Lake Elsinore Hotel & Casino



Billing itself as Southern California's friendliest casino, "The Lake" (the casino's nickname) is also known as the home casino of 2008 World Champion Jerry Yang. Despite it's somewhat grandiose name, the Lake is not an Indian casino, but is instead a licensed California Cardroom, allowed to spread card games only.

Easy to find, located just off the I-15, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

Games
Wait Time: For a specific game, the wait time might be fairly long (30 minutes or so), but there are always a significant number of games going on, so there is nearly always some game with an open seat.

Game Nature: The players range from bad through decent to very good. The Omaha and Stud games attract a lot of the action players, while the low limit hold 'em games are mostly full of beginners and rocks. A decent number of good players also range through the room looking for juicy games to join.

Rake: $4 + $1 jackpot for every pot ($3 + $1 for 5-6 players)

Posting: New players do not need to post to enter a game.

Shuffling: Nine of the main tables have Shufflemaster machines installed; all the rest are hand-shuffled.

Kills: Killer acts last, regardless of action.

House Rules: It's OK to keep your chips in a rack as you play.

Tournaments
All tournaments have 20 minute levels.


 * Mon-Thu: 10am tournament: NLHE, $15+5 buyin, multi $5 rebuy, 2 $5 add-ons
 * Fri: 10am Omaha/8 $15+5 buyin, multi $5 rebuy, 2 $5 add-ons
 * Sat: 10am tournament: NLHE, $15+5 buyin, multi $5 rebuy, 2 $5 add-ons
 * Sun: noon NLHE freeroll+$7 "Sunday Social Club". $2000 guarantee. multi $10 rebuys, 2 $10 add-ons.
 * Tue: 7pm tournament: NLHE $30+7 buyin, $5 bounty on every player
 * Mon, Thu: 7pm NLHE $25+7 buyin, one optional $20 rebuy
 * Wed: 7pm NLHE $35+7 buyin

There is also a Thursday night 7pm Deep Stack tournament with a $60 buyin with very good structure (30 min. rounds).

Occasional other "special event" tournaments, like a WSOP Deep Stack tournament whose prize is a WSOP entry. Often held on Saturday nights.

Jackpots and Promotions
Bad beat jackpot: in hold 'em, AAAJJ or better beaten by four of a kind or better.

Also has a (separate) bad beat jackpot for tournaments!

Atmosphere
A literal rail adorns one side of the room, where passersby can watch the action.

A dozen TV's are scattered about the room, tuned to sports channels usually. This includes a number of them on the walls, and also a dangling-down "column" of TVs in the center of the room.

Computerized board.

Tables and Chairs: 16 of the tables are "normal" tables with worn brown vinyl, red felt, and a clean commit line. The other five tables are folding tables, with the somewhat rickety nature that implies. Those tables seem to mainly be used for tournament purposes, though, and not for cash games unless they get really really busy. The chairs are super-comfy fixed-leg chairs with a really nice amount of padding, and a largish seat area which provides lots of support. The tables have no cup holders; you can use the rollup tables for holding your drinks.

Parking: A few dozen spaces in back, and around 80 or so spaces "in front", in the parking lot which seems to be for the hotel part of this double-building as well as for the now-abandoned restaurant on the corner.

Smoking: No smoking in the building under California law.

Service and Comps
Full-service food and drink menu with relatively frequent service from the waitresses. The menus are moderately extensive and medium-priced. The food quality looks pretty good, and people seem to often eat at the table here, which bodes well for the food quality in general. Certain "styles" of menu are offered at different times on different days, e.g. the "Italian menu and Asian menu are on right now", or "the Mexican menu is available."

Links and Notes

 * Visited by MarkT in April 2009.