Jillychemung
Stacks & Stacks
Loyaler
On Friday last week I was able to visit the poker room at theGilpin Casino in Blackhawk, CO. Here's my review from my 9 hour visit.
The casino appears to be in the middle of casino row in Blackhawk. It has valet parking in the lot right across the street from the front door and the parking only costs whatever you want to tip the attendant. There was another parking garage right next door but I never looked to see if it cost anything.
The poker room is on the 3rd floor and there is an elevator just a few feet inside the front door to get there if you don't want to take the stairs which was right at the front entrance. The room was very spacious with the cash tables on the right side and the tournament tables on the left. Tables are your average poker tables. The chairs were not up to par, they were smaller, did not have rollers, had no adjustments and didn't swivel or recline. There were plenty of drink/food trays available. Also drink holders for the table top were available. Room had a number of 36" large screen TVs to follow other sports.
According to the room manager, a players card got you comp'd $.50/hour of play towards food. All drinks were free, alcoholic drinks were not available after 2am. Wait staff was very attentive during the early evening hours but the late evening waitress was very slow and surley and a number of regulars said that was usual for her. Food service was very slow all day from what I saw and I never did get the food that I ordered from the late waitress. Dry snacks, pretzel mix and peanut mix, were available for free.
There was only 1 cash table going when I got there and I had to wait about an hour until a 2nd table got going. There were tournament tables going as they have tournaments at Noon, 3pm, 7pm every day and 10pm on Wed, Fri & Sat. I do not know what the rake schedule is for the tournaments as it wasn't posted and is not on their website. The cash table rake is a max of $7. They do not have a bad beat jackpot, instead they have bonus hands. The bonus hands, must use both your hole cards, when I was there were quad Jacks or a Jack high straight flush. The only issue with these bonus hands was that you had to show them down!!! All the regulars were telling a story about a player the night before that bet their Jack high ST8F for $15 on the river and their opponent folded thus losing out on the $500 bonus. During the evening hours the room manager was also 'splashing the pot' about every hour. He would take $200, randomly pick one cash table and that table would play a hand of $2/$5 limit with the money added to the pot. According to the regulars this promotion was just to work off their former bad beat jackpot that had never hit.
The only cash game being played was $.50/$1/$100 HE, buyin between $50 & $200, $.50/$1 blinds max bet/raise of $100. The room manger siad that they sometimes spread other games on the weekend. Play was typical live play for a casino. A number of loose fish, calling stations and tight nits. The $100 max bet/raise did not come into effect very often. Dealers were adequate, not many misdeals or counting issues. The few I spoke to all were less than 6 months on the job.
I saw 2 tournaments play while I was there. 7pm one, $100 for 10K in chips, had 2 tables and paid out 3 places. 10pm one, $60/$60/$60 for 6K in chips each buy or $180 for 18K in chips, had 3 tables and was paying out 4 places. Levels were 20 minutes long and blinds started at 25/50. I did not see any antes in any of the later rounds.
The casino appears to be in the middle of casino row in Blackhawk. It has valet parking in the lot right across the street from the front door and the parking only costs whatever you want to tip the attendant. There was another parking garage right next door but I never looked to see if it cost anything.
The poker room is on the 3rd floor and there is an elevator just a few feet inside the front door to get there if you don't want to take the stairs which was right at the front entrance. The room was very spacious with the cash tables on the right side and the tournament tables on the left. Tables are your average poker tables. The chairs were not up to par, they were smaller, did not have rollers, had no adjustments and didn't swivel or recline. There were plenty of drink/food trays available. Also drink holders for the table top were available. Room had a number of 36" large screen TVs to follow other sports.
According to the room manager, a players card got you comp'd $.50/hour of play towards food. All drinks were free, alcoholic drinks were not available after 2am. Wait staff was very attentive during the early evening hours but the late evening waitress was very slow and surley and a number of regulars said that was usual for her. Food service was very slow all day from what I saw and I never did get the food that I ordered from the late waitress. Dry snacks, pretzel mix and peanut mix, were available for free.
There was only 1 cash table going when I got there and I had to wait about an hour until a 2nd table got going. There were tournament tables going as they have tournaments at Noon, 3pm, 7pm every day and 10pm on Wed, Fri & Sat. I do not know what the rake schedule is for the tournaments as it wasn't posted and is not on their website. The cash table rake is a max of $7. They do not have a bad beat jackpot, instead they have bonus hands. The bonus hands, must use both your hole cards, when I was there were quad Jacks or a Jack high straight flush. The only issue with these bonus hands was that you had to show them down!!! All the regulars were telling a story about a player the night before that bet their Jack high ST8F for $15 on the river and their opponent folded thus losing out on the $500 bonus. During the evening hours the room manager was also 'splashing the pot' about every hour. He would take $200, randomly pick one cash table and that table would play a hand of $2/$5 limit with the money added to the pot. According to the regulars this promotion was just to work off their former bad beat jackpot that had never hit.
The only cash game being played was $.50/$1/$100 HE, buyin between $50 & $200, $.50/$1 blinds max bet/raise of $100. The room manger siad that they sometimes spread other games on the weekend. Play was typical live play for a casino. A number of loose fish, calling stations and tight nits. The $100 max bet/raise did not come into effect very often. Dealers were adequate, not many misdeals or counting issues. The few I spoke to all were less than 6 months on the job.
I saw 2 tournaments play while I was there. 7pm one, $100 for 10K in chips, had 2 tables and paid out 3 places. 10pm one, $60/$60/$60 for 6K in chips each buy or $180 for 18K in chips, had 3 tables and was paying out 4 places. Levels were 20 minutes long and blinds started at 25/50. I did not see any antes in any of the later rounds.
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