got settled, and into a rhythm, it didn't bother me as much.

I chalk the rest of it though of everyone getting used to the changes. I think once the kinks are worked out, it will be smoother in the long run. Darryl had his hands full...I bet he definitely thought his life would get better with new technology, but he was just swamped.

Additionally, the Aces Cracked promotion had a huge run...never heard so many shouts of "Aces Cracked! Table X!" From 9pm to 10pm it seemed that every table had one - more on this later.

Um...the players hadn't a clue at my table as to "why" this was happening. The regular to my left and I just looked "knowingly" at each other because we knew. The other players - not so much.

Food is better at CAZ and I think this will not change. Service might, but the food won't. Just my stupid opinion though.

Yeah, I saw it, and I thought it was funny as well. However, I have yet to play there to make any solid comparison, and I don't think I will. My experience was overall positive, my game was good too. I won the double your stack promotion (they pick tables, then pick a seat, long shot, but I won. I needed that money later). I also had my Aces cracked, but only scored $25 out of the deal.

For me, I'll be back. Wild Horse is closer to where I live, and as long as the room stays busy (the management has a huge opportunity here to make it good), the games will probably stay good.

The only spread limit game I heard was $2 - $150? Even though I read that there would be a larger game? I don't play it, so I didn't pay that close of attention.

Limit hold 'em went $3/$6 up to $15/$30. I heard Omaha running at $3/$6 as well.

They only had one spread llimit game going ($2-$150) and it was a two hour wait.

The majority of the 25 tables were $3-$6 and $4-$8 with two tables of $8-$16 and one $3-$6 Omaha table.

When I left around 6 PM, they were calling a $15-$30 game.

I do agree with Howard about it being dark in there.

I think the place has a good opprortunity to get players from CAZ if they spread more games. I don't see a need for 15 tables of $3-$6 and $4-$8.

I'd like to see a $2-$150 Omaha Hi and some higher limit spread games and some mid level 2-7 TD.

Even if they have to schedule the games for the weekends, I think those games could get enough players to survive.

Were they full; and do they rake nearly the same as any other game?

I hit the 'match your stack' (up to $200) promo. Floor comes over and sees my pile of chips and says 'I guess I don't have to count your stack' and brings me 8 greens. I'm going to give the place a try for a couple of weeks even though I hate the extra drive.