Sahara Pokerroom Review - Page 2

Big Business · #11 07-25-2005, 01:30 PM

I played a tourney there and that place is terrible. After a while, my friends and I called it poker hell. The sad thing is that is wasn't as bad as Imperial Palace.

Sahara has to be the sixth gate of hell though. My buddy was sitting in a 2/4 game since that was the only thing going and it looked like a freak show in that game. Yes, I do mean a literal freak show at a circus.

Avoid is all possible unless you are a blackjack player because the single deck $5 game rules and I made back all of my tournament money playing that.

PoorLawyer · #12 07-25-2005, 06:13 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the review. I will be in Vegas in a couple of weeks and I was actually considering playing at the Sahara. I now know to avoid it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I played in the 7pm tourney saturday and had a lot of fun and had no problems with the dealers or the chips. the structure is good in the first 2 hours and then it escalates quickly. I was all in at the 2000-4000 level and quintupled up with QQ and thought I was going to sneak into the money until I tried to steal with 88 and ran into KK....ended up 21st out of 172.

This tourney has the best structure for a low limit under 100 buy in (at least that I have heard about). All the other ones at luxor, mandalay, etc have only 300 chips and are just a crapshoot from what I have heard. I was talking with a dealer at MGM about it the next day and they agreed it is one of the best. And, yes, the sandwiches weren't too bad.

SossMan · #13 07-25-2005, 06:38 PM

I had a fun experience there but I can see how it would be pretty crappy. It's a janky cardroom.

I do like the fact that the bathroom is upstairs next to the "golden room". That's really funny when you are really drunk and visiting the golden room about twice an orbit after breaking the seal.

Xelent · #14 07-25-2005, 06:55 PM

That is why I told the guy that he can still go there if he is looking for some low buyin tournament experience. Solid early structure to get chips from the crappy players before the blinds turn into a crap shoot.

jwp · #15 07-26-2005, 03:11 PM

How long does the 7pm tnmt usually last, approximately? Or, how long did it take you to finish in 21st place?

Thanks,
JWP

danvh · #16 07-26-2005, 03:21 PM

I was there in June. If I remember right the whole thing last around 3-3 1/2 hours. I never saw it run into the 11pm. Though I was only there about 3 days.

PoorLawyer · #17 07-26-2005, 04:52 PM

[ QUOTE ]
How long does the 7pm tnmt usually last, approximately? Or, how long did it take you to finish in 21st place?

Thanks,
JWP

[/ QUOTE ]

when the 11PM tourney started I think we were just going down to 3 tables....i think i busted around 11:20-11:30

Xelent · #18 07-26-2005, 11:09 PM

I think it lasts about 5 hours, I have never been there when it hasn't run into the 11 PM tournament.

OrangeKing · #19 07-26-2005, 11:39 PM

I stayed at the Sahara for a week. Unfortunately, the people I went to Vegas with didn't play much poker, so the only chances I got to play were times I could sneak away to the Sahara's poker room (I did have one fun session at the Excalibur as well).

It definitely sucked. I had good success at the very soft $1/$2 NL game, and the 2/4 game (with just 1 $2 blind) was filled with donks...but there's no way I could recommend playing there for anyone. There are certainly better options at low-limits, which I know just from my one other Vegas poker experience.

The tournaments were the bright spot, at least in terms of fun. You did get a little time to play before the blinds went through the roof. However, as mentioned already, the 7 PM tournament starts 12 handed. This is even worse than at some other places, because the tables are designed for 9 players, not 10.