Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramon Scott
Wow, they have this at Caliente in Tijuana. I'm going to check this out next time I head down to my favorite chica clubs.
Yes, they do have poker in TJ!
Cliffs
They have Pokerpro machines at the Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana. Nice safe place to play, and friendly to gringos. But it isn't really worth going if you are already in the US.
Background
As background, during US prohibition Tijuana had a brief heyday as a true destination playground for the Californias. The Caesar Salad is probably the most famous result of this era. There was a famous casino at the Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana. Mexico outlawed casinos in 1930s, and that casino was turned into a school, which remains today. I really doubt that poker was played here, but I could be wrong.
Mexico has had OTB for a long, long time. In fact, the Mexican horse racing interests actually pioneered the simulcast of live races. Back in the 1980s the Nevada OTB parlors would buy the Mexican feeds and turn the sound off. In the 1980s Mexico legalized Vegas style sports betting.
And apparently sometime in the 2000s either electronic gambling was legalized, or someone figured out the the 1930s law that outlawed gambling didn't apply to electronic gambling, or the correct "bite" was collected by the correct official and... electronic gambling was established.
Of course, other things happened in the 2000s, especially the evil and terrible east coast terrorist attacks of 2001. The terrorists did win, at least when it comes to Tijuana. What used to be the most foreign visited city in the world was reduced to a tourist ghost town, because of the new US customs procedures. And for the OTB and sports book monopoly enjoyed by the mayor of Tijuana, internet gambling has seriously crippled that business. The third reason business at the books is down is, of course, the countries growing reputation for violence.
And of course, now California has OTB, phone and internet horse betting, and San Diego county has more Indians casinos than anywhere else, with more and (I assume) better slot machines. The result is that the Caliente monopoly has pretty much re-invented themselves to service the domestic Mexican market. The exception is sports betting, where the US bettor and dollar is still king.
Getting There from the US
So, off to Mexico I went. Getting there is half the fun, right? Not really, I made some mistakes, but I did get back and forth just fine. The first problem is that I looked up on PokerTek's website where to play poker. Their website says at the Caliente Casino.
This is not correct. The poker machines are at the Caliente Racetrack. Racetrack in Spanish is "Hippodromo", remember that word.
Driving into Mexico poses two problems. One is that almost no US insurance covers driving into Mexico. BTW, this especially applies to rental cars. You really need to buy Mexican insurance if you drive there. Otherwise if you get into an accident, no matter who's fault it is, you can be required to go to the cop shop and put up a cash deposit as an uninsured driver. And in Mexico, like certain east coast US cities, "cops take tips", which opens up a can of worms you would really like to keep closed. The second is it takes a certain amount of "eggs" to drive in the border area of Tijuana, if you know what I mean. As a native San Diegan, I'm used to it, but it will freak out an easterner I'm sure.
The best way to get to Tijuana is to take the SD Trolley, which literally ends feet from US customs at the border. So I went to my closest trolley station and bought a day pass. The Caliente Casino is in the Pueblo Amigo Hotel (former Holiday Inn), which is only about 500 yards from the border, an easy and safe walk. Right across the driveway from main Caliente race and sports book. BTW, there are other, and closer, places you can bet races or sports. You always get the same odds because they are all tied into the same computer network and all owned by Caliente.
But this is not where the poker machines are so I needed to get a cab. The racetrack is about five miles on the other side of the city, too far to walk and I wouldn't consider it a safe walk at night anyway. Cabs in Tijuana are fixed price per person, 50 pesos or $5 to the racetrack. Like the US, tips are expected.
On the way back the cab will drop you off right at the border crossing. I haven't crossed this border, the busiest land border in the world, since before the new security rules. This is very important:
US citizens must have a passport to cross back into the US now. Don't leave home without it. BTW, you should spend the extra $25 and get a Passport Card also. This is the one and only part about going to Mexico I was really dreading, as the horror stories of six hour waits and body cavity searches were still fresh in my mind. Imagine my surprise when there was no line at all and I was in and out of customs much faster than before. Of course, it being midnight probably kept the crowds down.
And here was the worst part of the trip. The trolley north of downtown shuts down at midnight now. Ouch, my car was parked at a station to the north. So, another $20 cab ride (four times more expensive than Mexico for about the same distance) to get back to my station.
The Casino
The racetrack, which I haven't been to in over fifteen years, has either been rebuilt or greatly upgraded. It used to be creepy rundown but kinda cool in a strange way. New this place is modern, and nicer and cleaner than some of our local US card rooms and casinos. There is plenty of security. Seabiscut and horse racing is long gone, although horses are still stabled and exercised here. They have dog races to bet on now. And OTB, the sports book, slots, electronic versions of blackjack, roulette, (I assume) craps, and ... five Pokertek pokerpro machines.
