I've found a new favorite place for poker-Reno, Nevada. I just made my first poker trip there and fell in love. Let me tell you why. And when I'm done, I'll give you a quick rundown of all the poker in the area.
First of all, Reno, and the surrounding cities of Carson City, Lake Tahoe, Sparks, and Incline Village, are absolutely beautiful. You have the snowcapped peaks, Lake Tahoe, and beautiful sunsets. In late winter and early spring, when I visited for a week, the weather is cool at night and warm in the daytime. There is a wide open under-developed feel to the place, with an unpolluted clarity and freshness to the air. It's also an inexpensive city. During the week, casino hotel rooms are available in the downtown area for as little as $20 per night. On weekends you can spend as little as $35. These are not little flea-bags but major casino rooms. Similarly, food is very cheap. I had a number of nice dinners in the $10 range. There are buffets for that amount and less as well. The best Basque food in the United States can be had in enormous quantity for $20 for a six-course dinner, including wine.
But this alone wouldn't distinguish Reno from countless cities and towns throughout the heartland of our great nation. What makes Reno and the surrounding area special is the fact that there are 21 poker rooms within an hour's drive. Some are surely better than others. And none, to be sure, offer the high-stakes action of the biggest Vegas or Southern California rooms. But each has something to recommend it. So if you're looking for a great mid and lowstakes poker destination, then Reno is the place to come.
I recommend that you rent a car. If you're going to the area you might as well take in all of Reno, Lake Tahoe, and the surrounding towns while you're there. It would be a shame to miss the gorgeous natural beauty and the many different poker rooms by staying in just one casino location. A rental car is cheap. Mine was mid-sized, had XMRadio, got 35 miles to the gallon going 75 miles an hour on the highway, and only cost me $79 for six days. Such a deal!
The poker rooms are relatively close together. I visited 20 rooms in six days, this while also working as a trainer for my union during the days. I played in nearly all of them, some a few times and for sessions lasting a few hours. I managed a few tournaments as well, but mainly stuck to the cash games.
You'll find a good mix of primarily low-limit games. I played stud, stud/8, Omaha/8, and hold'em, both limit and no-limit. The stud games were generally $1-$5 spread-limit, with and without an ante, while the flop games were generally $2-$6 spread-limit, as well as $2-$4 and $3-$6 fixedlimit. The no-limit games generally had $1 and $2 blinds, though there were a couple with $2 and $5 blinds. There were caps to the buy-ins which generally ranged from $100 to $300. There were some notable exceptions, which I'll point out in my individual rundown of the rooms in my next column.
One room stands out above all of the others-which is saying a lot because each room has something to recommend it. Without question, however, the major room in the area is the Peppermill. It had the highest limits, by far the most games, the best tournaments, and, in general, the best action. If you only go to one room that's the one to visit. But plan your trip so you can
