[FeliciaLee]

We were just there last week for a day (passing through). They only had four tables going at any time. And this seemed hard to maintain as they were breaking one or two periodically.

The stud was $1-4. The rake was a KILLER. No one, not even the most seasoned pro could make money at this game. Once $4 got into the pot, they took ONE dollar. I went to public school, so I'm no math pro, but I believe this is 25%!!!! They let another $4 or $5 get into the pot and took another dollar out, and if there was even anything approaching $20 in the pot, they had at least $3 in the rake and $1 for the jackpot (!!!)

Hold'em was a little bit more reasonable, but still a huge percentage out of every pot, which seemed kind of flexible based on the dealer (???)

The only Hold'em games I ever saw spread were 2-4 and 3-6, although there was an interest board for much higher limits (I never saw anything get going on these even though we were there for about 10 hours).

One Omaha8 game seemed to come and go. I didn't participate.

We played in a NLHE tourney with unlimited rebuys (ugh) and an add-on. There were about 75 players. It is a FREEROLL, which is great, but the rebuys and add-ons were tremendous, so the play before the break was ATC. Most of the players seemed to be locals who were on the soft side, but, of course that didn't keep me from busting out kind of early [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

The only catch with the freeroll is that one has to sign up an hour in advance or it is no longer a freeroll. I guess this is to keep business up, but one does not have to be playing at the time, just in the room.

Coffee and water are free and either self-serve or served by ever-present wait staff. All other drinks are at a low cost. Food is 50% off if seated.

The poker room is smoke free and large. Lots of elbow room and extremely friendly (aim-to-please) staff.

The strange thing about this room, and the casino in general, is that it is change-free. Dealers cannot accept tips for less than one dollar. Tipping anyone in quarters is very discouraged, and it is virtually impossible to get change unless one absolutely demands it. This just creates an atmosphere where locals either don't tip altogether, or over-tip, thus making the poker games even moreso impossible to win. Between the outrageous rake and the no-change policy, I cannot say that I will ever play at Desert again in a ring situation. I think if we drive through there on our way across the country, I will stick to the tourney's only.

Have fun!