Gold Sombrero

Games
Limit hold 'em: 3/6 (Mon-Fri only), 6/12 (Thurs nights at 6pm). 2/4 when interest.

Omaha/8: 3/6 scoop on Wed nights and Saturday days. 5/10 scoop Omaha/8 on Sundays at 11am.

Rake: The rake on all games is $3 per hand + $1 jackpot.

Blinds on 3/6 the blinds are 2/3.

Posting: New players need not post.

Shuffling: All tables are hand shuffled.

Kill: Killer acts last on preflop betting round, unless the pot is raised prior to the action getting to the killer, in which case the killer acts in turn.

Game Character: Hard to tell.

Wait Time: Often there is only one game going, so wait time can be anywhere from 0 miuntes to an hour. The staff will often sit in to fill a game and will get up to free a chair if need be.

Tournaments

 * Tues 6pm NLHE: $20+$2, 1x$20 rb
 * Thur 6pm LHE: $25+$2, $20 rb, $20 ao
 * Fri 6pm LHE: $5+$2
 * Sat 12 noon NLHE: $12+$2, $12 rb

Jackpots and Promotions

 * Bad Beat Jackpot: Quads or better beaten = $4000 (in Omaha, must be quad 8's beaten)
 * Mini Holdem Bad Beat: AAA88 beat = $500
 * Royal Flush Bonus: $100, only one hole card needs to play
 * Aces Cracked: On Mondays, aces cracked on the showdown wins $50
 * High Hand: High hand of the day wins $100
 * Hand Of The Day: $100 bonus if you show the "hand of the day".

In Merced, an unusual jackpot tradition has started: both Merced cardrooms pick one or two "oddball full houses" to be the hand of the day each day, and if a player makes one of those full houses (using both hole cards) they win a jackpot prize. This is specifically to juice the action slightly in the game: when the hand of the day is 222KK, you will play K2 or pocket deuces, even for two or three bets cold.

Hands of the day are always weird full houses of high-and-low-cards, e.g. 555QQ or TTT33, because their point is to get you to play hands you wouldn't normally play.

Atmosphere
The Gold Sombrero is one of Merced's two small card rooms. Located in the back of the Los Panchos mexican restaurant, it has its own exterior door (park in back and come in), or is accessible through the hallway that connects it to the restaurant. A big screen TV in the back room is tuned to whatever the big sporting event of the day is, and you can see it (though the room is large, so the TV is often "far away") from anywhere in the room.

The Sombrero is a very sparse room, but very friendly. Except during the evenings, there is generally only one game going, but that game is essentially dealer's choice and is as likely to be a 3/6 scoop Omaha game as it is 3/6 hold 'em.

Neighborhood: A somewhat remote industrial/commercial area on the way out of town on Hwy 140, there is not much around the Sombrero, though there is a neighborhood of smallish houses "next door". Don't know how safe it would be at night, and nothing too exciting to look at. No other business particularly close.

Parking: Plenty of parking both in front and back.

Tables and Chairs: Standard 9-player tables, with unfortunate astro-turfy felt and old cracked vinyl padding on the armrails. Roll-up wheeled drink/food tables. Reasonable fixed-leg chairs.



Service and Comps
There is no literal service, but you can get up and order food from the restaurant yourself, and they will deliver it into the poker room. You can eat at the table if you'd like.

Links and Notes

 * Nearest competitor is the Poker Flats Casino in Merced, or Chukchansi Gold in Coarsegold.
 * Visited by MarkT in May 2006.