The poker room is non-smoking and also very nice. Cocktails and table side dining is available. A Mexican domestic beer was 28 pesos or $2.50, a bacon cheesburger was $5 US (and it looked good). Like the rest of the casino, it overlooks the racetrack and has a (smoking) balcony right outside over the near turn. And the floor chicas, or whatever the people who tend these poker machines are called, were young and seriously nice eye candy. All of the poker staff spoke English.
The players were almost all pretty young, mostly in their 20s. They all dressed and acted like your typical US player of the age, Ed Hardy or WSOP t-shirts, etc. Not so much sunglasses, earphones, and "strat" talk, although there was some of that. Almost all male, one cute chica was playing however. Everyone spoke English, and nobody seemed the slightest bit surprised a gringo was playing there. All very nice and nobody cared that I responded in English during the hand, unlike some of the language Nazi's in So Cal. FYI, the Pokerpro machines can be set for English, Spanish or French, and it doesn't really matter anyway because they are simple enough to use without the words.
The tourney and games played just about as fishy as the same stakes in your typical So Cal card rooms. It seemed a little more passive, but my sample size was so small I wouldn't draw conclusions.
The Games
They have tourneys and cash games every day. Yesterday they were running 10 person sit-and-go satellites for their evening tourney from 3-6 pm. Buy in was 55 pesos ($4.58) with no fees! These were pure shove fests as you started with ten blinds.
From 6-7 they had a 5,10 peso ($0.41, 0.83) NL cash games, 500 peso max ($41.67).
Starting at 7 was their evening 500+50 peso tourney ($41.67+4.17). They had 41 players, and there were quite a few re-entrys. You started with 100 blinds. I got the big part of the chop in this one. I am not a big fan of tourneys, and I didn't realize it at the time, but this is actually my biggest tourney cash ever!
One thing that confused me is that after we decided to chop, we still played it out. It turns out that they are running a promotion to free-roll three players to the WSOP main event, and two players to the LAPT in Brazil. Points are awarded for tourney finishes to qualify. The room manager says he is taking them personally. He also said they had a deal for US players to stay at the Pueblo Amigo Hotel for $59 and Caliente would shuttle them to and from the racetrack. Pretty good promotions, but useless to me. As I will mention, there was another reason we had to play it out.
After enough people had exited the tourney they started 15,30 peso ($1.25, 2.50) NL cash games, 3000 peso max ($250).
They have other tourney buy in's on other days, and the manager said they also run 20,40 peso 3000 max ($1.67, 3.33 250 max), and 50, 100 peso 8000 max ($4.17, 8.33 833.33 max) NL games on the weekend.
Pesos Suck
There first peso problem isn't really about the peso, it is about the amount of pesos dropped. No flop, no drop. But they drop 5% up to 70 pesos, and also drop 10 more pesos for a jackpot at some point ($6.67 total). No tipping on the Pokerpro tables, but way too usury a rake for the Pokerpro table experience, IMO.
As I mentioned, Caliente now focuses on the Mexican domestic market. You can buy in with dollars, and they will sell you pesos at 12.00 exchange rate. Google is telling me the rate is 12.59 now. And this is the part I didn't know until it was time to leave,
and it sucks. When you cash out they will buy your pesos at 12.00 too, up to the amount you bought in for. If you are a net winner, you get the rest in pesos. And there is nowhere at the racetrack to exchange pesos for dollars. So I won, except all my winnings are in peso bills, which are useless in the US.
The other thing that sucks is there is a 1.3 percent tax on your net winnings, which is collected when you cash out. This is up from 1% from the 1990s. This counts for sports betting also, and presumably races, slots, and the electronic table games. This makes their 15 cent baseball line really about a 17 cent line. The nits can figure out how this effects the drawing odds. Of course, if you are a net loser you don't have to pay.
And the other reason we had to play out the tourney is we couldn't do the chop in the casino. We had to finish the tourney to get the payouts on our Pokerpro cards, then we had to get the pesos off the cards, and then a floorman walked us out to the lobby, who then left us to do the actual chop.
I would definitely play here again, next time I am going to the racetrack. Which should be about 2025, since I couldn't care less about real big dogs running in circles. But a fun time was had, and I would recommend it. But if I was in Tijuana and really wanted to play I would cross to the US. Village Club in Chula Juana only drops $5 and has more and bigger games.
Last edited by MissileDog; 06-17-2010 at 06:26 PM.
