John Ascuaga's Nugget



Easy to find, the Nugget is right alongside I-80, just east of Reno proper. It has both a large multistory parking garage and a large sprawling outdoor parking lot. The parking garage is much closer to the casino and naturally better when parking in inclement weather.

Games
Wait Time: Varies. Usually only a few tables are running, so it ranges from no wait to around 30 minutes. While they will announce your seat over the PA, it's very hard to hear it if you are more than 10 feet away from the poker room. Either keep checking back, or play on one of the slots right outside the door.

Game Nature: All over the map - most players are not particularly skilled, though one or two good players lurk here and there. Mostly passive retirees who are whiling away the hours and a few action junkies who like to raise just to see everyone fold.

Rake: 10% max 4 + $1 jackpot drop. No flop, no drop.

Posting: New players do not need to post to enter a game. Returning players (or new players) can choose to buy the button if they wish.

Shuffling: Shufflemaster machines on all tables

Kills: Killer acts last unless pot is raised before their action.



Tournaments

 * every day 10am NLHE 15+1 "one hour shootout"; after one hour of play at each table, the player with the most chips wins the entire prize. Signups start at 9am, and are frequently full by 9:30.
 * Mon-Thu 6pm NLHE 30+5 unlimited $10 rebuys, $5 addon. 15 min rounds.  Signups start at 10am, and frequently fill up by early afternoon.

Morning tournaments are cancelled if the cash game ran all night and into the morning (which occasionally happens on Sat and Sun nights).

Jackpots and Promotions

 * Bad beat jackpot (quads beaten): around 16,000 in Nov 2009.
 * Royal flush bonus pays 5% of bad beat jackpot
 * Straight flush pays 3% of bad beat jackpot
 * Quad 9's through quad aces pay 1% of bad beat jackpot
 * Quad 2's through quad 8's pay $25



Atmosphere
Four medium-sized flat-panel TVs are on the wall of this reasonable poker room. The lighting is nice, and the room has a feel of a somewhat separate area of the casino, separated by a medium-height half wall. A markerboard board is at the brush station at the entrance to the room, where you also buy and redeem chips.

There's a reasonable amount of space in the room, and usually there are only 2-3 tables running unless it's a tournament time, in which case there are usually three tournament tables (they limit tourneys to 30 players) and sometimes an extra side game going.

Overall, the casino has a certain flavor of stodginess. It seems to cater to the older retiree crowd and has touches that seem designed to appeal to the over-60 mindset. The poker room is part of that as well, although it does attract a few younger players.

Tables and Chairs: 10-seat tables with standard green felt with a commit line, with unusual "folded leather" armrests. Side tables are available for drinks (no cupholders on or in table). The chairs are the peculiar-to-Reno bouncy-arm chairs (chairs with a medium-high back and arms that curl around you a bit when you sit in them, and the arms themselves are somewhat springy and bounce up and down). The padding is starting to go on these, and they are a bit low and not height-adjustable, but there are plenty of extra cushions available throughout the room to soften the blow.

Parking: Hundreds of spaces in the attached multistory parking garage.

Smoking: No smoking in the poker room, but a bit of drift can occur, coming from the nearby slot machines over the half-wall that separates the poker from the rest of the casino. The room has huge ventilator fans (far) overhead, though, which help to keep the air moving, so you don't really notice any smoke.

Service and Comps
Frequent cocktail service.

You can eat at the table (on a rollup food table) by ordering food from the server/waitress when she comes by.

Links and Notes

 * Visited by MarkT in November 2009.