With a rich history of being a playground for the rich and famous, Palm Springs is a great place to get away, have some fun and play some poker.
Agua Caliente Casino has a wonderful, player-friendly poker room. From the moment you walk into the enclosed room, you can feel the energy. It’s a nice big open room. With 20 tables, there’s always a cash game or tournament running.
There are nine large flatscreen TVs scattered around the room, and two are 90 inches. Also, there’s a self-serve coffee and soda station.
If there’s a waiting list, there are pagers so you can leave the room and not miss your seat being called.
The poker-room manager, Jerry Sandau, has made sure there’s a level and limit for everyone’s taste. Cash games include: limit hold’em $3-$6 (half-kill) and $4-$8 (full-kill), NLHE $1-$3 ($60-$300) $2-$5 ($200-$1K), Omaha/8 $6-$12 (full kill) and $5-$5 pot-limit Omaha ($500-$5K).
The room also has a range of deepstack events (with guarantees most days of the week) with buy-ins starting at $70.
There are quite a few promotions running at this time, too.
• Full House Rocks runs Monday through Thursday between 2-5 p.m. For every jacks full or better, the player chooses an envelope with between $30 to $200 in chips.
• Splash pots are every day from 7:15-10:45 a.m. with $50 added every half-hour, every game.
Football season is a big deal here. Sunday’s 1 p.m. game has a high-hand promotion. Whenever there’s a score the high hand at that point gets a bonus.
The Sunday Night Squares promotion lets players earn squares during the prior week with a full house or better. After the game is over, the board clears for the next week.
Monday Night Rack attacks: For every touchdown, five tables get a rack added. For every field goal, three tables get a rack.
They also bring in food on Sundays and Mondays for the games. These promotions and the big televisions make watching football a lot more fun.
And we can’t forget Spotlight 29, which has a nice spacious enclosed room. This is another player-friendly facility. It has a refreshment station with tables for the players’ comfort. Snacks are offered at various times.
Poker-room manager Matt Singleton has put together a nice mix of tournaments and cash games, including $3-$6 limit with a full kill and $1-$2 NLHE ($60-$200).
The Daily Big Deal is a $35 buy-in tournament that gives you 6K chips. There are two $10 rebuys within the first 45 minutes for 3K chips each, and one add-on, $15 for 4K chips.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 11 a.m. is a $50 buy-in bounty tournament ($10 bounties) with 45-minute late registration available.
Both of these poker rooms are worth your time and effort when you’re in the Palm Springs area.
— Email Kittie Aleman at anteupkittie@gmail.com.
