Though much of the media attention is usually focused on the large poker rooms of Northern California, there are many other rooms that have incredible action and great promotions. No matter where you live in NorCal, you can enjoy a professionally run game with many of the same perks as the big casinos. Take the time to travel around the state to visit these cardrooms throughout the Bay Area and Northern California.
• Turlock Poker Room in Turlock has some fine promotions, including Aces Cracked, royal flush progressive jackpots and Spin the Wheel. Turlock also has some great tournaments, including its upcoming DeepStacks Poker Tour event, which runs April 26-May 4 and features a $1K buy-in main event (May 2-4) with satellites running this month.
• Cache Creek Casino in Brooks gives you a chance to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event with its mega satellites every Sunday at 6 p.m. The buy-in for these satellites is $70 and the top three weekly finalists will be invited to play June 1 for a main-event seat this summer.
• Graton Casino Resort in Rohnert Park is the newest poker room in the Bay Area and has a beautiful layout and modern look. The 18-table room offers a variety of games and promotions, such as its bad-beat jackpot. There are no tournaments, but cash-game action is consistently juicy.
• Jackson Rancheria has one of the most diverse tournament schedules around, including no-limit hold’em, Omaha, crazy pineapple, satellites and league events. It also runs some fantastic promotions, including Aces Cracked, Big Hand Bonus and Flush ’N Win. Rancheria also will host the LIPS Queen Series for the ladies on April 6 at 11 a.m., which will be a $60 buy-in with optional add-ons.
• California Grand Casino in Pacheco has some of the largest cash jackpots in the area. This 14-table room is open 24-7 and has a starting progressive bad-beat jackpot (quad eights) of $140K, which increases daily. California Grand also has royal-flush, high-hand and Omaha jackpots.
• Oceanview Card Room in Santa Cruz has three tournaments that run throughout the week, including a Tuesday$40 buy-in at 5 p.m., Saturday $30 buy-in at noon and Sunday $70 buy-in at noon. It also has a dealer’s choice mixed game on Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1.
These poker rooms may not get the national attention, but they are worth the trip for any player in Northern California.
— Email Garrett at roth@anteupmagazine.com.
