Any self-respecting poker player is likely to include at least one card-related item among his or her New Year’s resolutions. Unless your game has no holes and your bankroll management is flawless, there are no doubt things you resolve to do better this year.
But there’s more to striving for improvement beyond playing the right limits and cutting down on river bluffs. How about seeking new challenges, such as hitting up new poker rooms? As luck would have it, there are seven in the region, making it possible to play in a different one each day of the week.
For those in Southern Arizona interested in finding some different felts to bet and fold on, here’s where you can play in 2015:
AK-CHIN (MARICOPA): In the middle of the casino floor, this poker room has tournaments four nights a week and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Promotions vary by the day and include ones associated with sporting events and rakeback for play at certain times of the day.
BLUEWATER (PARKER): Open daily at 2 p.m. or 4 p.m., Bluewater’s four-table room features tournaments on Tuesday and Thursday nights and a variety of promotions throughout the week, including Aces Cracked, royal-flush payouts and high-hand rewards.
CASINO DEL SOL (TUCSON): Featuring the region’s most comprehensive tournament schedule, the 13-table room has at least one tournament every day or night. Quarterly guest-appreciation freerolls feature large prize pools and many of the daily and weekly tourneys are part of leagues that can qualify frequent winners into additional events.
DESERT DIAMOND (TUCSON): Eight tables spread hold’em and Omaha with solid jackpots for both games. Morning and evening tournaments are twice a week and monthly $5K freerolls are open to players who log 70 hours in a given time period.
QUECHAN (YUMA): Just across the Colorado River in California, eight tables are available for cash games seven days a week starting at 10 a.m. (5 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays).
VEE QUIVA (WEST PHOENIX): Sixteen tables feature fixed- and spread-limit hold’em as well as Omaha, three weekly tournaments and numerous promotions. Vee Quiva also has a progressive jackpot that is tied into the Gila River community’s other casino, Wild Horse Pass.
WILD HORSE PASS (SOUTH PHOENIX): The largest room in Southern Arizona features 25 tables regularly filled with players from all over the state. The Super 77 Jackpot, shared with Vee Quiva, awards an enormous prize to a bad beat where quad sevens or better are beaten.
Be sure to read our Where to Play pages in the back of this issue or check out their web sites for updated information.
— Email Brian at anteupsouthernaz@gmail.com.
