Yeah, if you want to play a super turbo you'll like that tournament. I don't really consider a super turbo to be real poker. To each his own, if you like it, play it. My problem with it is that it was never advertised as a super turbo. The blind structure wasn't posted anywhere. If it was, I wouldn't have played. It was advertised as a deepstack poker tournament. And for a $50 deepstack tournament with 20 minute blind levels, I wasn't expecting a super turbo.

Again, I understand its my fault for not checking the blind structure, but are all tournaments at the Casinos in Reno like this? I understand their motive is to get your ass in the door and get you knocked out quick so you'll go play something that they profit off of. I'm not interested in all that, I'm interested in a good poker tournament. Is there anywhere to find a regularly paced poker tournament on a daily basis in Reno, or is that saved for special events?

Not sure about daily MTT's but the only real poker room in Reno is Peppermill.

If you want to play in a tournament with a decent structure, you need to spend more than $50. At that buy-in level, they can't take enough vig from the prize pool to cover the cost of dealers for a reasonable structure. This is true pretty much everywhere.

That being said, visit the Peppermill. Their poker room is far and away the best in the area.

Yeah, I get that. Its actually pretty ridiculous the tiny amount of profit they are allowed to make on tournament, I wish it was higher. However, because they were running that tournament, I showed up, played their slots, bought a coffee at their shop, played craps and blackjack, ate at their restaurant, and used their valet parking. If it wasn't for that tournament, I wouldn't have been within 5 miles of the Atlantis. Me playing that tournament got them a lot more money than the $5 that they are allowed to take for a registration fee. But, because it was a joke of a tournament I won't be going back again for another tournament.

I can't be the only guy in town on any given day that enjoys a good poker tournament, so I have to imagine that they do stand to make a decent buck by offering a good tournament, just not directly through the registration fee. I'll check out Peppermill next time, thanks for the advice.

A similar post in Las Vegas Lifestyle worked out well for me before a trip to Vegas a while ago. This thread is the closest to that for the Lake Tahoe Area, so here it goes:
I will be in the South Lake Tahoe area (Stateline) this Thurs.-Sun. and I'm looking for a bar or restaurant that will have live music or a D.J. on Thurs., Fri., and/or Sat. nights where people go to dance (i.e., they have a smallish dance floor). In other words, where do you go if you want to get your dance on but don't like the club scene?

The recommendation I got in LVL was for a place called the Eastside Cannery. It's a small casino a 15-20 minute cab ride off strip that only locals in Vegas go to, and it was exactly what we were looking for. There was an 80s cover band playing, so it was a lot of fun for us. Anything like that in South Lake Tahoe?

Oh, and any tiki bars? We found one in Vegas during that previous trip and had a blast.

Couldn't find it in a search. Any live poker at all in Stateline/South Lake Tahoe.

OK. Read over the thread and realized that my search wouldn't have picked up on "SLT" references. I'll try Harvey's tonight if I can.

Harvey's is your only option in SLT. They get pretty busy during season but Apr/May and Oct/Nov/Dec are the slowest months of the year; shoulder seasons.

Regarding nightlife, I would recommend checking Yelp. I know there are some popular bars in CA but in Stateline, it's mainly casinos with a few spots in Heavenly Village. In terms of a dance floor that's not club like though, I can't really think of one. Vinyl (Hard Rock) has live shows but your other options are clubs/lounges or bars.

1) You pretty much nailed it. I tried going to Harvey's on Friday night at around 10:30pm, but after waiting over 45 minutes for a seat at the 3/6 FLHE I gave up. They only had two tables of 3/6 going and in all that time I only moved from 6th to 3rd on the wait list.

On Saturday night I went again at around 9pm and this time there were two seats open. I played for two orbits then left. It was actually a good table but.....see 2).

2) The reason I didn't play a longer session is that the woman I was with strongly hinted that we should make our own entertainment. If I ever prioritize poker over a woman in the mood, please shoot me dead on the spot. We went to the Lucky Beaver for a drink, then to the CVS between MontBleu and Harrah's (we were staying at MontBleu) to get a bottle of rum, some cranberry juice, and headed back to our room for the night.

The Lucky Beaver is a good spot. They have a play list of 80s and 90s rock and good specialty drinks. We had gone there for lunch the day before and the food is tasty.

3) On the way home, after dropping my date at the Reno airport, I decided to check out Peppermill because I had about 4 hours to kill before my flight. This is room is top three in terms of ambiance of any card room I've ever played in (whenever time permits I try to play in a local card room whenever I travel). Large tables that gently rounded down to seat 5 (it's a 9-handed table)

instead of the standard racetrack shape where it's roughly straight from seats 3-7 making it hard to see seats 6 and 7 if you're sitting in seat 3 or 4, and vice versa. The seats were fairly comfortable. There was a self-service soft drinks and coffee bar and free bottles of water that you could grab yourself.

Best of all, it was a soft game full of passive regs (I was the only one without a loyalty/players card). I played the 3/6 FLHE (the only FLHE game going, unless there was something bigger in the "High Limit" section that has a separate room).

Just like every other poker room I've been in, there were players blaming the dealer for their misfortune. One guy who lost with QQ to my AKs said he was going to stop playing there because the dealers suck. Another said he might as well sit out because the new dealer after the push was unlucky for him. But it was under control. No profanity. Nothing more vicious than sarcasm. This is always a sign of a well-run room. When you don't hear profanity or screaming in a card room, it's because the players know the floor staff won't tolerate that ****. Basically, imagine the opposite of the situation at Commerce.

Nov has the Circuit event, pretty busy then.

Cabo Wabo?

If people are checking this thread and want up to date info on the Harvey's room in Tahoe (the only room currently running in South Lake... Mont Bleu is done and Hard Rock's has no timetable to my knowledge), then feel free to message me. I work downtown and play there often enough.

In general, you're getting one 3/6 limit table and one 2/3 NL table from 6-12 weekdays during the shoulder months (non winter/summer). On Fri/Sat you can count on 3-5 NL tables until 12 or so, and then 1 that will go most of the night. Once it hits late June, the action is pretty decent and weekends will generally also field a 3/5 NL.

I miss Tahoe, I'm def gonna make a trip up there next winter. The PLO games I played during the circuit a couple years back where amazing.

Gonna be in Reno in late August and early September, looking to play mixed games or stud games. what are the biggest games that run and when do they run?

The 3 newer and nicest rooms are Grand Sierra, Atlantis, and Peppermill.

All are full on resort destinations.

The Peppermill has the highest NL games on Fri and Saturdays. Check out bovado.

Last weekend they had a 2-5nl and 5-10nl.

Reno is a fun place to play! How's the action been?!

Its hit or miss in regards to action...

Playing before 6 pm is pretty much a waste of time, all super tight retired types playing small pots.

This weekend will be great with Burning Man and Rib Cook-off in town.

New to the area, new to the sport, looking for some players to connect with.

How's the everyday PLO action in Reno?

No regular PLO game in town

Peppermill high limit room run by Jimmy has been crazy action. Last Monday 2 full 5/10/20 2k min buyin games. And recently he's been running 2 5/10 no limit games every fri Sat Sun and a 20/40 limit game Wed-Sun

Heading to Reno soon, do they offer any variant of open face Chinese poker anywhere?

Only place I've ever seen/heard of that being spread is Vegas during the series.

It runs here not during series, all same faces tho

peppermill will spread it if for you. $6 per half hour.

I'll be in downtown Reno in early March for a few days. What's available in the immediate downtown area (I will not have a car) as far as poker? I don't need anything fancier than an easily accessible 1/2 game, but if anything downtown has other games that run that might be fun too.