I'm gonna be in ABQ next month. Wondering which place would be the best to visit with my non poker friends, who may just wanna hang, play other games, drink, while I'm playing. I'd also like to find a good cheap tourney they could play with me, just to get their feet wet.

Sounds like the Hard Rock Casino would be your place.

or google

I've played at BT.....nice place....nice room...... 20/40 dealers choice has been playing of late.

I like their 2 deck BJ.....but not the no DD on splitting rule.....BADDDDDDDDDDDD.

On there dealers choice is it all limit games?

I think it tends to be hold'em, stud8, omaha8 and crazy pineapple. sometimes (i think) it changes to 5/5 pot limit or no limit for a round, so its not strictly 20/40 limit, even though they call it that. Its not 8game or horse, its literally dealers choice, so each round it changes...they seem to spend more time arguing about what to play then actually playing. I don't think they play 2-7draw or badugi type games.

I don't work for Santa Ana in any form, so I don't want this to come off spam-ish.

They've changed there rake on NL cash games - it's now 3% up to 3. 1 on 30, 2 on 60 and 3 on 90. I think it's a great deal.. combined with overall soft games.

Just a heads up

Is that a promo rake? Eg only for a short time, like a week, or a month? I can't see how that rake structure could be profitable for them.

I am the Poker Room Manager at the Santa Ana Star. I don't want to spam the board with what's going on in our Poker Room, but I will be more than happy to answer any questions. In regards to the rake on the NL games, it is not a promo rake. We will be raking 3.33% on all NL and PL games. If you are interested in any more information, please feel free to PM me on here and I will gladly answer any and all questions regarding our room.

I've played at Santa Ana for most of the past 4 years. The changes they made recently are pretty nice. The smoke free room is big bonus to me. They have really made a good attempt at bringing in more people with the tourny restructuring. I like the changes. I am disappointed that they canceled the PLO rebuy. I was looking forward to that. Higgy5, perhaps you could schedule it for some other night than Wed? Maybe put it in a rotation?

I'd love to spread a PLO tourney as well as the live game! If we can get the interest, I will definitely spread it. There will be some PLO offered during the deepstack series as well as a couple of other tournament series that we have scheduled this year. Hopefully, the interest in the game will gain some steam with those tournaments so that we can spread it regularly.

Any new changes going on at the Inn of Mountain gods? I know they changed there buy in structures on the 1-2 to max buyin of 300 and 5-10 has no cap now.... Anything else changed?

Higgy5, thanks for participating in this thread!
I tend to go to BT or Sandia, admittedly passing by Santa Ana because I know I can count on a game at Sandia. But, I always enjoy Santa Ana and would love to hear reasons why I should go there more often. I have not been there since the "recent changes" but have heard about them...is the poker room no longer adjacent to that bar?

As we probably all know, NM Casino websites are pretty unreliable for up-to-date info, in fact I just checked Santa Ana's site and the poker section's giving me "page not found".

Could you provide a little info on the current tourney schedule and maybe give us an idea of when would be a reliable time to show up if one is looking for a NL cash game? Also, what's the typical size of a mid-week evening tourney? Thanks again!

I would go for plo

@Banned4Life- We are no longer in that location, we are in an enclosed room on the West side of the casino. I don't want to spam the group with my promotions, etc. If you'll PM me I would be more than happy to e-mail you our schedules and some tournament results. We have 1 or 2 NL games daily as well as $4 & 8.

Look forward to seeing you!

Higgy

Sorry about the website issue. I just contacted our Marketing people and they will put all the tournament info on our FB page today and hopefully our site will be fixed by tomorrow.

Hope this helps!

Higgy

higgy, explain what you mean by a 3.33% rake very clearly please.

That does sound odd doesn't it? $1 on $30, $1 on $60 and $1 on $90, $3 max rake. Sorry for the confusion.

If you haven't been to Santa Ana in the last 2-3 months, your missing out now. I don't work there (in a traditional sense) but the room has gone leaps and bounds from where it was this time last year.

The low rake on NL games alone is worth the trip.

great rake higgy. with this rake the house makes less initially. but it allows all the marginal players to win or break even. then they come back and play over and over again. the room makes less per table but has longer lasting games and more tables going. they end up with players that come in and start games. broke players cant do that.

I agree Ray. Hopefully the players in the area will realize the value for them here. If I can get at least 1 more NL game per day, I can justify to the powers that be that making less per table is worth it if we can keep more games going. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

it isnt an instant thing higgy. it takes time for a room to grow and then sustain games. it all comes about over time as the players that are able to win realize it. the house sometimes just see last nights results and want to change policies based on the short term results.

its the old saying that you can milk a cow forever but its done when you eat him. actually i just made that up.

I guess with a small room and such and drastic changes - for the good, the expectation of seeing some results in the short term (1-2 months) is there. But to continue on your milk theme , the cream rises to the top.

Appreciate the words of support! However, if you"re milking a "him" cow, I'll pass on that cream!!

Can someone post the min/max BI for 1 2 to 5 10 at casinos in the state?

Also, are most of these poker rooms in Alb or Santa Fe?

Thanks.