On the plus side is the size and comfort of the room and the elbow room at the tables. Pechanga is definitely a place where you can relax and play all day, with very comfortable seats at full-sized tables and many TVs up on the walls to occasionally check on your cliffhanger sports bets while you're playing. My only complaint about Pechanga is the smaller buy-in tourneys where the blind structure is such that in the later rounds you find yourself all of a sudden in an all-in fest in hopes of getting enough chips so that you can play something resembling real poker as the final table beckons on the horizon. But, if you're focused strictly on cash games, you can't go too far wrong.
Wow. Pechanga is a full-fledged Las Vegas-style casino a little over an hour north of San Diego. Well, it’s semi-Las Vegas-style because the drinks are not free and rather expensive. Still, the experience from start to finish is great. Although it’s on an Indian Reservation, Pechanga is relatively accessible from “The” 15 between San Diego and Riverside. The ride up is rather spectacular, lots of mountains, valleys, and picturesque views. Want to stop and do a wine tasting on the way? Temecula Valley boasts a burgeoning wine industry. Want to have hot rocks placed on your back or cucumbers on your eyes? Spas abound. The casino is easy to find, unlike some of the poker rooms in the San Diego area or other casinos like Barona Valley Casino which is east of San Diego, just outside of BFE. Even though I’m not an engineer, I appreciated the design of the Pechanga parking lot as very innovative: no tight turns, no screeching times, no leaky pipes, narrow spaces, dark corners smelling of two day-old urine, no dented doors. (Yes this is a Poker Room review, keep reading). My point is, it’s easy to get to, easy to park (free also), and very welcoming. Inside the Casino the color scheme of muted browns and golds, along with a high ceiling make for a comfortable easy-on-the-eyes experience. The interior design blends a combination of old stone architecture, Indian motifs (without being tacky or going overboard), and western styles that is, dare I say this, tasteful? Take out the damned blinging ringing tingling machines and you might think you were in a VERY large lodge. Slot machines abound and they seemed to be the latest in technology. They even have virtual roulette wheels where 4-6 players could pick their positions on a touch screen and a well endowed video croupier throwing the ball in the wheel. Where’s the fun in that? Yet these machines were all busy. The poker room is in the rear of the building, on the second floor and it gets first class treatment. It overlooks an enormous round bar on the first floor and is adjacent to the club (Silk) where, I presume, e’rrybody’s gettin’ tipsy. The room has a huge entrance with POKER in big gold letters over the doors so you don’t think it’s the bingo room. Entering the room there are two large TVs with all the games being played and waiting lists for each. Have a Pechanga Players card? No problem, just swipe it, use the touch screen … and there’s your name on the screen right below the game of your choice. The room is very big with nine big screen TVs supplemented by 14 HDTVs showing sports and casino information on tournaments or jackpots. The room is just great, certainly up to Las Vegas standards except for the fact that you have to pay for drinks. But, unlike Vegas, they do have table side eating. I wasn’t a fan of tableside eating at first and I thought it was a bit much. “Can’t you get your fat ass away from the table long enough to gulp down a philly cheesesteak at the deli?” Well the answer is “no, I might miss a jackpot, or AA”. Anyway this is a very comfortable room with lots and lots of tables and game choices. Play is very wild. The tournaments are well run, and are on a brisk schedule of blinds. After the third round you better have chips because you’ll be out a couple of orbits later. Blinds seemed to go up every orbit, by the way. The only possible downside to the Pechanga experience is that it’s too sterile. Although the dealers were excellent they were, with few exceptions, devoid of personality. Many just seemed to go through the motions despite the fact that players were tipping on a regular basis. A mental count of tips racked in by one of the more pleasant dealers was $25 in a 30 min. shift at the $1/$1 no limit table. Oh, I forgot, the Pechanga does have a lot of $1/$1 NL $40 buy in tables which seem to be a standard in California and which is a roller coaster experience, let me tell you. I do not think tips were pooled as each dealer carried their own tip box. My favorite dealer? Mical. My advice is that if you are in San Diego on business and want to play poker skip the local rooms in town and head out to Pechanga. There is another casino on the way (Pala) which I plan to check out on my next trip along with Harrahs which is there as well.
