Trip Report: Pechanga

[Uppercut]

I just got back from a short trip west where I played poker for three days at the Pechanga Casino, located in Temecula, CA, about 30 miles northeast of San Diego. Pechanga is a newly built casino that has very nice rooms. I received a big discount($69 per night instead of $109 per night) because I played more than 4 hours of poker during my stay.
The poker room is located on a lower level, away from the noise and bustle of the rest of the casino. They have about a dozen tables that regularly spread Hold-em from 2-4 up to 8-16. They also spread Seven Card Stud and Omaha. As well, they have an adjacent room for tournaments, which they hold on a regular basis. They take a $3 drop from each hand, which is pretty low for Southern California. The poker room staff was unfailingly courteous and professional at all times, and made me feel very welcome throughout my stay. (They helped me get the room discount as well.)
As for the quality of the play, it was extremely soft. I played strictly 2-4 Hold-em, and most of my fellow players were willing to play almost any starting hand, even after a raise in front of them. I never saw so many J7, Q3, 96 opening hands in my life. Many seemed to play any face card, or any suited pair, even 43s and 32s. I stayed disciplined and only played my regular strong starting hands, which became very frustrating, as I saw weak hands winning a lot of pots. When I did play a hand to the showdown, I almost always won, and usually a fairly large pot. In the end, I won a bit over $100 in 13 hours of play, and that was without ever really going on a roll. All in all, Pechanga is a great place to play poker. Too bad that I live in Chicago, which is a long way away.

[ratbastard]

You forgot to mention the HUGE jackpots. They reset their Holdem Jackpot to $6,000. Often the jackpot is worth Double, Triple, and Quadruple. The last two times I went, a 27,000 and 24,000 jackpot were hit. I suspect that the casino takes a loss on the $1 jackpot drops with these kind of payouts. Has anyone figured the odds of Aces full of Tens beaten by any hand using both hole cards? I normally do not like jackpot drops but I realize they draw more people to the game and in the case of Pechanga I am all for it. If you live in southern CA and like low - mid limit holdem, I highly reccomend the visit.

[TobDog]

Pechanga is definately a very nice place to play, and according to all the stories I hear from the people at San Manuel and Lake Elsinore, the softest games too(as described in the trip report). "Come for the seafood, stay for the jackpots!"