Best Poker Room in Tucson AZ?

[12AX7]

I've a potential contract in Tucson coming up. Was wondering if Desert Diamond or Casino Del Sol was the "Bellagio of Tucson", so to speak?

Anyone know anything about either place or others?

Also is Desert Diamond somewhat unphotogenic? Couldn't find a single photo of the place.

Any thoughts on living in the Tucson area in general?

[SuitedSixes]

Now is the wrong time for a visit. It's HOT . . Africa HOT. Desert Diamond is pretty ugly, and their poker room is uglier . . . it's just a temporary type module added to another temporary type module added on to the addition of the original casino. Casino del Sol is the real nice casino here. The inside has the Caesar's Palace-type sky paintings. Poker is fun and target-rich at both places.

[razor]

They moved the poker room back to the old location?!

[richmhv]

I was out there in March and the Casino del Sol cardroom is definitely nicer. Elegant wood paneled walls and machine shufflers built into the tables. The 3-6 Holdem in both places is with a full kill after 2 consecutive pots won by the same person. The Desert Diamond room is in the old location near the airport. If they move it out to the new Desert Diamond near I19, that will be a big improvement. Nice restaurant there (the Agave).

[12AX7]

OK, got it, Del Sol is the "looker".

So is it like Vegas, free drinks to players etc? How are the rakes? And do they do jackpots? (I generally would prefer no jackpots as to me they just represent extra rake.)

What games and limits are generally going?

Are they 24x7... or like Colorado... closed at 2am? Or Tunica...closed on Sunday?

Any easy access shuttles? For some reason I got into the habit of prefering not to drive to the strip when I lived in Vegas. Just took the public transit and left the car at home. Found it to be less hassle.

Just curious about the details.

[razor]

bizzare... when I was last in Tucson (Oct 2001 if I remember correctly) they had recently moved the poker room to the new casino. Much nicer than the old casino.

Only played Casino del Sol once, they only had one 3-6 going the afternoon I was there and it broke up about an hour after I sat down.

I always enjoyed playing at Desert Diamond when I was visiting Tucson on a regular basis.

[DeathDonkey]

Hi 12AX7,

Lots of questions, but I think I can answer them all and more. I live in Tucson and grew up here, and I go to the University of Arizona. I also play at least once a week at Desert Diamond. I have played at Casino Del Sol as well, but I prefer DD...

CDS is much further away from pretty much everywhere, they have less game selection, tighter opponents the times I went, rake and jackpot ($1 preflop, $2 after $30) are the same at both places.

CDS is much nicer as a casino, they have great restaurants and nice BJ tables, as well as tons of slots for those people. Their poker room is much nicer looking, but for the reasons already given, DD's is the preferred one.

They are both 24/7 though it will be slim pickings on the really off times. CDS has usually just 3/6 holdem, omaha, and 1-5 stud. They claim higher limits but I haven't seen them and was there on the weekends. DD has 3/6, 4/8, 6/12 hold em (8/16 and 10/20 very rarely), 3/6, 4/8 omaha, and 1-5 stud. All the hold em games are full kill at both casinos. The jackpots at DD are bigger because there are more players, so more drops.

What else, what else...free non-alcoholic drinks, terrible service at both places. Non smoking rooms at both places. DD used to have its poker room at the new location, but moved it to the old location and built a separate room for it, which is like a trailer from the outside, but nice inside.

Both have shuttles that go all around town but are horribly slow and have like a 3 hour circuit. I would just drive.

Rake at DD is $3 after $10 and $1 each $20 more up to $5 max. Not sure at CDS but I think its the same. Forgot, DD also spreads 2/4 holdem no kill. Don't play it. Its Rocky and you can't beat the rake. 3/6 full kill is easily beatable and the most popular. The 6/12 looks pretty soft too but I don't play that high yet. The Omaha games are simply nuts; aggressive players but crazy. A good Omaha player could clean up there I'm sure, I really need to learn /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Tucson is nice if you can take the heat. I would prefer a place a bit bigger, but many think Tucson is big compared to where they come from. Good college town and some big corporations provide alot of jobs and wealth. Good Mexican food and Italian (I think). A few Steakhouses that don't suck...

Let me know if you have any more questions, or anyone does really. As I said I play at DD once a week at least so anyone feel free to PM me with questions or to meet up. Not sure if Tucson is well represented on these boards /images/graemlins/smile.gif

-DeathDonkey

[DeathDonkey]

Forgot to mention, CDS runs alot of tournaments, DD has none. The tournaments are usually full, guaranteed prize pools and range in price and rebuy/no rebuy. The blind structures suck, but they suck everywhere. They try to force you to make a deal at the final table, but a friend of mine won one recently and refused to make a deal. They wanted to avoid filing tax reports I guess so they tried to keep everyone under the max profit to not file. I'm sure these tourneys are soft too, but the blind structure makes them somewhat of a crapshoot.

-DeathDonkey

[razor]

wtf happened to poker in Tucson? I woulda thought with the poker boom these places woulda been big and better.

Not that I played higher than 3-6 but a couple years back when I was visiting Tucson regularly DD had games bigger than 6-12 and they had regular tournaments.

[DeathDonkey]

Tonight (Friday) DD spread a 10/20 holdem game for the first time in several months. It looked really juicy but I don't play nearly that high. Their jackpot is also at a record high of $80k so there were 14 holdem games going and 1 Omaha game ($80k is the holdem jackpot).

If the continue to spread the 10/20 on the weekends it will be a big improvement, as it is an alternative to the 6/12 full kill and looked really lively.

-DeathDonkey

[ResidentParanoid]

The best poker room in Tucson in 1 hour, 15 minutes away in Scottsdale at Casino Arizona. Much more game selection, much more cash in the room. Worth the trip if you're spending the day playing poker. Something like 50 tables going on busy nights. Haven't been to the new location since 2003, but you can search the boards for info. I found that the games at the Tucson casinos are mostly too tight for profit in the summer months, when everyone leaves town.

[12AX7]

Hi DD,
Is it my imagination or is the Tucson airport and all the casinos right next to the Los Reales Landfill?

Seems to me like the whole valley must be full of landfill "aroma" at times.

[DeathDonkey]

Haha yes that landfill is right there. No I don't ever notice a smell from that...on the other hand, I live near the University of Arizona's off-campus farming site. Cow manure can be a very very bad thing :P

Are you in Tucson then? I play at DD just about every Friday night.

-DeathDonkey

[12AX7]

Yup, I'm here... but I probably won't go anywhere Los Reales... so no poker for me at Tucson. :-(

God D*mned landfill...

I'm thinking of leaving Tucson all together, if but for that reason alone.

Geez, why do they put landfills anywhere near population centers?