This is a large poker room. Over 32 tables of poker madness! Large TV monitors throughout the room. I played in the Friday morning tourney on March 2. Something about this tourney makes it move really fast. You get T$2500 and blinds start at $25-$50 and then go up every 15 min. Maybe for a bigger buy-in the tourney structure will be different. About an hour into it, it turns into an 'all-in' donkey feast! =( I also played some limit-hold'em here. Players here as in any other poker room nation-wide love to chase in limit. I made some easy money on that fact alone. The chairs are comfortable. The service is pretty good here. But don't expect management to swipe your players card every hour! We started a NEW table and management argued with the players on when the table started so they can credit our players cards back to when we started. Since no one came around to swipe, the management stated we were only there 2 hours opposed to 3. Boooooo! BTW, what is up with the $4 rake here? Plus the $1 for the jackpot! Every hand the house was taking $5 out of the pot. Has it always been like this? I don't remember other casinos raking this much. Ok, maybe in Vegas.
The room itself is fantastic. The tables are spaced very well, and it's comfortable to play. Probably one of the most comfortable table setups anywhere. But the high ceilings makes it a little noisy. My ears rang for a day after playing there. As with most Indian Casinos, the food menu is limited and pricey. Ok...it's not that it's expensive, but California card clubs give you a better deal on the food (IMHO). So get a players card here! Speaking of the players card...it is one of the best for comps. Play four or five hours and you'll have enough to comp a lunch. I always get a meal while I'm there, and still have comp dollars to spare. I have cards at the other clubs I play regularly (if not more), and still don't have a meal! The dealers are some of the best, and some of the worst. The good ones are personable and pleasant. The bad ones are cold and uppity. If you get angry or show emotion, they will throw you a dirty look. One dealer accused me of dropping the F-word when in fact I had not (the other players backed me up). I have complained twice to the floorman about the "bad" dealers. Now I don't want to get on a rant here....but aren't I the customer? I shouldn't get that kind of treatment from a dealer. Do I get mad sometimes? Yes. Do I drop the F word? Yes. But other dealers politely remind me that it's in bad form to act this way. And that is the proper way to handle the situation. One other recent change I thought was bad for players....The bad beat jackpot has gone from Aces full of Tens, to Aces full of Jacks. Guess too many jackpots were being hit. Of course, makes them bigger jackpots! But don't let my rants dissuade you from visiting Pechenga. It's a great room with many tables. I play there at least once a month. And remember to get the rewards card. If you like casino action with your poker, Pechenga is the place.
I like this room a lot. It is well spaced out and run well. I play about once a week here on weekday nights. The games very from very tough to loose and easy. 4/8 is often dominated by dealers and regulars who are solid good players. This is a tough game. The 3/6 and 2/4 are first timers. kids, and conferneces goers out for a good time. The $40 no-limit is totally crazy. bunch of kids who watched some TV and think they can play. It is a crap shoot and I stay away. Tourneys are fun but move too fast so at about the hour mark you need to either start getting cards or get lucky when you go all in.
I thought this card room would be awesome from some reviews I read.... so I have to ask... "were these people actually IN their card room?" It was HORRIBLE...the employees were stuck up and rude. The action BLOWS.... sure if you want to play LOTTO poker but I DON'T! The food? OVER PRICED for one and I've had about 3 different things on their menu and not 1 even came close to making me want to order it again. Their tournaments have a HORRIBLE structure as well as run in a pretty unorganized manner. I have HAD IT with the card rooms that are in the indian casinos. ALL of the card rooms within 1 hour from Pechanga i.e. Lake Elsinore Casino, Commerce, Bicycle Club etc are WAY more of what I think people like... especially ME and ! play everyday!!
